How to stay paralyzed by fear of abandonment
How to defer to an unsolvable predicament
Two weeks later
"So is Amy going to go chaos emerald hunting with us, Sonic?" Tails asked, kicking his feet as they dangled from their favorite hang-out spot near the field, three giant rocks that faced each other. "It's been weeks since she's come around."
"Two. And I doubt it. She's still cranky with me. Don't think she's any happier with you, Knux."
The red echidna was as surly as ever, but even more lately, now that they had a legion of failed schemes behind them as a result of trying to spy on Amy. He shook his head in response.
"I won't argue with that. I think she's fed up with us, and I'm fed up with her attitude. And Shadow… I never liked bein' around the guy to begin with. Not to mention havin' him chase me off the field in front of Rouge…"
"Oh it's not like it's the first time you've embarrassed yourself in front of her man, get over it." Sonic gibed, gaining an acidic look from his friend slash rival.
"Maybe you should!" Tails suggested, getting an incredulous gaze from both of his friends.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Sonic asked smartly, tugging on his gloves and paying very close attention to it while appearing casual. He'd do anything to avoid meeting Tails eyes when he was looking at him all wise and matter-of-factly like that. It drove him mad (and Knuckles further still) that the kid always seemed to have the answers- the ones he'd already thought of, and of course, was too proud try out. He dreaded what might be coming next.
"Well all these crazy plots to spy on Amy with Shadow, not to mention how you guys tried to make him late last week by sabotaging his air shoes-"
"Yeah that was actually pretty dangerous." Knuckles said wide eyed, taking a sip of water. "Almost burned my face off when he started spiraling out of control."
"It was your idea." Sonic grumbled, getting a leer from the echidna.
"Yeah well all of your ideas are creepy. At least mine are just stupid."
"I believe both of your ideas are a culminated ingredient of equal parts that are both creepy and stupid."
"Who asked you anyway?" Knuckles grumbled, as Sonic couldn't help but guffaw at Tails' observation.
"Nobody, up to this point, which considering my IQ, I find that baffling. But I have thought the same thing since this whole shenanigan started. You guys wanna hear it?"
"No." Knuckles frowned, kicking a rock.
"Yes." Sonic glared at the moody echidna. As was customary, whenever Amy was around, Knuckles was grumpy about it. Ironically, whenever she wasn't, he was even grumpier. Reluctantly Knuckles nodded, giving Tails the go ahead.
"I still think you should just apologize to her properly and offer to train her yourself. That would solve everything."
"No!" Both boys shouted at Tails in unison, sending him tumbling off the rock they were seated on. Knuckles shook his head. "Kids..."
"…don't know the first thing about dealing with girls."
"And so far you guys have proven yourselves to be such experts…" Before Knuckles or Sonic could retaliate the fox gaped in another direction entirely, eyes nearly popping out of his head. "Guys look… is that AMY?"
Sonic took one look across the landscape, saw the approaching group, reeled in shock, and his brain short circuited. He yelled out the only thing that made sense in his total stupor.
"HIDE!"
All three boys dove down behind the rocks, peeping up at the two familiar and one quite unfamiliar looking form, but it was Amy alright. If she wasn't pink, he wasn't sure he would've called her Amy.
"Wait why are we hiding again?" Tails inquired.
"I was wondering that myself." Knuckles muttered.
"Look I didn't know what to do and I certainly don't know what I'm supposed to say to them right now because we've caused enough trouble these past couple weeks and they know it! Just… stay down here until I figure out what to do!" He hissed speedily, and it was so fast that Tails actually looked boggled.
"Yeah he does that now when he's nervous. He's just afraid of talking to- OW! Would you cut it out?" Knuckles snapped, rubbing the spot on his head that Sonic clouted.
"I am not afraid. I just… don't want to!"
"Isn't that what you've been trying to do for the past two weeks? Or do you just need time to recover from being too shy to go over and talk to Amy-"
"SHHHHH!" Both older boys hissed at the oft correct but even more oft unheeded fox boy wonder. "They're close!"
"You were right Rouge!" Amy's bubbly voice coated the area as they neared the boys hiding spot. "Its way easier practicing and not having to worry about my favorite dress getting ruined."
"The only thing that should be on your mind is battle, which you're gonna need if we're gonna go chaos emerald hunting tonight. Ooh, I can't wait to get my hands on one of those gorgeous-"
"I will be holding on to the emeralds for the time being, I will have you know." Shadow was quick to remind the cooing bat.
"What?" Amy barked out, her voice dripping with disbelief. "Chaos emerald hunting tonight? Really? You guys actually want me to go with you?"
"What can I say, with your new moves, get up and tricks you're becoming quite the powerhouse pink. Who knew all you needed was a little spit shine? Eggman won't even know what hit him." Rouge said warmly in her sexy drawl, tossing an arm around the flushing, flattered hedgehog.
"T-they're gonna take on Eggman Sonic! He's got emeralds-" Both older boys clamped a furious hand over the mouth of the fox.
"SHHHH!"
"Don't know if you noticed, but we have ears too!" Knuckles hissed angrily. Sonic raised a single brow, smirking.
"I always wondered if you had ears-"
"…And might I add what a long way you have come in such a short span of time; all obstacles and hindrances we have experienced considered, your determination is unparalleled. I am impressed with your dedication." Shadow's rumbling voice added, and the boys watched as Sonic's expression morphed into a very strange, red contortion of anger. He looked like he was going to blow. Tails covered his ears, just in case.
"Bet that's not all you're impressed with judging by the way you've reacted to her big girl clothes." Rouge tittered evilly, and there was a flourish of movement.
"ROUGE!" Amy howled in embarrassment, shoving the bat.
"What? You're an eye catcher Pink, you can't deny it. You'll have the boys lining up if you don't watch yourself with that new get up of yours. You're a class A hottie."
"Oh my God! Stop it, you're embarrassing me! Can't you get a muzzle for her or something?" Amy blushed, looking to Shadow desperately as she swept her bang from her face.
"There will be no denial here." Shadow's low voice was highly amused as they walked. "You are most definitely pleasant to the eye."
"Oh great, now you've got Shadow in on it." The trio heard Amy's laughing voice waft back toward them before they made it to the top of the hill and disappeared over it.
"Ugh. Man that was so weird. Can you believe that? I feel like I've just been violated. Was that Shadow, tryin' to pick up?" Knuckles hissed in the midst of laughing, scrunching his nose. Tails almost gagged, shaking his head violently to try to shake the image out. "I mean I've never even considered the idea that that guy might think of let alone make an attempt to indicate anything remotely close to a desire to procreate."
"Why would you want to think about that? What about Amy, did you see her? It's like she's the new member of Team Dark or something!"
"Yeah…" Tails flushed, swallowing hard. "She looked… uh… different?"
"Nah, she looked HOT! I had no idea she could… uh… so… Sonic?" Knuckles wearily trailed off as he realized the lack of input from his companion, then looked over to take in his expression. He was still staring over the edge of the rock after the group that had long disappeared. He was so red, his face so strangely contorted that he looked like he was choking. Tails looked genuinely afraid of him.
"Is he ok?" Tails asked cautiously, reaching a hand toward a blue quill.
"Don't, he might blow. Sonic…" Silence. "Sonic, are you dying over there? Sonic? Do you need the Heimlich maneuver?" Slowly, ever so slowly, Sonic's face turned toward his crimson friend, slightly trembling.
"Did I hear you correctly…" His voice was so quiet, Knuckles had to struggle to hear him with his (recently confirmed) ears. "Did I hear you say…" Knuckles was starting to feel very nervous right about then. "Did I just hear you call Amy hot?" They stared at each other wide eyed for a moment, and then Knuckles abruptly got up from his hiding spot, fleeing for his life.
"It meant nothing! It meant nothhhiiiiiiiinnnng- wait, why do you care?"
"Really? You're really going to run from the fastest thing alive?" Tails said dully, watching them make fools of themselves as they bantered and wrestled for a moment. But he couldn't shake the look on Sonics' face when they'd stopped to notice his lack of input. He had looked so completely thrown for a loop, so conflicted, so… intimidated. It wasn't like him at all. When the other two regrouped with him breathless and red faced, he was still thinking about it.
"Alright guys, if Amy is going with them to Eggman's base, I want to be there. And I especially want to make sure that no chaos emeralds end up with psycho hog and klepto bat. Understood?"
"Hey, that's my girlfriend!"
"That's what you're calling her these days?" Sonic tormented, but stopped when Tails tugged on his glove.
"Um, Sonic, what about what Shadow said? You know, about Amy? Aren't you worried? It seems like, you know… that he likes her." A humiliated pause, and Tails cleared his throat noisily. "Uh, like that." Total silence. Sonic was showing the early signs of that face again. "Are you uh… aren't you going to do something about it?" there was another awful silence, and Knuckles let out a loud, rumbling snort of laughter that made the others jump.
"Please. Even if we pretend Sonic can actually, I don't know, stand being in a room with her? Pretty sure he would have done something about it." Tails was looking positively foiled, staring down the echidna with a suffering look. As this was a rare triumph, Knuckles kept it going a little. "I dunno. He's probably just glad to have her out of his fur for a while. Right Sonic?" As both his friends were now looking at him, and he was feeling that panicked feeling again, he could only quietly mutter the truth about the situation.
"Any chance this can not be the priority of the day right now? We need to make sure we get there first." Sonic reminded them before he disappeared. The blue blur dashed ahead, the wind whipping his fur as his two closest friends exchanged very worried glances.
How to pretend you're fine and don't need help from anyone
How to feel worthless unless you're serving or helping someone
