"I'm just saying, we should call this what it is."
Shadow isn't quite sure about sushi just yet. He pokes the raw fish, breaks apart the rice, warily avoids the wasabi whilst trying to look sophisticated, still unused to chopsticks. Sushi. He sometimes likes it, but sometimes doesn't. It's a fascinating experience.
Rouge, seated closely beside him, is quite satisfied with her salad, but glances aside at her partner every now and then. It's so fun to watch him.
Sonic is also partaking in sushi, as is Amy. She asked him nicely and so he is obliging her, but unlike Shadow, Sonic has decided that sushi is not his 'thing'. He eats the fine food with a straight face but his eyes are watering. He envies Rouge, keeps narrowing those watery eyes at her, because she got off the hook on account of being a fruit bat - allegedly. He has his suspicions.
"This is a date."
Sonic swallows, or rather gulps.
Amy herself adores sushi. And talking. "A double date." And dates with Sonic. And matchmaking. And being right, especially.
Rouge has to talk, too, otherwise it'd just be Amy talking and that'd get a bit awkward. "About that." The bat's lower, huskier tones are an interesting contrast against the hedgehog's raised, birdlike chatter. "Your date seems to be struggling, hon."
"Oh, hush!" Amy turns to Sonic with a giggle. "You're fine, aren't you, sweetie?"
The blue hedgehog gives the pink hedgehog a mute thumbs-up, expression quite blank.
"See? He is absolutely fine."
"Uh-huh."
"How are you enjoying your sushi, Shadow?"
The dark hedgehog jerks, startled out of his deep contemplation of the salmon with the utterance, "Was it sentient?"
"What?"
"Sorry."
"He sometimes thinks aloud."
"I sometimes think aloud," Shadow admits quietly, under Rouge's consoling, momentary caress. A single finger brushing across his arm.
Amy sees. Like a hawk. Smirks at this exchange.
Shadow's powerful strides guide him to the barrier between himself and the ocean. There, he leans forward, gazing at his rippling reflection.
Rouge saunters more easily in his wake, wings unfurling a bit, breathing in the salty air with relish. She is in no hurry.
"The water is calm."
She settles beside him, her reflection joining his.
Close by, Amy and Sonic are together at the ice cream stand, collecting cones.
"Look at them. Tell me that isn't love, right there."
"Looks kinda like it."
"I do wonder what it is that stops them, though."
"Hmm." This does intrigue the blue hedgehog, from time to time.
"I know they're tough guys. They've almost died together a bunch of times and they've protected each other many times more. It's so beautiful! Like us!"
"Maybe they're not into each other that way."
"What?"
"All these years later." Sonic can be very gentle. "Amy, they might just be friends."
"Non-romantic love."
"The platonic stuff, yeah."
The pink hedgehog projects her lower lip outward.
"What's wrong with that?"
"I want them to be in love, Sonic. The smoochy, definitely romantic kind."
"I know, Ames."
She hedgehog accepts the cones passed to her. She seems a little irritated, a little sad.
"Hey. I could be wrong."
"I hope so. I've wanted this for years."
He takes in a deep breath.
"What if I'm wrong?"
"Amy."
"Am I a hopeless romantic? Seeing things that aren't truly there?"
"Look at me, won't ya?"
She meets his bright, heroic eyes. A little bloodshot after the sushi. There.
"Maybe they're totally nuts about each other. I wouldn't be surprised. They're weird like that."
"But?"
"But it doesn't have to me the stuff you see in movies, right?"
"I… I guess not. But just imagine, Sonic, how incredible they could be together. Like us."
"Amy."
Rouge, as an unavoidable consequence of who she is, what she is, hears more than she lets others realise. Even over the ocean breeze, some of their words have carried to her ears. She turns to look at Shadow, his beauty striking her afresh, again.
"This was fun."
"Right?" Amy is thrilled that Sonic is the one to have said so. "We should totally do this again, sometime!" She has perked considerably. Much of it due to Sonic charming her with stories about some of his solo adventures. They give her so much to daydream about.
"But no sushi next time."
"Aaw."
Rouge isn't the talkative type, so it doesn't strike anyone as worrisome except for Shadow when she doesn't fully acknowledge anything that has been said, her gaze cold and professional.
They say their goodbyes, then separate.
"What's the matter?"
"I really can't escape you, hon."
"Not at all." The dark hedgehog offers the bat his arm. "Shall we talk?"
"I suppose we could."
"I may pout otherwise."
She groans, joining herself with him at the elbow. "Not the pouting!"
He concentrates for a moment.
Suddenly, they're in their high-rise loft in a nicer area of the city.
Rouge kisses Shadow's cheek once, disentangling herself from him and moving toward the kitchen.
"I think I have formulated an opinion on sushi." He follows her.
"Oh, yes?"
"Indeed."
"What have you decided?"
"I've decided to remain undecided."
She opens the tin of biscuits, giving him a perplexed look.
"I like the excitement of liking, yet disliking sushi."
"You are so strange."
He nods once.
She reaches inside, then takes out a biscuit, placing it between her sharp teeth. Passes him the tin. Contemplates tea and a book.
He retrieves one, too, and takes a delicate bite, mindful of the crumbs. He is looking at her, searching for answers.
"There's no nice way to explain."
"That's alright."
"I'm not sure I want to bring it up."
"You don't have to."
"I know. But you're wondering and so am I. Just, we're wondering about different things."
"What are you wondering about?"
"Us."
"What about us?"
She reaches for the kettle. "Our relationship."
"What about it?"
"Do you ever wonder how it could be, um…" She takes another bite, chews, swallows. Thinking. "Labelled?"
"This is about Sonic and Amy."
"You need to stop being so perceptive."
Shadow is smiling. It's quiet, subtle. "The double date thing the pink maniac kept going on about before."
"That thing and other things." Rouge rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I know I'm being stupid."
"You're never stupid. Did she upset you?"
"No. Just got me thinking about some old stuff I thought I'd stop thinking about permanently, someday."
He is quite disarming, gazing at her from over the broken edge of his biscuit in his unique way.
She huffs. Slightly taller than he, she likes to think she is imposing, even when lacking poise.
"I think I understand."
"You probably do."
"I don't see the need to define our relationship."
"Why not?"
"We're special. Giving us a name would render us plain and intelligible to the world."
"I…"
He waits.
"I thought you'd say that."
"But?"
"I keep thinking about the possibilities of being intelligible." She quickly shuts the tin, intending to put it away. But she hesitates, then.
"They're still possible."
She's so shocked by the implications of this that she drops the biscuits.
The tin clangs very loudly on the tiles, but it remains sealed.
She gapes at him.
He raises a brow.
"Honey!"
"That was far too melodramatic." He patiently bends over, picking up the tin. "You probably just broke most of them."
"What am I to do with you, exactly?"
He steps past her, gently setting the biscuits down.
"Look at me."
He turns toward her, his expression calm.
She touches his hand with hers. "You are the only man I have ever felt out of my depth with. Do you understand that?"
"You are not at all shallow."
"Neither are you, handsome."
"Mm. I don't pretend to have a perfect grasp over everything I think and feel. Perhaps, someday, I might understand."
"Until then?"
"Until then, I am not ruling out the possibilities."
"Our possibilities."
He raises his brow, again.
"I sound ridiculous."
"No."
"You're amused."
"I'm intrigued."
The bat and the hedgehog listen to the kettle.
"Whatever we are, I like us."
"I like us, too."
"Maybe we'll stay this way. We're cool, right?"
"We're quite dysfunctional."
"But we function together." She steps closer, her fingers interweaving within his. "Without compromising ourselves as individuals."
"You are quite sentimental this evening."
"I know. It's terrible."
He doesn't mind.