"All right, Sticks, do you mind stirring the chili a little?" the slightly sheepish Sonic asked as he looked over Sticks' progress with her half of making chili dogs. The two always loved cooking together and had a great chemistry in the kitchen, managing to meld together healthy yet tasty food with their combined knowledge.
"Of course," Sticks replied, smiling. She immediately got to work.
Sonic smiled back; he always enjoyed her company, as she was one of the few people who didn't judge him.
"That was a clever idea you had about how to keep a lot of the fat outta the meat," he complimented, "and those freshly-picked ingredients are just gonna take it up to eleven!"
"And I'm sure your ability to make any food taste amazing will take it up past eleven," Sticks replied with a wink.
"H-huh, really?" Sonic asked with a slight blush. "Eheh, I'm not all THAT good though."
"Oh, but you are!" Sticks insisted.
She turned back to the cooking chili. "I think this looks about done. What do you think?"
Sonic leaned over, taking a ladle-full and gazing at it.
"It's perfect! Now we've just gotta test it." He took a hot dog that he'd cooked, then placed it inside of a toasted bun and lathered the chili over it.
"Ah… here, you can have the first try," he said with a small smile, offering the chili dog to her.
Sticks smiled back. He was so sweet!
She took a bite of the chili dog. "Oh, this turned out perfect! Here, you try it now." She handed it back to him.
"Really?" Sonic took the chili dog from her, taking a bite himself. Instantly, his eyes lit up. "Wow, you're right!" He grinned, then suddenly started to panic. "A-aww, shoot, did I write down the recipe!?" He sped around in small bursts, hoping that he had.
"Calm down, I've got it right here."
Sticks held up a sheet of notebook paper she'd been writing on.
"A-ah?" Sonic glanced back, quickly becoming embarrassed. "H-heh, I'm glad I've got you to cover up my weaknesses; especially since I've, erm… got a lot…"
Sticks patted his shoulder, giving him a warm smile. "Don't feel bad; nobody's perfect, after all."
"Y-yeah, I guess, but you're really close and I'm far from it," he argued, giggling weakly.
Sticks frowned. "Now Sonic, you know that isn't true. You need to have more confidence in yourself!"
"I-I know!" He shyly hugged himself. "Knuckles says that I need to be more like the Sonic from that other world he went to…"
Sticks sighed quietly. She knew that Knuckles probably meant more by that than just being confident…
"It doesn't matter what Knuckles says. You don't need to be more like the other Sonic." She smiled again. "You just need to be more confident in who YOU are."
He blushed, touched by her words. "Y-yeah… thanks~"
He turned away, looking back at their preparations. "Anyway, let's get back to our recipe. I bet it could be even better if we work on it some more!" he exclaimed, sounding like an excited child.
Sticks smiled wider. "That's the spirit!"
She loved it when Sonic was excited about something. It was just too adorable.
–
The next day, Sonic and Sticks met up at Hem Burger, joining up at the same fabric-covered table with Knuckles, Amy, and Tails.
"Ah, open wide, Amy my dear~" Knuckles chimed, taking a sweet potato fry he'd already bitten into and offering it to her.
Amy giggled and blushed, taking a bite of the fry.
Sonic tilted his head, watching them share food and drinks. "What are you two doing?"
Knuckles frowned. "Ah, naive as always, Sonic, though not that I'd expect you to know." He shrugged. "We've merely been told by the restaurant that we're not to show specific affection that would disrupt others, such as kissing, so my ever-intelligent Amy came up with an idea of how we could continue doing so in our own way."
Amy giggled again. "Oh, you!"
"And your way is imitating the dating rituals of birds?" Tails asked, completely serious.
"No, silly!" Amy replied cheerfully. "It's called 'indirect kissing'. It's like…" She paused to think of how to explain it. "For example, you take a bite of food, and then your date takes a bite of it too; or if you share a drink and use the same straw or something. It's like kissing without actually kissing!"
She leaned back, sighing dreamily as she began staring off into space. "Isn't it just romantic?"
Sonic's ears perked, instantly remembering his experience yesterday with Sticks; thinking about it, they've done it before too.
"Or, erm… sharing a chili dog?"
Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Yes, ever-so-naive Sonic, though I imagine a chili dog would be one of the least romantic things to share."
Sonic blushed, placing a hand over his face and looking downwards.
Sticks blushed too. Had she and Sonic shared an "indirect kiss"? Coming to think of it, they shared their food a lot, didn't they…
Sonic's ears turned a light shade of red. Shoot, she didn't know… did she?
Sonic glanced over to Sticks, but quickly averted his gaze. No, of course not. She wouldn't…
Tails noticed Sonic's blushing. "Hey, did you get into my can of emergency red paint when I wasn't looking?"
"W-wha–?" Sonic flushed further. "I-I, ah…"
Sticks' own blush was getting stronger. She opened her mouth to speak, but had no idea what to say.
"…Oh, look at the time!" Sonic exclaimed. "I-I've gotta go, erm… eat lunch!" He sped away without another word, flustered beyond belief. He knew that he had a planned get-together with Sticks later, but he had to get rid of his red face first.
Knuckles raised a brow. "That hedgehog gets stranger everytime I speak to him…"
Sticks stood up. "I, um, need to return a library book," she said quickly, then hurried off before anyone could react.
Amy stared in the direction that Sticks had left, a thoughtful smile on her face.
–
Hours had passed since then, and Sonic awkwardly walked to Sticks' house; the door was open for him, as Sticks had promised when they'd made the plan to get together.
He walked inside, still trying to think of what to say… but ended up blurting something out anyway.
"So, that thing at Hem Burger, ahaha~" Idiot! You're trying to make her forget about that, not remember it!
"Y-yes, right…" Sticks laughed nervously, not sure what to say. Her mind was drawing a complete blank.
"…I-I didn't know that's what… that meant…" he muttered quietly.
"I-I didn't either…" Sticks replied.
Well, that proved his thoughts…
"So, erm… that makes it different… I guess? I mean, it's not like we were doing it for… that, yeah?" he suggested.
Sticks hoped that Sonic didn't see the blush forming on her cheeks. "R-right. W-we were just sharing food…"
"…Does that make it okay, you think?" he asked hesitantly.
"O-oh, uh…o-of course," Sticks replied. Her blush deepened. "A-and besides, I…I-I don't really mind too much…"
Her heart skipped a beat when she realized what she'd said. Oh no, I hope I haven't made him uncomfortable by saying that!
Sonic shared her blushed.. "R-really? 'Cause… me neither…"
"W-wait, really?" Sticks was surprised.
Does he…? No, probably not…
"W-well, y'know… it's not like we meant it… it just matters what the intention is, right?" he asked.
"R-right," Sticks replied.
Her heart sank a little; she silently chided herself for getting her hopes up…
"S-so… that means it'd be okay if we… kept doing it, right?" He squeaked shyly. "I-I just, we already were doing it and… y'know, if we don't…"
"A-as long as it's alright with you," Sticks said softly.
"S-sure it is…" He frowned. "Er, you okay though? Usually I'm the one who gets all sheepish like that." He pointed to her for emphasis.
"O-oh–y-yes, I'm fine," Sticks tried to assure him.
He lightly touched her shoulder. "Y-you sure?"
She blushed at his touch, turning her gaze away in hopes that he wouldn't notice.
"…y-yes, I-I'm sure."
"E-erm, okay…" He smiled weakly. "So, what are we cooking today?"
"O-oh, um…" Sticks hadn't really thought about that, since her mind had been preoccupied with…other things.
"Well…what would you like to make?" she asked, smiling softly.
"We made chili dogs last time, so… let's do a twist on somethin' you like this time," Sonic suggested. "Like a fruit salad maybe?"
Sticks' smile widened. "That sounds good to me!"
–
The two continued on to start making food together once more, returning to the supposed 'indirect kissing'. It was harmless and didn't mean anything, after all, even if they wished it did.
At first, it started out as just one food item here or there, but it slowly descended further, to the point where, instead of sharing just one bite every few days, it became every other day, and then every day all together.
It was so gradual that the two hardly noticed and started doing it in public, like at Hem Burger.
"Mm, Sticks, you gotta try this veggie dog," Sonic said after having taking a bite of said veggie dog, offering it to her.
Sticks took a bite. "Mmm, this is really good!"
"Aha, I knew it!"
Sticks and Sonic, startled, turned towards the voice.
"O-oh, hello Tails," Sticks said.
"U-uh, yeah, hey, buddy," Sonic greeted. "Know what…?"
"That you're a couple," Tails replied, as if the answer was obvious.
Sticks nearly choked. Her face was possibly even redder than Knuckles.
Sonic clutched his glass tightly. "W-what? N-no, we're not…"
Tails didn't seem to buy it one bit. "Oh yeah? Then explain why you're always doing that dating ritual that Knuckles and Amy do."
"I-it's doesn't mean anything!" Sonic stuttered out. "I-it's just… f-for research and stuff! Sticks a-and I do a lot of cooking together, s-so we have taste a lot of stuff!"
Sticks only nodded in agreement, still too flustered to speak.
Tails stared at them for a moment, completely deadpan.
"You know, you two couldn't even lie your way into a bed," he stated bluntly.
And with that, before either of his friends could respond, he walked off.
And, a few seconds later, the sound of a head hitting a table filled the area; Sonic's head.
"I-I'm so sorry about him…"
Sticks tried to respond, but could only mumble incomprehensibly. If her face wasn't burning red before, it definitely was now.
"I-I thought, um…" He sighed, scarfing down his veggie dog. "I-I'll take ya home…"
Sticks managed a slight nod, still unable to speak coherently. She didn't even bother with the rest of her lunch; her stomach was in knots.
The two got up, then left, starting to walk home.
"…H-hey. You okay?" Sonic asked, shaking Sticks slightly. I knew she'd hate the idea of being with me like that…
Sticks struggled to form a response at first.
"…y-yeah…I-I'll be fine…"
She didn't think she'd be okay.
"I-I guess maybe it's just everyone talking and stuff?" Sonic guessed. "After Knuckles and Amy got together, people started figuring which one of us would get together next…"
Sticks didn't reply. Her heart was sinking lower and lower. She wanted so much to tell Sonic the truth about how she felt, but…she just couldn't.
Sonic frowned; she'd been so coldly silent. He sighed, focusing back on the path, regretting his attempt at talking with her.
Pretty soon, they'd arrived at Sticks' home.
"S-so…s-see you tomorrow?" she said quietly.
That is, if today's events haven't made you too uncomfortable around me…
"E-er, yeah…" He reached out, gripping her hand reassuringly. "S-sorry…"
"F-for what?" Sticks asked. She gripped his hand back, holding on as if fearing that he'd suddenly disappear.
"…All this…" His head lowered. "If I hadn't… I mean, I wanted to…" He bit his bottom lip, stopping himself.
"Wanted to what?" Sticks gripped his hand tighter. "It's alright, you can talk to me," she said softly, smiling sadly. "That's what friends are for, right?"
His ears drooped at "friends". Great, now it was even harder.
"…No, really, it's nothing…"
Sticks' heart sunk even lower. Great, now he didn't even want to talk to her.
"O-oh. A-alright then…" she sighed in defeat, letting go of his hand. She wouldn't force him to talk.
"S-see you tomorrow…" she muttered sadly, turning and walking towards her house.
I hope…
Sonic's heart dropped, and suddenly, he didn't know what he was doing.
He rushed up to her, grabbing her hand once more. He leaned forward, kissing her cheek.
"…P-please don't be sad…"
Sticks' face flushed red. Her heart felt like it might pound out of her chest. Her stomach was full of butterflies.
She couldn't take it anymore. Without even thinking, she rushed forward and kissed Sonic – on the lips.
Sonic let out an audible squeak, but softened, his ears and quills drooping down with content. He lightly held her shoulders, kissing back. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest, and he was almost certain that she could hear it.
Sticks' heart soared when she felt him kiss back. She could cry she was so happy; she had wanted this for so long!
Eventually, Sonic took a breath and pulled away, his face positively red. He seemed dazed for a moment, then perked.
"A-ah! I-I'm sorry! I didn't even ask if it was okay, o-or…" He looked down, eyes darting about shyly.
Sticks giggled sheepishly. "I-it's alright, I didn't ask you first either…"
"W-well, yeah, but…" His voice trailed off; he was stumped. "E-erm…
Sticks put a hand on his shoulder, smiling warmly (her face still flushed).
"S-so…see you tomorrow?" she said with a wink.
He grinned sheepishly, then placed his hand over the one she put on his shoulder.
"Y-yeah… or if you wouldn't mind me staying over…?"
Sticks was taken by surprise, though she didn't object. "O-oh, o-of course you're welcome to stay!"
He giggled, his blush reddening further. He gently held Sticks' hand, then led her inside.
This made all the embarrassment worth it.