SherryHedgehog, Jacklethekitsune, Mike Prower the Fox, HaosBlossom, IHeartSonamy, sparksthehedgehog26, kizziefohnizzie, Ashley3, Amyfan111, rugtugba, poka, ultimateCCC, Amy Tikal the Hedgehog, Alyssacookie, SoNiCrOxMaIsOx:

You guys rock! (But you're no help, lol!) I'm not at all surprised that SonAmy won (with 5 votes), Knouge got 2, and Silvaze only got 2! (Speak up, Silvaze fans!) Do you guys know how hard it is to not only balance out these couples, but come up with ideas? :0 Either way, I decided to add all three couples to this chapter.

The fun and fluff continues!

Chapter 22: Teasing and Teaching

"And here I thought we were best friends, Cream," Amy said to the rabbit.

She had finally managed to score some alone time with her best friend. The guys along with Blaze and Rouge were watching some game or something, and Amy and Cream had offered to bake chocolate chip cookies for them. They could hear the yells of the guys in the other room. Amy was glad for them, and content to let Sonic have his time with the guys. Rouge kept drifting in and out, but Amy didn't mind the bat. But she did have some stuff to talk with Cream about.

"What do you mean, Amy?" Cream asked her as the two were waiting for the cookies to bake.

"Okay, so you magically start dating Tails...and you never even told me you had a crush on him? What is up with that? I told you everything about me and Sonic didn't I?" Amy complained.

"Amy..." Cream said and blushed. "Not everyone is as open as you are..."

"Hmph, no kidding," Amy huffed. "But you could have at the very least told me you liked him."

Cream bit her lip. "Well...I thought you might get involved..."

"Cream, you know I'd never do that to you," Amy said and rolled her eyes slightly but couldn't help but smile. "So spill it. What did you guys do yesterday?"

Cream blushed harder, and Amy giggled. "Oooooh, you two kissed didn't you?"

Cream was too embarrassed to say anything, and Amy took it as a yes and smothered the tiny rabbit in a hug. "OH MY GOSH I'm so happy for you!"

Sonic was there in a flash, as he'd heard Amy screaming. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh Sonic go away!" Amy squealed again. "This is girl talk!"

Sonic blinked, and then dumbfounded and slower than he'd moved in a while, made his way back to the living room.

Knuckles glanced at him. "What'd you find out?"

"That I don't understand girls," Sonic admitted as he plopped onto the couch.

"It took you 15 years to figure that out?" Knuckles said.

Sonic huffed. "Well, you're 16 and you still haven't figured that out."

"Oh yeah? Well I can pick them better than-"

In the next instant, both guys were up and fighting, blue and red blurs of flailing fists and quills.

"Hey, could you guys fight somewhere else?" Tails grumbled. "Some of us are trying to watch something here."

But the combatants ignored their friend and kept tussling. Tails rolled his eyes.

"Cookies are done!" Amy suddenly announced, and Sonic and Knuckles immediately ceased.

"Oh, thanks, Amy," Sonic said and was about to snatch one of her cookies, but Amy pulled the tray away from him.

"Who said you could have one?" she flirted and walked right past the shocked blue hedgehog.

"Hey!" Sonic protested, but Amy continued on as Cream offered Tails 2 cookies.

"Would you like one Rouge?"

"Oh I'd love one, thanks Amy," the bat said and took the smallest cookie on the tray. She had to keep her figure, after all.

"Knuckles?"

"Of course," he said and grabbed the three largest ones.

Amy giggled and tried her hardest not to look at Sonic. Amy knew if she did, she'd succumb to his puppy-dog eyes. The pink hedgehog continued on to Silver and Blaze, who were cuddling on the other couch.

Silver was thankful for his psychokinesis right then, as he could get a cookie without moving his hand from around Blaze's waist. "Thanks."

Blaze declined, however, as she seemed unwilling to move her head from where it rested on Silver's chest.

It was fully impossible for Amy to not look at Sonic now, but when she did, she tried to keep her face firm. "NO Sonic-"she started, but his lower lip curled down and his eyes widened. Amy pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes, but finally sighed. "Oh, alright. You're just too cute."

"Yes, I win!" Sonic said triumphantly and started munching.

"You're too much of a pushover, Amy," Rouge told her.

"What can I say? I have a really cute boyfriend," Amy said as she wrapped her arm around Sonic before batting her eyelashes at him and resting her head on his shoulder.

Sonic was blushing like mad but managed a lame, "And I have...a cute girlfriend."

"Aww, Sonic..." Amy giggled and kissed him on his cheek. "What were you and Knuckles fighting about anyway?"

"Just who knows more about girls," Tails said casually and kept his eyes on the game.

Rouge and Amy looked at each other, blinked, and considered. Sonic and Knuckles paused to try and catch their girlfriends' reactions, but neither the bat nor the hedgehog looked to be answering any time soon.

"Neither of you knows anything about women," Rouge finally decided and crossed her arms.

They were about to protest, when Amy added, "Sonic, by a quill."

"A very small quill," Rouge clarified.

"Yes, Rouge, but you have to admit, Knuckles makes Sonic look romantic," Amy said, and both of them started giggling.

Sonic and Knuckles both frowned, not liking being teased by their girls, and then locked eyes ferociously, eager to prove their manliness again.

"Okay, ladies' man," Knuckles growled.

"Okay, Knuckie," Sonic taunted, and then had to dodge a punch. It was on, as the two guys got into another fight.

"If you two break anything in there, you're going to pay for it!" Tails yelled at them as they crashed into his workshop. He let out a sigh and shook his head. "It's really better this way, though. Because if they didn't do this every day, they'd end up killing each other."

He then turned to Silver and Blaze. "So do you guys have games and stuff like this in your world?" he asked, trying to innocently glean information.

"You know," Silver said and furrowed his brow. "From what I hear, we used to."

Tails' ears perked up at this. "Used to? Why did you stop?"

Silver frowned, but Blaze spoke. "It's a long story," she admitted. "And we don't know all of the details, but we've heard that there used to be a huge gaming ceremony every 4 years. But that was before the-"

Blaze was interrupted by a huge crash coming from the workshop. Tails closed his eyes and cursed in his head. "If they broke anything..." he muttered and got up to go check on them. His worst fear was realized as he stepped inside and was greeted with a hedgehog and echidna pointing fingers and trying to cover up his broken machine.

"I swear-"

"I'm sorry-"

"Get. Out." Tails growled. He didn't get mad easily, but when he did...Sonic and Knuckles obliged.

"What happened?" Cream asked when they came back in.

"Knuckles here-"

"It was not MY fault!"

"You broke the machine?" Rouge asked.

Both Silver and Blaze sat upright at this and untangled themselves before heading hand-in-hand into the workshop to survey their ticket home. Tails was bending over the broken portal, frowning.

"Here, Tails, I'll deal with the knuckle head," Rouge said as she flew in and dragged her boyfriend out the door. "I'll discipline him."

"How bad is it?" Silver asked once they were gone.

Tails looked up and sighed. "I'll just have to start all over, but other than that it's not bad at all," he said sarcastically.

Silver and Blaze locked hazel eyes, and a mutual, unspoken question passed between them. Is this good or bad?

"Tails, what are the dangers of us not getting back?" Blaze asked.

The look in his blue eyes scared her a bit. "I thought that once the dimensions overlapped you guys could use this to get back..." the fox stood up a little straighter, but sighed. "Look, the thing is, we can't have both set of Emeralds in the same world permanently. The energy concentration would be just too great."

"But they're in the same world now, right?" Silver said.

"Yes, and that's what's causing the worlds to overlap more," Tails explained.

"What would happen if we missed that deadline?" Blaze queried.

"I don't know," Tails admitted softly. "I just don't know anymore. At first I thought that time itself would stop...but that doesn't make sense any more. Look, I'm sorry, but I gotta fix this now," he said and started mentally assessing the damage.

Silver and Blaze looked at each other again and then exited the workshop to go to another hallway where they could talk privately.

Silver took her hands and didn't waste any time. "I don't want to go back, Blaze."

She studied his face. Not for the first time, Blaze wished that she could have his naive-ness, his idealism. She desperately wished that she didn't have her duty, the burden of the Emeralds, that she could just be free to dream and hope like Silver did. But no, she was stuck with being the bad guy and the realist of the two. Someone had to do it.

"Do you think I do?"

Silver swallowed, but Blaze wasn't finished. "But we have no choice. And you should know-" she had to pause, though, for Silver had looked down at the ground, and Blaze absolutely hated scolding him. Hated it.

The cat leaned in and kissed him gently before her shyness prevented her. Goodness, Silver looked so sad right then, and Blaze felt horrible. Why did she always have to be so insensitive?

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her lips brushing his.

"Don't be, you're right," Silver said and pulled back so their noses touched. "I just...it's almost not fair that we have to go back." He pulled the cat into his arms and stroked her back, knowing she was the only thing that'd make him feel better.

"I know," Blaze said ruffled his quills. "But we can deal with this, Silver. As long as...we're together, right?"

The hedgehog smiled. "As long as we're together," he agreed and kissed her again.

...

After dragging Knuckles through the jewelry store and making him buy her a new necklace that matched her teal eyes (although he didn't grumble at all and even offered to buy her another one), Rouge decided that they should go on a walk in the park.

"So you let your manly urges get the best of you and destroyed Tails' machine. How could you?"

"Well, what did you want me to do? Let Sonic win?" Knuckles asked.

"Of course not. But you don't have to be so reckless. It's called tact, sweetie."

He huffed. "Either way, it wasn't my fault. He started it."

"Well, since you've been such a bad boy, I'm going to have to discipline you," Rouge said.

Knuckles' eyes got huge.

"Are you ready?" she purred.

He nodded, but was stopped by Rouge holding his face and molding her lips onto his. He started kissing her back like crazy. Rouge, however, was getting a little frustrated. He was just such a terrible kisser, and it was driving her crazy.

"Knuckie, I'm going to teach you how to kiss, ok?" she said softly as she pulled away.

"Do you think I'm a bad kisser?" he asked.

"No," Rouge said and was glad that she was a good liar. "Now keep your lips still for a minute."

Oh yes, he would hold still as he watched her way too beautiful face draw near to his again. And then their lips met and wow. It was like Knuckles was getting his first kiss all over again. This was, by far, the best he'd ever felt in his life. Knuckles felt absolutely paralyzed, but even if he hadn't, he wouldn't have moved anyway, as he was afraid of spoiling the moment.

Rouge's hands, which had been linked around his neck, suddenly moved upwards. She ran her fingers through his dreadlock quills, teasing them, ruffling them, as her lips continued dancing with his. Knuckles was completely overwhelmed at all these feelings crashing through his heart, but somehow managed to lift his hands so they fit on the natural curve of Rouge's waist.

And that's when he felt her tongue delicately start licking the inside of his lips. Knuckles opened his mouth a little wider and allowed her tongue to enter and dance with his.

Once their need for air caught up with them, the lovers pulled apart. Knuckles was now completely red-faced, his muzzle matching his fur and quills, and making his indigo eyes stick out more.

Rouge smiled at her handiwork and his shocked expression. He looked even cuter right now than when he was angry. She'd have to come up with a new game plan than just making him mad now.

"And that, Knuckie, is how you kiss someone," she purred and traced his birthmark, feeling his muscles ripple under her index finger.

"Wow," he breathed. "I got a lot of catching up to do."

"Don't worry about that, Knuckie. I'll be glad to teach you."

He sunk his fingers into her waist. "So when's my next lesson?"

"Hmph," Rouge huffed and removed his hands. "Your next lesson will be some manners."

"Oh, you're one to talk about manners."

Rouge huffed again, and turned from Knuckles. "I see. So you're going to insult me now. Fine." She said but hid a smile.

Knuckles gasped and grabbed her arm. "Wait, my bad."

Rouge rolled her eyes slightly, and for a split second, wished he wasn't so dumb. Wished that he could actually match wits and flirt with her at least once in a while. But...he was still her Knuckie, and she wouldn't have him any other way.

...

Huh, with my recent infatuation with Silvaze, I've forgotten how much fun writing KnuxRouge can be. :)

I feel like I'm kinda losing my plot and am just writing random stuff now. And I lied: I don't have the ending planned out at all. I have an idea, but I don't know if I wanna use it. :P I also feel like I'm just dragging this story on and on...