Dumb
She found herself unable to move or speak as he stood before her with his arms folded, and just as she was about to speak, he stole the opportunity from her. "Y'know… if there's anything that really annoys me in life, it has to be when people sell themselves short."
His words instantly made her shrink back in her spot, and she realized that her heart was racing as he stared at her. She looked away after recognizing it, but he continued nonetheless. "Saying you're not good enough is stupid. How do you expect anyone to take you seriously when you can't even respect yourself?" When he paused, she tried to open her mouth and fit a few words in, but he started again before she could.
"I know you're all for being humble, but darn it Sal! Learn how to love yourself!" She found her breath catching in the back of her throat as her vision began to blur. "I'm sick of hearing you rag on yourself, Sal. You're better than that." And moments later, she found that she could no longer breathe at all. Instead, she sucked in air through careful and slow sighs as the silence ruled.
"So stop being so dumb." And after that, she completely lost it. Broken sobs, salty tears, hiccups; to put it simply, she was a mess. It was silent except for her crying until he sighed.
"Great. Now I feel like a big fat jerk." A pair of arms—his arms—were suddenly around her, and without a moment's notice, she threw her arms around him and buried her face into his shoulder. She cried and cried and cried as Sonic sighed, "You're not in trouble, Sal. Stop crying." But she did anyways for several minutes until she calmed down.
And when she did, she let out a quiet sob. "I'm sorry…"
"Don't apologize, Sal. You're not in trouble." Silence followed for a few seconds before he pulled her chin up and looking at her, whispering, "I love you."
Sally simply let out another hiccup and nodded. "I love you too. I—" But before anything could be said, he pulled her into a quick kiss, which silenced her instantly. It lasted for only a moment, but it was enough to calm her down again. Once they had pulled away, Sally took in a deep breath and sighed. "Thank you."
Instead of speaking, Sonic merely hugged her tighter and kissed her on the forehead, ruffling her head afterward. "You're welcome, Sal."
I must have been in a bad mood when I wrote this, cause I'm not much for angst anymore. :P I wasn't planning on posting this, but I did anyway.