A rapid tap, tap, tap on Amy's bedroom window ripped her clean out of her dreams.

"Who—wha—?" Shooting out of bed, she didn't even have her eyes half-open before she summoned her Piko Piko hammer into two fists, snarling when she kicked the covers off. "The sun's barely rising, who would even—?"

She threw her window open, her arm reared back to sling her hammer at whatever nuisance made the poor decision to wake her up when it was still dark.

Then she laid eyes on Sonic the Hedgehog, who waved at her from the path to her cottage.

"Whoa, easy, Amy...!" Rearing back, he put his hands up, a smile on. "S'only me!"

"Sonic—?!" Her hammer vanished and she clapped her mouth shut of its scream. "Wh—? Wait—" She rubbed her eyes, hard, before she kept blinking. "Is that really you?"

"Well," he drawled, offering a shrug with a grin. "To the best of my knowledge."

Now Amy's hands were at her cheeks, cupping the heat that shot up in them. Even in the last, dusky dregs of the night, she could see him as clear as a warm lantern, with the way he twinkled at her from her fence below.

"I'm not dreaming..." she whispered, finally. When Sonic merely cocked his head, his hands on his hips with that curious, winsome smile of his, Amy shook her head. "W-What are you doing here? It's so early, and—and I was just sleeping!" Suddenly, with the barest hint of the morning sun still yet to come on the horizon, the heat in her face dialled up into something fierier. "Don't you know a lady needs her beauty rest?!"

"I know, but just hear me out...!" he pleaded. Yet, even then, his smile never left his face. "I know it's early, but it's a special occasion! Right?"

"It... Huh?" She squinted. "It is?"

"Oh, come on, Amy," he teased, giving a playful wink. "It's not every day that your birthday comes around. And, well…" He scratched at his cheek now. "I thought you might like to celebrate it, nice and early! Y'know… Sonic-style."

His smile had gone a touch chewed with the words. But the moment Sonic opened his mouth again, a slam rattled him out of his thoughts.

Blinking, he looked up to see Amy's window had gone shut. Then they banged open again, making him jump.

"Don't you dare move, Sonic the Hedgehog...!" she cried, brushing down her quills furiously, her complexion even darker in the shade of the night. "I don't want you moving an inch from that spot when I get down there! You got that?!"

"L-Loud and clear." His chuckle came as weak as his salute. "Miss Rose, ma'am."

"Good!"

Just like that, she slammed her window shut again. The rustling of birds leaving their nests behind him shook Sonic out of his daze. Then, he held a hand to his chest, feeling it shudder as he exhaled.

"All right, you got this. You're Sonic the Hedgehog. You got it all figured out, and if you don't, well, you're the king of wingin' it anyway." Shaking his nerves from his wrists, he hopped up and down on the spot. Then did a spot of leg calisthenics, for good measure. "You got this. No sweat."

Meanwhile, it was a one-hedgehog army forming the whirlwind in Amy Rose's home as she sprinted to her bathroom, closet, kitchen, living room—everywhere she could to get herself ready, all while screaming in her own mouth.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh—you got this! The love of your life is taking you out on a surprise birthday date and you're going to enjoy every last minute of it!" She pulled on her boots with the widest grin, the highest-pitched squeal. "Oh my gosh—ooh, don't faint, you better not faint—you got this, Amy Rose...! Just one last check in the mirror, and you're all good—!"

As she rushed back to her bathroom, Sonic, having sped up to her door, exhaled into his hand, then sniffed once.

"...Right. All good." He nodded definitively, planting his hand back onto his hip and leaned against her door frame. Coolly. Until he froze. "Wait, she didn't mean that literally when she said not to move, righ—?"

When the door swung open, Sonic clacked his teeth shut. Then looked to Amy at a speed that wouldn't garner any suspicion at all.

"...Well. I realise I've, uh, gone against direct orders," he muttered, flicking his nose. "But all the. Um." Clearing his throat, he wrestled with the words that lodged themselves there. "Better—or sooner—to...whisk you...away! Am I right?"

He chanced a grin at Amy with the line. Sure enough, with the lovestruck swoon she gave him, and the distinct lack of her hammer, Sonic felt like he had just sped past a checkpoint.

"Oh, Sonic." Amy sighed more than she spoke the words, her eyelashes fluttering as she clasped her hands by her cheek. "I never knew you could be so romantic."

"Well, I've not really done anything yet, but—" The itch at his throat was surprisingly persistent, he found, when he cleared it again. "It's, uh...a special day! And you…deserve a special time." Rubbing his quills, he found the sky above Amy's chimney very blank, and starless. The polish of his sneakers, though—he bet it would have been quite the sight, if he had night vision. "So. Well. You know—"

It was a credit to Amy's hugging that, even with a lack of a running start, Sonic would have planted into the grass back-first if he hadn't violently windmilled his arms to compensate.

"I can't believe this isn't a dream…!" she giggled, tail whipping up a storm with how it wagged as she nuzzled into the crook of his shoulder. "You're really here, on my birthday, and you're gonna take me out on a date, and—!"

There would be a lot of signs that today would be a special day for Amy Rose. Arguably, the first had already happened when Sonic woke her up at all that early, early morning.

But the first one that Amy noticed was how she felt her hands wrap around her shoulders.

The skyline seemed to grow brighter past his deep blue quills. But only so much. And only so faintly that she would have missed it if she had blinked, when his arms squeezed tighter, as he silently, and firmly, hugged her back.

All of Amy's weight dropped to her feet. But her knees didn't even have room to buckle with how Sonic held her up. Even looking aside, she couldn't see his expression at all.

"Sonic...?"

It was like that was the magic word. Or maybe that the signal heralding the rest of the day would have been anything she said, with the way he pushed a sharp breath out of his chest, put his hands on Amy's shoulders, and took a step back. All so she could see when he gave her a gentle, charming smile.

"Might not be much, but consider that gift number one," he said. Searching Amy's face, the shock laying in her open mouth, Sonic's eyes crinkled with a beam. "You ready for gift number two?"

"You mean—" She had to swallow, before putting a hand to her hammering heart, as she searched his kind, patient eyes. "You mean there's more?"

Sonic chuckled. It was short, simple, and so sweet. But no song in the world would ever send Amy's heart on a journey the way that the melody of his laughter did.

"How about we go and find out?" With a confident wink, his grin only grew wider. "Let's go and celebrate!"

Amy's fingers flew up to her lips. It was funny how, even as she felt how wide her lips stretched in a smile, she could barely feel her face. When Sonic's hands left her shoulders, it was like a tundra had settled there in his place.

But it stood no chance against the heatwave that raced through her when Sonic promptly scooped her into his arms—one loping all along her shoulders, the other hooked under her legs, his grip as warm and steady as the smile on his lips, the twinkle in his eye, as he gazed down at her.

"Comfy?"

It was only one word. And he was only carrying her like the way he did a hundred times before. Yet, as he stood at her unlit front porch while carrying her like a princess, Amy couldn't find the words that could remotely convey the warmth and love and light and boundless energy scrambling every square inch of her being, as she looked up at his toothy, caring smile.

The next best thing she could manage was a nod.

"Good." Glancing to the horizon, his legs lowered like springs being loaded. "Hang on tight, then...!"

With a new edge to his grin, her clinging to his chest, Sonic shot off towards the hills with an echoing boom.

It took Amy a few minutes that they were going away from the sun.

The occasional glances she stole of her surroundings while Sonic was racing this fast were mostly useless. The landscape was little more than one, monumental smear with the never-ending wind. The only thing she could tell was that the moving blur was growing darker, which meant that Sonic was running earlier into the night.

They couldn't talk much, when Sonic was holding her and running like this. Thinking about it, Amy couldn't recall a time where they really did. When they were going this fast, Amy couldn't even really see or hear much of what went on around them.

All she felt was Sonic's hands, holding fast onto her as he kept on running.

"Alright." With the wind dying down in his ears, the scenery coming back into focus, Sonic slowed down to a halt. "We're here!"

He paused to double-check the area. Seeing the moon starting to set over one of the craggy mountains, he gave a satisfied nod.

He then looked to Amy expectantly. Who, in an increasingly unsurprising move, didn't let go of him even after he had stopped.

"...Feel like standing up anytime soon?" he asked, smile already going droll.

When Amy resolutely shook her head, her soft face nuzzled into his chest, shooting tingles up to his scalp. Even then, he couldn't help the laugh escaping him.

"What about your gift? Huh, Amy?" he prompted, trying to peek at her face. "I spent a while getting it ready for you, y'know?"

There was a pause. Then, she tucked her face further into his neck. "Five more minutes."

"I've got two arms, not a bed 'n' breakfast," he remarked. Rolling his eyes, he loaded up a sigh that streamed heavy from his chest. "Well, suit yourself... I guess I'll just take you back home, where you can go to sleep for real, then..."

"No!" Amy squeaked, practically wriggling out of his arms, now. "No—don't you dare—!"

"Ah, nuh-uh." With a shift of his arm under her shoulders, he nudged her head back into his chest, keeping his voice level. "You've made your choice. I hope you made your bed back at home, where you'll go and enjoy your sleep. With no more gifts."

"Sonic, no!" she squealed, batting at his back with her fists. "Let me off! Let me see!"

"You've got to learn, Amy," he tutted as he strode forward, swaddling her like a baby chao as she kept up her protests. "Your actions? Have consequences."

"Sonic the Hedgehog, if you don't put me down right this second—!"

"Now this is strange," he frowned, his hum too loud to be pensive. "Weren't you the one who asked for five more minutes?"

"I was joking! I wanna see my birthday gift! Sonic! Sonic." After she stopped squirming, he could feel her pout. "Please? I'll be good."

"Yeah?" He gave a grin at how flat her voice went. "You promise?"

"Promise!"

"Cross your heart?" At her earnest nodding, Sonic hummed thoughtfully. "Hope to die?"

"Ew, no. It's my birthday." Even without seeing her, he could hear from her tone how she must have wrinkled her face. "That's so morbid."

"Well, it's a good thing I stopped before 'stick a needle in your eye' if you think that counts as morbid."

"Sonic!"

"What? It's a saying! And I didn't say it yet!" he said, as defensive as she sounded shocked, smiling wide as she giggled throughout it all. "Sheesh. I can't take you anywhere, can I?"

"You can! You have! Right here!" With the exclamation, she started wiggling around again. "Sonic, just put me down...!" she whined, to his snickers of delight.

"Well," he gave an exaggerated, relenting sigh, stopping where he had been walking to in the first place. "If the lady insists..."

Softly, slowly, he crouched down with Amy in his arms. When he was down on one knee, he slid her off onto the blanket he had kneeled on, before leaning back. Just enough so that Amy could turn around, and when she did, he could spy her surprise lighting up her profile in the moonlight.

"Oh... Oh, my gosh..." Gasping, she barely spoke above a whisper as she looked around.

It was like the horizon was cracked open. The whole world had opened itself before her, as she looked out to the landscape. Past the cliff edge, laid across the yawning, grassy canyon, Never Lake stretched as a wide, unbroken mirror of the night sky. Teething in its reflection were the jagged mountains that glowed ashen blue in the light of the moon. Sprinkled and suspended above were the stars, some odd galaxies misting patches of the night-time.

There they sat by the cliff edge, covered with grass again. Except for a small portion, where a red blanket, cottony blanket laid with handfuls of candles dotting its centre, lighting up the wicker weave of the picnic basket waiting for them. From which picked out a stack of waffle cones and tubs of soft-serve ice cream.

"Imported straight from Apotos," he said, bringing up an ice-cream scoop next. "I'll get these ready. You let me know if I'm missing out on any of the sunrise, 'kay, Amy?"

Poking his tongue out in concentration, he wrestled with an unyielding tub as he dug out a hefty scoop of strawberry cheesecake ice cream. Blinking, Amy cast her gaze out to the inky skyline, still in a daze, close to floating away with the cool air slinking through her system.

"The sunrise...?" Muttering, she couldn't help but stare at the shadows of the mountains and clouds, speckling the grass and lake. "It's so dark out, though."

"Oh, that's normal," he said absently. Amy looked to him on reflex, watching as he tried shaking out a ball of ice-cream from the scooper like a maraca. "It's always darkest before the dawn, after all."

"I...didn't know that," she whispered.

The words lingered in her mind. Sunk deeper past her skin, as a breeze flowed over her, as she kept staring at Sonic. Then, the ice-cream dislodged itself from the scooper he rattled. When it landed in the heart of the cone in his hand, his smile went broad with triumph, and Amy couldn't keep it in any longer.

"Sonic, is this... Is this all really for me?"

She didn't know how much of her emotion bled into her tone. It was probably more than she was hoping, given the way that Sonic stared blankly at her.

"Yeah? Birthday gift number two." He looked back down to the basket, pulling out a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream from it. "Pretty sure I said that earlier, right?"

"You did! You did, but—" she huffed, her words sticking in her throat. "You— We're where we first met. At Never Lake."

"Yup." Looking around once, Sonic nodded definitively before going back to scooping. "That we are."

"You brought—" She started blinking fast, her exhale a touch shaken. "You brought ice cream."

"Yeah, it's your favourite, right? I got strawberry cheesecake, mint chocolate chip—just those two, though," he said, kissing his teeth in frustration when another stubborn ball of ice cream wouldn't get into its cone. "Thought any more would be...excessive—c'mon, get in there, you—"

"Sonic," she said again, heat catching her voice now. "Sonic, you—"

No scoops of ice cream could vex him, now. Not when her words hitched with a sob, snatching his attention. Concern coloured his face just as she tried to cover her eyes, the tears pooling past her waterline, blurring her sight.

"Amy? Hey, wait, I—I didn't wanna make you cry." With a cone in each hand, he searched her curled up figure in a panic. "C'mon, now. I even got you your favourite flavour and everything," he tried, giving a weak smile as she sniffed. "It's supposed to be a happy birthday, right?"

"It is! I am!" she cried, startling him before she smacked at her own lap. "This is the happiest I've ever been!" Tears rolled down her face as she glared up at him. "I'm so happy, I—" With her eyes scrunching up, her fists came up to soothe them, or hide them as she sobbed. "I don't even know what to do with myself...!"

Making quick work of his cargo, he balanced two cones precariously in one hand, before bringing a tissue up in his other.

"I could, uh...start by givin' you a tissue?" At his clumsy smile, she only cried even harder. "Aw, Amy. Don't go doing that," he tried, his words as gentle as his fingers dabbing at her cheek. "I won't know what to do either, then."

"P-Pass me the ice cream!" Snatching the tissue out of his hand, Amy wiped her face, blew her nose thoroughly. "Pass me the ice cream, and sit next to me," she whined, voice thick with leftover tears. "We'll watch the sunrise together!"

After she neatly balled and put away the tissue, she was entirely pouty, even as she sniffed past some likely very unattractive bit of snot that didn't quite make its way out earlier. Yet Sonic didn't comment a thing on that. With a melting smile, he brought out another tissue and brushed it against the corner of Amy's eye, where a touch of her tears were still left.

"Sounds like what I had in mind," he murmured, eyes glittering with mirth before he held out Amy's cone to her. "Scooch over?"

She plucked up her ice cream come and shuffled in place, all while with a furrowed brow and puffed cheeks, which Sonic grinned that much wider at. It wasn't long before they were shoulder-to-shoulder, looking out over Never Lake, watching as the night blanketed the land whole.

"...You're so gonna marry me."

"Not this again," Sonic sighed, busying himself with his ice cream further, now. "I know it's your birthday and all, but that's really not happening."

"Maybe not now. But sometime later," she muttered, still sulking even as she licked her ice cream, with her arm pressed to his. "It'll definitely happen."

"Don't I get a say in this?" he groused, raising a brow. "I'm not gonna marry you, Amy."

"Fine. I'll just marry you, then."

"That's not how it works!"

"It can be," she insisted, working a bit on her cone, now. "I'll always be married to you, in my heart. Then, when you come around to it, you can marry me back later." She looked to him, defiance in her gaze, ice cream at her mouth. "That would work, then."

Stunned, Sonic flitted his eyes over hers. When she didn't budge, he pursed his lips, brought his ice cream to his face, and looked away again.

"Whatever," he mumbled. "I guess even birthdays won't change how weird you are."

"That's so rude!" Indignant, she planted a hand on her hip. "It's my birthday! You should be nice to me."

"Oh, right." Scoffing, Sonic turned with his arms outstretched, at the candles and picnic basket. "'Cause I'm sooo mean to you."

"Well, that's different," Amy insisted simply. "That's just you being a sweetheart to me. Like you should."

There was a moment where Sonic stilled. Like he was searching for the words to say, with how his mouth opened and closed. That, having caught Amy's attention, made her lean in close to catch what he would say next.

Instead, Sonic just snatched her ice cream from her grip.

"Hey—!" Amy darted forward, flailing against his elbow as he held her cone up and away from her. "You are so mean! Give it back!"

"Nope!"

"Sonic!"

"Still not giving it." Sonic closed his eyes with a shrug. When he opened them again to a loud crunch, he blinked at half his ice cream and cone having disappeared. "Wha—hey! My ice cream!"

"Serves you right!" Swallowing, Amy gave a proud laugh. "Now, gimme back my one, before I... Oh." She paused, putting a hand to her head. "Oh. Ooh, ow! Ow—brain freeze—ow—!"

"Ha! Serves you right for eating too fast!"

"You're the last person I wanna hear from for eating—oh, ow, ow, owww...!"

The tea candles had winked away to wisps of smoke at some point. It was after Amy muscled through the pain to tackle Sonic for the remainder of her ice cream, after Sonic had gotten to his feet to run away, and after they had chased each other deeper on the cliff.

There were occasional snatches and re-possessions, ice cream and waffles cones being eaten every which way. But that didn't change how Amy chased after Sonic, promising revenge as he taunted her to try.

They had to have run to another portion of the cliff edge, when the sky finally lightened. Pausing, they both watched as the beginnings of a yolk-orange sun broke over the horizon. A beam of blue split apart the hills from the horizon in the sky, and it only grew in size, in colours, painting the valleys as the sun crept up ever higher.

Amy didn't have the words to say. Not when Never Lake lit up alongside the sky, the rugged mountaintops looking gentler, when bathed in a warm yellow.

Looking up, she noticed Little Planet for the first time, teasing a path after the moon that had set behind the skyline.

"So! What do you think of birthday gift number two?"

It felt like that morning, when she had awoken from a dream. When she blinked, and saw Sonic in front of her, his hands on his hips, having turned around to shoot her a self-satisfied grin, the sunrise bathing his deep blue a fair amber.

"Oh. Oh, Sonic... I think..." Searching for the words to say, she looked again to the breathtaking view, the endless cliffside. Before her eyes landed on their picnic basket, and went incredibly round. "I think the ice cream's gonna melt!"

"Huh?" Sonic squinted once. "That's not a—OH, you are not wrong!"

"What are we gonna do?!"

"What we were gonna do from the start!" He gave her a determined thumbs up and an unwavering grin. "We're gonna eat all of it!"

"Sonic, you brought two whole tubs out! We can't eat that much!"

"Not with that attitude!" Scooping her up, he only smirked at her yelp of surprise. "C'mon, birthday girl—we got ice cream to eat!"

With that, he blasted off for the basket, and the two ate ice cream till the sun rose high in the sky.

Soon, as the sun turned to a blinding white, still skimming over the mountaintops, Sonic raced back home with Amy and their packed picnic gear in tow.

"Just so you know...!" she cried in his arms, over the din of the wind racing past their ears. "That has to be the unhealthiest breakfast I have ever had...!"

"I think you mean we ever had! And I'm proud, personally...!" Sonic yelled back, beaming bright at her frown. "I like setting new records!"

"You're ridiculous!"

"S'okay, Amy!" He winked, seeing her smile leak through. "I know you loved it, really...!"

That was all it took before he sped up, the landscape dizzying to look at, now. Amy tucked herself further into his arms, her face deeper into her chest, as she felt her heartbeat drumming in her ears, past her closed eyes.

It's you I love, Sonic, she thought desperately. It's always been you...

Eyes scrunching tighter, cheeks growing warmer, she willed what she could of the thoughts she always had, the words she would one day get to say, into the arms she kept around his neck, holding him impossibly closer.

It was like Sonic responded, when he held onto her that much tighter, his pace never stopping for a moment.

The smile on Amy's face came small and helpless as she cuddled into his chest, losing herself in the sound of his heartbeat, starting to thump in time with hers.

"You know, you getting sleepy while I broke the sound barrier wasn't what I was expecting," Sonic quipped. "But you always like to go against expectations, don't you?"

He only grinned as Amy yawned long and wide, the hand she put up to hide it drifting up to her chin at best.

"I told you a lady needs her beauty sleep," she grumbled, rubbing at her eyes groggily.

"You wish I got you a different present, then?"

"Not in a million years."

"Thought so." With a smirk, a slow deposit of one birthday hedgehog back at her front porch, he started to back away. "I needa head off now, but I'll see you 'round, Amy."

"Oh, wait!" Spinning around, Amy pointed at him, her gaze hardening with determination. "One last thing!"

"Uh." Sonic blinked at her. "What is it?"

In response, she took three sure stomps up to him. Studied the ground once, as she paused. And he watched. Then, she planted a swift, single kiss to his cheek, before looking straight up at him again.

"Thank you. For..." She looked at the ground once more, before mumbling. "The greatest birthday gift ever."

With that, she turned on her heel and sprinted to her house.

Sonic couldn't even reach out to her in time before her front door slammed shut. By the time the sound stopped lingering, he was still feeling the warmth persisting at his cheeks, where her lips just were.

"...Happy birthday, Amy Rose."

With only a hint of a breeze, no one listened to Sonic's whisper as a smile draped long his lips.

With one last glance up at her bedroom window, the sunlight glinting off the glass, he traced his cheek, then his grin, before he raced off towards the hills.

Amy thought she heard knocking on her door.

"Amy? Are you in?" A concerned voice drifted through her bedroom window. It was Tails. "We wanna show you something!"

"Not now, Tails," she called, sleep scraping at her voice. "I'm sleeping..."

"But, Miss Amy, it's your birthday!" Cream chimed in. "We want to celebrate with you!"

Chao's trilling came in assent. Amy, with the most long-suffering groan, folded her pillow over her head.

"I said I'm sleeping!" she moaned. "Come back later...!"

She thought she might have heard murmuring. Soon, though, a blissful silence filled the room once more. Amy sighed, turning over with a happy, drowsy hum, as she sunk back into having another cosy, wonderful dream.