author's notes: thank you, babygirl, for reminding me i've been neglecting my duties as a fanfic writer. this one's for you! 3 i'll try to keep a more constant schedule from now on ;)
read, enjoy, and review! sorry it's so short. it'll be better next time, promise.
"You might want to close your mouth. I think you're starting to collect flies."
Amy blinked, shaken out of her hypnotized stupor. She shook her head a little, clearing the spiraling design of her thoughts and bringing herself back into the present. When she realized she had been staring at Knuckles unblinkingly for the past two minutes or so, she blushed and sank back in her seat.
"Sorry," she mumbled sheepishly.
He returned a similiar grin. "It's no problem."
The conversation lapsed into a defeaning silence that engulfed the entire table. Amy, feeling awkward, tried to find the appropriate place to place her eyes - for a while it drifted out of the window, into the pouring room, but for some reason she didn't feel like spying for a potentially supsicious and jealous Sonic. She opted for giving the resteraunt a once-over - but after six once-overs, there was hardly anything to see. She found that often, without thinking of it, her eyes would travel to Knuckles, who was sitting a little stiffly in his chair and playing absently with his silverware, trying to occupy his hands.
"So.." she said slowly, trying to find the words to bring back some vague likeness of their usual conversations. "..Uhm.. you really surprised me."
Knuckles, himself, looked geniunely surprised. "What?"
"I mean.. your clothes," she said, gesturing to his undeniably snazzy attire. "I mean, you had arged so vehemently against the dinner jacket..."
"Err, well," Amy got the rare pleasure of seeing Knuckles completely disarmed; the poor echidna looked like a helpess, cornered animal. For a moment he stumbled over the right excuse. "I just.. well, you know..." he finished lamely.
"No, I don't," she said, smirking in faint amusement.
Knuckles frowned deeply, but at the moment he was lucky enough for them to be intercepted by the maitre d. The waiter put their dinners down in front of them and asked them if they had any more requests. Knuckles visibly relaxed after he left and went immediately for the food; he had seemed to find it the proper distraction to veer Amy away from the topic at hand.
"Explain to me?" she asked, after giving him a moment to settle in with his food. She giggled under her breath at his attempts to handle the silverware properly, and failing, which escalated into full laughter when he looked up, horrified.
"Huh?" he couldn't feign innocence here and he knew it.
"You were just about to explain to me why you dressed up for the occasion," Amy purred in absolute delight. "You know I wouldn't have minded either way."
Yeah right, Knuckles thought demurely, sure you wouldn't have.
He glanced quickly out of the window for support. It didn't help that he thought saw a flicker of cobalt in the midst of the rain and wet streets, watching from one of the alleys. Great, something I really don't need...
He couldn't quite place why he was so nervous, just that he was. For whatever reason, he found the topic drifting into an area of his personal space that he really didn't like. He just wish he knew why...
"Well, alright," he said. It was painfully apparent she wasn't going to let him dodge this - at least for long. "I just.. you know, I figured I owed it to you."
"Owed?" she asked quizzically.
"Well, okay," he talked as he ate, even though it made his stomach do uncomfortable flip-flops. "It's just like.. well, like a 'thank you', I guess." He shrugged, and his shoulders jerked at the movement, as his joints were just a bundle of knots.
"A 'thank you'?" Amy Rose inquired, and at this she looked geniunely curious. "For what? Making you pretend you were my boyfriend? Making you play some stupid game just so I can get a girlhood crush to go out with me? For making you deal for your nemesis on a near daily basis?"
"No, no," Knuckles put up one hand to stop her tirade. "You're looking at this the wrong way." He found a faint hum of sudden courage that startled even him. "I don't see it like that. I see it like this: gee whiz Knuckles, Amy sure is a nice girl. Look at how nice Amy is. Amy comes and visits me; Amy goes out to dinner with me; Amy buys me dinner; Amy opens up a conversationalist side I usually surpress; Amy brings laughter and ebbs out the angst; Amy was the only person who willingly approached me during my vacation, and a girl no less; Amy is also the first person who I've remotely put myself at ease with, and, well.." he lost himself in his words, and when he came back to earth he found himself staring into a pair of dazzling pair of bright green eyes. More importantly, those sparkling green eyes were staring back just as intently.
"Thank you," Amy said, at the porch of her apartment. She had Knuckles' coat wrapped around her to keep the rain from ruining her dress. She smiled up at him, feeling a nervous, almost drunken buzz inside of her.
"Nahhh, thank you," Knuckles said, smirking down at her. "You paid for dinner."
"That's not what I meant and you know it," she said, fully aware in the back of her mind that she had forgotten to keep an eye out for Sonic this whole evening. Furthermore, she found that it didn't bother her at all. "I meant your.."
"My speech?" he said quickly, as though embarassed of the mere notion. "Yeah, well.." he shrugged again, out of nervous habit. "Whatever. Anyway, I should be going, before I REALLY get drenched.." he turned to go.
"Wait!" Amy said, grabbing him gently by the arm. Instead of jerking away like he usually did, he swiveling back to face her easily and without any clouded or angry expression.
"Yeah?"
She pulled him a little closer and opened her mouth. She started to say something but then their lips brushed. It was quite by accident, really; the actual itself brought an incredibly embarassed, yet pleasant tingling sensation that made her body ache. She started to pull away, started to apologize, to tell him that it was all her fault, that it wasn't her intention at all--
--But then Knuckles arm caught her own gently, and he pulled her back against him. She didn't try to resist.
And across the street, Sonic glowered.
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