Chapter 2: Sky to the Rescue
"I can't believe I'm this desperate." Knux groaned as he stood near the entrance of the huge park. His regret began to fade as Sky came over to him with no obvious intention of hitting on him.
"Hey Knux!" he greeted with a smile.
"Let's just get this over with." Knux sighed while rolling his eyes.
"Hostile, aren't we?" Sky asked with a playful smirk on his lips.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Knux huffed.
"Well, I think it's sexy." Sky purred before realizing the awkwardness of the situation. His eyes never met Knux's as he felt his annoyed stare. "What? I gotta speak my mind, right?" There was no reply from him. Sky finally gained the courage to look into his eyes. The violet wonder made his thoughts go crazy. "Man," he thought, "if he wasn't commited, I'd be all over him like--"
"Baby!" a voice cried, interrupting his thoughts. He turned around and saw the last person he wanted to see: Rouge. As he looked at her, he felt as if something wasn't right about her, though he wasn't sure of what it was.
"Hey!" Knux exclaimed as he ran to her and held her in a warm embrace, and adding a sweet kiss in between.
"I missed you." she cooed, breaking the kiss.
"I missed you too." he replied with a cheerful voice that Sky had never recalled around him. "Where have you been?"
"Oh, just taking care of some business." she replied before giving him a suspicious look. "How did you know I was here?"
"Um, I didn't. I--"
"He has company today." Sky interrupted.
"Oh, hey Sky! Long time, no see! What are you guys gonna do today?" she asked with a sly smile.
"Well, I guess you could call it bonding, Rouge." Sky replied as he put an arm around his friend.
"Oh, how nice! Well, I'm not going to interfere. I'll see you later, baby." she said as she kissed Knux on the cheek and added, "Nice to see you again, Sky!" before she left.
"Glad that's over." Sky thought as his arm was still attatched to Knux's shoulders. He looked over to him and saw that he wasn't annoyed by his gesture at all. In fact, he wasn't aware of anything after Rouge left. He could've made out with him without as little as a word from him. "Helloooo!" Sky yelled as he waved his free hand in front of his face while unlatching his other arm from his shoulders.
"I think I love her..." Knux confessed with a dreamy look in his eyes.
"That's great!" Sky congratulated him while feigning enthusiasm as Knux continued to babble on like a lovesick child.
"That's it...I love her and I wanna marry her..."
Sky had so many responses to this, but all he could say was "Does she know that?"
The lovesickness faded with the reality of his question as it played in his mind. "No..." he finally replied.
"Well, that can be your present!" Sky exclaimed realistically.
"What are you talking about?" Knux asked with a confused look on his face.
"You could buy her a ring and propose to her tonight! You could have a party and everything!" Sky added.
Knux's eyes widened. "But wouldn't she be expecting that? I mean, it's our anniversary."
"Well, do what you feel like doing. I'm just here to help by your request." Sky suggested.
"Well, out of all my ideas, yours is the best." Knux said with a small smile.
"That's great, cause I was a jeweler not too long ago." Sky commented.
"Damn, how many jobs have you had?" Knux asked annoyingly, remembering how he was a waiter and a hotel busboy at the same time a few months ago.
"I've had six so far in the past year. What I can I say? I get around, I guess." he replied.
"I guess this'll be easier than I thought." Knux sighed with relief.
"C'mon, let's get to the jeweler's before anything good gets taken." Sky suggested before he started walking. Knux soon followed with his full attention and determination.
They eventually reached Station Square Mall with no problems. The building stood superior to the others around it. As they walked in, it didn't take them long to find a jeweler's. They put themselves on opposite sides of the store looking for the perfect engagement ring. Knux spotted one in seconds. "Hey Sky, come here!" he yelled. As soon as he arrived, Knux pointed to a five-karat diamond in the middle of the glass.
"Whoa!" Sky shouted as he shielded his eyes from the bright gleam. "Um, don't you think that's too huge of a rock?"
"Hmmm, maybe." Knux pondered as he stared into the gem without any problems.
"God, how can you look at that thing?" Sky groaned while he still shielded his eyes.
"Trust me, I've seen bigger." Knux replied.
"That's great, but we want a ring, not a tracking device." Sky advised before finally turning away from the ring.
"Mmm, true." Knux nodded before finally taking his eyes off it. "I'll find another one."
"Good." Sky sighed before returning to his side. After ten minutes of silence, he decided to check and see how Knux was doing. He walked over and saw him talking to a pretty blue fox behind the counter.
"Hold on. Let me get it, sir." she said before she disappeared from the counter and entered a back room. She soon reappeared with a small navy blue box in her hand, opening it to reveal the expensive piece of jewelry inside. It was a small gold ring with a one karat diamond with another half karat of sapphire encased in it. Knux became starry-eyed at its beauty and exquisiteness.
"Wow, it's amazing." he beamed.
"It's our rarest piece yet." the fox added.
"Which means you better be packing a lot of cash, my friend." Sky added.
Knux scoffed. "Money is the least of my problems."
After paying for the ring, they walked out and Knux led them to the nearest bench. As he sat down, he took out the ring box and opened it, gaping at the jewelry he just bought.
"She's going to love it!" Sky exclaimed.
"Yeah..." Knux agreed while gazing at it. "And I have you to thank."
"Ah, it was nothing." Sky replied with modestly.
"Well, I should go." Knux said out of the blue as he rose to his feet.
"So, it's just like that, huh?" Sky added.
Knux looked at him strangely. "What?"
"Don't you need to look nice for your proposal?"
Knux looked as if someone hit him in the head as he sat back down. "I'm so out of it today, I'm sorry." he groaned.
Sky shook his head and helped him to his feet. "No you're fine, too fine to wear just anything to your proposal. You should be glad you have me around."
As soon as they arrived in the closest men's clothing store, Sky pushed him into a fitting room with three suits and waited outside. Five minutes passed, and he still didn't have the first one on yet. "What's taking so long?" Sky asked.
"I know what I'm doing." Knux replied while almost tripping in the pants he was putting on. When he finally got his left leg in, he heard his cell phone ring. He reached for his original pants pocket, but the phone slipped from it and fell outside the fitting room. "Dammit!" he yelled.
Sky casually picked up the phone and answered it. "Hello, guys are fun!"
"Sky?" the voice identified.
"Yeah, it's me."
"Why are you answering Knux's cell? Wait, are you stalking him again?"
"No, Shadow, I'm helping him. He's trying on a few tuxes I picked out for him."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah."
"Any way we can help?"
"All you two have to do is call up everyone you know including Rouge and tell them to come to the restaurant I used to work at around 7:30, and everything will be great."
"Looks like you have everything under control, huh?"
"He was lost without me."
Shad laughed before he processed the whole situation. "Wait, is he--"
"Yeah, he's proposing." Sky finished for him. "Um, I hafta go. Knux just came out. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Alright. My boyfriend and I wish Knux luck."
"Thanks, bye." Sky concluded before hanging up. As soon as he put the phone away, Knux tripped out of the fitting room with only the super baggy pants covering the lower half of his body. His eyes went from the pants to his bare chest, never moving or saying a word. All he could do was imagine his fingers tracing the hard muscles and caressing them with his soft touch. Then he'd press his lips to them and--
"Um, who was that?" Knux interrupted.
"Oh, that was Shad. I've got everything under control." He then told him everything that he told Shad without his eyes wandering.
Knux gave a relaxed sigh as he forgot about Sky's lingering looks. "I don't know how you do it."
Sky's mind went away with him at that moment. "Well, I'll just softly kiss your lips, get rid of the pants, and--" Sky stopped himself from thinking any deeper. "Um, I'll go get you a smaller size pants." he said before turning away from the encounter. As he walked to the rack, Sky checked the time on his phone. It read 5:22 pm. His eyes widened at the limited time and he rushed to the rack and came back to the fitting room in an instant. "Think fast!" he yelled before throwing the pants over the door. "And hurry up, we're running out of time!"
Thirty seconds later, Knux stepped out, fully-clothed this time. He wore the same white shirt he wore earlier under a navy blue tux jacket with a black tie and matching blue pants. He also changed out of his red and yellow shoes and now wore dressy black ones.
"Wow, you look great!" Sky beamed as he gaped at him. He soon shook himself out of it. "Let's hurry up and buy it." he commanded. Knux obeyed and went back into the fitting room one last time. In fifteen minutes, they were outside the mall.
Before they could go their separate ways, Knux asked, "How about I walk you home? I definitely owe you one."
"Sure, why not?" Sky replied. "I'll lead the way."
They walked in silence for a few minutes until Sky laughed a little to himself.
"What's so funny?" Knux asked.
Sky continued to laugh before answering. "I don't get it. Why are you being nice to me all of a sudden?"
"Well, isn't that what friends are supposed to do?"
"Yeah, but I thought you said that just to get rid of me." Sky confessed.
Knux shook his head. "Nah, I wouldn't do that."
"It's weird, ya know?" Sky asked while looking into his eyes.
"Yeah..." Knux agreed.
"I'm really happy for you, Knux. I'm not gonna let my feelings get in the way of your happiness, but sometimes I wish I wasn't so damn nice." Sky confessed.
Knux smiled. "I'm glad to hear it. You'll find someone better than me, count on it."
Sky sighed. "I hope so."
"I could even help you find someone." he added.
Sky smiled. "You promise?"
"Of course. Who brought Sonic and Shadow's relationship to new heights?"
"Did you really?" Sky asked with a surprised look.
"I guess they don't brag about me much." Knux joked.
If Sky hadn't looked where he was going, he would've passed his house. "Well, this is my stop."
"Okay, well, thanks...for everything." Knux confessed.
"Oh anytime." Sky said before Knux began to turn around. "Wait!"
Knux turned back. "What?"
"Hello, aren't you going to invite the genius to your party?" Sky asked.
"Yeah, I'll hafta go get him later." Knux joked.
"Ha ha." Sky mocked sarcastically. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Of course. See you later." Knux called.
"Yeah, bye." Sky waved as Knux disappeared and sighed sadly when he couldn't see him anymore. "God, what are you doing to me, Knux?"