Serena had planned everything out perfectly. She had thought things through in her mind more times than she probably needed to.
The problem, as always, was execution.
"Serena… You're not doing it again, are you?"
Serena's head suddenly rose up, looking across the room at the source of the voice. It was Sonic. She had been daydreaming again.
In front of Serena, on the kitchen counter, Serena had prepared two sandwiches. The bread had been sliced evenly, the lettuce and tomato layered evenly inside, the bacon laid out in perfectly measured strips inside, the surface of the bread just cooked enough to make it a perfect golden shade and the cheese inside melt out. The bread knife was in her hand, and she was getting ready to slice the bread.
"What? What are you talking about? Am I doing something wrong?" asked Serena, her eyes growing wide as she momentarily considered the prospect of having forgotten something.
Sonic, slouched in his chair at the dining table, gave Serena a coy look, grinning and raising an eyebrow. "You're obsessing again, aren't you?"
Serena blinked, and then looked back at the sandwich—the exact same spot she had been staring at the entire time.
She hadn't been thinking about the sandwich. She had been remembering what had happened earlier that day, when she had met her friend Miette in the park. She had been thinking about all the terrible advice Miette had given her in one, unhelpful string of conversation—all coming about when Serena had let slip that she thought Sonic was cute. Eventually, Miette had broken it down into a simple, three step strategy to get her into, well, whatever this situation was.
She had already gotten step one done, inviting Sonic over to 'just hang out'. If she had planned ahead, she wouldn't have inadvertently stumbled into some confrontation between Sonic and Eggman, and wouldn't have done anything to get thrown into the river—but then again, here they were.
Now was for step two: do something together.
Serena had expertly sliced the sandwiches for both of them. She took the plates, wielding them in her hands and crossing the room, coming to the dining table.
Sonic immediately sat up like he had been caught texting in class. He sat himself straight at the table, rubbing his hands together with excitement as Serena set down the plate in front of him, his hands hovering over the plate while he waited for Serena to set herself down across from him.
"Oh boy, oh boy… I should let Eggman throw you in the river more often if this is my punishment," Sonic grinned, taking up a half of his sandwich and immediately biting into it.
Serena didn't jump into her sandwich so quickly. She instead sat across from him, watching with her hands in her lap. The light hanging above them bathed them in a warm, tender glow, giving Serena the chance to brush aside her wet, post-shower hair and focus on the moment. She had changed into a lavender bathrobe, a pair of pink slippers hanging off her toes as she sat in a fairly reserved position.
"It's my way of saying thank you for saving me today…"
"Mm! This is really good Serena! Thank you!" Sonic continued, almost as if she hadn't said anything.
Serena took a deep, shuddering breath. It was time for step three: make a move.
Down beneath the table, Serena had let her feet slip out of the soft pink slippers, hearing them drop to the floor and feeling the cool air of her apartment on her bare feet. Serena looked away, looking down at her sandwich, looking at anything that wasn't Sonic to hide any nervousness she had. Slowly, her long skinny leg reached across, her foot reaching out until it softly brushed against Sonic's leg. She grazed down it until her toes touched down on the tops of his sneakers, rubbing softly and somewhat intimately over the surface.
Out of the corner of her eye, Serena watched as Sonic's chewing slowed. She froze, wondering if it was too late to back out now, but eventually looking up to see Sonic's expression. They locked eyes for a moment, Serena unable to hold back the blush that was coming to her cheeks.
Then, slowly, Sonic's cheeks began to glow too. He swallowed his mouthful of sandwich, continuing to look back at Sonic.
Time seemed to slow down for Serena. She could feel her heart pounding beneath the thin material of her robe, wondering if Sonic could hear it too. Instead, Serena felt Sonic's foot shifting, worming itself away, and though she couldn't see beneath she could see Sonic fidgeting. In a deafening moment, one that made Serena's heart do a backflip, she heard Sonic's shoe clatter to the floor.
Serena felt something nudging her leg—it was Sonic's toes. Her breath had become audibly stifled as she felt his touch gently grazing down the length of her leg until it came to rest upon her foot—
—and Serena felt Sonic's foot. She instantly cringed.
Sonic's foot was instantly warm, incredibly so from being trapped inside his sneaker. When she felt the soft weight of his foot resting down on top of her foot, she realized how massive Sonic's foot was—something she should have known from his size 25 sneakers. The big, meaty underside of his foot pressed down and rubbed gently on Serena's comparatively dainty feet, making Serena realize just how sweaty he was. In fact, Sonic's feet could be best described as greasy, and the feeling of his foot made her realize just how much of a cheesy foot odor had reached her nose.
Though Sonic was clearly into the intimate moment, looking on Serena's horrified expression made him worried. Serena looked as though she was getting a tetanus shot, her face twisting up and cringing as she looked away.
"Aaahhh!" Serena yelped, unable to take any more of it. The table's surface thumped audibly as she pulled her legs away in a scramble, the chair squealing out from underneath her as she then got up and ran—presumably to take a shower.