Exhausted. Completely and utterly exhausted. Blaze dragged her feet down the hallway that led to her apartment, oblivious to the terrible discovery that the rest of the theatre company was making at that very moment. The lingering concern that her performance was not up to her tutor's standards (despite the popular response) drained her already depleted energy even further, making a meeting with him the last thing she wanted to do at the moment - though she felt vaguely guilty and ungrateful for even thinking such a thing.

Lost in nervous anticipation, she nearly missed the figure pacing by her front door. Nearly being the key word, as it was as hard to miss silver fur as bright as it had been ten years ago.

Disbelief stopped her dead in her tracks. "Silver...?"

The hedgehog turned quickly, startled by her sudden appearance. "Blaze!... hi."

Blaze just kept staring. Silver rubbed one leg along the back of the other nervously. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Silence reigned for one moment longer, then Blaze broke out into laughter as she recalled their first meeting those many years ago. "Maybe because I have!" She ran the rest of the hallway at full pelt and launched herself at her childhood friend in what could only be accurately described as a glomp. "How are you? What are you doing here? How did you even know I was here?"

Silver smiled past the impulsive wince that came with being bear-hugged. "I didn't know! I was invited to the play, and then I saw your name in the program. I looked for you in the lobby after the show but you'd already left, so I asked one of the little girls where you'd gone and she said you lived up here."

Blaze's own smile dropped into a frown momentarily as she finally released him, absently rubbing where her arms had pressed too hard against his back spines. "I told Lily not to tell strangers where I live. You could have been anyone." Her face split in another grin that was smaller but just as warm. "But I'm so glad to see you! It's been so long."

"It has." Silver's smile faltered for a moment. "I wasn't even sure you'd remember me."

Blaze stared at him incredulously. "Not remember you? It's not like we spent three years practicing secret powers that only two other people knew about. Forgetting you would be like – I don't know, like forgetting about my pyrokinesis."

The grin quickly returned to Silver's muzzle. "Alright, Fireball, I get it."

Blaze frowned at the usage of the old nickname. "You'd better, Shiny," she retorted petulantly.

The two friends engaged in a brief mock-staring-match but broke out into laughter when neither could keep a straight face. Blaze leaned against the wall for support and it suddenly occurred to her that said wall wasn't in her apartment.

"We're still in the hallway, aren't we?"

"… So we are," Silver confirmed. "You probably want to get to bed, I should go…" He took an awkward half-step backwards as if to follow through.

"Nonsense! Stay right there," Blaze ordered. She entered her apartment, but her voice trailed out to him through the open door. "I know a café down the road that's still open, and you and I are going to eat food and catch up properly." She reemerged with a small handbag slung over her shoulder and locked the door behind her. "Shall we?"

Ebony's was quiet but not deserted at that hour. The matronly waitress greeted them warmly and led them past a study group of students from the local university and a single middle-aged chipmunk to a booth near the kitchen entrance.

Once their orders were placed, Blaze leaned back into the cushioned bench and turned her attention towards her old friend. "So are you living in the area or visiting? I know Mobotropolis isn't exactly a small town, but I'd think I would have seen you by now."

"Both? More of a long-term visit, I guess. My cousin just moved out here and I told the rest of the family I'd keep an eye on him while he gets settled."

The way Silver said "keep an eye" was tinged with exasperation and reminded her of Rouge complaining about Marine's or the children's escapades. "Is he a troublemaker?"

He rocked his hand back and forth in a 'so-so' motion. "He doesn't mean to be, he just… doesn't think through things before doing them. I'm almost surprised he even remembered to find a place to live out here – I half-expected to find him napping on rooftops. He didn't even tell me about the performance until lunch today."

Blaze lifted an eyebrow and tilted her head as she made the connection. "Your cousin is the one that invited you to see the play?" She was briefly interrupted by the waitress setting down their beverages. Blaze took a quick drink of her cola before elaborating, "He doesn't sound like the theatre type at all."

"He's not. Which why I have no idea why he'd decide he wants to manage one all of a sudden."

There was a beat of silence, and then suddenly Blaze broke out into gales of tinkling laughter. The chipmunk two booths away turned and frowned in irritation, and though she ducked her head in embarrassment, the feline couldn't stop giggling. Silver was also irritated and slightly confused, but he still found himself smiling.

It's been too long since I heard that laugh.

"Sonic? Your cousin is Sonic?" Blaze eventually managed to exclaim.

Silver could have smacked himself for being thick-headed. Obviously Blaze would have met her own employer. "Unfortunately."

Blaze's chortles died down, though her wide smile was left in place. "And you're living with him. You poor, brave soul."

He shrugged. "Sonic's not all bad. He just needs to be taken in small doses. And if nothing else, he got me to the theatre tonight."

It was then the waitress returned with their food order. The scent of cooked meat reminded Blaze that she hadn't eaten since before her exhausting performance, and she bit into her hamburger eagerly. Silver also ate his panini with relish, and not a sound was heard from either of them until both sandwiches had disappeared. Blaze took a long sip of her drink and sighed in contentment.

"So," she began, pushing her empty plate to the side and leaning forward, "aside from being roped into seeing musicals by your well-meaning but overbearing cousin, what else have you been up to?"

"School, mostly. I take a few odd jobs here and there to help with tuition."

"And? What are you studying?" Blaze prodded.

"Social work. Eventually I'd like a concentration in youth or children."

"Huh." It wasn't the answer she was expecting, but the more she thought about it, the better it fit the quiet yet protective boy she remembered. "Good for you."

Silver smiled, and Blaze thought she spotted a blush momentarily flash across his muzzle. "What about you? How long have you been at Delphi?"

She stiffened as though she'd been insulted, and her answer, while not exactly harsh, came out a bit crisper than she'd meant. "Seven years."

"Oh." Either he'd also been counting, or he was still good at reading her body language.

There was an awkward silence, one that couldn't be properly broken by the waitress bringing them drink refills. The unasked question hung heavy in the air.

Finally Silver caved. "I did go to the funeral. I meant to talk to you, but I chickened out because – well, because I was seven, and I didn't know what to say. And then when I finally tried to visit a couple days later, foster care had already placed you, and no one would tell me where. Though I guess I couldn't have visited if I did know. I mean, Mobotropolis is pretty darn far from Knothole."

When the words finally stopped spilling out, he dropped his head and nervously tugged at his gloves. "I'm sorry. I should have tried harder. I should have been there for you."

Blaze fiddled with her straw as she considered her words. "I'd be lying if I said wasn't mad at you about that. But I didn't try to stay in contact with you either. I knew your aunt's name; I could have asked Rouge or someone to look up an address or phone number. But it was really easy to just let theatre work distract me from my old life, because if I was thinking about lines or blocking, I wasn't thinking about Father. And if I wasn't thinking about Father, I wasn't thinking about you either. So if you're willing to forgive and forget lack of communication, I am too. Deal?"

Silver smiled. "Deal."

Blaze snagged the bill from the waitress despite Silver's protests ("I'm not the one paying tuition") and the pair gathered their things before starting the walk back to Delphi.

"You'll have to introduce me to your local friends sometime."

Blaze shifted uncomfortably. "I – I don't have much in the way of friends here."

"What? None?"

"Not any nearly as close as you, no. The closest is probably my – well, there is this one raccoon, but - as you said about Sonic - she has to be taken in small doses."

Silver either missed or ignored the abruptness of her pause, for which Blaze was grateful. In truth, Blaze had been about to mention Shadow, but she found herself reluctant to mention him, even to Silver. Really, the fact that she even considered him her closest local friend bothered her upon further reflection. She didn't even know what he looked like. Instead, she shared Marine's quirks – her impulsivity, her oft incoherent slang, her apparent fascination with Miles.

"Though I suspect she's more interested in the tech work than she is with Tails himself," Blaze noted regarding the last point. "What about you? Have you made friends at college?"

Silver shrugged. "A few, I guess. There's one girl who's another social work major, Elise. I've partnered with her on a few class projects. She's friendly and a hard worker, but some of her interests are a bit… weird. I'd probably know more people if I lived in the dorms and didn't have to work so many hours."

The conversation died off as the two came to a stop by Blaze's front door. "I suppose I should get to bed," Blaze sighed, stifling a yawn. "I've had a long day."

"Right. Well, it was great to catch up with you. I'm glad you're doing well." Silver's smile was soft and full of fondness, and Blaze couldn't help returning it in kind.

"Same to you. Here, let me give you my cell number, in case you have more time to hang out while you're still here." Silver handed over his own mobile, and she created an entry for herself before handing it back.

"I won't have time, but I'll call anyway. Goodnight, Blaze."

"Goodnight, Silver."

Blaze watched Silver until he disappeared into the stairway, then chuckled softly and unlocked her front door. She tossed her purse on the couch and headed for the bathroom to wash out the hairspray from earlier.

It wasn't until an hour later when she had already turned out the lights that she sensed someone nearby – a displeased someone – and remembered why she'd been so nervous earlier.

There's not even a point to being apologetic about long waits for updates at this point, is there? Though I will admit that 20 months is bad even for me.

No theatre terms to cover this time. I will say that, yes, the nicknames Blaze and Silver have for each other are terribly uncreative. They're supposed to be - they were six years old.

Next chapter - Shadow has a conversation with someone! At last!