Very cheeky start to some new one shots *blush*. Let's dial it back a bit! I have recently discovered the incredible artwork of SherryDoodlez and fell in love with one that inspired me to flesh it out with a story. I've decided to have a play with adding in a few characters we haven't seen in this universe before. I hope you like it! x
Song: Bad Romance - Halestorm (Cover)
'C'mon, Sonic, you can't say no to charity.' Tails rolled his eyes as he tinkered away in the garage, Sonic seated on the work bench.
'I know, that's how they trapped me.' The Blue Blur huffed through a smile.
'It won't be so bad, I think it'll even be fun! I'll have my guitar and Knuckles will be behind us on drums. They've even asked Amy to sing.'
'Oh?' Sonic cocked a slightly nervous brow.
'Yeah, so you won't have to do it alone. You'll be just fine!' Tails smiled before wheeling himself under his plane, effectively ending the conversation.
Sonic shuffled a little uncomfortably in his seat. The Mayor of their village was putting on a charity event to raise funds for the local library... or the local kids centre... or something, Sonic had blurred everything out after they asked him to sing. It was fine when he was just having a laugh with Tails and Knuckles but this seemed kind of serious. Tails was right, though - he couldn't say no to charity.
He was even more nervous now that he had to sing with Amy. He shouldn't be, though, right? They're friends... He huffed at the frustrating thought. He didn't know what they were lately - all he knew was that... she made him happy. He leapt off the work bench and stared down at the sheet music Tails had put beside him. It was only one song, it would be fine. He scooped it up, yelled out his goodbyes to his twin-tailed pal and dashed off towards home.
.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, a fuchsia heroine was wandering around her home reading the same sheet music. The sun was beginning to set, its rays beaming through her living room and giving her features that golden hour glow as she ran her fingers through her quills. She didn't consider herself much of a singer, but she'd never really shown it off to anyone either. She wasn't sure what was making her more nervous: having to sing in front of all these people, or having to sing with Sonic. She wanted to, of course. It's just, what if- ugh, she didn't know what was making her so anxious.
She sang the song over and over again, knowing it was fine, but just not... right. She wanted it to be perfect. With that in mind, she let out a deep breath she didn't know she was holding and checked the time - he should be home by now. She put on her shoes and sprayed her favourite perfume (one she knew he liked), grabbed the music and headed towards Sonic's beach shack.
As she strolled along the beach, she hummed the tune to herself. She especially wanted to sound good in front of Sonic... just the thought of him, all these years later, still made her smile and feel giddy inside. Things had felt as though they were going their way lately, but... there seemed to be something in the way. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. She didn't dare say anything about it, as much as she anted to. The thought of him rejecting her the way he did when they were kids was too much to handle.
The bubblegum heroine could see her hero's home in the distance, walking towards it before stopping short at a few trees 50 metres away from an open window. The curtains were drawn back and he was lounging in his hammock, the sunset glow lighting up his profile. She leaned against a palm tree and out of sight, watching him absently strum an acoustic guitar before he began singing to himself...
I want your ugly, I want your disease,
I want your everything as long as it's free
I want your love,
Love, love, love, I want your love...
He sounded... beautiful. Just when she thought he couldn't make her any more crazy, there he was. Singing and playing guitar like it was nothing - she didn't even know he could play guitar, much less owned one. There really wasn't anything he couldn't do. She didn't even notice the smile creep across her muzzle, she just stood there and listened to him sing, the strings of the guitar playing the melody absently as they were swept up by the sound of crashing waves from the shore. Her earlier fear about having to perform this in front of people seemingly melted away, and somehow she knew it was going to be just... right.
She bit her lip through her smile, trying to draw her focus from the painful knots of excitement in her stomach. Pulling herself from her trance she looked out at the horizon for a moment, soaking in its beauty, and deciding not to bother him. She turned on her heel, getting one last look at his blue quills over her shoulder before heading back home.
.
As some town's people were gathered around the village centre the following evening helping to set up chairs, stalls and different areas for the event, Sonic was seated on the stage tuning a guitar Tails had given him. He tried not to look as nervous as he felt. Knuckles was behind him twirling drumsticks around, seemingly excited while Tails was doing his thing on the soundboard, making sure everything was looking and sounding perfect. The cerulean hero caught a flash of pink out of the corner of his eye and jolted his head up to see Amy waving goodbye to Sticks as the badger ran over to help people set up. She continued walking to the side of the stage where Rouge seemed to be meeting her, he figured she must have flown in for the event.
A hint of a smile lifted the sides of his mouth as she watched her greet the ivory bat. He must have been lost in thought, Amy caught his gaze and gave a small smile, waving hello, which jolted him back to reality, returning the wave. Knuckles cocked a brow as he walked up to his hedgehog pal, standing next to him as they watched to two girls disappear behind the stage.
'Sooo, how ya' feelin'?' The red-headed echidna probed.
'Just fine, Knuckles.' Sonic replied bluntly, knowing not to engage with where his friend was leading.
'I'm sure you and Amy will put on quite the show tonight, eh?'
'Anything for charity, Knux.'
Knuckles rolled his eyes through a smile and gave up bugging him, slapping his friend's back before walking off. Sonic wouldn't dare admit how nervous he was, and he certainly wasn't about to let anyone make that any worse. After an hour or so, people from all around were starting to fill the town square, the last of the sun peaking over the horizon. Fairy lights were strung all around and lit up the town centre, making it look quite magical. The boys were more or less ready to go on stage, while Amy was lettingRouge ut on the 'finishing touches', as she liked to call it.
'Rouge, I love you, but you're making me nervous.' Amy tried to smile through her nausea.
'Oh, come on, hun. I'm almost finished.' The slinky ivory bat brushed her off lovingly.
She had let Rouge tie up all her sports tape, noting how she had pulled it in at her waist just that bit tighter to accentuate all her feminine features. She did still have to remind her friend she needed to breath if she wanted to be able to sing... Rouge did her hair that bit extra special so it flowed around her face and framed it in all the right places, adding a little more make up than usual to make her eyes and lips pop. Amy always looked beautiful, but tonight she was truly gorgeous. When she saw herself in the mirror, she couldn't help but think that she looked incredible, and hoped a little that Sonic would notice. She didn't say anything, but Rouge knew that might have been the hope.
'Ladies and gentleman,' the village mayor announced, 'let's get tonight's performance underway!'
The crowd cheered from where they sat and stood as the lights began to slowly illuminate the stage, highlighting only the boy's figures as the played the intro. Sonic and Tails' guitars rocked the speakers before Knuckles' drums set a resounding boom through the town. Everyone screamed and fled to the edge of the stage. Amy hung back behind the stage before it was her turn to come on, being instructed by her two-tailed friend not to come out until she started to sing... something about a grand entrance. She could swear every inch of her body was covered in sweat she was so nervous. When he started to sing, though, even though it was different from yesterday, the nerves began to fade.
I want your drama, the touch of your hand,
I want your leather studded kiss in the sand,
I want your love,
Love, love, love, I want your love...
With his few last words, he turned around to where she would come out... and as she started singing, he felt his breath evaporate from his lungs...
You know that I want you,
And you know that I need you,
She looked amazing. The stage lights beaming from behind her so as only to see her silhouette before she stepped out. She always did but this was... She sounded amazing. Not that he thought she couldn't but... the crowd roared as she came out. He could feel the excitement rush through his stomach, his chest, his cheeks, the dumbstruck smile couldn't be wiped from his face. He was sure Knuckles clocked it but couldn't bring himself out of the trance she had him in. He never imagined he'd have this thought, but he just wanted to sing with her.
I want it bad, a bad romance!
I want your love and I want your revenge,
You and me could write a bad romance,
I want your love and all your lover's revenge,
You and me could write a bad romance,
They sang to each other with the biggest smiles on their faces, like they'd been doing this forever. The coloured lights bounced off their features and around the stage before shooting out into the crowd as the moved around the stage, little by little. As their confidence built, they stood right in front of each other, like no one else was there. He gave her a smile as she was about to go for a huge solo that he admitted he had wondered how she would pull off.
Oh oh oooh oh oh oh oooh oh oh oh,
Caught in a bad romance,
Oh oh oooh oh oh oh oooh oh oh oh,
Caught in a bad romance!
'Oh, my God. I'm in love with her.'
The thought flashed through his mind in a split second. He was surprised that this was seemingly his 'a-ha!' moment, given the chaos and adrenaline of it all. She performed with such passion and excitement, sweat dripped down her temple and he couldn't help but smile. He guessed the whirlwind few minutes seemed to be what thrust him into this realisation. The song felt like it had come and gone just like that, the crowd screaming and cheering until they were hoarse. Amy caught Rouge somewhere off to the side by the bar holding up her glass of champagne, toasting towards her, which made her giggle before they all left the stage.
'Hey, not too shabby!' Knuckles laughed as they all collapsed backstage.
'Yeah, I'll bet that brings in a whole lot of donations!' Tails added as he cracked open a bottle of water.
'Oh yeah,' Amy tilted her head with a smile before turning her eyes to Sonic slightly, 'I forgot that's why we were doing this for a second there.'
'Yeah,' he laughed as he looked at her, 'me too.'
Before either of their friends could react to this moment, Rouge rounded the corner to the back of the stage, making Knuckles spring to his feet. She clapped and cheered as she ran up to Amy and hugged her, the fuchsia heroine laughingly embarrassed through all her sweat. They all smiled and laughed before joining the crowd for more festivities, being greeted with praise and cheers from everyone who came up to them. Amy couldn't help but feel a little giddy, as selfish as it was, when she saw Sonic rebuff a few advances from some fangirls.
The night was finally coming to a close and they were all exhausted. Rouge had said her goodbyes and set off back home before Tails and Knuckles got to chatting to more people. Sonic seized the opportunity to slip away and ask Amy if she wanted some company for the walk home, to which she happily obliged - she was ready to get out of there. The talked and laughed the whole way home about the excitement of the night, the moonlight bouncing off their features, a few fairy lights still glittering along their path. As they got up to her front porch, Amy turned to him with a smile.
'Thanks for walking me home, you really didn't have to.'
'Don't be silly, happy to. Besides, any excuse to head out after such a big night.'
'I had so much fun tonight... on stage. With you.' She boldly admitted after a few seconds of comfortable silence.
'Me too.' He simply smiled, surprised by how relaxed he felt in this intimate moment.
'I was so nervous yesterday about how I was going to sound and look. I mean, I knew you were going to be great, you always are, but I-'
Her rambling was suddenly cut off by his lips pressing them shut. She was so thrown off that her eyes shot wide open before suddenly realising what was actually happening. It seemed almost as soon as he had he begun, his hands gently holding her hips, he pulled away, like he was shocked by what he'd done.
'I-I'm sorry if that's not-'
She didn't even let him finish before she started it again for him. She tentatively laced her arms around his neck as he held the small of her back, letting him deepen the kiss, feeling him smile as he pulled her in tighter. She ran her fingers through his quills, wanting to make this last as it could and remember every second of it. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, they pulled away and locked eyes, chuckling together lowly. She pecked his lips once more before turning the door knob and stepping half way through.
'See you tomorrow night? For dinner?' She cocked a brow through a smile.
'I'll be here.' He winked at her.
She bit her lip through a smile as she closed the door and fell back on it gently, letting it hold all her weight. She waited to hear the familiar sound of him speeding off into the night before bouncing up and down like she was twelve years old again.