AMY POV
"She is so cute." Sonic says looking at my baby pictures and talking about for the past ten minutes. Sonic takes out his phone and takes pictures of it and laughs to himself as he points at my chubby baby face.
"I have extra pictures of her if you would like some!" My mom says as she reaches in a drawer from her desk, in her big personal library we were in and she hands Sonic copies of pictures of me and Sonic smiles big and takes them.
"Thanks." Sonic says while looking at the pictures up close and laughing to himself. "I'm going to put this in my car next to the other picture I have in there of us."
I blush as Sonic smiles and looks at the picture of me and then his eyes go to mine and scoots closer to me on the couch.
"Baby, you look cute. Look at your smile. All you do is smile." Sonic says and I look away. "Haha, why are you blushing so much. You look so cute-"
"Okay… no need to rub it in." I say softly and Sonic laughs and places the extra photos down and wraps his arm around my shoulder and brings me closer.
"Why are you being so shy?" Sonic asks and I blush even more.
"Because of you."
"Hm? What about me? I said you smile was the same. Same thing I say now about you." Sonic says and kisses my cheek. "Your smile was always so bright- "
"Stop…" I couldn't take anymore cutesy compliments from Sonic anymore because we had been spending our last day at my mom's home, looking at family pictures.
I saw pictures of when Rosy was born. My mom's days at high school and her wedding with my stepdad. Moving into the home we are in now and other random moments. I also saw some step cousins, grandparents and other relatives from my stepdad side and then more on my side of the family.
I didn't think that my mom would still be in contact with her side of her family from how she grew up but surprisingly. I had a grandmother, auntie, cousin, and uncle on her side. I never would have known that I had more relatives and hearing that made me wonder how far my family tree went.
My mom brings me another photo album and I look through it instantly and all I see is pink hair, green eyes. And sometimes even blue as I look at family reunions and Christmas parties. I smile to myself from the good memories and as I look through it my mom comes and sits down beside and looks at the pictures with me, telling me small stories about the pictures and I asked her some questions about her mom since she looked like me as well.
Looking at pictures I wasn't in, didn't make me feel alone this time. I was actually more happy than I had been here since I appeared. Something about my mom trying her absolute best to fix our relationship we should have had made me just want to stop being angry about it and accept the now. She was very nice to me and loving so even sometimes when I see a really sweet moment in pictures I don't feel as lonely as I did before.
"I just can't wait to take pictures and create my own memories with my family."
"Your wedding dress is so pretty." I say looking at wedding pictures of her and Rosy.
"Thanks. I got it for cheap too and I loved that dress. I still have it too." She says smiling at the picture and then her phone starts to ring. "You two keep looking. I think there are more baby pictures in there. I'm going to take this."
Sonic grabs the picture book from the table quick and starts to turn through them fast.
"Hehe, baby pictures." Sonic says and I frown.
"You don't need all of them." I say and I try to the close the book but Sonic turns away from me so I couldn't reach.
"Yes, I do. Why are you being so shy about these. Have you seen how cute you look?" Sonic asks.
"No. Let me see." I ask and Sonic shows me, but I snatch the book away and close it.
"Amy- "
I spit my tongue at him and Sonic and I both stand up at the same time and stare each other down. Every step Sonic took towards me, I took a step back, holding the photo album close to me.
"Give it back- "
"No." I say back cutting Sonic off and Sonic chuckles softly and takes his phone out of his pocket so he wouldn't drop it or anything.
"Amelia, I'm asking politely before I get it back forcefully." Sonic says and I move towards the door and Sonic watches me carefully since I was trying to escape.
"YOU DON'T NEED IT!" I yell and I close the door once I open it and leave and I start to dash down the stairs.
I hear footsteps right behind me and as soon as I get on the first floor, I start to run around the house with my boyfriend chasing me. I reach the back door and I turn the knob only to find out that it is locked.
"SHIT! SHIT!" I yell and I notice Sonic catching up to me, so I run down to the hall instead and notice that's it end of it. A small door catches my eye and I open it too see a that it is a guest room. I hurry and I try to close the door, but Sonic appears in it, holding it open his arm and leg.
"What made you think running to a room would do you any good?" Sonic asks while smirking evilly and I use all my strength to try to get the door closed but Sonic was in the way.
Sonic pushes the door open and I stumble back as I watch him enter it. I take small takes back as Sonic approaches me. "Give back the photo book and I won't tickle you."
Sonic threat makes me gasp and I run to the other side of room and going around the bed to separate us. Sonic chuckles again and he turns around and locks the door, making me look around for an exit but there wasn't one.
"You don't need the photobook!" I yell and Sonic laughs even more as he turns around.
"Okay, I don't." he says but still walks up to me.
"Then why are you approaching me like that!" I ask and Sonic doesn't respond as he makes his way on the side of the bed I was on.
Sonic slow but threating steps towards me causes me to scoot closer to the bed. I look at the door with my eyes and Sonic laughs even more because he probably knew what I was going to try next. I leap on the bed and I take off towards the door but suddenly I feel hands on my ankles, and I fall on the bed, letting the book fall on the floor. Sonic pulls me back to him and turns me around. Sonic starts to tickle my ribs and I holla out in laughter.
"SO UNFAIR! HAHAHAHA!" I yell and I try to get Sonic to stop tickling me by wiggling my way out of his grip. I actually get out of it and I try to crawl off the bed until he grabs the belt loop of my pants and yanks me back to him.
"S-SONIC!" I yell with a big smile on my face from him being so playful and climbs on top of me.
"What?" he asks while laughing too.
"I don't have the photo book anymore! It's on the floor so why are you being like this!"
"Oh, you don't know?" he asks and I try to get up but he plops himself on making me laugh even more.
"Haha! You are so fat! Get off me!" I yell and Sonic laughs and nibbles on my neck making me laugh louder than him.
"I didn't do anything to deserve this!"
"Yes, you did." Sonic says and he moves more on top of me, so his face is in mine. "You said "no" to me again- "
"I'LL SAY "NO" AS MANY TIMES AS I WANT-"Sonic covers my mouth with his hands and I start laughing from his action. Sonic watches me laugh and he smiles and leans up from me but still on my body.
"So, that's funny?..." Sonic asks and then he gets up off me and removes his hand from my mouth. "Okay."
Sonic wraps his arms around my torso and lifts me in the air over his shoulder. Before I could scream for help. Sonic throws me on the bed, and I bounce on the bed as my head lands on the pillows. I burst out into laughing and I stop once he grabs my ankle again pulls me back to him.
"S-STOP-"
I get picked up and thrown back to the bed with my hair flying everywhere once I collide back the bed. Tears were streaming down my face from me laughing so hard and Sonic grabbed my ankle again but this time he picked me up differently so I was upside down and he threw me back on it. I land on my back and my hair was in my mouth from being tossed around like a ragdoll.
"S-Sonic…haha… Sonic wait." I say out of breath from laughing so much and Sonic was laughing too.
"No, I'm beating you up." Sonic says and he grabs my wrist and I get on my knees and pull it back, making Sonic come closer to me. Sonic playful face leaves once he gets close to me and looks at my lips and then back to my eyes and smiles.
I move closer to him and I kiss his lips, making him release my wrists and moves his hands to my back. Sonic closes his eyes and I keep mine open to look at his neck.
"So gullible."
My arm comes around his neck and I put him in a head lock. Sonic laughs and tries to get out of my submission hold and I squeeze even harder.
"Ow *cough* you are hurting me" Sonic says weakly and I don't stop but because I knew he was way stronger than me, so this was nothing.
"THEN TAP!"
Sonic laughs some more and that causes me to increase my grip making Sonic touch my arm that was choking him. Sonic taps my arm and I let go in victory and Sonic rubs his throat and looks at me sadly.
"That hurt. I was serious when I said that." Sonic says like I actually hurt him but the way he was rubbing his neck and moving away from me, made me feel… guilty.
"You aren't serious. You were laughing." I sit on the bed and watch him move away from me.
"I was serious." Sonic says and picks up the photo album." Also thanks for tricking me to kiss you. I really thought you wanted to kiss me but once again my girlfriend basically hates me."
"What?! You threw me to the bed like three times!" I get up and follow Sonic who was trying to leave since I "hurt him".
"I didn't trick you though." Sonic says and looks at me. "I'd never fake kiss you or something, to trick you."
I watch Sonic open the door slowly and sadly like he was the victim, so I groan and close the door back and the big baby turns around to me.
"S-Sorry for tricking you." I say with a blush and Sonic smiles on cue making me laugh but then he tries to hold onto his fake sadness.
"Can I have a real kiss then?" he asks and I giggle.
"I guess. Since you are kind of cute and all." I say and Sonic leans down to me with a smile.
"I'm glad we both share the same and only reason why we date each other then." He says and I laugh against his lips as he kisses me.
Sonic lips always make my heart flip, so I place my hand on the side of his face and we kiss each other even longer. I lick his lip and Sonic chuckles and moves back. He places the book down on a dresser and comes back to me.
"I just need to get my hands free for a second." He says and comes back to kiss me. He picks me up and I laugh softly, and I ease myself back on his lips. Sonic tongue goes into my mouth and I follow him as his spread out on my bottom. I moan softly and Sonic pulls back from the kiss.
Sonic eyes look super seductive then he bends down kisses under my chin making me laugh. His kisses travel down my neck and he licks it gently. He then moves back to my face and places me down.
"I feel so loved…"
"I forgot we probably shouldn't take it that far at your parents house." Sonic says.
"Don't worry. We can love each other at home. " I say and I hug Sonic tightly and he kisses the top of my head.
"I'll be looking forward to it, my love." He says and I look at him. "I also want to thank you for being so supportive during this entire experience. I never have to ask you anything. You always got me."
I get on my tippy toes to kiss Sonic's scar on his chin and he blushes.
"You are welcome-"
A knocking on a door interrupts me thanking Sonic and I open the door to see my mom.
"Um? What are you two doing in here? And why was the door locked?" she asks, and I notice how weird this looks. I try to think of why we were actually in here but then I remember my stepdad reaction after seeing Sonic and I act insane so I stutter over my words. My mom looks behind us two and looks annoyed.
"At least fix the bed back." She says and I turn around to see pillows on the floor and the bedsheets messy.
My face heats up and I shake my hands side to side.
"You have it all wrong! We-Sonic and I- um- "
"It's fine sweetie. Whenever you all are done fixing the bed, just come out to the backyard for lunch." She says and laughs while she walks away.
I quickly fix the bed and Sonic laughs silently while he helps me fix some pillows. I frown at him, but I chose not to attack him again.
"Now my mom thinks we were fooling around in her guest room-"
A pillow smacks my arm and I look at Sonic slowly. I watch Sonic put the last pillow down carefully and he looks at me.
"What?" he asks and he walks around the bed. "Is there a problem?"
I ignore Sonic trying to make me angry so I follow him outside the room, and he starts to walk slow on purpose making me push him so he could walk faster.
"Babe. Can I walk?" he asks and I growl.
"STOP BEING LIKE THIS!" I yell as I keep on pushing Sonic who starts to laugh as I push him out the door.
Sonic stops once we get outside and I groan and push him even more until I can squeeze out. "I'm beating your ass whenever we… get… home…"
I slowly stop talking because of all the people in the backyard near a long table. Food was laid out on the table with cups between the plates and containers. Pink hair, green eyes and blue eyes and even some red and orange hair was looking at me after yelling at Sonic.
I take a step back and my back runs into Sonic.
"Surprise!" My mom says coming from the house and approaches me.
"I thought before you went back that I should invite some of the family members you saw in the photo album." She says and I look at the people who looking me curiously and shocked and then my eyes slowly go back to hers. My mom takes in my expression and seems panicked.
"Wait. Should I have asked? I don't want to make you uncomfortable." She says my shoulder and my face heats up.
I try to find words to say but being shocked to see that many people I am related too was something I didn't mentally prepare for.
"Uh…" is all I can muster since I didn't want to make any big noises or sounds since I already yelled loudly without them getting to know me, probably creating a terrible first expression.
My face was so hot that I forgot it was winter outside and I still try to think of something to say but I was so nervous to think or speak.
"Amelia is fine." Sonic places hand my shoulders and I slowly face the other way away from them and I try to speak for myself. "It's a cool surprise! We would love to some more family members."
"f-family what?"
"Okay. Amelia are you sure?" she says, and I nod my head "yes" even though I was really afraid to meet them.
"Great. Let me introduce you to your grandmother! This is your real grandmother; the stepdad side really couldn't show up as much, but they said they wanted to facetime with your or something of the sort." She says and I nod my head again.
"Let's meet them. They seem very excited." Sonic says and I look at his happy face and at least gives me the small courage to turn around and then sun shines on my face revealing me to them.
Sonic grabs my hand, and we approach the elderly sitting at the table with other family members chatting to each other. The curly hair already made me curious and she turns to me after talking to another woman who had pink hair but hers was more peach than pink.
"Mom, this is her!" My mom says and older woman looks at me carefully. She stands up and freeze as she stands, she is about my height but taller once again.
"My…My…" she says and I blush she touches my hair the same just like my mom did when she first met me. "She definitely one of us. Look at that waist."
Her comment makes Sonic and my mom laugh and I just stand there.
She pulls me in a huge hug, and I let go of Sonic's hand to hug her. She releases me and then looks at me confused.
"Do you speak?" she asks, and I blush harshly.
"Y-Yes." I say softly and then my mom steps up.
"Amelia is nervous mom. Remember what I talked about before? This is very new for her-"
"She didn't seem as nervous as before since she yelled at this boy behind her." She says.
She looks at me again to speak but then I hear Sonic chuckle and reach over my head and offers his hand.
"And there are lot more beautiful moments of her. Hi, I'm Sonic. The boyfriend." Sonic says and my grandmother blushes.
"I heard she had one, but I didn't think you were going to be such hunk" She says and Sonic thanks her and laughs friendly.
I look up at Sonic being happy and he looks at me suddenly and I look off making me blush and I feel his hands go on my shoulder.
"Amelia, usually isn't this shy though, trust me." Sonic says and my grandmother looks at me.
"I can tell. No one on our side of the family is quiet." She says and then grabs my hand. "You look very healthy. We looked for you so long and to find out you turned into a beautiful young woman is such a beautiful sight to see. I know you are nervous but there is no need to be! I'm your grandmommy. Come give me another hug."
She hugs me again but this one feels better than the first one she gave so. I hug her back and I notice a group of young adults around my age sitting at the end of the table with Rosy who waved at me.
"Who are they?" I wonder as I wave back to Rosy and then another woman appears that looks closer to my mom and then an older man with orange hair.
"And this is your auntie and uncle!" My introduces me to them and they are just as friendly as my grandmother.
I get told how much I missed and glad I was found, and they wanted to even support me in college the best they could since I told them I was a music major. A smile actually appeared on my face as well once my grandmother got back in the conversation. Sonic was with me as well so I didn't have to talk on my own since he included himself in the conversation but then he would stop talking at a spot to where I could talk easily and it made meeting my family a lot better.
My mom side was sort of small after I got done talking to my auntie and then my mom was showing to the back of the table that was surrounded with young adults and then Rosy.
"These are your cousins- Skips!" My mom yells since the orange haired hedgehog was about to fling potato salad at the pink haired boy.
"Y-Yes? I was just stretching my fork. You know how plastic forks can be." He says quickly and the rest of them laugh at him and Sonic does as well.
"This is Amelia, she goes by Amy. Your long-lost cousin. You guys make her and her boyfriend, Sonic, feel like you always knew them and eat up. They have to eat soon and go back to college." My mom says and Sonic and I sit down at the table and it gets quiet. Everyone was looking at me and Rosy stands up with a smile.
"Amy! This is Skips." Rosy says and Skips looks at Rosy quickly and then back at me. "He is the oldest out of all of us and you! Skips goes to college, but he is going for video game design! Cool right, Sonic?"
"Woah, video game design. That's dope." Sonic says and Skips cocks his eyebrow and leans over the table.
"System?" he asks and Sonic.
"Playstation. I might get a switch sometime soon because Amy talks about how she wants one all the time." Sonic says and Skips looks at me.
"You both play?" he asks and I notice it's my turn to speak.
"W-Well. Not as good as Sonic but I like to play. I don't really have my own a system so I just play from Sonic's sometimes-"
"Have you ever had a system?" he asks and I blush.
"Not really, but I still like video games." I say and Skips stands up and sighs.
"I'll be back." He says and he starts to walk in the house and take his keys from his pocket and I watch him leave.
"Oh no. Did I say something wrong?"
Rosy laughs loudly and then she shoves a girl with red hair, and I notice the rest of my two cousins were still staring at me.
"This is Mellow and then Bolt!" Rosy says touching them individual so I knew who was who.
"Yo." Say bolt. Bolt had pink hair like me, and his hair was slightly similar but he kept his hair above his ears and had some curls on his forehead. He was slim like his brother, Skips who walked off and shorter.
"H-Hi." I say softly and then I look at Mellow to speak.
"Hey, lost cousin. I didn't think you existed for a moment." She says.
"I can see why you think that. I-I didn't think I had cousins for the longest time. It's so weird having family now." I say.
"Were you an orphan?" Bolt asks and Mellow throws a chip at him.
"Auntie Ribbon told us not to talk about that- "
"No, it's fine!" I say and they look at me again. "I was a foster kid my entire life. So, I didn't have a family at all."
"Woah." Mellow says and now she looks over me different." Rosy, said you was in a popular band and college. We are too. Not the band but college."
"Y-yeah! It's slightly popular. Uh, we won a big festival last year that got us some fame. And some other things we did that caught attention but yes. I go to college. I major in music and Sonic majors in business." I say and they look at Sonic behind me.
"Hey, nice to meet you guys." He says and Bolt smiles.
"Rosy, said you beat that hard ass game upstairs." Bolt says and Sonic chuckles.
"I did. I beat it when I was in high school though. It's hard but it can be completed." Sonic says.
"Hah, you have to play with the boys sometimes." Bolt says.
"Boys?!" Rosy says and she rolls her eyes. "I play with you guys too.
Sonic laughs and agrees on playing with them sometime and they start to talk about video games again.
"OKAY!" says Skips coming back and comes with a bag. Skips sits by me and slams the bag down and starts to dig in it.
"You are not about too- "
"SHHH!" Skips stops Rosy from talking and then he clears his throat.
"As the oldest cousin here. I have to supply our newest cousin with SUPPLIES." He says and he looks at me. "We are a gaming family so you have to have a system since you don't have one so I will give you…"
Skips digs in his bag and then pulls out a packaged case and he hands it too me. I take it carefully and I look at the case and then back to him.
"Well, open it?" he says confused and I blush and open it.
"A DS?" I say and gasp and he smiles at me.
"Yeah, since you said you liked games and never really had a system before and then Sonic said he was going to give you a Switch. You can have my old Nintendo D.S. Free of charge and you can pick some games from this pouch. I have so many so you can take whatever you want." He says and I watch as he dumps out all the games on the table and I gasp again.
"A-Are you sure?" I ask and Skips cocks his eyebrow.
"Yeah? You are our lost cousin. I want you to feel at home as much as I can." He says and I smile.
"Wow, thank you-"
"BUT THERE IS ONE FEE!" he says, and I pay attention closely. "You have to promise to come to our cousin hangouts here and play the game with us. It's cousin rules. We all hung out with each other for so long as children and grew up with each other so now you have to make up for those lost days and come back soon to play with us."
"Yeah and play us a song!" Rosy says and the Mellow eyes brighten.
"I forgot Auntie said you can sing! Oh, Amelia- Amy, we have to make a song together! Wait, what if we were a big cousin band?" She says and Skips gasps.
"Dude, that would be so cool. I can't play an instrument, but I can rap." Skips says and I laugh.
"I can barely stay on rhythm." Bolt says and Rosy stares at him.
"That's why we have Amy. She can help us." Rosy says and then everyone looks at me.
"This is what family is like. Everyone is so nice and welcoming to me. I… I don't think I ever thought in my wildest days that my life could get like this. "
"Y-Yeah. I'll come. I'll be there.
After greeting them, we all ate, and they told me about themselves and I did the same as well. I got the numbers of everyone and took pictures too to keep for once I went back to Shibuya. My grandmother even sent me home with food and my stepdad and mom gave me money to hold me over until I got the debit card she ordered. My mom also bought me blankets before I went back home because of how cold it gets in Shibuya, so she wanted me to safe.
Feeling safe was already a feeling I was familiar with but feeling safe by multiple people was different. It just felt nice to be cared about from people who were looking for me so long and now.
Even though I was leaving them again, it still felt like I was home.
Days later at college
"BUCKLE UP! BUCKLE UP!" Cass yells at us as he walks in the performance room. He dangles keys while walking in and I explode in the air and I run towards him.
"WOAH! YOU GOT THE GOLF CART!?" I ask and Cass flips his longer curly hair that now goes to his shoulders.
"YOU KNOW IT!" he says and gives me a thumbs up. "I told them it was a super important duty for a club, so we needed it! Plus, I also got your club supervisor to throw in some words too so we are in the clear to use the golf cart as much as we like."
"Woohoo!" I yell and I high five Cass a million times.
"Do we really need a golf cart to walk somewhere." Sonic asks from the couch.
"Haha, probably not but it's cool!" Tails says and Sonic rolls his eyes and continues to eat a bag of chips I bought him.
I stare at Sonic angrily until I start to hear footsteps coming from downstairs and I see Rouge appear with Ten and Knuckles behind her.
"HEY!" I yell again running up to them and Rouge grabs me by the shoulders.
"H-Hey remember when you sent me, Cream, Knuckles and Ten to look for Sticks?" she asks and I nod my head."Sticks is throwing up in the bathroom." She says quickly and my eyes widen.
"W-What. Why?-"
Sonic stands up and runs past us and up the stairs to go search for Sticks and I freak out and chase after him and so does everyone else. We make it to the bathroom and Sonic carefully knocks and then runs in.
"S-Sonic you can't go in the girl's bathroom!" Rouge yells and I blush since Sonic was doing it anyway to check on Sticks, so we follow him.
The sounds of retching come from the last stall and Sonic knocks on it carefully and Cream answers the door.
"S-Sonic? Why are you in here-" Sonic moves past Cream and crouches down to Sticks who was throwing up her guts.
"Hey… why are you throwing up. You were completely fine earlier." Sonic says and rubs her back while Sticks coughs.
I walk over to them Sonic seems worried since Sticks had yet to talk yet because she was still gagging.
"I think she is nervous for performing." Cream says and I nod my head and bend down to her.
I touch her back and she looks at me with tears in her eyes.
"Aww, Sticks." I say and she looks away in shame.
"Sorry… I just get really nervous." Sticks says and Sonic pats her head.
"We get it. It's your first time performing in front of your classmates. You told me you weren't going to be that nervous though and you are." Sonic says and Sticks blushes and looks off.
"I lied… I just wanted to show you that I can do it but looks like I am still nervous about performing." Sticks says and Rouge squeezes in and passes her a water bottle.
Sticks hands were shaky so Sonic took it and opened it for her and handed her the bottle.
"Thanks." She says with a pale face and she grabs it but it slips out of her hand and Sonic catches it just in time and it wastes a little.
"Sticks." Sonic says and I start to worry.
"Okay… maybe you shouldn't perform today." I say and her eyes widen.
"No! It's the club festival day. You all were counting on me to sing and I can do it. I'm just nervous. I can do it, Amy." She says and then she stands up and I watch her as her legs shake.
"See, I'm fine." She says and Sonic and I both get up and look over her carefully.
Sticks looks at us back and forth, waiting for us to say something Sonic opens the door.
"Walk out then if you are okay." He says and Sticks looks at the door to exit the bathroom and then back to him.
"O-okay." Sticks starts to walk towards the door very slowly and then she stops. Sticks covers her mouth and runs to a trash can and throws up again with Rouge assisting her.
We come over as well and rub her back and support her and while she throws up again I look at her concerningly.
"I thought this might happen. Even though Sticks is on fire with us at practice, she still gets very nervous to perform. She had been talking about the performance at the club festival for days, non-stop and I think it's because she was really just super nervous… maybe this is too early for her."
"Sticks." I say and Sticks leans up and tries to walk out the door, but she grabs the handle and doesn't open it.
"Sticks, its okay. You don't have to perform in front of everyone if you aren't ready." Sonic says and Sticks starts to sniff her nose and she turns to us.
"B-But I am. I can do it-"
"We know you can do it." Sonic says placing his hand on her head. "But you are very, very, nervous right now and I don't want you to pass out on stage."
Sticks looks down to her feet and then she swiftly opens the door and walks out to the rest of our friends.
"I-I can do it." She says and I walk out to see Cass looking at her strangely.
"Sticks, you look faint." He says and Cass blushes.
"I'm fine. I just need some fresh air." She says and we all start looking at her with her sick expression.
"No, Sticks." I say and I make the final decision for her because I care about her health more than a club festival for college.
"You aren't performing today. I know that sucks, but you can't perform under this state." I say and Sticks stares at me.
"But… but Amy. I can do it-"
"I know you can, but you are scared right now." I say walking to her, and she holds her fingers together. "There will be more opportunities to perform for the school, later on this year. We just need to build your confidence up together, so you won't have to risk your health to do something you are scared of doing."
Sticks seems defeated and nods her head slowly and looks off to the ground, creating a bigger cloud over her head she already had.
"Yeah, Amy is right. There are going to be way more events to do this semester!" Tails chips in and Ten comes in after.
"That's true." Ten says and then I look back and smile at them for trying to put some shine on this situation.
Ten shoves Cass to say something next and Cass perks up.
"Y-Yeah! I mean everyone is afraid of something. You just need to get better because you aren't there yet, but you will be! We can't have you up there throwing up on stage or passing out in front of everyone at school because that would be embarrassing." Cass says and I face palm.
Ten smacks him on the back of the head and Cass winces. "Ow! It's true-"
"So, you don't think I am ready?" she asks, and her tone makes Sonic step up and get crouch to her.
"No, you are ready." Sonic says and Sticks starts to look really upset. "You just have stage fright we have to work on, and we aren't going to make you do something that is obviously still uncomfortable to you. "
Sticks wipes her face and Sonic moves his hand out to pick her head up because she was holding it down, but she backs away.
"Okay… can we just go before we are late… so you can perform for me since I can't."
Her words make the hallway we were in, silent and Sonic stands up.
"You guys do perform in ten minutes." Cass says and I look at the time and then back to Sticks who was really bummed she couldn't perform. I also started to feel bad because she was shutting down on us completely just because I told her she wasn't performing.
"Was that really the right thing to do?"
I open my mouth to give instructions, but I wasn't sure on what to say.
"Me and Sticks are going to walk there while you guys drive in the golf cart. Don't goof off and be late." Sonic says walking up to Sticks and wrapping his arm around her shoulder and heading towards the exit.
"Late?! We are going to get there before you!" Cass yells and Sonic rolls his eyes and walks off with our new club member, probably giving her advice.
"We should probably go though… Sonic is slightly right because I have never driven a golf cart before." Cass says quietly and I nod my head and the rest of us follow Cass.
We walk out to the front of the school and there is a shiny golf cart with enough seats for all of us. It was bigger than the normal one, so I sit in the front with Ten while the rest sit in the back with Cream and Tails riding on the back.
"So, we are playing the backup song?" Ten asks and I nod my head silently as Cass cranks the golf cart up and starts to drive around campus with the cool crisp air rolling in our hair.
"Are you sad about telling Sticks she can't perform?" Ten asks and I look at him.
"Yeah… but I did the right thing… right? She was practically dying, Ten. I didn't want her to do anything to stress herself out even more. It's not about her performing because we all know she can do that but it's about her mental health and her health just in general because was so nervous! I don't want her to be uncomfortable or terrified. We all know how she gets when she is scared and nervous." I say and Ten nods his head.
"I'm sure she will be fine." Cass says with a smile and drives over a hill and we start to pass students and staff, that are waving at us. " You did a good call. A great leader would take that call."
"She was terrified, Amy." Rouge says and I look behind me. "But we can work on it, just like you said so don't let it get you down too."
"Okay. I just want her to grow. Like all of us." I think about Sticks potentially but the bigger mountains we have to get passed first to get there.
Cass turns right hard and we all hold onto the car from his wild driving and then we start to hear people and see students walking around. Cass drives right into the crowd and they start jumping out the way.
"CASS!" Ten yells and I close my eyes since we almost hit another clubs booth.
"SORRY! I THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE THE FASTEST BECAUSE ONLY HAVE THREE MINTUES TO GET ON STAGE- GET OUT THE WAY!" Cass yells and students start to move over and watch the killing golf cart drive through.
"CASS! YOU DO KNOW THAT YOUR BOSS IS OUT HERE RIGHT?! YOU CAN'T JUST DRASTICALLY DRIVE A GOLF CART THROUGH A WORK HERE!" Tails yells and I was still afraid to open my eyes until I started hearing my name being called out by random students.
"Amy! Amy!" A group of students yell and I notice its some classmates from math class.
"HEY!" I yell as we drive away from them and we head up to the stage, the school built for us to perform on. There was a big white stage that was used for graduation and celebrations for the university and then a lot of white chairs sitting in front of it. Students, teachers, staff and maybe some students from high schools around the area started to fill up the chairs and the closer we got to the stage the louder it became. The cold air I was feeling in my hair cooled my excited body as I start to smile big at the stage. Our guitars and drum set shinned in the sunlight and we park in the back.
"Okay, guys before you get on stage. Just remember I am recording this for practice, so you all can watch it later and for the "4 Times Different" Twitter page. If you take pictures with fans tell them to follow the hashtag I am making right now." Ten says while looking at his phone getting off the golf cart.
"GREAT!" I yell and then I run to the small backstage area and I see Sonic still talking to Sticks.
I slow down before approaching them and Sticks eyes meet mine and she blushes and looks while saying something.
"Why did she look at me like that…"
Sonic turns around and waves at us so the big group of people who rode on the golf cart approach Sonic.
"So, what song are we singing." Sonic asks stretching his arms.
"The Kill" by Thirty Seconds to Mars. Since it's a last decision then let's just do our back up song." I say and Tails and Rouge agrees. Sticks looks at me after I said that, and she folds her arms and looks off to the crowd forming.
"I-Is she mad at me?"
"Sweet. I love that song." Sonic says and he notices that everyone is quiet and looks at where we are looking. Sonic looks at Sticks and then back to me and I look at Sonic.
Sonic smiles at me and pats Sticks head getting her attention.
"Yo, while we are up there. Make sure you are taking notes, okay?" Sonic says and Sticks nods her head and continues to look forward.
"She is definitely mad. Should I apologize…"
"Let's go on stage?" Sonic questions and we all look away from Sticks.
"Y-Yeah!" Tails says getting hyped and runs past Sonic and Rouge goes up there as well.
"Good luck guys!" Cass yells." Don't forget to smile!"
"And dance!" Knuckles adds in and Cream giggles and adds something too.
"And have fun!" she says and Cass high fives Cream.
"We will!" Sonic says and he looks at me. "Come on, cutie-"
"Sticks." I say and she blushes even more and looks at me.
"You… um. You will get your chance-"
"It's fine." Sticks says quickly and looks off. "Just go have fun without me."
"W-Without you?.." I ask in shock and then I look at Sonic, panicked. "Sticks. I just… think you could learn more… or… I want you to be comfortable. That's it."
Sticks doesn't look back at me and being on stage was the last thing I wanted to do because my friend, Sticks was mad at me.
"It's okay, Amy. I understand." Sticks word hit me harshly because I didn't know if it was okay.
"Alright…" I say awkwardly and I turn to Sonic who was looking at Sticks but then smiles it over and grabs my hand. We get on the stage and we are almost sucked into the loud chants of screaming. I look around while Sonic holds my hand, and he turns around to me.
"She is fine. I talked to her." Sonic says and I almost look back but Sonic pulls me closer to him.
"Let's focus on this for now. We have all the time to get her more ready also she is watching us closely so we need to do our absolute best so she can know how to rock it when its her time." Sonic says.
"You are right… Okay!" I say and I let go of his hand and I raise my palm in the air."Let's do this! High five!"
Sonic laughs and gives me a high five and then he just grabs my hand again and runs over to Tails and Rouge getting ready.
"Yo! Let's kill this shit!" Sonic says and I gasp.
"Sonic, you can't talk like that! We are still at school." And Sonic blushes and remembers.
"Right… Let's do this!" Sonic corrects himself and then Rouge and Tails come over.
"It's been a while since we just performed with each other on stage. Let's see who got rusty!" Tails jokes and I laugh and we all kind of look at Sonic and his jaw drops.
"Most likely Sonic since he keeps on sleeping during practice." Rouge adds in.
"I practice more than any of you. That's why I learned the song fast." Sonic says and flips Tails off and I hide his finger.
"Sonic, PROFANITY! Cass warned us about that remember." I say and Sonic raises his other middle finger at Tails causing both of them to laugh and I grab the other.
Sonic notices that I am holding his hands and he smiles at me softly.
"Let's go do this leader." He says and he pulls me to the front of the stage, where the sun is shining a lot brighter in the sunset. The crowd waves and claps at us and I wave back. I notice the mic is super tall for Sonic and I reach to adjust until Sonic picks me up in his arms and sits me on his forearms as he holds me.
"Sonic, I could have just grabbed the mic." I say laughing since he picked me up and Sonic shrugs his shoulders.
"True but since everyone in school is watching then I want to remind them you are clearly taken." He says but then a group of girls yell Sonic's name making both of us look that way and then we look at each other.
"Looks like it needs to be the other way around." I say and Sonic laughs loudly.
"Haha, that also means I'm more attractive than you." Sonic implies and then waves at them.
"What? More attractive than me?" I ask looking at Sonic his infectious laugh comes out while I was trying to think of an insult, but he was right. " You are pretty hot." I say as I touch his face, admiring what is mine and Sonic blushes lightly and laughs again.
"Thanks baby but please start the announcements before you end up getting distracted again." Sonic reminds me and I snap out of the trance from Sonic's face and back down to the excited crowd below us.
I grab the mic and as I do I notice a big group of students were sitting in the front rows with the same red shirt on and then I see Big standing up first, explaining why I was seeing what I was seeing.
"EVERYONE ARISE! THE PRINCESS IS SPEAKING!" Big yells at our fan club who took up the first three rows of seats and started to cheer while I open my mouth.
"Good Afternoon! Shibuya University!" I yell out on the mic and everyone responds back with yelling as well and starts taking their seats. "I hope you all are enjoying the Club Festival going on today and we are so lucky to be able to close it off with our band but before we start. I want to reintroduce our band, club and members of it!" I respond and it gets slightly quiet as I talk.
"The performance club is a club were a small number of students get together after classes every day and practice for days like these to spread the joy and powerful affect to music to wherever they are allowed too. This is the performance club third year of being a club and we are so thankful for you guys supporting us, Mr. Cheyenne, our club supervisor, for supporting us and setting this up and close friends, family, classmates, fan clubs, everyone who comes out to hear us, we all thankful for the constant support we have. Thank you." I say and everyone starts to clap for us.
"Our club has grown a tad bit, as you can see but I want to reintroduce us for the ones who haven't heard of us yet." I turn my body and so does Sonic and I point to Cass and Cream in the back.
"You may know him if you get injured from a sport, but this is Cass the Fox, our assistant for the band. Give him a round of an applause for keeping us all together." I say and Cass blushes and walks on stage and waves. "And Cream the Rabbit, another special close friend of ours that helped us with our small events." I say and then I look forward and Sonic turns as well making me laugh a little.
"And our Social Media Director, Ten! He is recording on the ground for!" I say and Ten waves his hand and then I point out to Knuckles. "And Then Knuckle the Echidna, the guy who gets us everywhere we need to go. Both Ten and Knuckles are a part of the weightlifting club as well and after practice they spend more time helping us even after theirs so thank you guys so much!"
And then I point into the crowd for Mr. Cheyenne.
"And our club supervisor, Mr. Cheyenne! Please stand."
I say and I watch him wave and then students clap for him as well.
"And I want to thank our little staff for all they do because at first it was just me doing everything but now with the help, I didn't ask for but is greatly appreciated now, I am forever thankful for you all." I say and I clap for them and so does our band the everyone else watching us.
"And now… Let's get to the music but first, I'm going to let the singer introduce us all. " I say and Sonic places me down and
"And now to our for the band!" I say and I move to jump down. I wave my hand to cue Tails to start playing and then I look back at Sonic before I go off to my instrument. Tails starts to drum on his drums creating a smooth and suspenseful atmosphere as the crowd starts to get louder, waiting for us to play.
I grab Sonic face and I kiss his lips and he kisses me back as I lay my forehead on his and I look into his cheerful eyes.
"You can do this. Just have fun and lead us like you always do." I say softly and Sonic nods his head making me grin.
"I will." He says and starts to look at the crowd and I run past him to grab my guitar putting it on. As I lift it over my head, I notice Sticks was staring at me. Sticks blushes and looks off to Sonic who was about to speak, and I slowly turn away from her.
"Really hoping she doesn't hate me or something."
The crowd starts to go wild once Sonic gets closer to the mic and starts to speak on it and I chuckle at his smile that was getting shown in the orange sunlight.
"Hey, Shibuya University." He says smoothly like he always acts, and everyone practically screams and gets more excited.
"Thank all for coming out for our Club Festival and supporting us like you have been doing and I am going to introduce our members of the band. Starting with our talented drummer…" Sonic says and the crowd already cheers for him. "Tails Power and our beautiful Bass Guitarist, Rouge the Bat." The crowd cheers again and I notice Sonic starts to smile even more after looking his best friends and then to me.
"And then our astonishing leader and my super cute girlfriend Amelia Rose." he says and I laugh a little and blush. "And lastly our awesome 2nd lead singer, Sticks who got sick but is still here supporting us!" Sonic says and my smile drops slightly, thinking about Sticks again but I push it aside because I wanted her to learn as much as she can by watching us.
"And my name is Sonic… I'm the lead singer and we are "4 Times Different and this is "The Kill" By Thirty Seconds to Mars…"
Tails gets quiet with the drum taping he had been doing and then I come in and we crescendo louder and start to play. Sonic grabs the mic with one hand and closes his eyes and he sings the first part of the song.
"What if I wanted to break? Laugh it all off in your… face. What would you do?" I nod my head to the chill melody we were creating, and I start to close my eyes as well and rock side to side, feeling the words coming out of Sonic's mouth.
"What if I fell to the floor? Couldn't take all this anymore…What would you do, do, do? " Sonic singing makes me open my eyes and look at him and I watch soak into the song. Tails repeatedly hits on his drums as we all come in together once again.
"Come, break me down! Bury me, bury me! I am finished with you!" Sonic sings effortless and the crowd on the ground stands up and moves closer to the stage.
It gets quiet again and then come back all together and my hands move quickly over the chords and the sounds of the music we were creating was making me smile so big.
"What if I wanted to fight? Beg for the rest of my life!..What would you do?" Sonic now takes the mic off the stand and starts to walk to the right side of the stage and the crowd screams and tries to move over there as he bends down and touches some hands.
"You say you wanted more…What are you waiting for?
I'm not running from you…" Sonic sings and he stands back and takes a big breath back into the chorus.
"Come, break me down! Bury me, bury me! I am finished with you!" Sonic spins around and sings to the top of his lungs while leaning his head back and starts to walk to the other side of the stage.
"Look in my eyes!" He sings while leaning down even more to the fans and then he gets on his knees and continues to sing and have fun.
"You're killing me, killing me! All I wanted was you!" he sings and then he stands up quickly and winks at us and I turn around to Rouge and Tails since this was all of our favorite part to play.
"I'll never get used to performing with them. Every and any performance makes me so happy."
"I tried to be someone else, but nothing seemed to change!" Sonic sings and he the way he sound makes all of us watch him as he goes back to the middle of the stage and places his mic back on the stand as he hits all the high notes causing us to feel goosebumps.
"Haha, he is really going all out."
"I know now, this is who I really am inside!" Sonic sings pointing to himself and then he moves his hand out and as he sings perfectly.
"I've finally found myself! Fighting for a chance, I know now, this is who I really am!" Sonic sings and we all stop playing and Sonic takes the mic off and sings even better, and we watch him.
"Oh!" he sings his blazer comes off his arm as he sings with eyes closed.
We play and take turns going but then we stop. Sonic voice echoes through the entire school and it feels like the world how he is singing and sounds.
"Oh!" We start playing and I jump up and down with Rouge and Tails who was now standing smiling at Sonic.
"Ohh!" Sonic sings one last time and moves out the way for our small music break and he hypes the crowd up to cheer and clap for us. I play my small solo and we all jump down at the same time coming back in together and Sonic slides on his knees across the stage while touching hands and looking at the camera Ten was holding and he gets on one knee to continue singing.
"Come, break me down! Bury me, bury me! I am finished with you, you, you!" he sings pointing at random people in the crowd and then he swings his feet around and starts walking in the crowd. They hug Sonic and Sonic hugs them back while pushing through to get more into the audience. I walk more forward, and I watch him perform and sing his life away.
"Look in my eyes…You're killing me, killing me." Sonic sings to students and teachers and takes pictures with some while he sings but he keeps on going. I can't help but to smile and my heart grows ten time bigger because of the smile on his face.
"All I wanted was you!" he sings and then audience gives him space to sing as he stops walking, with his back turned to us and he sings with flashes from phones pointed at him and Ten recording him as well.
"Come, break me down!...Break me down…" he sings and he touches his chest as he goes higher and higher on the notes he was singing.
"Break me down!"
We stop playing so loudly, going back to the cool melody we was playing at the beginning and Sonic drops his head from singing at the sky and slowly turns back to us, standing on the crowd. Wind blow past my head and soon it goes to his as we stare at each other and smiles at me and I do the same since it was just me and him playing.
The small connection we had through the blockage of fans and the big crowd of people watching him sing.
"What if I wanted to break?" he sings softly while breathing heavily but not loud as he looks at us on the stage. I continue to play, and he watches me love in his eyes and I do the same since it was our favorite part to play together.
"What if I, what if I, what if I…" he sings and then I finish the song by playing my last few notes.
The crowd goes wild and cheers Sonic on as he tries to get back on stage after many hugs and pictures. Tails and Rouge run up to me and hugs me and we laugh at Sonic getting complimented a lot and he even starts to blush as he finally makes back on stage. Sonic climbs up and then we hug him after all the other fans were hugging him and laughs softly.
We turn and bow with the sun finally disappearing and the crowd keeps on clapping, concluding our performance for our Performance Club.
After the performance.
I notice that Sticks is taking longer than everyone to pack and leave the Performance room, so I wait by the door for her. She soon turns around with bag and guitar case in hand and she already blushes as she walks up to me.
"You are walking kind of slow. Do you feel better?" I ask and she nods her head.
"Yes. Sonic bought me a Sprite, so I felt better while you were performing on stage..." Sticks sighs afterwards and as we head up the steps to go meet with the rest of them at the entrance.
"Sorry... for...um." Sticks looks at me while she talks, and I slow down and stop so she could speak to me.
We stand on the first floor of the school and Sticks looks at her guitar.
"I'll... care about my mental health more. I know I argued with you about performing or not, but I wasn't trying too- you were right and... I should have just taken what you said and not performed." Sticks apologizes.
"I was scared the entire day. I have to show my feelings so I can conquer them and... um." Sticks looks away like she was trying to remember what to say and then she looks back to me. "I'll be ready next time. And even if I am scared about performing then I'll just get better until I can."
"That's good!" I say and Sticks smiles. "I'm glad you switched this around to a positive situation instead of you thinking I was punishing you. I really wanted you to be okay. Regardless of the band, you come first, not playing for some students."
Sticks nods her head and then I start walking again and she follows.
"By the way. Everyone is scared about performing. But you have a passion for it so that's why you shouldn't give up. Even if you have anxiety about it. I will get you more confident, Sonic will too! We all will! And you have to want it yourself because we can do is push you up the mountain as you climb it."
"Okay." Sticks says and I look forward at our group of friends talking at the entrance.
"So, I hope me telling you that you couldn't perform doesn't make you hate me or doubt yourself. I really didn't want you to hurt yourself."
"Ah! Well! I thought you were mad at me!" Sticks says and blushes. "but turns out you were only trying to help me. I'm sorry, Amy. I just don't want you to think I can't do it." Sticks says and I stop again.
"I'll never think that. I know you can do anything you put your mind too."
I smile and I turn to her while walking backwards.
"Plus with your experience, imagine the tips and advice you can give your band members once you create your own band and then lead the performance club because we all have been nervous before so once you get passed this barrier and some hills and valleys. You are going to be the best leader ever once we graduate!"
"I will be." Sticks says and I gasp and hug her.
"YOU WILL!" I say and then Sticks hugs me back and laughs.
"About time. It's cold and I'm hungry." Sonic says and I notice we made it to the group.
"...fatty." I whisper but Sonic still hears and pinches my arm.
"OW!" I yell and Sonic moves away from before I can get him back.
"Amy, it's speech time!" Cass says handing me a paper I gave him earlier to talk about events coming up soon to our group.
"OH! Right. OKAY EVERYONE LISTEN UP!" I yell in the empty entrance and the small conversations lower.
We were all standing by a statue near the school entrance and I stand on the stone bench that was in front of it.
"Okay! Great job everyone today!" I smile and I look at the paper. "The club festival was once again another success and slightly chaotic but thanks for sticking through it all the way to the end so now let's talk about our upcoming event which is performing at Udio's Studio." I remind them and I look away from the paper and at their faces.
"We are going there to perform after winning Tokyo and I am positive that it is going to sold out to the max. There might be journalists, social media, or some kind of press showing up to talk to us so we have to come dressed in our costumes we are wearing since we are going to be in the spotlight. We play last after Anti-Routine and D'Coolette should have our costumes done tomorrow, which I am going to pick up." I say and then I look more at the list.
"Oh! Ms. Fiona invited to play at a Halloween bash party, they throw at the production studio which is great news because that also goes into our internship hours but ALSO, WE GET TO PLAY FOR A PRODUCTION STUDIO. Everyone I am looking at is invited!" I say and everyone gasps.
"I know! So exciting but that's all the announcements for now-"
I look at Sticks and then I get an idea.
"Um… also one more thing. Sticks!" I yell her name and she is more alert now.
"You are now performing the song you were going to perform at the club festival at Udio's Studio with us."
Everyone goes slient and looks at Sticks and Sticks blushes red.
"R-Really? I thought that was a strict concert-"
"You are with us! Plus, you do want to play on stage right?" I ask.
"Of course." She says and I jump down.
"Then this is another chance to give it a try."
Everyone starts to encourage her and Sticks smiles. "Okay. I can do it!" she says and everyone cheers.
"GREAT! Let's end this meeting off on a good note! Hands in!" I say and everyone hands come in.
"On three! Let's scream "4 Times Different!" I yell.
We count to three and we all cheer in the chilly night sky and laugh and smile.
"Wait, I thought we were celebrating after this?" Knuckles asks and I gasp.
"R-R-R-RIGHT! I ALMOST FORGOT!" I yell and I push Sonic forward. "Sonic, made homemade hot cocoa for us to drink after a long day the club festival!"
Sonic blushes as they look at him and Cass shuffles behind Ten.
"Homemade hot cocoa… I know we stopped joking about Sonic being a serial killer in all but… who makes homemade hot cocoa! I didn't even know you could do that!" Cass says and everyone laughs and looks to Sonic since he was blushing.
"It's not that hard… stop looking at me like that." Sonic says and I giggle.
"Like I said before, what can Sonic not do?" Knuckles says and then even everyone starts thinking and no one could think of anything making me laugh.
"Guys don't bully the chef. It smells super good in the house too because he put it in this crockpot to keep it warm, and the chocolate is so smooth and creamy. "My mouth waters as I think about the crockpot of hot chocolate Sonic wouldn't let me touch this morning.
"Let's go then!" Tails implies and we all head to our apartment.
After several cups of hot cocoa and hot cocoa moustaches. Everyone was sitting the living room, talking to each other and catching up with Cass and his physical therapy stories, creeping Rouge out from a story about someone twisting their ankle.
I laugh softly as I lean on the edge of the door to the living room and I watch Knuckles make fun of Sonic of how he was singing, and Sonic gets up while laughing and starts to walk towards the exit of the living where I was standing. Sonic notices me standing by myself and he grabs the collar of my school shirt and pulls me along with him while we walk through our hallway and into the kitchen. I laugh as I keep up with him and he laugh to from hearing me.
Sonic lets go of me once he gets in and he turns the crockpot off and pours the remains in a plastic container. I walk slowly beside him and he sees me and leans down kisses my forehead.
"The hot cocoa was great. Can you make that all the time, please."
Sonic laughs and pours the remains and tosses the big spoon in the sink to clean as he grabs a towel to wash the crockpot with.
"I don't know. I don't want you to be any hyper than you usually are." He says and I giggle.
"I'm not that hyper. "I say leaning on his shoulder and watching him clean.
"Yes, you are. You jumped in my lap after a few sips of the hot cocoa and started bouncing up and down like a little kid." He says and I laugh, and I nibble on his shoulder softly.
"That's just me normally." I say and Sonic agrees making me laugh loudly and Sonic looks at me and smiles.
"Yeah, you normally are crazy." He says and I laugh even more, and I move in front of Sonic slowly, taking his attention from cleaning in sink to me.
"Crazy about you."
I say and Sonic leans closer to me and turns off the water and pecks my lips.
"Me too." He says and I touch his face and brings his closer to mine. Sonic exhales as I kiss him fully and he drops the spoon in the sink and places his wet hands on my waist and pushes his body on mine. Sonic body being way bigger and muscular than mine always made me feel so safe. I smile as I kiss him and he has to bend to kiss me.
Sonic hand moves up to the back of my head and he grips my hair and he looks into my eyes.
"Mmm." I say and he grips my roots making me bite my lip. "Do we have any of that whipped cream left?" I ask and he laughs softly.
"We do." He says and push my body on his chest, and he looks down at it.
"We should use it after our friends leave. I want to see if it tastes better on you." I respond and Sonic he lets go of my hair and walks to the fridge.
"Let's find out." He says and I giggle at him actually looking for it and then I watch Ten walk past the kitchen and out the door quickly.
"Ten?" I say and then I walk out the kitchen as well and Ten walks out the door and closes while he was on the phone.
"Babe?" Sonic says and he has the whipped cream in his hands.
"Um… hold on." I say and I borrow Sonic's big jacket he had hanging up by the door and I walk out into the cold air. I look around and I walk down the stairs and I see Ten talking to someone down the sidewalk, near a bench. I approach them slowly and I start to hear a conversation and I notice that he is talking to a guy. I hide behind a tree and I listen closely to the conversation.
The guy he was talking was a wolf too, but he was tan and he was wearing our uniform at our school and looked annoyed at Ten.
"Ten. I just can't live how you want too…" he says and Ten walks up to the guy and the guy steps back making Ten stop
"I just need time Tori. It's not something I can just come out and say or do. You know how it is to be us here." He says and I cock my eyebrow.
"Us…?"
I stare at Tori and tears come to his eyes and he backs away even more.
"That's why I said what I said Ten. We can't be together because you don't want to be yourself, but I do and I… I don't want to hide my life anymore. I want to be me! And you should want to be you!" Tori says and Ten goes quiet.
"I… I understand if you aren't ready, but I am so… this thing we are is over… unless you can be yourself in this world with me then we are done." Tori walks off and Ten watches him go.
"Together… who even was that guy-"
I stop thinking as Ten turns around with tears streaming down his face and his eyes widen as he sees me. Ten takes steps back and looks back at Tori than me.
"Ten…" I say and Ten starts to walk the opposite way and I run up to him grab his arm.
"Wait! Where are you going?" I ask and Ten stops walking and wipes his tears quick.
"H-Home." He says and I nod my head as he looks down to the sidewalk.
"You didn't say goodbye to anyone…" I bring up and Ten sniffs his nose. Tens eye fills up with tears and he doesn't say anything.
"Who was that?" I ask and Ten eyes widen again, and he moves his hand from mine.
"No one. Just an old fr-"Ten stops talking and covers his mouth. "A friend."
Ten starts to cry again and my eyes fill up in sadness because I had never seen Ten like this before.
"Let's sit." I say nicely and Ten walks to the bench carefully and sits down"
We sit down in the cold and Ten sniffs his noses and let's a few sad tears leave his eyes and I look ahead wondering what to say or do.
"He was just so happy in the living room... I have no idea what could be causing him to act this way."
Ten wipes his face and stares ahead at the road and a random car drives by. I look at Ten without moving my head and the look at the sky. The stars were twinkling bright and a cloud of breath comes out of my mouth and I watch it fade.
"Can you act like you didn't see anything." Ten asks and I look to him looking at his hands in lap. "Please."
"Okay. I will." I say and Ten thanks me and wipes his last tear coming out of his eye. "But… could you tell me who that was… and why you are crying?"
Ten seems very timid after me asking him that he sighs stressfully and rubs his face with his hands. I reach up and I grab his hand from his face, and I hold it in mine.
"I'm here. Even if you don't want to tell me now. I'll always be ready to listen."
Ten looks at my hand in his and he nods his head.
"Do you want a hug?" I ask and Ten looks at my face and thinks about it, but I laugh, and I turn around and hug him anyway. Ten slowly hugs me and I rub his back like how Sonic would do me when I was upset and that would always make me feel better.
"I've never seen you cry before or even look sad. Maybe we can talk about what is bothering you for a moment since you never really seem to act this way. I'd be very concerned to send you home without asking what is wrong with you. Or at least knowing." I say and I release the hug and look at Ten's face.
"You probably wouldn't understand…" Ten says.
"Even if I don't I think talking to someone always helps. Even trying to make me understand what is wrong will help you too." I advise and Ten blushes and then turns to me.
"You won't tell, will you? Not even, Sonic." He says and I agree.
"Of course." I say Ten looks really nervous and then he looks behind me to if anyone was around and they weren't, so he slowly looks back at me.
I wait for him to speak and he sighs heavily and opens his mouth but his eyes fill back up with tears.
"Ten Ten…." I say sadly and I rub his back and scoot closer.
"I'm just h- having trouble being myself." He says sadly and wipes his face and I nod my head.
"Why do you feel like you aren't being yourself? You act yourself around us all the time." I say and Ten tears run down his face and he shakes his head
"No, I don't." He says and he unlocks his phone and I watch him but then I look back at his face with more tears falling out.
"I think you do… um. Seeing you cry is unusual, but we all have our bad days if that's what you don't think we see about you." I say and then Ten shows me his phone.
I look at it and my breathing stops. It a picture a Ten… kissing that wolf I just saw walk away. I pull it close to my face and Ten gasps and snatches his phone back and I look at him shocked.
"D-Don't look at it like that!" he says and stands up , I stand too and I try to think words to say and that makes Ten freak out even more.
"Amy…" Ten stops talking then he backs away. "Wait. Please act like you saw nothing- ah. I don't know why I did that." Ten blushes and then he looked like he was going to cry and run away but I grab his hands.
Ten stares at me with tears in his eyes and I try to come back to life after what I saw but the picture was too shocking to see.
"Ten- has a boyfriend?! HE NEVER TOLD ME!" I think to myself and then Ten blushes even more and I try to stop freaking out.
"Y-You-" I stop talking because Ten was crying and I notice how I acted. "Hey… let's just- let's sit down and talk for a moment…"
I try to pull him to sit down but he didn't want to sit down. He really looked like he wanted to leave, so I try stand with him instead and he wipes more tears.
"So… you-
"Yes, I'm… gay." Ten says and I watch him look unhappy at his feet and I let his hands go.
"I wasn't going to ask you that." I say and Ten looks at me. "I was going to ask if you had a lover?" I ask and Ten nods his head slowly and I watch him wipe his face.
"Why did you let them walk away like that?" I ask and then Ten head picks up quickly he folds his arms.
"I… I didn't want too. But I had too because… I'm not ready to be truly me." He says and sighs heavily. "You can't just be… me in Tokyo. That's why he left me because I wasn't going to be me publicly and he wanted to be public… He thinks I am ashamed with being with him but I'm not. I really like being with him, but I'm so scared to be."
Ten cries even more and I hug him around his torso.
"Ten, you don't have to be scared. Especially not with us." I say.
"But would… would they understand." Ten asks and I look at him. "Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, all my straight male friends wouldn't want to be near me if I told them how I was… Cass wouldn't want to be near me either and me and him have been friends for so long… I don't want to lose him… or this friend group-"
"What?" I interrupt Ten and he wipes his face. " Ten. Cass loves you! You are his best friend! Why…why would any of us treat you differently just because you are gay?"
"It's just a big fear of mine. Even my club would treat me different. They wouldn't want to be around me-"
"Then you don't need them." I say and Ten shakes his head but I continue to talk. " Ten, if people don't like you the way you are then you don't need them. You told me and the only thing I have thought about was that you had a lover and didn't tell me. That's it. I didn't ask what your sexuality was because that doesn't matter. It shouldn't matter-"
"But it does." He says." If I went in there and told them I was gay they would look at me in disgust-"
"Woah. Ten." I stop him from talking anymore because he was overthinking this. "The only thing that would happen would be acceptance. No one would hate you." I say and my words don't seem to change Ten's mind.
"My dad didn't take it too well once he found me with my… my neighbor when I was in high school. He shunned me and still is. We had just got done talking about how I was doing great in school and sports until my neighbor's mom caught me kissing him in his room and then she told my dad and…" Ten looks at the sky like he was reliving the moment. "My dad hasn't been the same since. That's why I don't tell anyone because I don't want to lose the bond, I have with them. I don't want to ruin my life again. My dad was my only parent I had, and you guys are technically the only friends I have as well so… I don't want to lose that."
"Okay. That's fine. I understand you don't want to tell them, but can I add this to your thoughts?" I ask and Ten looks at me slowly.
"If you were to tell them… okay, they might be a little shocked and ask more questions that you might not be ready to answer but Ten nothing would change. I can guarantee you because you know Cass and the rest of them would never even hate you. No matter how you are. You know that." I say and Ten shrugs his shoulders. "But if you ever want to tell them, I can be there with you. I won't say a word until you are comfortable with saying so, but I just hope you know that we all love you so much. Even if there is more we don't know about you we already love you and nothing can change that."
"Thanks, Amy." Ten says and I smile and hug him again and he hugs me this time.
"You are welcome. And if you want to talk to me about your lover or whatever that person was then you can talk to me about it! We can go get coffee or I can go to your place to talk about it." I say and when I lean back to look at his face Ten seems happy about it.
"Really?" he asks, and I nod my head. "Okay… because I have never been in a relationship and I think I need relationship advice… I still want to be with him."
"How old was that picture?" I ask.
"Maybe about a year old…"
"A year old?!" I say and Ten blushes face palms.
"I-I-I know. It's really been so long." Ten says and I try to think about all the times Ten probably was talking to his lover, but I scoot closer to him since he was telling me about his secret lover.
"Where did you meet him?"
"He goes to our school. We… we met in my film class and we were in a group and one day our group did amazing on a project so he took us all out for drinks and I drank too much and he drove me home…" Ten starts to blush "He kissed me and well- other things happened and then it kept happening and we soon started dating secretly… until now."
Ten shakes his head and places his phone in his pocket.
"Now, I am single, and I also lost someone I really liked because I'm too afraid of being outcasted again…Life sucks."
"It does suck." I say and I think about everything he told me, and I stand up afterwards. "But you can let him know you told your best friend about you two." I say and Ten eyes widen he looks at me.
"You are trying. I think if you tell him that than at least he will see you are trying your best at overcoming your fears and anxiety. Because you are. That's a lot of change you just did based off from you hiding that for a whole year."
"You are right… wait." Ten stands up and blushes as he touches my shoulders. "Would… would you meet him for me?"
"Me?" Ten nods his head slowly. "S-Sure… if that would help but if you can show me then Cass should know too. Whenever you are ready."
"Right. Okay. Soon… or maybe later." Ten says nervously.
I grab his hand and we start walking back to the apartment and I notice that our friends were outside, talking loudly and then they see us approaching them.
"Amy, where did you go?" Sonic asks and he looks Ten and stares at him.
"Ten, are you okay-"
"SONIC!" I yell making Sonic take his attention from Ten's mood. "I'm FREEZING. LET ME IN!"
I scoot under Sonic's jackets and Sonic lets me stand in it for warm and I zip the zipper down so I could see everyone.
"Amy… this is very unnecessary." Sonic complains and looks down at me in his jacket. "Plus, you have on my big coat. How are you cold?"
"Can I just be close to you?" I ask pouting and Sonic blushes moves his arms around me.
"Baby, of course. I didn't mean it like that. I was just wondering why but that's okay. If you are cold, then you can be in here with me." Sonic says and I smile to myself since my distraction worked.
"Thank you." I drag out and I watch Cass run up to Ten and hug him.
"WHERE DID YOU GO! WE WERE SUSPOSED TO SHOW EVERYONE THE PICTURE OF US AS KIDS." Cass exclaims and then Ten just looks at him and Cass arms drops, and he stares at him.
"You okay?" he asks and I clench my hands as Ten looked like he was going to cry and he pushes past his sadness and tries to act normal.
"Yeah, I was just thinking about how stupid that picture was, but I'll bring it up." Ten says and Cass cheers.
Ten shows us all the picture of him and Cass as kids and I smile to myself as I look at young Ten and Cass but then I look at Ten who still looked troubled but held back his feelings.
"I didn't even know he was holding all that in. I have to start checking on my quiet friends more often. Or just all my friends. Everyone."
"Okay, we are heading out!" Tails yells and Cream waves to us.
"Bye. See you guys tomorrow." Sonic says moving his warm arm away from me and waving.
"Bye guys!" I yell and everyone leaves.
I watch Cass wrap his arm around Ten and talk about something exciting and Ten smiles at Cass as they get in the car. I stare at Ten until he disappears and then I sigh, and I turn around to Sonic and I bury my face in his chest.
"Tired?" he asks, and I nod my head and yawn. "Let's get you inside-"
"Hey, Sonic." I say and Sonic looks at me.
"What's up? He asks and I move out of his jacket and I start to walk back into our apartment while Sonic followed me.
"Are you okay? Like do we need to talk about anything troubling you?" I ask and Sonic locks the door behind me while we both take our shoes off.
"…what? No. Nothing has been troubling me lately." He says and Sonic approaches me. "What makes you ask that all the sudden?
"Nothing. I just want to see where your head is at." I smile at Sonic and he smiles back and grabs my hand.
"Thanks for asking then. Let's go shower and go to sleep." Sonic says and takes me upstairs.
"Sleep?! I don't want to sleep… I want to start where we left off in the kitchen." My complains doesn't stop Sonic while we walk to our bedroom and he lets go of my hand to grab clothes.
"It's sleepy time, noodle head." He says touching my curls and I pout and grab my own comfy clothes which was just Sonic's big t-shirt and my underwear.
"But… no Sonic. I'll wilt if you don't love me." I exclaim and Sonic starts to take his shirt off and ignores me while doing so I pout even more.
"If you get in the shower, I'll change my mind." Sonic says and I gasp and start taking my clothes off the fastest I could.
I jump in the shower before Sonic could I giggle as he comes in right after and gets in the warm water with me.
"I spoil you so much." Sonic says as he grabs my chin and kisses my lips softly.
"You do." I agree with him Sonic smiles at me softly and kisses me again and I do the same as the warm water moves over our bodies like our hands were doing while we make love in the steamy air.
Sorry for late upload… review if you would like!
SONGS USED:
The kill by Thirty Seconds to Mars
