Chapter 7: Thistle
The next morning, Amy left Metal with plenty of cooked food and packed up her projects, getting on the bus and travelling into the city. Rouge had called her that morning and asked her to bring the samples of her work to a cafe Rouge liked to frequent – they served very small cups of coffee and miniscule pastries for extortionate prices – and when she arrived, she was not surprised to find her friend already seated at a table for two, with a tall glass of something sparkling in front of her.
"Well, Amy, this is even more than I expected!" Rouge said, standing up to greet Amy as she put her bag down onto the second chair.
"I wanted to make sure you had everything you needed," Amy replied.
"You've outdone yourself," Rouge commented, picking up the bag and carefully feeling around the contents. "Have a seat, I'll buy you a drink."
"I don't know Rouge, the prices here are so–"
"I just told you I'm paying. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Sit down."
Amy duly sat down as Rouge waved a hand in the air to catch the attention of a nearby waiter.
"Can I have another one of these, please?" she asked him, showing her her glass.
"What is that?" Amy asked.
"One more please," Rouge insisted to the waiter, who scribbled something onto a notepad and quickly moved off.
"What is that?" Amy asked again, pointing at the glass in front of Rouge.
"Honey, I don't like to get involved in other people's private lives," Rouge began, fixing Amy with a stare she almost felt was physically debilitating her. "But what you're doing with this boy, it's going to cause more problems that it will fix. Do you understand?"
"It's not what you think," Amy meekly replied.
"I'm not saying this to you because I care, or because I'm your best friend, you understand."
Amy threw her bat friend a withering look as the waiter placed a tall, fizzing glass in front of her.
"If I was your best friend, I'd probably take a more tactful approach," Rouge continued.
Amy took a sip of her drink through the straw stretching out of the glass, her eyes growing wide as the taste reached her.
"What is this?" she asked Rouge.
"But I'm not your best friend," Rouge continued, ignoring Amy's question. "I'm your business partner, and you are my best supplier."
"So your concern is money-based?" Amy asked dryly.
"Yes, and that's why you can trust me to be honest," Rouge plainly replied. "I'm not one of your little friends like that nervous fox or that saccharine rabbit girl–"
"Tails and Cream?"
"I don't feel any obligation to lie to you to protect your feelings. So I'll tell it to you straight: there are better ways to get a man's attention than taking home someone you find – where did you find that boy, anyway?"
"I thought he was a homeless person."
Rouge's face fell and Amy took another, longer drink through the straw, no longer caring if it was alcohol.
"You literally picked up a random stranger off the street?" Rouge asked her.
"Yes," Amy tightly replied, before taking another drink.
"Oh, Amy..."
"Give that a rest, would you? Like you said, you don't care about me–"
"I never said I don't care about you. I just pointed out that I'm not someone who needs to sugar-coat anything I tell you."
"Well, it's my decision, and it's not your business, and I don't appreciate you interfering."
Rouge took a sip of her own drink.
"He could hurt you, Amy," she said after a short pause. "Just be careful, okay?"
"He's been helping me with my work," Amy confessed, pointing at the contents of her bag.
Rouge turned wide eyes to the bag – which she had placed on the floor – staring in at the contents for a long moment.
"I knew it wasn't your work..." she muttered.
"Huh?" Amy echoed.
"Well if he's working for you, that's a little different," Rouge said, turning a warm smile to Amy.
"Like that, huh?" Amy sarcastically responded. "If he's making you money, suddenly you don't care who he is or where I met him."
Rouge maintained her smile despite Amy's words.
"Is he good to you?" she asked.
Amy opened her mouth, but words failed her.
"Because, you know, if you really do like him, this might be a good thing for you," Rouge continued. "Sonic's kinda... And you're more..."
Rouge wound a hand around in the air, but Amy had no idea what she was suggesting. She wanted to argue, but decided just to drink some more instead.
"He's a free spirit," Rouge eventually expanded. "Wild as the wind, following his own path, can't commit to anything, has a ten-second attention span... But you're very homely, and sweet, and stable, and grounded..."
"I think the word you're looking for is boring, Rouge," Amy said coldly. "You're trying to say Sonic is cool and I'm boring, right?"
"No, not exactly."
"Because there's a lot you don't know about me or Sonic!"
"This new guy, if you like him, if he's helping you succeed, if he likes you, it just seems like he's probably a more sensible option for you than Sonic."
Amy sat back hard in her seat.
"You're only saying this because I told you he helped me make my latest projects and they're higher quality than usual and you can sell them for a higher price and that means you get better commission, right?" she asked.
Rouge opened her mouth a drew in a breath, but paused there for a moment before melting into a sly smile.
"Marry him, Amy," she eventually said. "He'll make me a very happy woman."
She picked up her glass and moved it towards Amy, who sat forwards and copied her actions, clinking her glass against Rouge's. They then both took a sizeable drink direct from their glasses, before replacing them to the table simultaneously.
"Don't tell Sonic," Amy said.
Rouge frowned at her.
"I... Haven't had the chance to tell him yet," she lied carefully. "And I'd rather be the one to tell him myself."
Rouge sighed.
"Oh, Amy..."
Amy whimpered and pulled the straw from her glass, discarding it and drinking directly from the glass. She and Rouge sat in silence until both had finished their drinks, and whilst Rouge rose smoothly from her seat and gathered up the bag Amy had brought, Amy herself stood up a little uneasily, and she was very conscious that her face felt hot.
"Maybe champagne was a bad idea, but I thought we were celebrating," Rouge commented as Amy made a conscious effort to stand up straight and focus her eyes.
"I'm fine," she lied, cringing a little at how loud her voice sounded. "I'm a grown woman, you all need to stop treating me like a little girl all the time!"
Rouge smiled and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Just take care, okay?" she said. "I just don't want to see you get hurt."
Rouge's eyes slowly moved up, fixing onto something behind Amy.
"Speaking of idiots getting hurt..." she grumbled.
Amy looked back over her shoulder to see what had caught Rouge's attention, and the sight that greeted her sobered her instantly.
"Oh no!" she shrieked, turning around fully and racing towards the two hedgehogs staring each other down a little way down the street.
"Who, or what, the hell are you?"
Metal, unsurprisingly, did not answer the question asked of him, but his red eyes began to glow and his hands, still thankfully covered by his leather gloves, opened out into grabbing-claws, the tips of his fingers bursting through every seam.
"Stop!" Amy cried, leaping between them. "Please, you have to stop!"
She stood in front of Metal, her arms spread out at her side.
"Shadow is a friend, you can't hurt him!" she insisted.
"What is this?" Shadow grunted.
"This is Amy's new man," Rouge said as she joined them.
Amy looked back over her shoulder as Shadow fixed a hard glare onto Metal, his eyes hesitating before flicking over the length of him. He then shifted his gaze to Amy.
"He's with me, it's fine," she said, reaching up and grabbing Metal's forearms.
She attempted to push his arms down to his sides, but, unsurprisingly, they were immoveable. After a few seconds however, she felt their tautness ease beneath her grip, and he then willingly let them fall to his sides.
"We met briefly yesterday," Rouge said, addressing Metal. "I'm Rouge."
She held out a hand as though she expected Metal to take it and kiss it. The glow faded from his eyes and they looked down at her hand, before moving back to meet Rouge's eyes.
"My, he really is the strong, silent type, huh?" Rouge said, turning her attention to Amy.
"He's just..."
Amy turned to Rouge and then back to Metal, eying him over. She wanted to ask him why he had followed her into the city – had he literally run after the bus she took, or had he wandered into the city after she left – but she knew he wouldn't answer, and equally she didn't want to ask in front of Rouge and Shadow.
"So what's your name?"
Amy turned back to Rouge, her eyes wide and her mind blank.
"Something's not right about this faker," Shadow muttered.
"Oh please," Rouge groaned. "You say that about every hedgehog you meet."
"He looks just like me," Shadow said, shifting his eyes to Rouge.
Rouge looked back and forth between Shadow and Metal a few times, before turning to Amy.
"What is it with you hedgehogs, do you all suffer from facial aphasia?" she asked, her lip curling as her tone gained a slightly impatient edge.
"Yes," Amy lied, hoping it would end the conversation.
Rouge sighed, moving her attention back to Metal.
"Nothing to say for yourself?" she asked him.
Amy's eyes lowered to the bag of crafted goods hanging from Rouge's arm, and one single idea entered her mind.
"Thistle," she blurted out, her eyes snapping back to Rouge. "His name is Thistle."
"Thistle?" Shadow scoffed. "What sort of name is that?"
"Gee, I don't know, Shadow," Amy sarcastically replied.
"She makes a good point," Rouge agreed when Shadow growled irritably. "Sonic's best friends are called Knuckles and Tails."
"Tails is a nickname, his real name is Miles," Amy pointed out.
"Well, this has been fun, but I have to go," Rouge said. "Amy, keep up the good work, Thistle... It was nice to meet you. Shadow?"
Shadow glared at Metal for a little longer, before finally turning to leave with Rouge. Amy sighed in relief and turned to Metal.
"Why are you here?" she asked him quietly. "Did you follow me here? You're supposed to be staying hidden, remember? You're very lucky neither of them recognised you!"
She looked back over her shoulder, and saw Rouge and Shadow were some distance away already, but Shadow was looking back over his shoulder at Metal.
"I think Shadow knows who you are!" Amy hissed, turning back to Metal. "Why did you come after me?"
Metal stared blankly back at her, and, of course, said nothing. Amy sighed heavily and started to move away, in the opposite direction Rouge and Shadow had taken.
"Come on, let's go," she said.
After a few more steps, Metal fell in step beside her, and together they walked down the street.
"You cannot do this," she insisted as they walked. "You can't follow me when I go out. You have to stay at home. Or go to see Tails – wait – no – don't go to see Tails, Sonic will probably be there."
Amy sighed again and turned her head to look at Metal, her eyes doubling in size when she saw that he had a half-eaten hamburger in one hand and a large glass of chocolate milkshake in the other.
"Where did you get that?" she yelped.
He paused his chewing, and frowned at her. She looked about herself desperately, gasping when she saw a mother and her son return to their table on the patio of a nearby cafe, the boy frowning down at the blank space in front of his seat where his meal had apparently once been.
"You can't just do that!" Amy squealed, turning back to Metal. "You have to give it back!"
Amy and Metal both stopped walking and he took another, sizeable, bite out of the hamburger, before immediately putting the straw of the milkshake into his mouth and sucking on it.
"You are impossible!" Amy growled. "Did you behave like this when you lived with Eggman? Did you just help yourself to whatever you wanted, even if it already belonged to someone else?"
Metal lowered his hand, the straw sliding from his mouth, and, as he began chewing the combination of burger and milkshake filling his bulged out cheeks, he gave a single, casual, nod of his head.
"Oh, of course you did, Prince Metal Sonic!" Amy snarled, balling her fists by her chin. "Come on, before someone notices what you did, you selfish jerk!"
She turned and started marching down the street, and once again, Metal shortly fell in step beside her, eating and drinking as they went.
"You're disgusting, you know that?" Amy scolded him, glaring at him from the corner of her eye. "And do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you to be out like this? What if Sonic sees you?"
Metal pushed the last of his burger into his mouth and lifted the glass his milkshake was in up to his lips, drinking it down in one go. Amy yelped and barely caught the glass as he simply dropped it after he had finished with it. She placed it down on a nearby wall and turned her attention back to Metal, glaring at him as he finished chewing and wiped his hands against the bandaging around his body. She started to tell him off for dirtying his dressing, but when he suddenly and firmly grabbed an arm around her waist, her words dissolved into a wail of distress.
"No you don't!" she argued, hammering her fists against his shoulder. "You are not going to carry me home like that! Not again! Let me go! We are going to take the bus home like nice, normal people! Let me go!"
Amy continued hitting at him a little longer, before finally stopping and looking up at him expectantly. He had made no effort to lift her off the ground or run off, but they were still standing in the middle of the street in that same position.
"Let me go, Metal," Amy said quietly.
"Oh, Amy, Sonic!"
Amy's hands clenched into fists and she screwed her eyes tightly shut.
"Oh my goodness!" she whispered. "Is everybody I know in town today?"
"Hello there! Oh, don't you two look like such a sweet couple, walking down the street holding each other like that!"
Amy sighed and surrendered her anger to diplomacy. With effort, she put an arm around Metal's shoulders and turned her head to the smiling face before her, and forced an equally brilliant smile in return.
"Hi, Vanilla!" Amy said, as cheerfully and sanely as she could. "How's Cream?"
Vanilla's smiled faded a little as her eyes focused onto Metal.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said gently. "I thought you were Sonic, but now I see you're not him at all."
Amy paused to consider what Rouge had said earlier about hedgehogs being the only ones unable to distinguish differences in appearance between other hedgehogs, before trying to steer the conversation in another direction.
"We were just on our way to catch the bus home," she said.
"Oh, well, don't let me keep you," Vanilla said sweetly. "Cream is doing well, she'd love to see you again – she loves helping you out with your crafts."
"She's always a great help to me, I'll call her," Amy replied.
Vanilla smiled and nodded, before once more moving her eyes to Metal.
"Well it was nice to meet you," she said to him. "I had no idea Amy had a boyfriend."
Amy felt a jolt of something sinister as she saw a small – but distinct – smile appear on Metal's face.
"You look so sweet together, have a lovely day," Vanilla said, smiling at them each in turn before walking by them.
Amy narrowed her eyes and turned them onto Metal, finding his mouth was still lifted into a hint of a smile.
"Get moving, right now!" she snarled through clenched teeth.
They walked on briskly together, still each with an arm around the other. When they passed the bus stop, Metal pointed at it with his free hand, but did not break stride.
"We're walking," Amy said. "And we're not stopping until we get home – I do not want to meet anyone else I know out here today!"
From the corner of her eye, she could see Metal had turned his head towards her. She looked up at him, growling quietly when she found he had reverted back to his usual, dispassionate expression.
"We are going to quickly and directly go home," she said, speaking a little slower and clearer than usual. "Do you understand?"
He gave a diligent nod of his head, and as Amy said "good", his head ducked down at her side.
"What are you–?" she muttered.
She let out a short yelp – the sound being quickly ripped out of her – as he hooked his other arm around the back of her knees and hoisted her up, bridal style, and took off running. She wanted to protest being carried, but he was moving – to her own perception – as fast as Sonic, and she was forced to channel all her energy into clinging onto him. Just like the last time he had carried her home, he carried her all the way into the house, and then carefully placed her down on her feet. He released her and stepped back and she smoothed her hands over her quills and clothing.
"I know I said you shouldn't carry me like a stack of firewood, and although the way you did just carry me is acceptable, it's still not necessary," she complained. "I am perfectly capable of walking."
She turned haughtily to Metal, but lost a lot of her momentum when she realised he was eating a footlong sandwich.
"Where did you get that?" she wailed.
He paused chewing, his cheeks swollen with food.
"Did you snatch that from somewhere while you were carrying me home?" she asked.
He nodded and recommenced chewing.
"You are unbelievable," she groaned.
She turned around and screamed out as she found someone standing there.
"Sorry, Amy!"
Amy doubled over, grabbing her knees and catching her breath for a moment before straightening up to glare at the nervous face watching her.
"Tails, don't startle me like that!" she moaned.
"Sorry," Tails said again. "I came to visit you both and when I got here, your front door was wide open and there was no-one inside. I came in to investigate, I thought maybe something really bad had happened, like Eggman had come for Metal and left you hurt somewhere!"
Amy turned accusing eyes to Metal as he continued eating his stolen food.
"You left my front door open?" she asked him.
He ignored her entirely, his eyes crossed and focused onto his sandwich.
"Where were you both, anyway?" Tails asked. "You shouldn't really be going out with Metal, Amy."
"I didn't go out with him, I went out alone, and he followed me!" Amy protested, turning back to Tails.
"That's not good," Tails said.
He pulled out his phone and looked at the screen with a frown.
"Try telling him that!" Amy said, pointing at Metal.
Tails's eyes lifted from his phone to Amy and he gave her a strange look.
"Seriously, tell him," she insisted. "Because I've tried, and he doesn't listen to me!"
"Amy, did you take Metal out on a lunch date?"
Amy froze.
"I just got a message from Cream, she said her mom met you downtown, and you were out with your new boyfriend," Tails continued.
"That's not..." Amy began awkwardly. "I mean... Yes, I met Vanilla while I was on my way home – which was like two minutes ago, how does Cream know already and why is she messaging you about it already?"
Tails was looking at his phone again, blue eyes flicking from side to side as he read something outwith Amy's line of sight.
"And did you say his name is... "Thistle"?" Tails asked, lifting his eyes to Amy on his last word.
"I didn't say that to Vanilla!" Amy argued. "I said that to..."
She swallowed carefully.
"How many people saw you two together, Amy?" Tails asked quietly.
She took a breath before remembering when she had actually dubbed Metal as Thistle.
"Why is Rouge texting you?" she asked, folding her arms.
"You met Rouge too?" Tails responded.
"You-you didn't get that last message from Rouge?" Amy asked warily.
"No, it's from Shadow."
Amy's face fell.
"Why is Shadow texting you?" she asked. "Shadow doesn't even speak to you!"
"He sent me a text, it says "Fox boy, who is the blue faker called Thistle"," Tails replied, turning his phone around to show Amy the message.
"I can't believe Shadow even owns a phone..." she grumbled.
Tails turned his phone back and slowly lowered it, giving Amy a slightly worried look.
"Amy, you can't go around telling people that Metal is your boyfriend," he said carefully.
"I was having a business brunch with Rouge, and he turned up," Amy stiffly replied. "We were leaving, and he was just standing there, staring down Shadow. What was I supposed to do?"
"You didn't have to say he was your boyfriend," Tails said.
"Rouge already thought he was because she walked in on me with my arms around him!"
Tails's eyes grew large and Amy sighed. Beside them, Metal finished his sandwich and moved into the kitchen to commence drinking directly from the kitchen tap.
"It's not what it sounds like," Amy said weakly.
Tails looked back at Metal before taking a step closer to Amy. She leaned closer to him and he addressed her in a whisper.
"He's not actually Sonic. You do know that, right?"
Amy straightened away from Tails and glared at him.
"I had to ask," he said, giving a shrug.
"Well, you know what, that wound of his is probably healed by now, so you might as well just take him away with you," she said.
Metal walked past them and sat down in the middle of the couch in the living room.
"Uh, the thing about that is..." Tails began.
Amy remembered then that she would likely get another order from Rouge later that day.
"He can stay one more night," she concluded. "But after that, he has to go."
Tails nodded, but the look on his face suggested he hardly agreed with the idea.
"Okay, well, if you guys are okay...?" he said slowly.
"We're fine," Amy replied, shaking her head. "Thanks for... Watching my abandoned house while we were out."
Tails nodded.
"See you later, buddy," he said to Metal.
Metal nodded at him and Amy sighed.
"Goodbye, Amy," Tails said to her.
She nodded and gave him a small wave. Once he had left, she turned to Metal, who had resumed picking his teeth.
"Unbelievable," she groaned, before stomping out of the room to take refuge in her bedroom.
Next Chapter: Metal discovers Amy's bedroom, and although she's mad at first, Amy shortly shares some of her favourite things there with him, after which he surprises her by sharing something of his own with her. Amy remembers back to her time as Eggman's captive back on Little Planet, and recalls an interaction she had with Metal. She gives him a do-over to improve his original response to her, and this time around, his response goes beyond her expectations. The moment ends when Sonic barges into Amy's house and she learns that Eggman is hunting Metal. Chapter 8: Strong