Amy didn't cast the spell that night. She was too tired to concentrate on it, and she was still puzzled by Shadow seeming concerned for her. Normally she would say hi and all she would get was a gruff "hello" in return. If Amy was being completely honest, she thought he hated her and everyone else she hung out with. Well, she knew he hated Sonic, who wasn't overly fond of Shadow either.
But still, it didn't quite add up. Amy tried to push it from her mind as she lay down on her bed, pulling out her phone and scrolling through social media, as she usually did when she got home from work. It probably was a bad idea, especially with how much she'd been on it lately, but she was too exhausted to care. Besides, she didn't get to see her friends much anymore with how busy she'd been.
However, a few swipes in she shut her phone off, wincing at a picture of Sonic and Blaze, Sonic kissing Blaze's forehead. That should be me, Amy thought bitterly. She put her phone on the charger and curled up underneath her covers, ready to settle in and try to get some sleep.
Then she heard a knock at the front door. Amy checked the time. It was 12:45 at night. She laid back down, deciding to ignore it. But it sounded again, louder and more insistent. She let it go on for a few minutes, trying to cover her head with a pillow. But then it got loud enough that it sounded like someone was trying to break down her door.
"Ugh!" Amy growled, pulling out her piko piko hammer and stomping down the stairs and into the front room. She opened the door and glared at Shadow, who was standing on her front steps glaring right back. "What do you want?" Amy snarled.
"I know you're doing something you shouldn't be," Shadow responded matter-of-factly. "And I'm here to figure out what it is and get you to stop."
Amy kept her hammer up high, hoping to maybe threaten him into leaving. She was angry enough that she was going to use it if he stayed for too much longer. "And why do you care?" she demanded. "I thought you hated me. And even so, why is this any of your business?"
Shadow raised an eyebrow. "If I hated you I would have eliminated you a long time ago," he said simply. "Now, are you going to keep stalling or are you going to tell me what's going on?"
"Why is it any of your business?" Amy repeated, continuing to glare at the black hedgehog.
Shadow rolled his eyes and humphed, crossing his arms. "Do I need a reason to stop someone from doing something they'll regret?"
Amy glared at him some more, then sighed and lowered her hammer. "Fine," she said. "But can't this wait until the morning? It's one AM, Shadow, and I've got work tomorrow."
Shadow humphed again. "Fine," he said. "We'll talk after you get off then."
Sure, Amy thought. If you don't mind waiting for ten hours. She started to close the door, when Shadow put his hand out to stop it. He looked at her, the glare slowly calming into more of an intense stare. His face softened just a little bit. "See you tomorrow, Rose," he said, then turned around and walked away, heading down the street before Amy could even think of a response.
What has gotten into him? she wondered, completely bewildered by the interaction. She shook her head and shut the door, finally heading up to bed. Amy fell asleep immediately, and didn't remember dreaming the next morning. Perfect.
Amy had almost forgotten about her agreement with Shadow until later that afternoon. The bell went off for what felt like the millionth time, and Amy looked up, dreading having to serve another impatient mother with a screaming toddler, and saw Shadow looking right at her. Suddenly she felt strangely self-conscious. She was covered in flour, and the haphazard ponytail she'd put her quills into was falling out and sticking out at weird angles. Then again, he saw me in my pajamas last night, she reminded herself, but that didn't help much.
"Do you have a minute?" Shadow asked her. Amy shook her head, and at that moment an older gentleman walked in, a wolf with silvery fur and a tired, disgruntled expression on his face. Amy put on a smile and said, "Good afternoon, sir. What can I get for you today?"
While the wolf answered her question, sounding as tired as she felt, Shadow moved into a corner further away from the door, and instead of pulling out his phone like a normal person, he started looking around, taking stock of the warm, sweet-smelling space.
"Miss Amy!" came a high, sweet voice from the kitchen. "Can you help me reach the powdered sugar, please?"
Amy managed a little smile as she went over to help Cream--who was still rather short even in her early teen years--reach the sugar. It looked like she was trying to replenish the snowball cookies they liked to keep stocked around the winter time. She reached up and grabbed the container, remarking inwardly that it was getting a little low, then handed it to Cream.
"Thank you!" the little rabbit said with a bright smile. "Mom doesn't want me flying to reach anything in the bakery anymore. I accidentally broke a flour jar the other day," she added in an embarrassed whisper.
"Oh that was the crash I heard," Amy laughed. "I asked Vanilla about it and she wouldn't say anything."
Cream smiled sheepishly. "I asked her not to. And besides, you've had a lot going on already. I didn't want to worry you with something that really wasn't a big deal."
Amy nodded and smiled tiredly. "I appreciate the thought, Cream," she said. "But I'm okay. Hopefully things slow down soon though."
The bell went off at the front again and Amy hurried to the counter, only for her heart to sink as she saw Sonic and Blaze walk in. They weren't going overboard on the PDA at least. They were holding hands, and Amy had to try her best to school her features. She and Sonic hadn't really spoken since he'd rejected her. And she wasn't super close to Blaze even before, but she'd been avoiding both of them.
She didn't notice Shadow's attention fix itself on the couple from his position in the corner of the room. His eyes darted back and forth between them and Amy for a moment, and then a look of understanding passed over his face and he continued to watch the interaction.
They looked... happy. Amy forced a smile. "Hey, guys," she said. "What can I get for you today?"
"Hey, Ames," Sonic beamed, and normally that smile would have made her practically melt into a pink puddle on the floor. Now it just made her heart feel even heavier because she knew it wasn't a special smile just for her. "Could I get a chocolate filled croissant, please?"
Amy nodded and turned to Blaze. "What about you?" she asked her.
Blaze smiled. "Do you have any of those snowball cookies?" she asked.
"Yep!" came Cream's voice from the back. "I just finished a batch! They're hot though, so you might want to wait a little bit, miss Blaze!"
Blaze chuckled as Cream brought out the tray of cookies and put them in the display case. She snapped her fingers, sparking a tiny flame, which danced like a candle on her fingers for a moment before she snuffed it out. "Heat is no problem for me, Cream, remember?"
"Oh, right," Cream laughed sheepishly. "In that case!"
She was still wearing oven mitts on her hands, and so she plucked a cookie from the tray and handed it to the purple cat, who immediately took a bite, closing her eyes in bliss.
Amy smiled, then grabbed the last chocolate-filled croissant and handed it to Sonic, who looked over at Blaze and smiled. A flash of jealousy reared in Amy's chest, but it was gone in a moment, leaving behind lament in its place.
Was it really okay to perform a love spell on Sonic when he was already so happy with someone else? Should she just cut her losses and leave? Amy's resolve was beginning to falter, and the doubt lingered even long after the couple left the bakery.
All that while, Shadow waited patiently for her to get off work, walking around the space sometimes. Occasionally Amy would catch him smiling at something outside. Shadow actually smiles? she thought, amazed by the sight. Part of her wished he would smile more. And maybe at her.
Where did that come from? Amy thought when that thought surfaced in her mind. Even so, it wasn't necessarily a bad thought, was it? She didn't quite trust Shadow, but he did seem to care about her. Either that, or she had something he wanted and was trying to get closer to her to get it.
That thought dispelled any other thoughts about him smiling at her, and she pushed him from her mind until the end of the day, when she was finally getting ready to go home.
Amy was pulling on her coat and letting her quills down when Shadow approached her. "I think I understand part of what's going on," he said.
"Oh?" said Amy. "And what do you think is going on?"
"You're quite obviously being overworked," said Shadow.
No shit, Sherlock, thought Amy. "Obviously," she said tiredly.
"And you're upset about Sonic going steady with Blaze."
He hit the nail on the head, but she couldn't help but laugh. "Going steady?" Amy asked. "Really? No one says that anymore, it makes you sound so old!"
Shadow rolled his eyes. Then he looked outside, the sun having set hours ago. "Let's take this talk on the road," he said. "I don't want to take up more time than I have to."
Amy just shrugged and obliged, putting her scarf on and heading out the door after Shadow opened it for her, which she admitted was a little weird, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right?