Club Rouge was shut down from the public tonight. It was home to a private party instead.
More of a reunion of sorts, really- although the Club stood undecorated, save for a few Christmas decorations that were there in the first place, hanging from the rafters. Multicolored Santa hats had been forced onto each person's head as they came through the door.
How they forced an aqua-colored one on Silver's head despite his quills, Silver would never know.
Unknown music blared from the millions of speakers throughout the room, switching often between rap, rock, and dance genres. This was because three individuals were currently arguing over what should be played; Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna, and the club's owner Rouge the Bat were fighting on the subject over by the turntables. Sonic had a classic red hat on his head and Rouge wore a purple one. Knuckles's was supposed to be green but the echidna had tossed it aside, declaring he'd "never wear something stupid like that".
Against the darkest wall slouched Shadow the Hedgehog and the robot Omega, doing their best to perform the 'invisible' act. Shadow had no hat on, but Omega had two: one red, one black.
A group were stationed in the middle of the dance floor, some trying their best to dance, giving up as the beat of the music changed every ten seconds. Amy Rose and Big the Cat, Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao, and Miles "Tails" Prower and his friend Cosmo were chatting happily in a large circle, easily considered the happiest of the party, hats in a rainbow of vibrant colors on their heads.
In the other corner was the Chaotix Detective Agency, talking and laughing along with old friends Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Squirrel; their own Santa hats were in more darker shades of black and other colors.
Last but not least, against the opposite wall farthest away from the booming music was Silver's best friend, Blaze the Cat, withdrawing herself from the party as much as possible. Silver had tried to coax Blaze out into the party, have some fun with Amy and the others; Blaze had politely turned down the offer, preferring to remain alone in that dark corner. Thus Silver was torn between hiding with Blaze and actually getting in on the excitement, standing in between the wall and the center of the room, watching everyone enviously.
"Silver!"
Silver jerked his head towards the sound and found Amy gesturing for him to come over. He glanced back at Blaze; she merely locked eyes with him for a moment, which he considered an 'a-okay' for him to follow Amy's call. He joined the group, self-consciously looking down at the multicolored, flashing tiles that made up the dance floor.
Tails's hat was red like Sonic's, and Big's was brown. Big was trying to place a small dark green hat on his best friend 'Froggy's' head; the frog struggled amongst Big's grip and hopped away. "Froggy, come back!" Big shouted; their was a loud splash as the frog landed into something wet, probably the punch bowl. Amy, Cream, and Cosmo stared; Tails sighed; Silver fought to hold back the growing urge to burst into laughter. "C'mon, Big, let's go get him," Tails muttered, walking toward the refreshments.
The moment Tails and Big left Amy sighed in relief. "Good, now the boys are gone." She turned to Silver. "Hi, Sil."
Unknowingly Silver blushed as soon as she greeted him. "What do you need, Amy?"
"Oh, we just wanted to ask you something," Amy said nonchalantly with a wave of her hand. Cream giggled as soon as she said it, and Cosmo looked like she wanted to join Tails and Big.
"What?"
"Who do you like, Silver?"
"H-huh?" Silver stumbled backward and nearly fell over, the girls to fall into a fit of laughter. "What the heck? Why are you asking that?" He demanded.
"Ha! You do like someone!" Amy pumped a fist in the air triumphantly.
"Stop it!" Silver wished he was back with Blaze. "What're you talking about?"
"Who is it, Silver? You gotta tell us." At Amy's constant questioning, Silver's blush grew even redder. Cosmo's I-wish-I-was-anywhere-but-here-right-now gaze was returning. "Amy, this isn't very nice."
"I gotta know," Amy answered, almost whining. "Come on, Silver! You gotta tell us!"
"No way!" Silver snapped as loud as possible without drawing any extra attention towards himself.
"Fine, fine…" Amy sighed and crossed her arms, looking like she might drop the subject for a few seconds. But then Silver saw the mischievous look in her eyes, backed by the world's worst phrase: "I know who it is, anyway."
"Shut up!"
"Aw, come on, Silver!"
"I'm going back!" Silver turned on his heels, ready to walk back over to Blaze instead of staying with this teasing-slash-torture party. Cream reached forward and grabbed Silver's hand, forcing him to stay. "Please don't leave, Silver. Amy's only teasing. She doesn't mean it."
Silver rolled his eyes and turned around, staying- for Cream's sake.
"Well, it's like this," Amy sighed again, putting her hands on her hips. The pompom from her blue Santa hat (the same color of Sonic, of course) fell in front of her face, and she paused to push it away impatiently.
"First, we all know that Sonikku and I will end up together and eventually get married, of course."
"In your dreams," Silver muttered. Amy gave him a death glare.
"And we- well, I, anyway- don't have the slightest idea for Rouge. She could like Knuckles or Shadow."
"Because one's the mysterious guardian of a giant gem and the other's an equally mysterious fellow GUN agent."
Amy was getting used to ignoring him now. "And Vector has the most ahb-vious crush on Vanilla-"
"If they got married, wouldn't that make Vector Cream's stepfather?"
"And we already know Tails and Cosmo like each other."
"Amy!" Cosmo exclaimed, flushing a red color that put Silver's earlier blushing to shame.
Speaking of Tails, he and Big were still trying to catch Froggy; the frog was still hopping back and forth on the table. Fed up with trying to catch it, Tails let out a frustrated yell and tried to lunge at it. There was a loud crash as the table tipped over the moment Tails hit it, sending the unfortunate kitsune to the ground. Cupcakes and other snacks tumbled to the floor around him; the bowl of punch found its home atop Tails's head, staining his yellow-orange fur and red Santa hat.
Seeing the scene, the Chaotix promptly burst into laughter. "Shut up!" Tails snapped angrily, glaring daggers at Froggy, who had hopped up onto Big's shoulder. Sonic ran over to the disaster scene and watched his best friend, obviously fighting the urge to laugh with the Chaotix. "You okay, bro?"
"Tails, are you okay?" Cosmo asked, running to help up the fallen fox.
"That only proves my point," Amy said as she watched Sonic and Cosmo pull Tails up. She smiled- somewhat dreamily, Silver noticed. "It's love. Me and Sonic, Tails and Cosmo..." Her voice trailed off. It was then Silver noticed a glint in her eye. A knowing look. It was positively diabolical. Seeing it, Silver wanted to run. Get as far away as you can, hedgehog...
"And you and Blaze."
"W-what? No!" Silver protested, blushing again. Amy's dreamy smile was replaced with an evil grin.
But she was right. Silver the hedgehog had a crush on his best friend. Was it that obvious?
Looking for a distraction, Silver watched Rouge. She abandoned the turntables and walked over to Shadow and Omega, pulling the red Santa hat off Omega's head and placing it on Shadow's instead. The black hedgehog glared. Rouge rolled her eyes. "Just wear the hat. Show you have some drop of holiday spirit in your body."
Shadow seemingly debated taking the hat off as he glared at Rouge for a long moment. Finally he sighed, leaning back up against the wall. Rouge grinned triumphantly; she was about to speak again when a large blast of rap music blared through the speakers. Knuckles had control of the music again.
"Turn it off, Knucklehead!" She and Sonic shouted at the same time. Grunting and mumbling something about "those two having no appreciation to good music", Knuckles turned down the volume.
"You should tell her how you feel."
"Huh?" Silver grunted, jerking his head back in Amy's direction.
"You heard me." Amy was staring at him again, with that same evil grin. He finally realized Cream had left, playing some game with Charmy and Cheese.
"Okay, I'm leaving now." Silver turned around and prepared to leave again.
"Sil-ver!" Amy whined. "Waaait!"
"What?" Silver snapped, his back still to her.
Amy grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to turn around, and held up a hat. It was in the same style as the blue hat on Amy and the cyan one on Silver, but this one was deep pink instead. "Give it to Blaze. I'll take care of everything else."
"But Am-" Silver began, but Amy was already running in the opposite direction out of earshot. Dang it, Amy!
Having no other choice, Silver dragged himself back to Blaze; she studied the tired expression on his face quizzically. "Having fun, Silver?"
"If you could call it that..." Silver muttered. He looked at the pink Santa hat in his hand and snapped back to attention. "Oh, here."
Blaze looked at the hat with an amused smile. "One of those hats?"
"Y-yeah... come on, put in on." Blaze tilted her head forward slightly so Silver could put the hat on her, carefully adjusting it so it sat on the tendrils of fur/hair on her head. He smiled as he pushed the pompom out of her eyes. "Perfect."
Blaze snickered quietly to herself. "Perfect, huh?"
"Y-yea..." Silver stammered, causing Blaze's laugh to grow louder. "Of c-course..."
Suddenly music blared from the speakers, startling everyone. Silver fell backwards as everyone let out cries of annoyance. "Sorry, guys!" Amy shouted over the noise, standing by the turntables. "Rouge, help me work this thing!" Rouge sighed and flew over to adjust the volume.
"Need help?" Blaze asked, holding out a gloved hand. Silver grabbed it and forced himself upright. "T-thanks..."
"Your welcome."
The music was pulsing more gently from the speakers now, soft enough to allow conversation but loud enough to be heard. Obviously the song was Amy's choice; it was fast enough not to be considered a 'slow song' yet slow enough to remain calm.
Suddenly Silver realized what Amy was trying to do.
She didn't.
Across the room, Amy grinned and winked at him. Her plot...
She doesn't think-
"She does," Silver moaned, shaking his head slowly.
No one seemed to notice; the Chaotix were still talking, Shadow and Omega still standing there, Cosmo and Sonic trying to help Tails clean up, Cream and Charmy off who knows where. Only Silver was aware of Amy's plot.
"I can't believe she thinks that-"
"What?"
Silver realized he'd been thinking out loud a second too late. "Nothing," He exclaimed hurriedly, "I'll be right back." It took him a second to run up to the turntables where Amy was. "What do you think you're doing?"
Amy sighed, her look reading 'boys are so dense'. "Now's your chance, Silver. Go ask Blaze to dance."
He would have burst out laughing if he wasn't so dang frustrated. "You want us to dance?"
"Well, yeah. That's what you do in clubs, right?" Amy asked sarcastically.
"Could you sop playing matchmaker and let me go on with my life?"
"No, not really."
"What're you guys talking about?" Rouge asked, joining them. Silver groaned. Great...
"Hi, Rouge." Of course, this was one of the few times Amy would get along with her. Because they would plot to make Silver's life miserable. "Nothin' much. Silver just doesn't want to admit he has a crush on Blaze."
"Aw, that's so cute." Silver could feel himself blushing and hid it by hitting his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Shut up, Amy."
"See, Rouge? He's in denial."
"Poor kid. What, does he think she won't like him back?"
"I told him to tell her how he feels, but he's being so stubborn."
"He should get her a present. We girls love gifts, you know."
"But Blaze is a princess. How does he know she won't already have-"
"SHUT UP!" Silver finally shouted, fed up with it all. Amy and Rouge gaped at him, startled, as he stomped away and took refuge again the wall farthest away from them. He sunk to the floor, shutting his eyes tight, hands curling into fists. How dare they mess with me... like I'm a toy or something... we should have stayed home... in our time.
Grr...
"You okay?"
Silver looked up to see Blaze standing over him. "Fine," He grunted as Blaze slid down the wall to sit next to him.
"You don't look fine."
"What gave you that idea?"
"The way you yelled at Amy and stormed away was a pretty good clue." She adjusted the Santa hat on her head absently.
Silver groaned. "She was ticking me off."
"How?"
"Nothing..."
"It didn't look like nothing." The song was fading from the speakers, finally switching to something actually pertaining to Christmas.
"Yeah, well, it was." Silver snapped with more force than he meant to. He felt guilty the moment he said it- Why blame it on Blaze? This isn't her fault- and stared at the ground.
Blaze frowned, studying Silver's exasperated expression for a split second before calmly, slowly standing... prepared to leave. Silver's head snapped up (for the fiftieth time today; he was going to wind up breaking his neck one of these times...) in alarm. "Where are you going?"
"To ask Amy, since you won't tell me." She stood erect like a girl with a plan, brushing nonexistent dirt off her purple jacket. Then she began to walk away, obviously willing to go through with it.
It took a moment for Silver's mind to register what she was doing, and his eyes widened as it clicked, scrambling to his feet.
Amy will tell her what happened, Blaze will laugh and- and- He didn't want to think about it, or the thousand other scenarios that rolled through is mind. (Although, if they came true, he was willing to reenact the plot that involved him ripping Amy limb from limb.)
"Blaze, wait!" He called; luckily Blaze heard him and stopped so he could catch up.
"What?" Blaze asked. She wasn't angry, Silver noticed; her amber eyes watched him with concern as he fought the urge to tear away from her gaze. "I... I..."
He lowered his head and the Santa hat slipped from his quills, falling with a soft 'plop' to the floor. Blaze stooped down and picked it up before he could react, causing Silver to shut his eyes tight out of embarrassment. However, they reopened as he realized the 'if-I-can't-see-you-you-can't-see-me' trick never actually worked.
"Err..." He searched for the right words, feeling the blood rise to his cheeks yet again.
"I didn't want to admit it, Blaze, but I... I really like you." He emphasized the phrase so she would understand what he meant. "Amy found out, and... well..." Everything basically went downhill after that...
"I love you, Blaze." His mouth formed the words, but no sound came out.
"Silver..."
Silver looked up and saw Blaze looking back at him, the barest hint of a smile flickering on her face.
Never once had Silver thought of a positive reaction. It caught him off guard for a couple seconds.
When he came back to Earth, Blaze's arms were around him in a tight hug.
W-what? It definitely wasn't something Silver had expected. It took him a moment to acknowledge the gesture and even longer to return it.
Blaze whispered, almost too quiet for Silver to hear.
"I love you, Silver."
Across the room, Amy pushed the pompom out of her eyes for the tenth time that evening and smiled.