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It was almost like routine now.
Team Sonic saved the village from whatever disaster or Eggman scheme took place that week. The people would cheer momentarily, maybe provide news coverage, before going back to their lives. Every milestone had the mayor coming out to congratulate them and perhaps even a party.
But lately, there had been something unspoken brewing. And they hadn't expected it to reveal its face in the way it did.
"Congratulations, Team Sonic, for saving us for the one-thousand-and-fiftieth time," Mayor Fink said with the usual amount of enthusiasm expected of a politician. "As is customary, we will host a party in celebration for this milestone."
The villagers cheered, more in anticipation for the upcoming festivities than any kind of gratitude.
"That's so kind of you," Amy smiled. "We'll be glad to attend."
"Count me out."
Her head whipped around to a more grouchy-than-usual Sonic. He had been more ill-tempered lately than before. Usually, he was quite mellow and cheery after an Eggman battle, having gotten his fill of hero action for the week.
"Sonic, it's a party for us. At least be considerate enough to show up for it."
"Yeah, no."
Curt and short, like the snap of a string pulled too taut. He pivoted and sped off without another word. Ignoring his moodiness, Amy turned back to offer platitudes to the mayor's ruffled pride and accepted the invite again on behalf of the team.
But Tails could only frown as he stared after the traces of blue light that had yet to fade from his retinas.
It was an hour until the party.
And rather than get ready to meet up with Zooey to attend together, Tails found himself on the porch of Sonic's shack. He stared in with the setting sun casting an elongated silhouette across the floorboards of a sparsely furnished — empty — shack the blue hedgehog called his own. His hero had a spiny back turned to him with head in shadow.
"Sonic?" he called quietly. No response. "Sonic?"
A low grunt replied after a heartbeat.
"I.. just came by to check on you. I know you said you're not going to the party, but are you… okay?"
Sonic hated feelings. He knew this. It wasn't as if this was new. But he felt compelled to ask anyway. Because his brother was in a huff over something he couldn't understand. And he couldn't offer a fix or solution if he didn't know what that problem was.
He was Sonic's sidekick, after all. Anything Sonic needed, Tails should be able to provide. Right?
"…Just go to that party. Zooey's waiting for you, isn't she?"
A cold stone found a place in his gut. He bit his lower lip as his blood chilled within his veins. Not even an answer, just a dismissal without even a clue to what was addling his big brother.
And while he wasn't Amy, Tails was smart enough, sensitive enough to recognise defeat in the angle of Sonic's shadowed head. It was obvious in how his quills drooped, how long legs were bent just a little more than usual, how his shoulders were drawn in toward the neck. Perhaps defeat wasn't the right word; it looked more like resignation, frustration, or even grief.
He made up his mind. There really wasn't any other choice.
Tails stepped outside for a moment and tapped on his communicator. He called his girlfriend, knowing full well that he was still in hearing range of Sonic.
"Hey, Zooey. I've changed my mind about going to that party. I'm sorry for making you get dressed up only to cancel."
"Oh, Tails, did something happen?" her gentle voice asked.
"I'm needed here more than at the party," replied Tails. "I'm thinking of staying home to play some video games or watch movies instead."
"Well, would you mind if I came over too?"
His ears perked up. "You want to?"
"Tails, you know that I'm not the biggest fan of the village parties," Zooey giggled. Oh, he loved her laugh. "And I've been meaning to give Sonic that thing I told you about."
Right. His wonderfully kind girlfriend had been planning and working on a gift for his heroic brother. Perhaps this was exactly what Sonic needed to get out of this funk that came over him. For all his bragging, getting the blue hedgehog merchandise of himself went surprisingly bad — mostly because of all the complaining about either copyright or just criticisms of how he had been wrongly depicted. And this gift wasn't that so perhaps it would be better received.
"Sounds like a plan. Would you like me to pick you up now?"
"I can make my way there on my own," she said. "You go make sure Sonic's not alone, okay?"
"Alright. Love you."
"Love you too!"
Heart aflutter, he ended the call. Tails turned around to see Sonic's face swiftly turn away again. Those shoulders tightened again. He couldn't blame his shy brother.
That was a thought he never had before. He could call Sonic many things: egotistical, awesome, cool, lazy, grumpy, messy. But shy had never been anything he associated with his brother. Like, sure he and the others joked about it whenever the subject about him possibly having feelings for Amy came up. But Sonic had always been largely anything but timid.
And yet, watching his brother try to subtly curl into himself after being caught eavesdropping… All he could think was that this couldn't be someone who truly thought themselves more important than others. That was not to say Sonic ever acted that way either. But he did talk a lot about himself, especially bragging about his skills and looks and coolness.
Tails took a breath to quiet his brain and called to the one almost entangled into the strung string.
"Well? Are you coming or not?"
For a moment, he worried that his offer would be rejected. But a smile made its way onto his muzzle as Sonic — after a moment of hesitation — turned to swing his legs down from the hammock. Light and almost uncertain steps closed the distance between them. Tails kept what words he could say down in his throat, wordlessly leading his brother away from the shadowed shack to his own house where the lights welcomed them in warmly.
And after setting up the game console, Tails eagerly answered the door to a beaming Zooey, the gentle vixen holding the wrapped gift. She entered with sureness in each foot forward and smiled to a surprised Sonic on the couch — hadn't he known to expect her from eavesdropping earlier?
"Good evening, Sonic. Did Tails not tell you to expect me?"
"Uh— no. I knew. Hey, Zooey."
Zooey took it in stride and offered out her gift. "Here. I've been meaning to give this to you for a while. It took much longer to finish than I thought, but I hope you'll like it."
Sonic once again hesitated but accepted the bundle into his own lap. His fingers twitched before prying it open bow-first, tearing off baby blue wrapping paper after the first rip in its surface. A spark he almost forgot had been there relit itself in meadow-green eyes as his big brother beheld her gift: a set of navy blue compression wear for each limb, long enough to reach bicep and thigh, trims shining white. There was a blue five-pronged star sewn into each of the soles and on the back of the hands.
"I know it's nothing too fancy but I thought this would be a good substitute for your sports tape, since you did mention your limbs sometimes hurt after a fight."
Tails himself had even forgotten that little detail. It had been mentioned offhandedly a few times, always like a joke, and they had laughed it off or just ignored it. Because Sonic sometimes said things like that, just like Knuckles. But that made shame curl into his throat upon further thought.
His brother blinked once, then twice, lifting one up to examine it and run the fabric between his fingers.
"I helped make the fabric durable, fire-resistant, and even water-proof. The same tech in your luminous suit is embedded in those sleeves," Tails added. "Zooey did all the rest herself."
He almost missed the twinkle of a tear before it was quickly erased by a hand swiping over a tan cheek. Sonic smiled for the first time in — now that he thought about it — days.
"Mind if I try them on?" he asked Zooey.
She beamed, "Of course! As long as I get to pick out the game this time."
"Sure."
And off he vanished behind the bathroom door. Tails couldn't quite breath out the nerves caught in his chest, watching Zooey search demurely through their box of cartridges. She brushed her tail against one of his and he returned it with a smile. It felt like forever before Sonic returned, all his sports tapes rolled into a messy ball.
"Woah," he breathed.
The sleeves were a change from the dusty white he had grown used to seeing on his brother's limbs, but they were clearly to Sonic's liking based on how much more animated he seemed. His arms and legs moved like water now.
"These feel really nice. You did amazing, Zooey."
She placed her choice of game into the console and clapped with a gleeful giggle. "Oh, you look so good with them on! I'm so glad you like them."
Sonic chuckled, rubbing his nose, and deposited his now unneeded sports tape ball into the nearest trash can. He sat himself beside Tails, leaving Zooey to take the other side of her boyfriend on the couch.
"So, what's the first game for tonight?" his big brother asked while passing out the controllers, tone more chipper than before.
Zooey smirked. "Tomatopotamus: Next Gen."
Oh, the night ahead was bleak, and rife with laughter to come. But among the companionable joy between them, Tails caught the ring of gold in his big brother's words of praise.
And the next day, he heard it again in the laughter thanking him wordlessly for a set of leg warmers that doubled for outer ankle wraps — self-cleaning too.
It was worth the sleepless night taken to refurbish this once abandoned creation.
After that, it became normal to see Sonic around the workshop or even just casually being in Tails' house. They had been understandably impressed by his new sleeves and were glad to not fear him overusing more sports tape. But when Knuckles asked if he could also have a pair, Tails asked the weirdest question:
"Do your arms hurt after you punch something, or feel painful to move after a fight?"
"No," he replied immediately. "What's that have to do with Sonic's new drip?"
"Ew, never say that again," said hedgehog grimaced.
Tails decided to answer his question like Sonic hadn't said anything. "Because what he's wearing are compression sleeves. They help support his muscles and put pressure on them so they don't hurt as much."
"Meaning?"
"Sonic needs them to run and fight without hurting all the time," Tails explained.
Wait, what?
He turned worried eyes onto his friend. "You've been in pain all this time?"
"It's nothing new," Sonic shrugged. He had the nerve to tilt his head and flash an annoying smirk. "I can still beat you in Tomatopotamus Adventure 2 multiplayer."
That wasn't the point. Well, yes, Knuckles was still a bit bitter over that loss — pure luck, it had to be! But Sonic's arms and legs had been hurting for so long and he never once noticed that those minor tremors weren't just the usual tiredness from a good workout. And that thing he said about his sports tape being for limb support? That hadn't been a joke.
Well, now that he knew, Knuckles wasn't letting this one go.
"Is there anything else you forgot to mention or joked about?" he asked, getting nose-to-nose with the hedgehog. "Anything else hurting you that wasn't important enough to tell us about?"
Sonic backed up, hands held up, a sheepish smile on his face. Those eyes had their spark again but it was dulled. Where once those irises shone like the finest emeralds, they looked more like dulled jades now. And there was a waver in the edge of that grin. But at least his limbs no longer trembled in moments of stillness.
"Uh, yeah. There's nothing else to worry about, Knux."
Where was that gold that once captivated him, the glimmer of precious treasure he followed across lands and continents to this island? Where had the shining shape that never broke gone? Where was that person who led him away from a life of loneliness into a world full of joys to be had?
"I don't believe you. You're still hiding something."
Sonic huffed, like light rippling over murky citrine. "Oh, sure, like I'm gonna suddenly go on about my feelings now. You're better off getting me to make a dentist appointment."
Feelings.
He remembered how Sonic had flatly refused to go to that party last week, Tails and Zooey not attending either. Amy had been upset about it while Sticks said they had the right idea — she had been disgusted after biting into a wax fruit.
Knuckles remembered the foul mood Sonic had been in leading up to that day. It hadn't started recently, that much he knew. And it was pretty obvious in hindsight that being in the village soured his mood. But they all ignored it because Sonic had been bragging more than ever before, about how cool and awesome he was, how he was much more skilled compared to them.
Now? Knuckles could only see them as a cry for help. For what, he didn't know. But they were like the mist of fallen clouds obscuring his friend's true face. And while Knuckles wasn't the smartest, he refused to keep being a poor brother for the blue hedgehog.
"Then you're coming with me to the canyon today," he decided.
"What?"
Knuckles grinned, "Get Blue Force One and let's see how fast we can lap the island with my hoverboard."
He saw a flash of topaz as Sonic dashed over, straddling the seat of his personal vehicle without a beat skipped. Tails jumped and scampered to grab his own hoverboard.
"Me too! Our best time was about two minutes!"
"Meet you both at the canyon!"
And off the hovering motorcycle went, rocket thruster's blue flame blasting. Tails laughed as he rode after his brother without care for the dust stirred behind them. Neither of them had to fear Knuckles being left behind when he took a shortcut through the jungle to meet them there.
The following attempts to lap the island for a faster record time were fun and challenging in equal measure. All the while, he caught ripples of that precious thing he would gladly chase after, slowly re-emerging from behind the thick misty veil.
They took a break by the frozen lake where Knuckles watched Sonic do some stretches, rather than build another little snowman. Lines of something treasured traced each limb but what he was looking for had hidden itself elsewhere. He caught the satisfied grunt — it was different from stifled and almost pained ones he recalled hearing many times before. The sound made his lips quirk up.
"Really needed that, huh?"
Sonic hummed in agreement. "Yeah. Don't get me wrong, trashing Eggman's bots is fun, but his schemes have been getting pretty same-y lately. I'd actually take something more risque over another laser cannon that'll disintegrate my coffee mug."
"But you don't drink coffee."
"Exactly."
He didn't get it, but whatever. It couldn't have been that important if Sonic didn't explain. And Tails was muttering to himself about things again.
"You do trash them immediately. So he's either really cheap with materials now or you've gotten stronger."
Sonic paused in his stretching, eyes flitting over to him. He almost choked on his tongue before chuckling. "Yeah. Must be one or the other. I'm betting on the second option."
"Me too."
Again, the blue hedgehog gave him a look that he recognised as one they would usually give Sticks, after she rattled off another conspiracy theory.
"Tell you what: why don't we arm wrestle?" Knuckles grinned. "See if you last any longer than last time. Then we'll know for sure if you've gotten stronger."
"Ignoring the fact that I mostly use my legs?"
"But you still punch things sometimes and your spin attack makes use of your whole body," Tails added with his namesakes wagging. "Come on! For science!"
Sonic looked between the both of them before exhaling, trudging over to join them. He seemed a bit off-kilter when fluffy golden-and-white appendages cushioned his tail from the snow beneath. Lucky for them, there was a convenient flat table-sized rock for them to prop their elbows on. The hedgehog's hand was smaller than his but he felt the solidness in those thin bones.
"Three. Two. One. GO!"
Knuckles didn't use his full strength. He tried not to most of the time. But even at half, Sonic was steadily pushing him an inch at a time. It was a contrast to their earliest attempts when he struggled to budge Knuckles' arm with both hands. He pushed back and found pleasant surprise in the resistance from his friend. A thrilled smirk came upon his face with a matching golden grin behind their wrestling hands.
There it was.
That pure gold he would chase to the ends of the earth.
He found it in the wild, unflinching smile across from him.
Someone worth following.
Thus, Knuckles let Sonic have this one. And his arm hit the stone for the first time when wrestling the hedgehog. Tails gaped while his big brother stared wide-eyed at his reward, proof of his own strength before their eyes.
Grass-green found his gaze, questioning and bewildered, with ears twitching uneasily. They both knew Knuckles could have easily overpowered him at any moment. He could have won again like he always did before — proving that he deserved more attention than scrawny, hollow-boned Sonic.
But that wasn't the point anymore. It hadn't been for a while now.
No, this time, Knuckles wasn't competing to be better than his friend.
He had gotten the answer in seeing an overlooked treasure. And he was willing to help polish it back to the lustre it could have again.
"You're pretty tough, captain."
A blink.
And his leader's grin bathed him in a lake of warm gold.
Sticks wouldn't be much of a survivalist if she was unobservant, much less truly crazy. She was a bit nuts but not to the point of complete insanity. And it wasn't even a surprise to her, given the pattern.
First, Tails. And now, Knuckles. Both of them had done something with Sonic who now sought them out and hung around either longer than anyone else in recent days. She had been the unwilling listener to Amy's complaints and comments about guys being guys. Sticks had told her friend that maybe they should just ask and listen to what the trio had to say. But, as had become the case, the pink hedgehog had gotten too engrossed in her self-help thing to realise that she had essentially reduced Sonic — the guy she had feelings for and still carried around a picture of — to little more than a project to satisfy her own ego.
And that was it: for all that they said Sonic had the arrogance, his display didn't really play the part. Nope, despite how grating it got, the blue hero's bragging was more like a cry for attention or acknowledgement than anything truly self-centred. He came out of retirement to save the village even after being made a social pariah; not one apology was given to him, all of them brushing it off as if it never happened after that. And that was to say nothing of the other times the villagers turned on him or ousted him for something else — essentially sending the message that his heroics meant almost nothing more than brownie points in social currency.
Sticks hated it. But she could not voice it, trusting that her friends knew how to navigate that world better than she could. Her words were that of a feral badger who had no experience in appealing to popular or fancy folks. She knew how to hunt, forage, prepare for winters, and mix up home-made herbal remedies. Speaking nice to uncaring politicians was not her thing.
But she knew what not belonging looked like, and Sonic screamed outsider in multiple languages. Outcast, freak, different, not of this world. Whatever the definition was, no matter how watered down, it didn't change the blue of his fur or his speed or how he glowed sometimes. Amy's pink could have been a shade of red or fuchsia further back in her family line. What reason could there be for Sonic's everything beyond not being completely mortal?
His heart was one such thing that set him apart. Sure, kindness existed in everyone, in her friends especially. But he extended it even to those who did not deserve it. Not because it was expected of him or even out of some attempt to cover up personal insecurities, like Amy — just saying it as she saw it. Sticks had observed him to be foreign in how he just acted kind as if there was no other way to be; it was just who he was. And she noticed because it had been one of the few things he never bragged about.
Heck, he never even mentioned it or drew attention to the goodness of heart that such a quality revealed. Maybe he himself never thought it remarkable enough to speak about. But to Sticks, she refused to let such gold stay buried any longer.
So she invited the guys to harvest some herbs with her while Amy was off on some retreat thingy. Sticks had considered asking her friend to come along, have the whole team spending time together again, but she knew a thorny rose was bound to prick a few times too many. It would be better to convince her after she had gotten some time away.
Sticks approved of the compression sleeves Tails' prospective mate had made for Sonic, seeing as he moved much more gracefully now. And he even seemed happier now that his limbs were being properly cared for. She even made note of how Knuckles didn't feel the need to brag in equal measure to the blue hero. In fact, he seemed to be dropping more subtle compliments — which was surprising in and of itself — toward the other. And Sonic only responded with a chuckle, rubbing his nose, then continuing on without a sarcastic remark.
Sincere, genuine. There was warm softness, a gentle ring, in the tones of the team's leader now. And yes, that was his role to them. His call-sign with Tails was once less formality and more just something between the two of them. But now? She could safely say that Knuckles would be referring to him like that in some capacity moving forward.
Sonic was losing the stone-like cold that he once had, like spring had finally come to thaw out a long-lasting winter. And she couldn't say she hated the change.
"Make sure you pinch it right here by the root before you pull, otherwise you'll ruin the entire crop and all the juices will spill out."
The three of them nodded. She showed them a few more times to make sure they, especially Knuckles, understood how to harvest these herbs properly. And once done with the demonstration, Sticks split off from the boys to gather up some mushrooms from a patch not too far from the riverside. They were reliable dark brown with patches of strawberry white along the cap. Perfect for certain tonics or just as a safe food option.
Once she had filled a thatched basket with them, Sticks made her way back to see how the guys were doing at harvesting the herbs. And she caught that golden kindness in action again in how Sonic examined a fallen chick's wing, careful to cradle its little body in his lap. Knuckles and Tails were watching closely from either side of him.
"It doesn't feel broken. Might just be bruised," Sonic hummed. He sounded so disgustingly gentle and even in how he pet the chick's feathered head with his thumb. "Little guy will be fine once we get them back to their nest. Tails?"
The fox nodded, accepting the chirping chick into his hands and flying it back up to where Sticks heard more birds waiting.
"So, did you manage to fill the basket?" she asked.
Knuckles hefted it up with a bright grin. "Yep! Turns out we're pretty good at picking plants."
"Great. Let's get these back to my burrow, and I can show ya how to make muscle-relaxing salve."
"Come again?" Sonic asked, ears twitching.
She simply continued walking ahead of them with a smile to herself.
"It's an old family recipe for swelling. It works best on joints like ankles and knees, especially during winter. And those herbs ya picked out are an important ingredient for it."
Sticks could not offer the physical and emotional support his brothers could, but she could teach Sonic how to make this salve so he could manage some of his chronic pain himself. From one outcast to another, she knew he valued his independence and ability to be self-sufficient.
He didn't need to be though.
A team should care for their leader as he did for them in whatever ways they saw fit. And Sonic had been unknowingly neglected for a long time.
So Sticks offered him a couple of her special honey cakes as a treat while the guys learned to make some salve to take home.
Soft gold left with a relaxed smile on his face and brothers at his sides.
There was nothing wrong with wanting to better oneself. It wasn't bad to grow frustrated when those she considered friends often ignored her words of advice.
But seeing how she was the only one excluded from this new closeness in the team, Amy bit down on the sour taste of it on her tongue.
In her absence, somehow, Sonic had gone from an inconsiderate grouch to someone she had no hand in cultivating. His bragging had all but vanished in place of an unshakeable confidence; the sarcasm and eye rolling were replaced by electric grins of sincere excitement; that kindness once thought rare was being offered openly to everyone else. Amy recalled needing to bribe him with food to even get the pleasure of his company for a book event just last month. But now? Sonic did not even hesitate to lend aid when Sticks mentioned needing to repair something at her burrow.
Sonic usually avoided busywork like the plague! Chores? He left it to the others. Errands? Unless it was a chilidog or fine with his whims that day, nope. He refused to contribute his share except when it was a group effort.
And that was the thing: this softer, more visibly kind Sonic made her heart flutter just as much if not more than he had before. She loved his temper and had often wished he would at least be a bit more modest, a bit more considerate of others. Now there that Sonic was… And she had not seen the many little changes with her own eyes, could not even claim credit for even one positive thing.
It hurt, yet she knew why she really didn't have the right to pity herself for this. Looking back, Amy was more forcing her own opinions and thoughts onto the others, thinking her tastes and way of emotional openness was supposed to be the standard. She had neglected the very real people in front of her at times.
Sonic was not heartless, she could see that more clearly than ever, and yet she assumed him not to care as much based on how he acted. That disinterested half-lidded gaze, the grouchy groans, his need to talk himself up at any opportunity. So what changed?
All that sports tape was mostly gone, replaced by compression wear that admittedly looked stylish on him — tailor-made for him even. She had overlooked his comments of aching limbs when he genuinely did mention having chronic pain in some capacity. Heck, he and Tails had been experimenting with shoe prototypes!
Rather than sassing Sonic off for talking about his skills, the others instead agreed and even praised him for those displays before he could say anything at times. The answering chuckle made her want to pinch his cheeks and sigh over how adorably sweet he could be. It made her yearn to hold his face in her hands like he was the entire world.
Even outside of battle, they deferred to his opinion more than ever. Sonic's little call-sign with Tails — Blue Leader — was now being used casually among them. And she was the only one not doing so, maybe because she thought he didn't need more of an ego boost. But when the others were finally agreeing, Amy couldn't quite hold onto that belief, since Sonic no longer acted so conceited.
In fact, now that they were showing him respect and honest appreciation of his person, the one she yearned for drank it in with a smile on his face. And that dented her assumptions of Sonic's ego.
He had no need to brag anymore because he was being properly acknowledged for what he could do, and who he was beyond his hero title.
And Amy had not done that. She had zeroed in on his flaws and saw only those in the lens of how she thought a good hero ought to be. There had been no reason to delve deeper than that to her mind. Thinking on it, that view of someone seemed so disgustingly shallow — and Amy refused to see herself as a person who would think like that. Because she was selfless, modest, well-mannered. She could fight off baddies and still embrace her feminine charms without reservation.
She was the furthest thing from selfish and self-centred, being the team's heart and moral compass. But the time Sonic had been trapped in the Buddy Buddy Temple had both herself and Knuckles fighting over the leadership role they barely acknowledged being a thing at the time. None of them had outright stated who led their group beyond the name: Team Sonic. They had done practically nothing to get their trapped friend out of there — it was just chance that they fell down into the temple bowels themselves. Eggman had done more to get himself and Sonic out than them!
"Ames?"
Amy blinked, looking up to a sheepish Sonic, forearms resting on her counter with a tapping finger.
"Sorry, I was thinking. What were you saying, Sonic?"
His ears angled away while he raised a brow at her. "I was saying that I wouldn't mind going on the excavation trip with just the two of us."
Ah, right. The newly uncovered cave by the mountain base bordering Seaside Island's one frozen lake. Amy had been eager to see it for herself and excavate something new. She hadn't expected him to agree when he seemed much happier around the others recently.
"You don't mind being bossed around by me?" she asked, unable to keep the bite of anger from her voice.
"Why are you upset with me now?"
"Who said I was?"
Sonic's face darkened with a familiar frown. "You got on me for how I say things but when you do it, I'm supposed to ignore that you sound angry?"
"So, what if I am?" Amy snapped, bracing herself on the opposite side of the counter from him.
"Then tell me instead of making me have to guess or infer things without context."
"I don't do that!"
"You do," he returned. "Right now, you got upset because of something. All I know is that you were thinking real hard after asking to make the excavation trip with just us. What even crawled up your skirt this time?"
"How dare you. Nothing crawled up my skirt! I'm just frustrated with how you're all so happy without me."
"And you couldn't have just said that? Aren't you all about talking through our feelings?" huffed Sonic.
"You want to hear about my feelings? You? Mister Too-Cool-For-Mushy-Stuff?"
He pulled away, shaking his head with pursed lips. "I'm leaving. You're not fit to talk right now."
"Oh, is that so?"
Amy stormed around the counter and planted herself between him and the door.
"You're not going anywhere until I've said my piece. And you will listen!"
She felt acid bubble up to coat her tongue in bitter barbs, something exploding in her chest against the confines of her ribcage. Amy grabbed him by that stupid scarf and pulled them nose-to-nose with a snarl.
"You've been blowing me off for years now. Years! The nice things I do for you guys aren't appreciated. You point out my flaws for everyone to hear: calling me bossy, insecure, things like that. Any advice I give that you guys don't care for gets thrown away like it means nothing. You do nothing to better yourselves and I'm so tired of having to do all the emotional work for this team!"
Sonic's hand clutched her wrist. "You're not perfect. Don't act like you are. Before you accuse us of doing nothing to better ourselves, take a look at yourself."
"I know I'm not perfect. You've made it pretty clear to me that I'm not what you want me to be!"
"What is this really about? You keep talking like I should know what you mean."
"I've done everything I can to make you the best hero you could be, to make us better than we were before. So why did you decide to change now? What did they do that made you act like a proper paragon now?"
Why wasn't I enough to fix you?
Sonic's eyes went wide. The simmering anger shifted to incredulous shock. And after a few heartbeats, shame clawed its way into Amy. She had really said all that out loud. All of her resentment had been thrown into Sonic's face and all those feelings had been blamed on him.
Then she saw it: a flash of hurt in the curl of his lips. A moment of glassy shine in eyes as green as summer grass.
"Sonic, I'm sorry," she stammered, pulling away. His fingers had unlatched from her wrist to clutch at his scarf. "I shouldn't have said it like that. I didn't mean to imply that you weren't anything more than your image—"
"Then what did you mean?" Sonic hissed. His glare was piercing.
"I just…" Amy took in a breath, unable to hold eye contact with him, staring at her floorboards. "I felt left out, and I couldn't understand why you seem so much happier now. And… I was upset that I didn't do anything to make you happy. I couldn't bring myself to ask because it meant I really would be a failure."
"What?" That wasn't anger. It was genuine confusion. "Who said you'd be a failure for that?"
She opened her mouth then closed it. No one had. It was just… something that made sense to her. That inner voice that made her all too aware of how she lacked in various ways, inferior to the twins because they caught Sonic's eye more than her, because he flirted with them more. But he hadn't done so in a long while.
"Amy. Me being happier has nothing to do with you failing at anything."
"Then why? Tell me so I can understand what I'm doing wrong compared to Tails, Knuckles, and Sticks."
Sonic scratched the back of his head, exhaling quiet uncertainty into the air. "I didn't say anything. They just changed how they acted, and I wasn't going to say no. It's nice to not be in pain as much anymore. And the praise is a bit much but better than nothing."
The way he worded it… Amy couldn't help but hear it as him being happy because he was no longer being ignored. And she had accused him of doing it to her.
"Not only that, they apologised."
"For what?"
"Remember Mike?" Sonic prompted. "How it was apparently my fault for saying the truth? Where you said I had a condescending, insensitive attitude over bringing a civilian onto the battlefield? Making me attend sensitivity seminars because some people didn't like what I said and I was the one who needed to change?"
She could see his fists tremble at his sides and blue ears flattening against his skull as he continued.
"I'm not allowed to be mad that you treat me like the villagers do? Like all I'm good for is fighting Eggman and running errands? Because you know the worst I could do was run away?"
Amy wanted to deny it. She really did. But there was no reasoning that could definitively disprove those points. Because, really, he was right.
He saved the village every week, not once neglecting to show up unless genuinely indisposed. The villagers switched allegiances like the tides on the beach — their goodwill coming and going based on little more than a shared whim. And they got away with it because of who Sonic was.
They never did this with Shadow, someone who was much ruder and acted even more condescending, because he wouldn't hesitate to hurt them for it.
Sonic was kind. He rarely raised a hand to them outside of battle or competition, sometimes not even. They abused and took for granted that compassion to put down and mistreat him for their own gains. Even if he ran away and claimed to be retired, he was too good-natured to not run right back when they needed him.
Amy couldn't believe she had missed it. He wasn't even hiding that part of him. She just overlooked it, because he wasn't perfectly modest or well-mannered.
"Oh…"
He did understand her. They both knew the feeling of being unappreciated. Sonic just never chose to speak up about it. Because that wasn't who he was.
Feelings weren't his thing. It was unfair of her to try and force him to open up when he didn't want to.
"…I'm sorry. I know it might not mean much now, and you're right to still be upset with me for what I did and said then. I put expectations onto you that you never asked for and made assumptions without saying anything. I've been a terrible friend to you. It's okay if you can't forgive me yet or at all. But I really want us to be friends again. If that's okay with you."
Amy worried her lower lip, hugging herself and trying so hard to keep the tears from spilling over. No crocodile tears. None of that. This was about making it up to him, because he had been hurt by her actions in the past.
She jumped when his hand placed itself on her shoulder.
"Who said we ever stopped being friends? And... I'm sorry for being a jerk to you. But I can't promise I won't do the opposite of what you want me to. You know me."
"Maybe not as well as I thought."
Amy braved the uncertainty to look him in the face again. And, oh her heart was aflutter again. He had the sweetest little smile, faint strawberry dusting his muzzle, those stunning summer-green eyes meeting hers.
"Would you like to? Know me better, I mean?"
She inhaled. And her hands grabbed his face, squishing that surprisingly soft muzzle between her palms. He blinked owlishly at her.
It was unfair for someone to be so cute, so good, so precious. He was walking gold from head to toe by virtue of existing at all. His free kindness, his effortless beauty, his soft core. She had never met a bigger sweetheart than this hedgehog right in front of her — and Tails won that award last time!
"You're gorgeous," she blurted out.
His face ripened into a cherry, his hands reaching up to tug at hers. "Uh…"
"How could I ever say no to someone so amazing?"
"A-Ames? Laying it on a little thick there…"
Amy dared to lower a hand to his hip, just grab that waist of his for a moment. And Sonic didn't pull away — he just turned even redder. Huh. When had his hips widened? She liked it, actually. Wider hips and thicker thighs would suit him since if Knuckles could have such swole arms, Sonic's legs have the chance to be similar.
"Do you want me to stop?"
He returned her smile, perfectly small and light. "No."
"So… is that offer for an excavation date still open?"
Sonic's fingers, both palms on her shoulders, tapped on her. He leaned just a little into the hand on his cheek. That sweet little upturn of the lips grew into an easy smirk.
"We could get going right now."
Was that it?
"It's a date?" she asked, unable to keep the excitement from her voice. "Is Sonic T. Hedgehog agreeing to officially date me?"
"…Just keep it between us for now, and I'm game."
Amy nodded, easily sweeping him off his feet, and into her arms. His bewildered stare only made her giggle more.
"Allow me?"
Sonic snorted then burst out laughing, hiding his face behind her front quill. "Go for it, Ames."
Her heart was alight with gold as she ran out of her cottage. She had a world in her arms after years of pining.
This was better than all those fairytales she loved to read.
More golden than any generic happily ever after could be.
They talked it over, establishing boundaries — as was healthy — and figuring out what worked for them. There wasn't really anything to change because the dynamic they had even before dating worked for them.
And surprisingly, the team were very accepting when they stumbled upon one such date in Amy's cottage. Only a little teasing, keeping quiet about it around Eggman and the villagers, encouraging Sonic to explore a little.
He and Amy had regular tea parties now. The others would join sometimes for the snacks, and because Knuckles wanted to wear the princess tiara — if Sticks didn't snatch it first. Sonic would wear the red silk ribbon on his arm, tied into a pretty bow by his girlfriend, to help him feel comfortable doing things that were more traditionally feminine.
Pants were still a hard pass for him. They were chafing on him, and running in them wouldn't work — given the speeds he preferred and the friction that would generate. So today, they were having a little fashion show amongst themselves, to experiment and find their styles.
"The only thing anyone's going to judge you for is whether it suits you or not," Amy reassured him. "Not if it fits your street cred."
Sonic huffed. "You sure I won't look ridiculous in this?"
"I'm sure. You're free to pick something else, if you're sure you don't want to wear this one. All I ask is that you give it a try. And don't worry about tearing it: I made sure to get quill-proof ones."
He nodded and vanished behind the changing screen they had brought into her cottage for this fashion show. The others were happily rocking their own outfits: Knuckles in a snazzy blazer complete with bolo tie, Tails sporting an aviator jacket and wagging his namesakes, then there was Sticks who was quite happy with a snow leopard-print leotard. Amy looked radiant in her tuxedo, chosen tie being ocean blue.
Sonic took in a deep breath to steel his nerves before putting the dress on. It was a sleeveless summer frock with a back window and sunflowers patterned along the skirt hem, to be fastened around the waist by a golden ribbon bow — the ends draping down like twin tails behind him. It felt a little short, the skirt only reaching past mid-thigh and ribbon tails down to behind the knees, but he didn't mind it too much. He traded his usual shoes for strawberry red slipper heels, nothing too dramatic. The broad-hemmed woven summer hat, sunflower glued to the decorative royal blue ribbon circling the base, took a bit to figure out. He wore it a bit tilted, more on one ear than the other. Once sure that there were no missing pieces, he strode out to re-join his team.
"Oh, wow!" Amy beamed, clapping her hands. She was positively ecstatic. "You look so sweet!"
"Like you're ready to rule the beach," added Knuckles who gave a thumbs up.
"You know, you should wear dresses more. Maybe you and Amy can match later."
Tails hopped in place. "Can I share a picture of this with Zooey?"
Sonic hesitated before doing a pose he recalled Amy using for a similar dress to this. He felt dainty as his brother took a quick picture with the camera he pulled out of somewhere. And Sonic found himself not completely hating how nice the dress felt.
"These things have good ventilation, actually."
"So would you like to try out more another day?" Amy asked.
"Only if you don't expect me to catwalk into the village wearing anything like this."
He was not yet ready to reinvent his cool hero persona to include fashionable skirts yet. Anything that meant he could still run and fight unrestricted with his legs would be good. Accessorising can only do so much.
Amy taking off the summer hat made Sonic jump a bit. She smiled at him as it was set aside and she picked up something else: a sunflower holding a red ribbon in its bow shape, not unlike the one at his waist.
"Hold still a second."
After tilting her head from side to side, Amy reached up to settle it just below his left ear. How was it staying in place despite ignoring basic rules of how earrings worked? It had been designed similarly to burrs — having tiny hooks to latch onto fur and stay there.
"There," she smiled.
Sonic did a little twirl in place, earning more claps from his friends. He wasn't expecting Amy to bow at the waist and proffer an open palm as if asking for a dance.
"Ames…"
She giggled, "Can you blame me? You're stunning."
They were promptly interrupted by a low explosion. It sounded like it came from the beach near Sonic's shack. Right, they had an Eggman battle scheduled today. Quickly ducking behind the screen to swap out the heels for his usual running wear, he quickly overtook the others to lead them into battle.
Sonic didn't miss a step, swinging kicks into bot after bot, and dodging around the rest of his team. He balanced himself atop a broken motobug carapace to look up at Eggman with a lazy smirk.
"Ooh, you look good today," the scientist whistled. "Trying something new?"
"You could say that."
"Well, if you're going to be coming to battles in skirts, maybe find ones with a leotard base. I hear they'll look great even while you're jumping and flipping all over the place."
"I'll see if I can find anywhere with something like that," Amy called, swinging her hammer into a mantis bot.
"Also, tell me if you're going to dress up next time so I can pick out a good battle outfit. Can't have my arch-nemesis looking more fashionable than me!"
Sonic rubbed a finger under his nose, a hand on his hip. "Next week on Thursday sound good?"
"Next Thursday," agreed Eggman who wrote it down in his notebook.
Once that was over and done with, they just let the man fly away in retreat, then began gathering up the robot scraps. Knuckles did most of the lifting to get them all the way to Tails' workshop.
"Oh, Sonic? While you're there, can you grab the package on my couch? Star-patterned wrapping paper."
Sonic nodded and sped back to Amy's cottage for a quick change out of the dress. He made sure to fold it neatly with the accessory placed atop the pile. It wasn't hard to find the package, given there was only the one. But he did wonder why she wanted him to grab it right after an Eggman battle. Still, he picked it up and carried it back to the workshop as she asked.
Amy greeted him with a warm smile. "Thanks."
"So, what's this for?"
The others all exchanged a knowing smile.
"Why don't you open it?" Amy said. "While Tails grabs the thing?"
His little brother scampered over to one of his shelves. And under the others' gazes, Sonic set the package onto the workbench and tore open the wrapping paper. He opened the box to find a neatly folded red fabric inside — it was the same striking hue that he remembered liking on the prototype shoes Tails was still working on. Pulling it out for inspection, Sonic realised it was a scarf, one that was long and actually designed to be easily wound about the shoulders.
Amy walked over to undo the well-loved scarf from around his neck, setting it down gently before lovingly winding the new red one loosely along the shoulders — once with both ends, left trailing down his back. He watched Tails hand her a golden star enamel pin that glittered which she used to hold the scarf in place at the left shoulder. They stepped back with anticipating smiles, Amy holding his previous brown one carefully in hand.
Sonic reached up to feel the softness of his new scarf. His nose twitched with each sniff and he couldn't resist burying it into the fabric. Chocolate chunk, earthy ground, strawberry, thatched straw, and a few more. All the spices of his family's scents soaked into the red wound around his neck like armour. They were with him whenever he had this on.
"So, what do you think?" Tails asked eagerly.
He felt gold overflow from his heart as he grinned at them all.
"I love it."
It had been a bit of a rocky journey, but better late than never. Gold never broke; it bent and reshaped itself under intense heat. And Sonic found he didn't mind the shape of himself he had become.
After all, he still had his family. And they loved him back.