The Oxymoron

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Summary: Shadow liking Amy. Amy liking Shadow. In three words, a sentence is made an oxymoron: where two terms are apparently contradictory, yet somehow, make perfect sense. Shadamy.

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"I won't forgive you."

Shadow resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Slowly, as if purposely enunciating his words, he said, "Relax. You're being melodramatic."

"I HATE YOU!"

"I'll let you know when I start caring."

Amy Rose could only stare at him with bright, tearful eyes. "This was my big night – our big night! I was finally going to make him fall in love with me! I had a plan and everything! But it's all ruined now, thanks to you!"

"Trust me – this wasn't my idea." Shadow's gaze was impassive, almost bored. "Don't think I did this of my own choosing."

"Urg!" She was on the verge of wailing. "Of all nights, why this one?" She arched her neck up and screamed at the ceiling, "SONIC! I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS, I SWEAR!"

Contrary to her current state of mind, Amy Rose had started the day excited, peppy, hopeful and outrageously happy. After all, come sundown, the hedgehog of her dreams was going to ring her doorbell and sweep her off her feet. Well, perhaps not that exactly; more like she was going to try to sweep him off his feet – everyone knew how hard she tried. And she had a feeling that tonight, she was finally going to get what she wanted. When Sonic had finally agreed to go out with her – on the condition that she didn't immediately flatten him with her dangerously posed hammer – Amy was almost on cloud nine; she felt that something special was going to happen that night, something that would change their lives forever.

But of course, the people upstairs loved to play with their favourite toy – Amy Rose. Don't make this too easy for her, they probably thought. She's been chasing Sonic for years – let's have her do it for a little bit longer. Let's set up the pieces on the game board and make sure that Sonic can't make it to this date (one that she tried so hard to get). Let's throw in a couple of baddies, a couple of endangered lives in another city, and keep the blue hedgehog too preoccupied to go out with her – again. It never gets old, right?

Right.

Friggin' hilarious.

But why was Shadow here, you ask? Well, apparently, Sonic had been considerate enough to call up Shadow and have him do him a huge favour – to tell Amy that he couldn't make it and to replace him on the date. He knew how much the date meant to Amy – heck, she probably had a whole plan set up guaranteeing that he'd end up in love with her at the end of the night – and Sonic felt bad to let all her efforts go to waste.

So he'd asked Shadow to take his place. Two less lonely people in the world, right?

(And sure, Sonic could have called up Amy himself to tell her that he couldn't make it, but really – did he want to become seriously hearing impaired by the end of the phone call? Better Shadow, not him.)

And although it was a most uncharacteristic thing to do, Shadow agreed to follow along with the Faker's request. Although they generally didn't get along, he still owed the blue rodent quite a bit. And being here, at the front door of the Rose girl's house, well – it really wasn't like he had anything better to do. His days blended in together, nowadays; nothing but a repetitive blur of lazy cycles, which in no little way caused Shadow to so willingly agree.

He was beginning to have second thoughts now, though. The boring, repetitive cycle of mundane life was beginning to look quite appealing as he stared at the crazy girl shouting at the ceiling.

"Rose," he said calmly, still regarding her with an apathetic stare. "Calm. Down."

As she tried to do as he told, he took note of what she was wearing: she was dressed quite simply, for her supposed date with Sonic. It wasn't an outrageous outfit – it was cute, short and curvy. She looked stylish without looking overdressed. Shadow offhandedly wondered what flavour lip gloss she was wearing this time – oh, and he approved the light colour of her eye-shadow which highlighted the brightness of her green eyes. She looked homely, neat and lovely.

So different from his devil-may-care appearance, with baggy pants and a thrown-on V-neck shirt which looked rather depressing with its faded blue colour. Yeah, usually, he didn't wear any clothes – but Sonic insisted that he should, because turning up on a date with Amy completely naked (minus the shoes and gloves) would not end well. He probably spoke from experience.

Finally, after a significant amount of time, Amy Rose had finally calmed down. She gave a weary sigh and offered Shadow an apologetic grin. "Sorry about that, Shadow. I shouldn't have shouted at you and said those things – I was just… upset."

"Yeah. About that. Why did you blame me for the Faker's absence tonight?" he intoned indifferently.

Amy had the decency to blush. "Well, that… umm… like I said, I was upset. I'm really sorry; I didn't mean a word of it. It's just… well… you came bearing the bad news, right? So I just assumed that maybe you were the cause of it…" She groaned. "See, I'm not making any sense, am I? I'm sorry, Shadow. After all, you had the politeness to come tell me, when a certain someone couldn't be bothered, with all his speed."

Shadow nodded. He understood her explanation quite well: she was a crazy little hedgehog who, when upset, would go off on an angry tangent and attack whoever was closest to her. She was a creature of emotion, she was.

"Well, anyway," she continued, trying to fight off an impending awkwardness. "So not only did Sonic tell you to tell me that he couldn't make it, but he also said to… what was it you said… 'replace' him?" She seemed sincerely confused by this.

Shadow nodded again. "That's right. He asked me to accompany you tonight in his place."

"Right. And you agreed to this because…?"

"Nothing better to do." His answer was blunt, truthful. He was also getting quite tired of her little interrogation as well. "So are we going or what?"

But Amy still couldn't get her head wrapped around going on a date with Shadow. "You know, you really don't have to do this if you don't want to. I mean, if you feel like you're being forced…"

His red, ruby eyes stared right into her as he asked slowly, "Do you want me to leave?"

Amy couldn't answer that straight away. On one hand, going on a date with Shadow didn't hold much promise. On the other, she'd already organized their travel plans and bought those things, so… She beamed at him, giving him a half-sincere smile. "Of course not. It'll be a pleasure spending the night with you, Shadow!"

"Hmph."

A hedgehog of little words. Completely different from the hedgehog who let her mouth relay whatever she thought and felt.

The pink furry grinned. "Alrighty then. Let's go!"

-x-

"Since I was expecting to be out with Sonic, I chose this place specifically. I know that it isn't a big, fancy restaurant, but Sonic hates those kinds of places – he says that the music was too slow and the people too quiet." Amy glanced towards him with a faint smile. "But he would have loved this. I'm sure of it."

Shadow couldn't help but agree.

It was in a small, quaint club house, with an upbeat jazz band playing on a raised platform. There were people around the stage, hollering and singing aloud in tune to the music. Beers were raised into the air as they bobbed to the beat and their laughter blended like water into the comforting, easy atmosphere of the venue. The walls were made of Rowan wood and the fireplace at a corner blazed warmly, its light giving everything it touched a slightly golden hue.

Shadow didn't know much about what the blue hedgehog liked, but he was able to trust Amy's judgement on this one. This easy-going attitude and carefree atmosphere fitted the Faker's personality almost too perfectly.

Amy and Shadow sat at a table for two, going through the food choices. While they were shifting through the menu, Amy quietly laughed a little bitterly. The darker hedgehog glanced up at her. "What?"

"Do you know how hard it was to find a decent club or restaurant that served chilidogs?" Amy asked rhetorically, a slight glare in her eyes. But it wasn't directed at Shadow; no, it was aimed at a certain blue someone who wasn't there. "I mean, okay, they're not all what Sonic eats, but come on! It took me forever to find a place that had chilidogs on their menu without being a street stand! He would have loved this!" He would have loved me for it!

Shadow stared at her unblinkingly. "You can always show him next time."

The younger hedgehog opened her mouth as if to say something but she wisely shut it straight afterwards. She gave an unconvincing shrug and went back to shifting through the menu. Shadow did the same – if she didn't want to talk about it then it was fine by him. He didn't consider themselves close enough to be sharing each other's problems anyway.

Once their orders were taken by a waiter, Amy, predictably, tried to start the small talk. "So, Shadow, what have you been up to lately?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Really? You must have been doing something!" A playful twinkle appeared in her emerald eyes. "You know, besides breathing, drinking, eating and sleeping."

Shadow wasn't willing to humour her. "No, actually, that's really it."

Amy frowned a little. "You lead a very exciting life, Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Hmph."

They succumbed into the inevitable empty silence. Amy was wailing in the inside, wishing with all her heart that it was Sonic who sat in front of her instead, while Shadow was simply bored out of his mind. But it was nice to get some fresh air, he admitted to himself. And the jazz music was quite relaxing. It beat the despairing silence of his own home.

"Can I ask you something, Shadow?"

Her voice cut through Shadow's peaceful (was that too strong of a word? Shadow the Hedgehog was never at peace) contemplations of the music. He glanced towards her. "Go ahead."

Amy fiddled with her thumbs for a brief moment before looking up to stare at him directly in the eyes. "Why did you decide to come?" she finally asked. "I mean, last time I heard, you and Sonic weren't the best of chums. So why did he call you of all people? And why did you agree? I mean, I mean no offence, but you seem like the anti-social type; and we don't know each other very well at all. So yeah, I'm a little confused." Then she grinned and winked at him. "But if you say it's all due to my natural charm bewitching you, then I'll totally understand!"

Shadow felt his lips twitch slightly in amusement – but no, he forced the slight twitch to halt. He couldn't smile. It would give the impression that he actually found her funny. "Truthfully, I don't know why the Faker asked me either. You'll have to ask him, not me. And I may be anti-social, as you put it, but every once in a while I need friendly company. It doesn't do one any good to be in complete solitary." I've been there, I've done that. I don't like it.

"Hmm…" Amy pondered, staring up at the ceiling rather dreamily. "Sonic must have realized that you were lonely then!" she said cheerfully, sighing. "He's so kind!"

Shadow rose an eyebrow. "You were mad at him a minute ago."

Her dreamy state immediately disappeared and she growled, "Oh yeah." But then a thoughtful expression crossed her face and she smiled softly. "But I can't stay mad at him, no matter what he does. I mean, he's saving people! He's saving lives!" She leaned forward and whispered to Shadow rather sneakily, "And between you and me, even though I shout and complain a lot, I'm really happy he does it." Her smile was so warm that it threatened to touch Shadow's heart. "If he didn't, he just wouldn't be Sonic, would he?"

Their orders came and they ate their little meal in silence, not that Amy minded. Sonic never usually made small talk while there was food to be eaten, so Amy kind of took on board the habit. Shadow didn't really mind the silence either, although he thought about something while they sat there. When Amy wasn't looking, he'd glance at her and he scrutinized with a discreet frown.

When they finished, Amy dragged him out of the club house, surprisingly more enthusiastic about this 'date' than she first was when it started.

And Shadow was surprised for another reason too. "I don't understand. People were dancing in there, not only eating and listening to the music. I would've thought that you wanted to…?"

Amy blinked, glanced at him and smiled. "Silly. I wasn't planning of ever dancing. Sonic wouldn't have wanted to and I wouldn't have forced him. It was just a nice place, that's all, with good music."

Shadow frowned again – don't compare me to Sonic; just because he wouldn't have danced, I wouldn't have wanted to either? - but let himself be dragged to who knew where. As they were walking through the town, she began to talk again, like she was on a radio station and silence was something to be avoided.

"The place I wanted to go to next was the night-time amusement park with the rides. But then I thought about Sonic – I mean, he's the fastest thing alive, so he wouldn't be excited by a rollercoaster ride. And who cared about the height, too? He's fallen from space! I'm sure a hundred metres above ground won't faze him anymore. There's nothing else in an amusement park besides those thrill rides – just little baby ones and game stalls. And Sonic wouldn't have liked doing those things either; it would've been too boring. And a movie was out of the question. There're only chick flicks left in the cinemas and Sonic would never have the patience to go through one of those. So…" She beamed at Shadow, "I had the biggest epiphany! Since none of the usual date spots would've worked, I thought of this!"

Shadow looked up at the building they were now standing in front of.

Laser Force.

He stared.

"Not exactly the most romantic of places."

"Yeah, well, you have to keep Sonic's interest somehow," Amy said with a shrug. "What better to do so than with a little friendly competitive game?"

Shadow glanced at her. "What were your stakes?"

"… Stakes?"

"You said 'friendly competitive game.' If it's competitive, then there must be a prize for the winner. What were the stakes?"

Amy grinned. "I'm glad you asked! This was fool-proof as well! I was going to propose this: if I won, I'd leave him alone for a week. If he won, he'd have to take me out on another date."

Shadow looked at her directly with an almost baffled expression. "I don't understand. I thought he was against going out with you in the first place, so then why would he bother to win…?"

Amy placed a hand on her hips and smiled brightly. "There was no way that he'd let himself lose! He's the reigning champion of Laser Force among our group of friends! He would be too proud to let go of that title and give it to me."

But Shadow was still so dearly confused and not understanding. "But then why would the Faker agree to those conditions in the first place?"

"'Cause turning down a Laser Force challenge would hurt his reputation all the same," Amy answered triumphantly. She crossed her arms, smug with herself.

Shadow was staring at her again, contemplative and calculating. She... put so much thought into something so trivial, like another date with the blue Faker. Shadow looked at her unblinkingly: he didn't have anything to put so much effort into – nothing at all. Then finally, after she began to shift from foot to foot in awkwardness, he said, "Let's play."

"Laser Force?"

"Yeah," Shadow said dryly. "It would be… fun."

Amy was still staring at him with surprise but she smiled nonetheless. Her eyes were suspicious, naturally, but Shadow also caught the brief flash of reluctance. It disappeared quickly though, like dust in the wind. "Alright then!" she said cheerfully. "I'll have to warn you though, Shadow, I'm quite good."

Shadow crossed his arms. "Hmph."

-x-

"ARG! I can't believe it! I can't believe I forgot that you've handled REAL GUNS!"

Shadow allowed himself a lazy smirk – trying not to smile in the pink hedgehog's presence was beginning to be quite tiresome. "You lost, hedgehog, fair and square."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she muttered gruffly, kicking the ground softly with her boot. She glowered at the pavement with a slight pout – Shadow resisted the urge to think that she looked cute.

"So where to now?" Shadow asked as they walked out of the building. It was cold outside and it was getting quite late. "Was that the end of your planned date?"

"Of course not!" Amy immediately rebuked. "Don't think so little of me! There's one more place! After all, three's the charm, right?" She began walking again and Shadow was obliged to follow. "Can't you follow my plan, Shadow? I thought you were smarter than that!" She began ticking off a list with her fingers. "First was to get Sonic happy and relaxed with the whole chilidog-jazz-club house. Next was to go to Laser Force in order to keep his interest and burn off a bit of energy, while scoring another date with him. How must Sonic be feeling right now? He might be feeling a little down, because he has to go out with me again, so I have to take him somewhere really special, so he'll want to come next time."

She stopped in the middle of the walkway, hands by her sides. Because Shadow was behind her, he couldn't see the torn up expression she was now wearing. Instead, he stared at her unmoving back, and frowned – he was concerned. "Rose?"

Then she turned her head towards him and smiled cheekily. "Catch me if you can, Shadow!"

And she dashed off, up the hill.

Shadow didn't get it but he chased her anyway. He could've caught her within a heartbeat but some instinct inside him told him that it wasn't the right thing to do right now. She said 'catch me' but she hadn't meant it. She had meant 'follow me.'

Follow me, Shadow.

So he did.

He followed her down two blocks until they reached the side of a river. She stopped and was kneeling in front of a bush, looking for something. "Rose?" Shadow questioned, walking towards her. "Have you lost something?"

She pulled back and a bunch of somethings were in her hands. She smiled at him brightly. "Nope! Just getting my fireworks!"

And she placed them on the ground again, facing towards the river, and lit up the ropes with a match. She stood back, to where Shadow was standing, and they waited.

The first firework was blue, streaming across the river like a spinning Sonic himself. The next firework was pink, then green, then red; before Shadow knew it, all the fireworks were shooting into the sky, across the river, and exploding with bursts of pink, blue, green and red in a wonderful symphony of colours and fire. They reflected off the water's surface like it was a misted mirror. The lights of the buildings on the other side of the river added to the ferocity and beauty of the loud, energetic explosions of pure colour. Bang, boom, pop! Blue, pink, green! The colour of Sonic! The colour of Amy! The mutual colour of their emerald eyes! Bang, boom, pop!

A beautiful blend of colours – meant to mix.

So why didn't they?

When Shadow finally tore his eyes away from the unexpected beauty, he noticed Amy sobbing into her hands, crouching down to the ground as if something weighed on her shoulders.

He could only softly whisper, "Rose?"

Because he did not understand these kinds of things. He did not understand why she was crying.

Amy tried to explain it to him.

"He was m-meant to be here," she said, not moving her hands away from her face. Her voice was strained, full of sadness and misery. "He-He was meant to be here."

But Shadow still did not understand.

"I know," he said, a little slowly. The beauty of the ongoing fireworks was lost to him now – they were fading anyway, dying like something else was. "But he couldn't make it."

"I wanted him to be here. I wanted him to be here with me. This was all for him – and he couldn't even make it." A gut-wenching sob escaped her lips and she began to shake uncontrollably. "Sonic."

And Shadow didn't know why he did it. He knelt by Amy's side and put an arm around her. His eyes were still indifferent – like usual – but unlike the other times, his eyes were indifferent because he was trying to hide what he was feeling. The other times, he simply felt nothing at all. "Rose…" He did not understand what was happening.

"He would've loved the fireworks, Shadow," she continued to cry. "Sonic would have, definitely! It was just his kind of thing!" She finally pulled her hands away her face but only to clench at the fabric above her chest. "He would have loved today, Shadow… He was going to love me."

He did not know what 'love' was.

"You couldn't have guaranteed that," Shadow found himself saying. "A day doesn't change a person's heart."

And she knew what 'love' was too well.

"It changed mine – when he first saved me. All it took was a day."

Shadow stared at her, at her glistening tears and her emerald eyes hazed over with sadness… and love? How could she still 'love' when she was already in so much pain? How could she still 'love' when it brought her down to tears? How could she still 'love'… when she got nothing in return?

Shadow did not understand.

Suddenly, Amy turned to him, meeting his eyes. They were so close he swore that he could feel her soft, light breath on the fur of his muzzle. "I'm sorry, Shadow. This is a horrible way to end a date, and it's all my fault. Forgive me?"

Shadow stared back at her, trying to decipher her eyes. Didn't she express her feelings on a platter? Didn't she reveal them for all to see? Didn't her mouth run off with whatever she was feeling? But she was feeling too much and Shadow couldn't discern each emotion in her soft, gentle gaze. "There's nothing to forgive."

And she smiled at him – a small one, sure, but to Shadow it was something more – and said, "Thank you." Then she cupped his cheek and pressed her lips softly, yet quickly, against his nose. When she pulled back and saw his dumbfounded expression, she laughed. "You weren't Sonic," she said with a grin. "But I had fun with you all the same. At least… we weren't both alone, right?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered into his ear, "Take me home, Shadow."

And because she told him so, he did. With the wind in her hair and the comfort of warm arms around her, Amy was lulled into a relaxed state, one which wouldn't let her nightmares come to the forefront of her mind. Before she knew it, the wind hand stopped and Shadow was standing perfectly still, in front of her house. He let go of her, with a little reluctance, and Amy slowly made her way towards her door.

She looked back at him.

Her eyes were still pink from crying and her expression was one of weariness. Yet, she managed to pull off a small smile. "Thank you. Again." She laughed. "And sorry. Good night, Shadow." Then she turned and walked into her house, closing the door behind her with a soft click.

And Shadow walked away too, pondering about how he couldn't understand her, couldn't understand this 'love' she talked about, while all the while wondering about this strange ache in his chest.

He didn't understand any of it.

But, for some reason, Amy made him want to.

All it took was a day, she had said – so what about a night?

-x-

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter finished. A second chapter should be on its way in approximately a week. Shadow's fallen already, so in the next chapter, it'll be Amy's turn – how, you ask? Well, it's time for Shadow to take her out on his planned date – it's going to be cute, I can tell you that now :D

Thanks for reading!

-x-