Sticks leaned over the table, watching Knuckles work hard on his Valentine's Day card for Sonic. The echidna had kept his crush on the hedgehog a secret for far too long, and now, he was finally going to do something about it.

"Is that the bomb?" Sticks asked, pointing to one of Knuckles' decorations. "Just in case he says 'no'?"

"What? No!" Knuckles shook his head. "That's just there to make it look pretty."

"Oh," Sticks said with a frown, giving a skeptical gaze at the card. "…Then what's the point?"

"I just want this to look nice," Knuckles replied. "Gotta make a good impression, ya know?"

Sticks nodded, though still hardly understanding. "Are you almost done then? It doesn't count if you don't give it to him today, right?"

"R-right. I'm almost done." Knuckles was getting increasingly nervous. What if Sonic didn't like it? What if he laughed at him? What if their friendship was ruined because of this? What if…

Sticks noticed his nervousness and gave him an uncomfortably-strong pat on the back. "Don't be so paranoid!"

Knuckles let out an "oof!", almost dropping the card. "I-I'm just nervous, that's all."

"Yeah, I can tell," Sticks said in monotone, crossing her arms and raising a brow. "You're shaking."

"A-am I?" Knuckles hadn't even realized it. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.

Sticks waited for Knuckles to finish his card, then handed him an envelope. "Now go!" she chimed, pointing to the door.

Knuckles carefully slid the card into the envelope, then slowly stood up. He gulped anxiously, then headed out the door.

The echidna found Sonic sitting idly by at the table in his shack, leaning back and looking only slightly less than relaxed.

"H-hey, Sonic!" Knuckles greeted as casually as he could. "How's it goin'?"

Sonic turned his head to him. "Oh! Hey, Knux, I–"

He stopped, his eyes locking with the envelope in Knuckles' hand, which was sealed with a small heart sticker.

"…Ugh, another one?" he asked, making a slightly disgusted face.

Knuckles flinched at Sonic's reaction. "I-I, um…"

Sonic placed his hands behind his head and huffed. "Just put it in the pile," he told him, jabbing a thumb towards the gigantic pile of cards on his desk; it seemed he was pretty popular on Valentine's Day. "I swear, I have enough of these to start a bonfire…"

"O-oh. Okay…"

I should've known he'd think it was stupid…

The echidna suppressed a sigh as he tossed the envelope onto the pile. He quietly left the shack, his head drooping as he felt his heart shatter.

Sonic raised a brow at Knuckles' sad tone, but let it slide out of his mind, not knowing what could be bothering him anyway.

He continued to examine his tower of cards, not knowing where to start or if he even should, then turned as Tails walked in.

"Whoa, are those all for you?" the fox asked, pointing at the pile.

"Yup," Sonic replied. "Geez, I don't think I even know most of these girls."

Tails frowned, then walked closer, picking up the top envelope; the one that had been most recently laid down. Curiously, he ripped it open and looked inside.

Sonic rambled on, "I wonder how many of 'em are just store-bought." He chuckled, trying to amuse himself. "That's cheating."

"This one isn't," Tails pointed out, showing him the card from the envelope he held.

Sonic took a close look at it. "Huh… it is kinda nice… buuut probably also from some chick I don't know," he argued. "Knuckles brought it in; I guess some girl guilted him into givin' it to me."

Tails opened the card, reading its contents before his eyes went wide. "U-uhh, not exactly, Sonic…"

Sonic, noticing Tails' distress, grabbed the card and read it. The handwriting was a little sloppy, but the message was clear, with Knuckles' signature at the bottom. The hedgehog instantly froze up.

"S-Sonic…" Tails muttered. "What did you tell Knuckles right before he left?"

Sonic put a hand to his chin, thinking. "Oh, not much. Just…"

His voice trailed off, and he bit his lip before hopping out of his chair, card in hand.

"I-I gotta go, buddy! Be back later!"

He rushed out the door. "Knuckles!"

Knuckles, meanwhile, was sitting by his weight-lifting equipment, his face buried in his hands. He wanted to cry, but he felt too numb to do so. Everything had gone completely wrong, and Sonic hadn't even bothered to read the card. He'd even learned how to write just for this occasion, but now his efforts had gone to waste. He wanted to just curl up and disappear.

All of a sudden, Sonic sped up behind him.

"K-Knux…"

He frowned, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. A feeling of guilt grew inside of him, seeing how distressed Knuckles was.

"O-oh. Hi, Sonic." Knuckles was surprised that his friend had gone after him, and he wondered why. Hadn't he just rejected his card and, effectively, his confession?

"Hi…" Sonic muttered. He paused for a moment, then walked in front of his friend and sighed. "L-look, about the card…"

"I-I know, it's stupid…" Knuckles mumbled, avoiding Sonic's gaze. "J-just forget about it, okay?"

"No no, Knuckles!" Sonic said quickly. "You don't understand…"

"Understand what?" Knuckles asked, confused.

"I…" Sonic sighed, the guilt getting stronger. "I didn't know it was your card. I thought someone gave you that envelope to give to me…"

"O-oh." Knuckles blushed nervously. "Y-you didn't read any of that, did you?"

Now it was Sonic's turn to blush. "…I did…"

Knuckles swallowed hard. "O-oh. What…what did you think?"

He was shaking now, his breathing heavy as he braced himself for Sonic's response.

"I mean…" Sonic became slightly more flustered, staring down at the card in his hand. "I… didn't know you could write like that. Y-y'know, write so…" He struggled to find a word. "…nice."

"I-I learned how to write… just for that…" Knuckles admitted, his face flushing in embarrassment. "…j-just for you."

Sonic let out a few stutters of embarrassment, honored that Knuckles would do something like that for him. "I guess I just… didn't see you likin' me that way," he admitted.

"I know, i-it's probably weird…" Knuckles fidgeted with his hands nervously. "I-I mean, having another guy like you and all… especially me…"

"No, that's not what I mean!" Sonic told him. "It's nothin' like that, just…"

He sighed sheepishly, an ear flopping down as he reached into the inside of his bandana.

"…Here."

In his hand held out to Knuckles was a card; homemade, but looking very roughly made. The fold was uneven, the decorations were partially falling off, and the text on the front was slightly off-center and jagged.

"Huh?" Knuckles was surprised. "I-is that… for me?"

Sonic nodded. "Y-yeah…"

He hesitated, averting his gaze from the echidna. "I made it for you, but…" He almost groaned at what he knew he was about to admit. "I was… t-too shy to give it to you…"

Knuckles blushed as he gazed at the card. "You…?"

He didn't even know what to say. The card might've been very rough-looking, but the fact that Sonic had actually gone through the trouble of making it… for him… he was touched.

Sonic's face reddened. "I didn't wanna give it to you 'cause you're the arts and crafts guy and… well…" He stared down at the two cards, seeing how clearly different they were. He was utterly embarrassed at his handiwork.

"B-but… the fact that you made one… I just…" Knuckles sniffled, wiping at his eyes as he started to become emotional. "It…it means so much to me…"

"Well, of course I did!" Sonic blurted out. "Why wouldn't I?"

He blushed, then collected his thoughts. "I mean… you mean a lot to me. I–" He stopped there, turning his head away stubbornly. He already gave the guy a card; he was not going to say THAT today too.

"R-really?" Knuckles blushed. He certainly hadn't expected Sonic to say that.

"Why wouldn't you?" Sonic asked. "We've been friends for how long now? You've gotta be pretty awesome to stay friends with the numbero uno hedgehog here." He proudly patted his chest.

Knuckles blushed even more. "W-wow… I…" He was at a loss for words.

Sonic flushed, then set the cards down and turned away, arms crossed. "D-don't look at me like that…"

"Like what?" Knuckles was confused.

"I-I dunno," the hedgehog muttered. "Just that wide-eyed look you get when you're all amazed by stuff…"

"Why? Does that bother you?" Knuckles asked.

"N-no!" Sonic retorted. "It's just too…" He turned his gazed to the ground and lowered his voice. "…cute…"

If Knuckles hadn't been flustered before, he certainly was now. "R-really?"

"Yes, yes, really!" Sonic said quickly, his face flushing further as his embarrassment grew more intense. He definitely wasn't used to this.

Knuckles smiled sheepishly. "N-nobody's ever said that to me before…"

"…Really?" Sonic asked, turning back to him, surprise in his voice. "I mean, I figured you would've gotten a bunch of cards today…"

Knuckles shook his head, sighing sadly. "Nope… just yours."

Sonic frowned, going quiet for a moment. "…Well, that means I've got no competition, right?" he asked. A smile slowly grew on his face. "Does that make me your valentine by default?"

Knuckles looked up. "You…you mean it?"

Sonic's grin widened. He shrugged, turning around as casually as he could. "Well, if you don't actually want to take me out on a date, then I guess not~" he teased.

"But I do!" Knuckles blurted, jumping to his feet. His face flushed again when he realized what he'd said, and he laughed nervously.

"Ahah!" Sonic exclaimed, turning back to him. "Good, hehe." He lightly scratched his nose and blushed.

"S-so… where do you wanna go?" Knuckles asked. "I've never gone on a date before, so I'm not really sure how this goes…"

Sonic thought for a moment, though still shifting awkwardly. "How 'bout we just start simple?"

He hesitated, then reached out and grabbed Knuckles' hand. "Me. You. My place. We'll just see what happens from there."

Knuckles' heart skipped a beat when Sonic grabbed his hand. "S-sure, sounds good to me!"

"Sounds good to me too then!" Sonic exclaimed. He walked off, taking Knuckles with him, on his first ever date. Needless to say, though he didn't do it often, he couldn't suppress a huge smile on his face.