Chapter Text
It was five am when Amy Rose tapped her alarm off on her communicator.
She sat up rubbing her eyes, her quills in a ruffled mess as she stretched a few times, making her muscles wake up.
Unlike herself, her roommate- Lavender Hayze - wasn't an early riser.
Lavender did, however get up with enough time to get ready, so Amy wouldn't have to worry about her.
Amy slid off her bed, trudged over to her closet with another yawn. Grabbing her clothes for the day, she went out of her room across the hall, to the bathroom. She placed her work clothes on the catty near the shower, grabbed two towels from the closet, and set them on the hook.
She stepped in and as the water hit her face, she remembered one of the first memories she had with her roommate.
She had just walked into the Lavender's room and she found her sitting on her bed, with her head down.
"Hey you okay?" Amy asked, not walking past the entrance.
Lavender lifted her head surprised. "Huh?" She seemed a little disoriented, like she had just came back down to Earth. "Oh, yeah" She sighed. And tossed a stuffed pink cat into one of her moving boxes. "Just kinda missing home" She held her stomach, looking down at her feet.
Amy left the door way, making her way to her, "Ah" She nodded, "Yeah, I miss my old home too. You missing anyone specifically?"
Lavender lifted her head, smiled at Amy, then looked off. "Yeah, my sister" She whispered.
Amy took that as a sign and hopped onto the bed, making Lavender bounce a bit, earning a small laugh from her. "What was she like?"
Lavender hummed in thought. "Sweet, pink and loved to hang out with me." She counted off with her fingers. Then relaxed back on her hands.
Amy gasped. "Just like me!" She joked, and threw her arms around Lavender.
Lavender laughed lightly then thought about it some more. "I guess so, if you were a thirteen year old kitty cat" She chuckled, then her gaze went to Amy's eyes, with sincerity. "Thank you."
Amy tilted her head to the side. "For what?"
"Oh- well, just..Nothing"
The memory faded out as Amy lathered her quills with a special shampoo. After that, she rinsed out and grabbed the body wash for her fur.
Finally finished with the shower, she shuts the water of, wrapping first her quills then her body in the soft towels and Stepped out of the shower, her body almost immediately shivering at the contrast of temperature.
Amy dresses herself again, then grabs the hair dryer, blowing it on her quills. She brought out her special quill iron to flatten them straight. Leaving no curly quill left untouched, she thought to herself with a smile.
It took Amy a whole hour to get ready, and by the time she came out of the bathroom, Lavender had her own alarm going off.
Amy went back to her room to throw her old clothes in the hamper basket and to check her phone.
Her top notification was a message under the name of 'My Sunflower' and all it read was two hearts.
"💙🩷"
Amy squealed, picking up her phone as her tiny tail flew back and forth rapidly.
She quickly responded back in all caps "GOOD MORNING SONIC!! 💞💕💖💓"
As Amy came out of her room, Lavender asked, "I heard your squeal, was it your darling Sonic?"
Amy giggle. "I only called him that once!" She protested.
Hours later, Amy was busy checking on her cookies in the oven of a bakery that she half owned, when Lavender walked up to her. "Hey Amy?" She asked.
"Yeah?" Amy answered without looking.
"There's a lady out here wanting to speak to you."
Amy looked at Lavender with a puzzled expression. "Okay.." She walked to the front counter and she saw none other then Rouge the Bat standing in front of the counter. Amy smiled brightly.
"Hey, pinky. Just got back from a mission and decided to pop in before heading back home" Rouge explained.
Amy chuckled. "It's good you're safe and sound" Amy then crossed her arms. "But was this mission official business or..?"
Rouge smirked. Amy knew her all to well. "It was official, this time. I even had to bring in my sidekicks" Rouge gestured behind herself. "Omega went straight home so that's why he's not here"
"Oh, hi Shadow!" Amy quickly waved. He tried to look indifferent at her hello. But his face softened just a bit, from his usual scowl.
Rouge chuckled at her partner. Then turned her attention back to Amy. "But anyway it was a bust so I was thinking about treating myself to some coffee?" She paused, flashing her sparkling eyes at her. "Maybe free of charge?"
Amy, sighed with a smile. But she was happy to do something for her friends. "Alright, I can do that for you. What about you, Shadow?"
Shadow immediately declined the offer but Rouge insisted, and he begrudgingly complied.
Amy clapped her hands happily, then noticed Lavender standing and listening into the conversation. "This is actually my roommate, Lavender." She introduced her. "She would be the one who would make the coffees"
Lavender nodded at them, giving each a greeting smile.
"She's pretty great at it too" Amy added quickly. Lavender hid her smile at the compliment with a roll of her eye.
"I make coffees, I'm bound to get the hang of it. Just like everyone else" Lavender tried ignoring the bat lady and the black hedgehog and playfully glared at Amy.
Amy giggle, matching Lavenders glare. "Yeah but you're great anyway. Now shut up and take the compliment"
Lavender sighed and nodded, "Yes ma'am".
Amy smiled cheerfully and got the coffee orders and wrote them down and handed them to Lavender.
Lavender stood still, looking at the order. For some reason, taking a bit longer to shift back into work mode after being silly in front of Amy's friends. But she shook her head slightly and breathed the weird tension away.
She grabbed the handle of the portafilter and set it under the dispenser, and pushed the one shot button on the grinder machine, then pressed the grounds flat.
Then turned around to the espresso machine behind her, briefly made eye contact with Shadow, and she automatically gave a smile to him. The kind of smile she gives to all the customers.
Lavender missed his confused expression, as she solely kept her eyes on what she was doing. But she as continued to work, she could feel eyes burning in the back of her head.
She glanced behind, and saw Shadow was still watching her.
Amy had gone back to work in the kitchen, leaving Rouge and Shadow alone with Lavender. Rouge was looking at her phone most of the time but Shadow was watching Lavender. Occasionally he would scan the room around him but his interest seemed solely on what she was doing.
"Why is that guy watching me?" Lavender tried ignoring the first few times they made eye contact, but every glance he was already looking. "Seriously, stop watching!"
She got so frustrated, that she lost focus on what she was doing, that when she went to froth the milk, she had pulled the tip of the steamer out of the milk too soon.
Lavender froze, not sure what happened, but once it caught up to her. She bit her lip, and her head turned to look at Shadow, and his face was still indifferent. Only difference is that he wasn't crossing his arms. Like he was startled or something.
She tried stifling a laugh, holding a hand by her mouth, finding it funny.
Rouge looked up from her small device in her hand, hearing Lavender laughing quietly. "Oh dear, how did you manage to get milk on your face?" She teased with a chuckle.
Lavender shrugged. "Got distracted or something." She grabbed a sheet of paper towel and wiped her face, and everywhere else that the milk was on. Most of it was on herself anyway.
After that she grabbed some fresh milk. Eyeballing one cup of milk, and thankfully this time she didn't make a mess and the foam came out perfect.
With the hot coffee done, she would have make Rouge's iced coffee. Pretty easy. No milk steaming needed.
"Okay, here's the hot coffee finished" Lavender held the cup, towards them.
"That one, is all yours Shadow" Rouge waved to him to get it himself, and she heard him sigh silently frustrated. Did Lavender miss something? Did he actually not want the coffee? Whatever it was Lavender proudly held the coffee cup, until Shadow grabbed it.
Their hands briefly touched during the pass.
Normally people don't grab at the center of the cup, right where her hand was, but he did.
Lavender tried ignoring that since she had to make Rouge's coffee yet. "Yours is coming up next" She spun on her heels.
Shadow took a sip of his coffee, trying to ignore the awkwardness. But then he opened his eyes in surprise. The coffee. It was different.
He had tried telling the others he wanted just a plain black coffee like usual, but Amy and Rouge both insisted that he tries something new. So he gave in when he saw a chocolate mocha option. But this was different from how other places make it. It was good. Really good.
He continued to swirl the cup, and sip on it. Really savoring the taste of chocolate with a hint of espresso and a nice foam to top it off. He closed his eyes as he pondered the flavors, and when he opened them back up again, he found his eyes trailing back to her. What Shadow didn't realize, was that his careful watching was the cause of her earlier distraction.
He had no idea why he had started to watch, but he couldn't help it. Maybe it was just the fact that she had so many shades of purple about her that she easy to watch? Relaxing to the eyes? Whatever it was, he didn't really think about it.
"Here you go." Lavender handed Rouges coffee to her, and Rouge took it. "Thanks, darling".
Shadow was still in shock at how amazing the coffee was and didn't think of anything to say. The flavor clung to his mouth, and with every new sip a warm feeling would come, spreading across his stomach.
"You seemed pretty interested in her?" Rouge spoke once they were out of ear shot.
"I was just watching on how they make coffees here." Shadow said, back to his normal dead pan, indifference. He had learned that most times, Rouge was just trying to get under his skin and he shouldn't take it seriously.
Rouge threw a look at him. "Honey, your eyes couldn't leave her" She stated bluntly. "Got something to share with the rest of us?" Her tease returned.
They came to Shadows motor bike, and Shadow stood on the left side, staring down at the bike. Sorting through his thoughts. "No. I got nothing to say" He sat down on the small vehicle, trying to end the confusing and equally frustrating conversation.
He put his special made helmet on, one that made room for his quills and waited til Rouge put hers on and sit, so they can finally get home and get some rest after their, mess of a mission.
"Did they like your coffee?" Amy asked Lavender once she had walked into the kitchen.
Lavender nodded. "Yeah, I think they did." She pour milk into a glass of ice. "But I made a complete fool of myself and almost messed up the guys order. I mean it didn't help that he was staring at me the whole time!' She ranted. Then she sighed, calming down.
"Shadow stared at you?" Amy asked, and Lavender confirmed with a nod.
"Yeah, don't mind him. He-" She started. "How do I put this.. He does whatever he wants, anyway," She said quickly, changing the subject. "I wanted to ask if you'd be alright with having some people over tonight?". Amy smiled her sweet begging smile, with her hands folded together.
"It's your house, do whatever you want" Lavender answered with a laugh.
Amy put her hands on her hips. "It's your home too you know"
"Oh, right." Lavender paused. "You were planning on doing it tonight?"
"Yeah? Is that alright?"
Lavender thought about it. She would probably be exhausted from work. But Amy looked like she reeeally wanted to invite someone and she caved. "Yeah, that should be fine"
Amy clapped her hands and jumped up in excitement. "YAY, THIS WILL BE FUN!"
How did this happen. Why was she going through with this.
Whatever the reason was, Lavender had already agreed to join in and host the guests. Besides, Amy had told her it's just Sonic and Tails.
Two boys.
That's all Lavender was thinking about. She knew she was probably overthinking it, and she was just being weird again. She wanted to keep her hopes up, and have fun. And anyway she would do it for Amy. The one person who was her friend in this whole city.
"Soups ready, how's the table coming along?" Amy stood at the stove, mixing a pot, glancing back at her with a pleasant smile.
"Almost done. Should I worry about cups?"
Amy hummed in thought. "Yeah, Sonic eats, so water would probably be for the best" She giggled. Like she always did when she talked about the blue hedgehog.
Lavender tried to keep her mouth shut about it. She thought it was cute, honest. The way Amy would talk about him, and she would tease her sometimes, but it honestly brought memories back for her.
She pushed it out of her mind, since it was causing her stomach to go into knots. "Great, I'm already sick and we didn't even start eating. And it's going to make a whole scene too."
Amy heard her mumbling about something as Lavender went to grab the cups and set them on the table.
Amy left the stove, and walked over to her. "I know you're nervous but please, don't be scared of Sonic. He's a good guy." Amy gently took Lavenders hand. "And if you need a break, there's no shame in that either. This is your place too."
Lavender broke a little from the sincerity in Amy's eyes. It was almost too much to bear so she took a breath, releasing some of the nerves boiled up in her stomach. "Okay, thanks.."
She will try.
"You're welcome!" Amy smiled brightly and dashed back to her stove to turn it off, and to bring the soup to the table.
As Lavender put the final touches onto the table, there was a ring at the door. Amy having the most experience in hosting, greeted the guests.
Amy immediately pounced onto Sonic with a hug. And then greeted Tails with a gentler hug. With Tails being almost 14 years old, he was almost taller then Sonic.
"Oh and this is Lavender" Amy brought the cat into the conversation.
"Oh, so you're the roommate, Amy had been talking up a storm about" Sonic teased.
For some reason, the thought of Sonic knowing about her brought the slightest bit of flush to Lavenders throat. She shot a look of alarm to Amy.
"Don't worry! All good things, all good things." Amy reassured her, with a giggle.
Ah that knowing giggle…
"Lavender, this Sonic and Miles Tails Prower" Amy continued.
"You can call me Tails though"
The night was pleasant, with light chatter and laughter.
Lavender had fun watching Amy and Sonic go back and forth about different stories of their adventures. Tails was fun to listen to as well, with him going off about some projects or theories. But he would also join in the banter around the table. Then came the time for them to leave.
"It was nice meeting you Lav."
Lavender blinked a second, "Lav? she asked.
Amy quickly answered, "Sonic loves giving people nicknames, it's kinda a sign that he likes you and wants to be friends"
Sonic chuckled, "I remember the first time I called you Ames. You almost completely flipped out Ha!- ouch Hey!"
Amy shoved him in the shoulder. "Anyway" She dragged the word out with a quick glare at him. "You're his friend now too"
"Oh." Lavender honestly didn't know what to say. So she just grinned, excitement showing on her face as a blush.
"You're definitely a lot cuter in person" Sonic said with a subtle grin.
Lavenders smile faltered and she shifted uncomfortably, glancing around the room to avoid eye contact.
Sensing her discomfort, Sonic didn't push on the matter, and turned to Amy to said his goodbye. Tails followed right behind him.