Knuckles sat quietly on the floor of Sonic's shack, waiting for the blue hedgehog to return from his most recent date with Amy. They had their usual video game sessions on these days, and it was always cute to the echidna to see Sonic gush about how well his date went, even if it hurt a little for… reasons.
Today would be different.
Usually, Knuckles would hear the sound of Sonic speeding by, but no such sound came. Sonic just walked in, seeming to have walked the whole way there.
If he noticed Knuckles' presence, he didn't show it, opting to move over to his hammock and lay down, letting out a soft sigh.
"Everything okay, buddy?" Knuckles asked worriedly.
Sonic let out a soft huff, rolling over to his side so his back was facing Knuckles. He didn't exactly want to talk, but at the same time, he did.
"I'll take that as a no…"
Knuckles stood up and went over to Sonic's hammock. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Sonic was silent for a moment, then shook his head, getting up and moving over to his controller. "I-it's nothin', bud. Let's just focus on our game, alright?"
"You sure?" Knuckles wasn't convinced.
Sonic went quiet again, taking a long paused before sighing. "It didn't go well, Knux."
"Oh no, what happened?" Knuckles gasped.
"We broke up," Sonic said, trying to hide any pain in his voice as he hoped that Knuckles would just drop the subject.
"Oh, Sonic…"
No matter how hard Sonic tried to hide it, Knuckles could tell that he was hurting. And he hated seeing his friend so sad. Without really thinking, he gently wrapped his arms around Sonic and held him close, hoping that maybe a hug would help.
Sonic flushed slightly at the hug, mostly from the surprise of it. "K-Knux…"
He stared up at his friend, then shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It's alright…"
"Sonic…" Knuckles sighed. "I can tell that you're sad. And that's okay, everyone is sad sometimes. You don't need to hide it."
Sonic huffed. "It was just goin' so well, y'know?"
"Yeah, I could tell…" Knuckles replied. He hesitated a moment. "Do…do you wanna talk about it?"
Sonic shrugged. "I dunno…" He gazed up at the ceiling. "Just feels like I messed up or somethin' because it was going so well at first." He had to admit; it was actually pretty easy to vent to Knuckles.
"I'm sure it wasn't your fault," Knuckles assured him.
"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't," Sonic muttered. "Guess it doesn't really matter now, huh?"
He leaned against Knuckles, sheepishly rubbing an arm. "Though… honestly, dunno what I was really expecting. I mean, a lot of people said we looked good together, but I don't think I was ever sure we'd really 'click', y'know?"
"Really?" Knuckles seemed a little surprised by this. "I thought you, you know… liked her."
"I thought I did too," Sonic said. "But that's all it was; I just kinda thought she was pretty and nice and all that stuff." He lowered his head, looking ashamed. "I didn't realize it was just a crush until it was too late."
Knuckles was saddened by this.
"I'm sorry things didn't work out for you guys," he sighed. "Are…are you still friends, at least?"
The last thing Knuckles wanted was for the friendship between two of his friends to be broken.
"Oh yeah, of course," Sonic assured. "It might be a little awkward for a while, but there's no bad feelings between us. We just didn't work out…"
Knuckles quietly breathed a sigh of relief. "Well that's good."
"…Ugh." Sonic let out another sigh. "Sorry for unloading this on you. I know you hate when you can't help me, and you don't really have experience with this kinda stuff…"
"With what kinda stuff?" Knuckles asked, tilting his head.
Sonic frowned, figuring that the echidna's answer just emphasized his point. "Y'know… all this love and crush stuff," he replied.
Knuckles blushed, hesitating nervously. "W-what makes you think I don't?"
Sonic's ears perked. "Well… I mean, you never said anything?" he said. "And I never noticed you bein' attracted to anyone."
Knuckles sighed. "I guess I wasn't obvious enough…"
Sonic tilted his head and raised a brow. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you never noticed, so…" Knuckles turned around, facing away from Sonic and gazing down at the floor. "I guess I'm just not very good at this 'crush' stuff."
Sonic was still confused. "You've got a crush?" he asked. "On who? Who is it?"
Knuckles fidgeted nervously. "D-do you think this is really a good time to talk about this? I-I mean, you're just getting over a crush, aren't you?"
"You can tell me," Sonic told him, looking a bit insulted. "We're friends, aren't we?"
"W-well, yeah…" Knuckles was getting increasingly nervous. "I-I just don't think this is a good time, y-ya know?"
He wasn't lying. He did figure that this was the worst possible time to confess his crush; but he also just wasn't feeling ready for this.
"Knuckles," Sonic said, his face inches away from Knuckles'. "Either you tell me, or…"
He searched through his mind for an innocent punishment. He had no blackmail on the echidna, though not like he's actually use it anyway, so he was at a loss.
Finally, an idea came to mind as he smirked at Knuckles.
"…or I'll kiss you."
Knuckles' face flushed completely red. "Wh-wha huh?"
Sonic grinned, seeing Knuckles' nervousness and taking the oppurtunity. "Oh, yeah! I'll kiss you so bad, so tell me who or is or I'm really gonna do it!"
He pressed his forehead against Knuckles both to increase their closeness and to taunt him. "So will you tell me?"
Knuckles was shaking now.
No no, this is a bad time! This is a really bad time! How do I get out of this?!
He opened his mouth to speak, but only a small whimper came out. He wanted to run out of the shack then and there, but his legs felt frozen in place.
What am I gonna do?!
As Sonic remained close to Knuckles, he couldn't help noticed how… nice it was, to be so close to him. He was warm and there was a certain feeling of comfort emanating off of him. He also had to admit: Knuckles' lips were looking pretty kissable right now. He wouldn't exactly mind if he had to kiss the guy for rea–
Whoa, WHOA. Sonic, focus…
He mentally shook the thought out of his head; regardless of whether he wanted to or not, the kiss clearly made Knuckles nervous and Sonic still wanted to know who his crush was.
"C'mon, Knux. Five seconds!" Sonic taunted, his hands moving up to tightly grip the echidna's shoulders.
"M-meep…" Knuckles was too scared to say anything. His heart was in his throat. He frantically searched his mind for something, anything.
Well…I gotta tell him somehow…and he was gonna do this anyway…
Suddenly, before he even realized what he was doing, he grabbed Sonic's face and… kissed him right on the lips.
"Mmm!" Sonic's heart raced at the sudden kiss, definitely not expecting Knuckles to do that. That was his plan, after all, wasn't it? Why would Knuckles–
…oh…
Now it made sense to Sonic. Knuckles' crush was on him, and he refused to say anything because he'd just had a bad break-up.
His ears flopped down, and there was a moment of hesitation before he suddenly kissed back. He'd never kissed anyone before and honestly thought little of it, but now… this was much more than he'd imagined.
Knuckles was taken completely by surprise when Sonic kissed back. He didn't deny that he enjoyed it, but he was also very confused. He knew that Sonic had meant to kiss him as a joke, but… was this a real kiss? And if so, why? Hadn't Sonic just broken up with his crush?
After a few seconds, Sonic pulled away, staring at Knuckles in silence. He sighed, then embraced him.
"I'm sorry…" he murmured.
"H-huh?" Knuckles was even more confused now. "I-I'm the one that should be sorry… th-that was a really stupid thing for me to do…"
Sonic shook his head. "That's not what I mean…"
He frowned. "I'm sorry I didn't notice you sooner."
Knuckles tilted his head. "H-huh? What do you mean?"
Sonic pulled away slightly. "I shoulda figured out how you felt, but I guess I just never thought you'd like me that way." Now that he knew, he actually felt pretty stupid. Knuckles' crush seemed so obvious when he really thought about it.
"H-how could I not?" Knuckles smiled sheepishly. "I-I mean, you're awesome, and really fun to hang out with, and my bestest friend ever, and hands–" He slapped a hand over his mouth. His face flushed again.
Sonic's face flushed even worse. He wasn't used to such sudden compliments like that. "Y-y'mean it?" he asked.
He trailed his hand along Knuckles' arm, then looked him straight in the eyes, leaning close again. "I want to give us a chance…" he muttered.
"H-huh?" Knuckles was really stunned now. "Y-you do?"
Sonic nodded. "How could I not?" he asked, imitating Knuckles' earlier statement. "I mean, you're awesome, really fun to hang out with…" he chuckled, "and you're actually pretty handsome yourself," he admitted despite his blush.
Knuckles' face flushed once again. "I…I am?"
Sonic nodded again, a big grin on his face.
"I-I…" Knuckles didn't even know what to say anymore. He was too flustered for words.
Sonic chuckled, amused at how flustered Knuckles was. "Is that a 'no'?" he teased.
"Wha–no! I mean, yes! I mean…" Knuckles shook his head. "…Y-yes."
Sonic smiled at him, then looked away sheepishly. "Though, let's hold off on any dates until tomorrow, alright?" he asked.
Knuckles nodded. "C-can we still hang out though?"
"Of course," Sonic replied, a little surprised he felt the need to ask. He sat down on Knuckles' lap, then leaned back against his chest. "We can chill here as long as you want."
Knuckles smiled, blushing heavily. "Sounds good to me."
And so they did.