010. Confession

.

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.

"I like Amy."

Tails paused in tightening a bolt with his wrench and snapped his head over to him. "What?"

Sonic let out a deep breath, his palms suddenly becoming sweaty as he repeated more clearly, "I like Amy."

Silence.

Tails had blinked at him once, twice, three times. "You mean as in... you like like Amy?"

"Yes," he said within a heartbeat.

"...Wow."

"I know."

His best friend flew down from his tornado and dusted himself off. "So what are you gonna do?"

"That's the point, Tails! I don't know what I'm gonna do!" Sonic exasperated, his arms flailing up in the air, "I woke up this morning and said to myself that I liked her a-and," the tiniest blush crept up on his cheeks before he vigorously shook his head, "Oh my god..."

A smile formed on Tails's face. "Was it when we were at Cream's birthday party?"

Sonic raised his eyes. "How'd you know?"

Tails shrugged unsurprisingly. "Amy looked really nice in that dress and every time I looked your way, you kept staring at her. I can't actually remember a time when you wasn't either."

He let out an embarrassed sigh through his nostrils before running a hand down his face. "I'm not like this, Tails. Usually I'm cool and nonchalant about stuff like this but..."

Trailing off, Sonic groaned and sat back down onto the couch as he buried his head into his hands. "How am I even supposed to act around her now? I'm just gonna be a total mess!"

"Well, I'm no expert in romance but... why don't you just ask her to go somewhere with you? You know, like a friendly outing and then slowly make yourself say it to her. It doesn't have to be today, you can take your time with it until you figure things out!"

Sonic thought for a second. "That's not a bad idea..."

"If you're still struggling, why don't you ask Knuckles for advice?" Tails suggested, "I mean, he is with Rouge after all and those two are like nuts and bolts."

"Gah, no! Knuckles would just laugh in my face about it and I think he'd be the last person I'd want to ask."

"You gotta start giving Knuckles a little more credit," Tails muttered underneath his breath before sighing, "Okay, what about Silver?"

"Silver's just as clueless. You would think he'd finally notice Blaze's feelings for him but noo..."

"Cream? She's close with Amy and might give you some tips."

"True but she's way too young to know about these sorts of things yet."

"Then Shadow?"

"He's my arch-nemesis!" Sonic said and stared at the fox as if he had finally gone insane, "What makes you think Shadow would know anything?"

"Gee, I dunno," Tails scratched the back of his head, "No one expected him to end up with Tikal and she wouldn't hurt a single dime. There had to be some way he wooed her."

"Okay, wooing and Shadow do not fit in the same sentence," he corrected him and groaned again, "Do I really have to go ask him?"

"It's worth a shot! And I don't think he'll judge you for it either. Maybe talk to Tikal about it as well! It's been pretty obvious to all of us that you felt this way towards Amy, ya know. We're all older now and it'd be nice if you actually settled with someone, Sonic."

Another blush threatened Sonic's cheeks before he quickly looked away and stood up. "Fiiine," he trudged his way out of the garage, "Thanks buddy."

"Noo problem. Good luck!"

...

"I don't know what to tell you."

Sonic ran all the way to Shadow and Tikal's house just to hear the black hedgehog say that.

"Why am I not surprised?" Sonic said, more to himself than at Shadow.

The two of them were currently in the living room, the small distant sounds of the TV playing in the background. He was surprised that Shadow even let him inside in the first place. He was usually a private person after all. Maybe Tikal was changing him...

He upright told him that he had feelings for Amy and he wasn't even the least bit shocked. Was it that obvious this whole time?

"I think it's cute," Sonic turned to the sound of Tikal's voice as she set a tray down with three mugs full of hot chocolate. She smiled and handed him his mug, "Here, I gave you some marshmallows on top."

"Thanks Tikal," he sheepishly grinned back at her and took a sip.

"It's all right," she laughed out as she sat down next to Shadow, "Do you know how you're going to tell her?"

"Nope," the blue hedgehog sighed longingly, "Tails suggested I'd come here to ask you guys about how I should since... you know," he shrugged awkwardly, "You guys were pretty unexpected..."

"It's fine," Tikal reassured him with another smile, "Are you trying to ask how Shadow asked me?"

Sonic just nodded.

Shadow looked away with a small huff. "It wasn't much. I just got to know her more and took her out to dinner. That's it."

Tikal shook her head. "Oh, there was much more than that!" she giggled when the black hedgehog groaned quietly, "He brought me flowers and took me on a run. It was the first time I've ever felt how fast you guys really go!" her face then softened, "We stopped near the beach and I hadn't seen one in years. The ocean was really beautiful and it was just turning into night time so the moon was just going down," Tikal gently nudged Shadow's arm, "He was nervous, I could tell he was. But it was sweet when he finally told me."

"Could've been done better though..." Shadow muttered, the smallest tint of red brushing past his cheeks, "I didn't want to be cheesy with it..."

"It's okay! The fact you worked so hard to tell me was all that mattered to me, Shadow."

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course I do."

Sonic looked back and forth between the couple's quiet exchange. Shadow was the grumpiest person he had ever met but... it was nice and different to see he was actually happy with someone after keeping his distant for so long. The way he looked at Tikal proved that.

"I don't think you have to do much, Sonic," Tikal said to him, "Try not to stress about it and you'll be fine."

"Really?" he suddenly doubted his efforts, "What if-"

"Just be yourself," Shadow interjected and crossed his arms, "I don't think she would want you to be any other way."

Tikal nodded. "Do you have any ideas on where to take her or what to do?"

"You mean like what to do on a date?" Sonic thought for a minute and shrugged, "No, not really..."

"How about a picnic? Amy loves doing those!" the orange echidna stood up and made her way over to the kitchen, "I can pack something up for you if you want?"

"You would do that?" Sonic beamed, "That'd be swell, Tikal. Thank you!" When Tikal wasn't within an earshot, he looked back at Shadow with a small smirk, "Seriously, how'd you do it?"

Shadow shrugged. "Pure luck, I guess."

"Oh thank Chaos, so you didn't woo her!"

"...Wooing?"

"Exactly."

...

Sonic straightened himself up, basket in hand as he walked in front of Amy's door. He raised up his fist, ready to knock on her door until he suddenly stopped himself and closed his eyes.

Focus, Sonic. Just focus. It's just Amy. Why the hell are you so nervous for?! Come on!

After taking another deep breath, he decided to ring her doorbell instead and waited patiently. He heard thumping a moment later, making his heart accelerate.

"Just a moment!" Amy's voice sounded.

The padlock sounded and the door swung open.

"Hey Cream, sorry about-"

She stalled in her words when her eyes met Sonic's instead.

Sonic's feet were pinned against the floor, his body growing rigid and he wasn't sure if he was breathing at that point.

Holy moly...

All Amy had on was a towel wrapped around herself. Her hair was loose from that headband she'd always wear, her quills wavy and going down her shoulders.

He couldn't remember the last time he saw her with her hair out like that.

And he couldn't believe that he was ogling right now, never leaving his eyes off her. Even though he could feel himself turning red hot around his face. He was feeling absolutely shameless.

Amy gasped and slammed the door shut right in his face. "S-Sonic?! What are you doing here?!"

Sonic stood still for a few more seconds before vigorously shaking his head. "Uh! I-I was just coming to visit you," he gulped, still trying to get rid of the picture of Amy out of his head because he was not a pervert, "Ya know... s-see if you were doing okay and stuff..."

Really, Sonic? Really? Here you are with a picnic basket in hand and you say that?

When Amy didn't say anything, he cleared his throat. "Actually, I was uh... wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me? It's a nice day outside and I have plenty of food to share."

Bless Tikal for making chilli dogs and chicken salad sandwiches.

Amy still stayed quiet at the other side and Sonic became worried. "A-Ames?"

Her voice was muffled but he was still able to hear her as he closed in on the door. "L-Let me get dressed," she said, her voice unusually high pitched, "...Would you like to come inside though?"

"Sure..." Sonic scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Do you... want me to wait until you're upstairs?"

"Yes please," she pleaded.

When she unlocked the door, he heard her footsteps going upstairs. He waited for a few more seconds, just to be sure, before finally letting himself in. Sonic sat down on the couch inside her living room and waited patiently, anxiously bouncing his leg up and down.

He sighed into his hands. Great. A minute in and things were already awkward. He caught an almost naked Amy under his eyes and on top of that, he still didn't know what to say to her or how to even say that he really had feelings for her.

He had to laugh a little at himself though. A couple of years ago, she was the one chasing after him. Now he was the one chasing after her.

It was surprising but Sonic should've known that they were all growing up. Meaning, Amy's chasing toned down until she never did it anymore and moved on. He didn't realise he missed her doing it until she actually distracted herself by doing other things. Helping them stop Doctor Eggman, throwing parties, going into college. Yes, Amy Rose decided to go to that hell of a thing called college where she had to learn boring stuff and get an education. Sonic didn't even know why she wanted to study in the first place. She was smart enough as it is! Even so, she also ran her own café with Cream and her mom. So it was safe to say Amy was just too busy to think about him. About him.

And they wouldn't even see each other all that much anymore.

He'd sulk about it with Tails when he realised that it actually affected him more than he let on.

That was why he began developing these feelings for her. Sonic realised how much he missed her venting, her cooking, her whacking him in the head with her hammer if he let loose his ego too much.

He was stupid, he knew that. But... this was his chance to prove to Amy that she deserved him just as much as he deserved her.

Also, he still couldn't believe Knuckles and Shadow had beaten him to it when it came to swooping their ladies off of their feet! That told him great words as to how much of a moron he was to let Amy go for so long to have those two get the last laugh.

"...You okay?"

Sonic got startled and snapped his head up. "Huh?! Wha-?!"

Amy stood from a distance, raising an eye at him. "You spaced off. You're not catching a cold, are you?"

He blinked at her before quickly shaking his head. "N-No! I was just uh... thinking."

She didn't seem to buy his reasoning but shrugged it off anyway before smiling. "You said something about lunch?"

"Oh, right!" Sonic stood up with the basket, "You wanna go and have a picnic together at the park?"

"Oh sure, of course!" Amy grabbed a small bag and her keys before asking distractedly, "How comes you didn't bring Tails along?"

"What do you mean?"

She looked up and blinked at him this time. "We're just going on a picnic, right? I thought Tails and the others would be joining us."

Sonic kept his gaze on her, his mouth dropping the slightest. Was... Was she not getting the hint? "N-No..." he cleared his throat, feeling a tad bit of hurt in his chest, "No, it's just gonna be us."

At that, Amy's eyes widened in complete and utter surprise. Her cheeks bloomed a violent shade of red and she was blinking a few times as if trying to register what he had just said.

He actually felt his stomach churning shamefully at the reaction. Amy looked at him as if he had suddenly grew three heads.

His stomach most definitely dropped when her surprise turned into anger. "Are... Are you playing some sort of prank on me?!" Amy accused him out of nowhere, her voice rising the next second.

Sonic dropped the basket in panic as his own eyes flew open. "I'm not! Ames, you know I wouldn't do that-"

"You used to do it before!" she didn't back down and Sonic didn't miss the crack in her voice this time, "You always did it! Promising me that we'd go out together, promising me that we would go out at least on one date together... but you would never ever show up!"

Averting his gaze down onto the pink coloured rug, Sonic ran a hand down his face in a brisk attempt to hide his shame. This wasn't how he envisioned today would go. "You're right, that's true but-"

"But what?!" Amy took a bold step forward towards him and he swore he could see tears brimming underneath her eyes, "There's no buts, Sonic. Because not once did you say you were sorry!"

"Ames-"

"Then you would carry on the day like nothing happened, forgetting about me!"

"I know-"

"Then I was like, 'You know what? Maybe falling in love with the Sonic the Hedgehog isn't worth my time and energy' because you only just broke my heart over and over again!"

"But you see-"

"Shut up, Sonic! Don't try and give me false hope ever again because I'm not falling for-"

"I LIKE YOU!"

Sonic was breathless. All the pent up feelings and frustrations he hid for the past few months were finally loose. The plan was to never confess like that, at all. However, hearing Amy yelling at him with his faults, that he admittedly regret doing, were too embarrassing and shameful to hear. He was never the one to feel like that. Maybe because he hid it so well in order to keep his pride as a hero.

But right now, all of that can be thrown away for this pink hedgehog right in front of him.

Amy yelped and jolted away from him, startled by his yell that had dominated her own. She stared up at him again and Sonic only stared back at her, gnawing on his lip before he sighed.

"Amy..." The blue hedgehog felt his cheeks rushing with warmth this time but he didn't try to hide it, "I know. I know I gave you empty promises. I know I was an absolute idiot for leaving you in the dust," he glanced away and scratched his temple, "When you suddenly stopped trying to see me, I didn't think much of it until Tails brought it up one day that you were moving on. I didn't believe it until he told me that you were off to college," he laughed a little bit when he gazed back at her, "I kept thinking for some reason you were sick because you weren't there when we would face off against Egghead. But..." Sonic sighed again and groaned quietly, "I dunno... I guess I just started to miss you and when I would finally see you again I'd have this warm... feeling-"

Sonic stopped himself right there and then. Why was he dragging this? He was no corny hedgehog! Just get on with it!

He was about to continue when the sounds of Amy's stifling giggling filled his ears.

The speedster was confused and shot his orbs down at her, completely feeling offguard. What was so funny? Was there something on his face? Oh god, Amy wasn't laughing at a chilli dog stain that was left against his mouth, was she? He was sure he wiped that off before he came here!

He waited until she finished her giggling fit, but inwardly pouted when she was only refraining herself. "A-Anyway, yeah. I had this weird feeling in my-" When Amy started giggling again, Sonic couldn't help but whine, "Amy! I'm tryna be insightful here!"

"Y-You don't need to be," she breathed out and wiped off some of her tears with her sleeves, "You're trying too hard. It doesn't suit you... and you look goofy."

"G-Goofy?!" Sonic felt a harsh stab against his chest, "How am I goofy?! I'm never goofy!"

"It makes you look cute though!" Amy softly pinched his cheek.

He rolled his eyes and pouted again. "Here I am trying to be sincere to say how sorry I am and you're just laughing-"

The pink hedgehog leaned up at towards him and left a sweet kiss against his cheek before pulling back with a shy smile. "You're forgiven."

Sonic's body turned to stone at the intimate gesture as he tried to find his voice. "...W-What?"

Amy's smile widened and playfully pushed his shoulder. "You're forgiven... And I like you too."

His heart raced faster than he would've liked. "W-Wait! So you're saying... yes to the picnic?"

She rolled her eyes and whacked him across the head. "You're such a dolt, you know that?!"

"Ow!" Sonic held his head and sulked at her, "You didn't have to do that, ya know! Geez, have you grown stronger or something? That hurt!"

Smirking at him, Amy crossed her arms. "You really don't think I was just making coffee and sitting in my classes without doing some training, did you?"

A flash of admiration went across his eyes whilst he grinned back at her. "No, I didn't think so."

Her expression brightened and she took his hand, intertwining their fingers together then pulling him along. She grabbed the basket and lead him towards the kitchen. "Come on, let's heat this stuff up. They've probably gone cold by now."

"Amy," he stopped her and whirled her around so she could face him. She squeaked and blushed up at him at how close they were now. Sonic only smiled but his green irises turned serious, "I meant what I said. I'm sorry and I want to make it up to you. I never want to hurt you like that ever again."

She held a pleasant expression. "I know, it's okay. Thank you."

Sonic pulled off his signature smirk. "And, I like you. I like like you a lot. I'm sorry I made you wait for so long."

Amy laughed. "And they call you the fastest thing alive."

"Yeah," he chuckled bashfully, "When it comes to things like this, I'm definitely not."

"It's better late than never," she shrugged and poked his nose, "Also, why does your breath smell like chilli dogs?"

His cheeks reddened and he quickly blew into his hand. "You can smell that?!"

"Oh, never mind," Amy shook her head and began preparing the food, "You know, I think I might need to have you cut down on those things. Your diet is probably outrageous!"

"Ames, no! You leave the chilli dogs outta this!"