The warm afternoon sun beamed through the windows of Sonic and his family's new apartment, illuminating the small space with a sense of renewal. This was a fresh start for Sonic, his aunt, Longclaw, and his two brothers, Knuckles and Tails. They had just begun moving their belongings into their brand new apartment that sat comfortably on the Greenville boardwalk. They had been lucky enough to find a decently priced apartment nestled right in the middle of all the bustling shops and restaurants that looked out onto the ocean. The only downside of the place was it's one bedroom, but it was bigger than their old house and Longclaw was willing to make the sacrifice of sleeping on the couch if it meant the three boys would be better off living here.

Longclaw and the boys had enlisted the help of Amy and her father, Aster, to assist them in moving their belongings. Amy and Sonic had been friends since they were in the 3rd grade and had been inseparable since. As time went on, Amy and Sonic's family had grown close and did nearly everything together, from regular dinners and family outings to holidays. Amy, Sonic and Tails were helping carry smaller boxes inside while Longclaw, Knuckles and Aster carried in the heavier ones. Knuckles was probably the strongest of everyone there, despite only being 18 years old. He had offered to help move the bigger furniture with Amy's dad so Longclaw wouldn't have to risk hurting her back again like she had last summer.

While carrying in small boxes and bags, Sonic, Amy and Tails chatted and giggled away. It had been an hour or so of (Knuckles and the adults) carrying boxes and furniture up and down the stairs that led up to the apartment and the younger trio found themselves growing very bored.

"Ugh, I just want to walk around already. I never get to come over here unless both my parents are off from work." Amy groaned. She had been anticipating walking along the boardwalk eating food and browsing the stores all day, but her father had insisted they move everything inside first.

"I know, I'm sooooo bored," Tails agreed and laid down on the carpeted floor of his new living room. Large boxes and bags lay strewn about alongside furniture in various temporary spots.

"All this heavy lifting is making me hungry and sweaty." Sonic added, although he hadn't really done much except for carrying in two of his own boxes and his backpack.

Amy sat down against a wall facing Tails, Sonic joining her side. The three sat quietly for a few seconds trying to think of what to do about their predicament. They had not really done any work, but had somehow convinced themselves they carried almost everything in the apartment up themselves.

"Why don't we just go walk around by ourselves?" Amy suggested, her eyebrows shooting up. "We can finally get slushies!"

Sonic sprung up, his eyes glistening with excitement. "Amy, you might just be a genius! Let's go tell Longclaw."

Tails followed behind his older brother and Amy out to the sidewalk. Knuckles, Longclaw and Aster stood in a loose triangle formation surveying the long dresser that belonged in the brothers' room, trying to decide whether they should try to turn the sharp corner into the apartment door or just take the thing apart.

"Dad, can me and Sonic and Tails go walk around a little? We did so much moving!" Amy begged, drawing out the 'so'. Sonic and Tails ad libbed her plea with a 'yea!' and 'please!'.

Aster raised his eyebrows and gave a questioning glance to Longclaw who just smiled warmly and nodded. "Alright, but Sonic, I want you to watch your little brother closely."

"I will, Longclaw," Sonic groaned and threw his head back dramatically. "Tails is the one who needs to behave."

"Do not!" exclaimed Tails, crossing his arms.

"Okay, okay. Both of you just stay close to Amy and listen to her." Longclaw smiled and winked at Amy playfully. "Knuckles, if you want to go you can. We'll take a break and get dinner started here."

"Okay, auntie. Amy isn't in charge anymore, Knuckles is!" Knuckles boomed and flexed his arms in jest. Sonic rolled his eyes and began walking in the other direction, quickly being followed by a laughing Tails and Amy.

As the four of them made their way down the street, they admired the busy shops and restaurants. The street they walked on was directly against the beach, divided only by a short concrete wall made to prevent someone from falling down onto the sand filled with sticks and shells.

"I can't believe we live here now! We can play on the beach every single day!" Tails jumped in excitement, sort of skipping now instead of walking.

"I know, I'm going to have to sleep over so much more now. Cream is gonna freak." Amy thought fondly of her younger sister and her excited reaction to being able to walk across the street from Sonic's house and be at the beach.

"You should sleep over tonight! I'm sure Longclaw and your parents would let you. Cream can even come if she's up for it." Sonic suggested. He couldn't wait to spend his summer exploring the crowded boardwalk every single day with his best friends.

The quartet strolled along the boardwalk pointing out fun stores and enticing eateries. They stepped into a few stores, messing around trying on sunglasses and picking up funny looking trinkets. Amy purchased a new headband to add to her extensive collection and Knuckles bought a keychain. After getting their highly anticipated slushies, the group stopped in front of a tattoo and piercing parlor.

"You should decorate your guys' room like that. It's so cool in there." Amy points inside the window. The sign above the parlor read 'ARK TATTOO & PIERCING CO.'. Knuckles looked up from his phone to see what the others were looking at.

"Sonic, you should get a forehead tattoo. I'll pay." The echidna joked. It wasn't the best joke, but Tails still thought it was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

"You should instead. To cover up that seven-head." Sonic laughed with Amy. Knuckles just furrowed his brow.

"I've always wanted my ears pierced. Why don't we go in and see if they'll let us? Knuckles can sign as our parent." Amy turns to Knuckles awaiting his response.

"I mean, I'll do it, but if your parents see, then I had no involvement."

"Sonic, you should get your ears pierced too! We can match!" Amy grabs the other hedgehog's arm and jumps up and down. Sonic thinks for a moment.

"I don't know. I'm scared Longclaw might notice."

"Oh, who cares? Just get super small earrings the same color as your fur. Then she at least won't see unless she's looking super close."

"Why would you guys want to punch holes in your ears?" Tails exclaims.

"They look cool! You're too young to get it." Sonic defends.

"Are you guys doing this or what?" Knuckles questions impatiently, checking the time on his phone. Sonic and Amy look at each other, silently deciding whether or not to do it.

"No, we shouldn't. It's too sudden of a decision." Amy decides rationally. Sonic nods along, always on the same page as his best friend.

"Then can we go play on the beach?" It's now Tails' turn to jump in place excitedly. The others agree and the group makes their way down and across the street, down the steps that lead to the sand.

As the eventide casts its orange glow on the coast of Greenville, the foursome plays in the rippling waves, splashing each other and trying to get their legs stuck and unstuck in the quicksand. They dig a large hole at one point (using pails that definitely didn't belong to them, but hey, finders keepers) and attempt to fill it with water. With wet fur and sand between their toes, the group makes their way back up onto the street as the sun shines its final rays of light.

They laugh and chat loudly, running around the streets rambunctiously and cracking jokes at the most random and stupid opportunities. The group makes their way back down the street after picking up some tacos from a food truck. They stop once more in front of ARK Tattoo.

"I still kind of want to do it." Sonic says, glancing around to the group for validation.

"It would be super cool. It can be, like, the start of your new life. New Sonic lives on the boardwalk and has super cool piercings!" Amy encourages. "Just not as cool as mine will be."

"Knuckles, will you really let us do it?" Sonic begs.

"Yeah, I don't care. But I'm serious, you can't tell anyone I let you." Knuckles warned.

"Let's just do it! And not look back!" Exclaimed Sonic, stepping towards the shop. Amy and the others followed behind him, Tails still working on his Taco.

The group stepped into the shop, awed by the artwork coating the walls like the murals of the Sistine chapel. Unique pieces of furniture and decor lay scattered about the small shop. On the left there was the front desk, a young blonde girl sat there focused on a computer. Behind the desk was the rest of the shop, black seat/beds meant for tattoos and piercings alongside smaller chairs meant for the artists and piercers.

Knuckles hesitantly approached the girl working the front desk as he silently wondered whether or not she actually even worked there. She seemed 13-15 years old, just younger than Sonic and Amy but definitely older than Tails. No matter the specifics, she was 100% not meant to be working at this place.

"Um...excuse me?" Knuckles spoke.

The girl looked up from where she was focused on the screen. "Welcome in! What can I do for you guys?"

"Uh, who do I talk to to get my..kids' ears pierced?"

"That would be me," The blonde clicked open a page on her computer. "Were we just thinking basic lobe piercings?"

Knuckles furrowed his brows and turned to give an unsure look to his brother. Both Sonic and Amy nodded their heads. "Yes. For two people."

The blonde girl gave the group (sans Tails) some papers to sign and walked off into a back room. She shortly returned, followed by a black hedgehog. He had streaks of red in his fur and was wearing all black. Countless silver ear piercings decorated his ears.

After the best friends picked out their jewelry, the girl gestured to two black reclining seats next to each other. "You can each take a seat on these two chairs here." Sonic and Amy excitedly made their way over. The blonde muttered something to the black haired hedgehog and gestured to Sonic. Sonic exchanged a nervous glance with Amy.

The hedgehog in all black approached Sonic, slipping some gloves onto his hands. "I'm Shadow, I'll be piercing you," He said, seemingly begrudgingly. He looked over at Amy, "My sister'll do yours."

The two best friends nodded, and Sonic suddenly felt extremely nervous. His whole body heated up and his palms became sweaty. 'It's just a piercing, Sonic!' He told himself. But it wasn't the sight of the needles or the cold feeling of the alcohol touching his ear that made him so anxious. It was the warm hands of Shadow as he gently held Sonic's face in place to mark where the piercings would be placed. It was the way Shadow's eyes glided across Sonic's face as he checked to see if the marks he drew were even. Sonic was too busy admiring the perfect face of his piercer to hear what he was asking him.

"You okay?" Shadow asked, his gaze more judgmental than concerned. Sonic's eyes widened as he prayed to whatever god may be watching over him that the black haired boy didn't notice his staring.

"Yes, sorry. What were you saying?"

"Is this placement good?" Shadow was holding a hand mirror out for Sonic to see where the piercings would go. Sonic nodded and muttered a 'yes'. Sonic felt nothing but adrenaline rushing through his veins as the needle perforated his earlobe. Not because of the piercing, but because the hottest guy he had ever seen was touching his face and ears like it was nothing. It really was nothing, Shadow had definitely done this for hundreds of clients, but it ignited something within Sonic that nobody ever had before.

By the time Sonic's piercing was all done, Amy and Shadow's sister were waiting by the front desk.

"You're never that slow with piercings, Shadow," The blonde muttered to her brother as he made his way to the front. He murmured something back to her, too quiet for the others to hear.

The girl rang Sonic and Amy up, the two using their allowances to pay for the piercings. Sonic's heart sunk a little at the realization he now had to say goodbye to the breathtaking hedgehog who had just pierced him, but he reminded himself he now lived just down the block from the same guy's place of work.

The group made their way down the street now only lit up by streetlights and the lights of the stores that had not yet closed. The cool evening breeze blew against their fur as Sonic and Amy skipped joyously down the street, a few feet ahead of Knuckles and Tails.

The quartet arrived at the Prower's apartment where they ate dinner and convinced Aster to let Amy spend the night. Now hanging out in Sonic and his brothers' room, Amy and Sonic excitedly chatted away about the day they've had.

"I can't believe we just did that!" Amy whisper-shouted, careful to not let Longclaw overhear them through the thin walls. "Yours look so good, do mine look okay?"

"They look amazing! We're just lucky they had colored earrings for us."

"My piercer was super nice too. I feel like she was super young though, she literally could have been 12."

"I didn't really get a good look at her, but she did seem young. The guy who pierced me seemed our age."

"Still, that's young for a piercer," Sonic nodded and quickly lost himself in his thoughts as he recounted the perfect face and warm touch of Shadow. He was pulled from his trance as Amy suddenly burst out laughing.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing," Amy was silent for a beat as Sonic wore a puzzled look on his face. "It's just, you were so obviously checking him out." Amy said between laughs.

Sonic's face flushed and his eyes widened. "I was-" he lowered his voice when he realized he might as well have been shouting. "I was not!"

"You stared at him for like, a whole minute before answering his question about the piercing. My jewelry was already in by that time."

Sonic avoided Amy's gaze. He was embarrassed to be caught like that, but it really wasn't a big deal. Amy had known he was gay since he himself realized and the two had always shared their crushes with each other. "That was the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me. Do you think he noticed?"

"Do I think he noticed? Do you think fire is hot?"

"God, Amy, you are no help!" Sonic lightly punched Amy in the arm, causing her to laugh even more. "He's so cute, I was like actually starstruck."

"Tell me something I don't know," Amy's laughter soon died down. "At least you live down the street from him! You can visit him at work every single day."

"Live down the street from him?"

"Yeah, the girl who pierced me was his sister. She told me they lived in the apartment right above the shop."

Sonic felt a rush of adrenaline. "You're kidding."

"I'm not! We had an entire conversation in the time you were entranced by her brother's stupid face." Sonic furrowed his brows at that.

"Well, that's perfect. Hey, you should help me get with him!"

"I'm down, but I think you've got it handled. I've never been in a relationship and you have."

"Yeah, but that doesn't count. Silver and I only dated for a few months before he like, converted to being straight." Sonic makes a disgusted face at the memory of his ex boyfriend. "Plus, clearly I need help talking to Shadow. You and I both know that."

"That I do know. I'll be the best wingman you could ever wish for, Sonic." The two smiled and moments later, Knuckles and Tails entered the room to let Sonic and Amy know the air mattresses had been set up in the living room.

As the four dozed off on the living room floor, Sonic felt jolts of electricity flow through his body. A combination of the excitement from getting his ears pierced and moving into the most perfect place he could imagine sent adrenaline rushing through his limbs, reaching every tip of his fingers. But the one thing he was most excited for above all else was to see the black haired hedgehog who worked the tattoo parlor again.

Author's notes:

I'm open to constructive criticism as this is my first fic! I hope this chapter was enough to get your attention, I promise this story gets crazy. This fic will also be cross-posted to Wattpad and Ao3 under my same username (fstnml). Thank you for reading!

Chapters will be posted every week before Friday 11:59pm PST (subject to change).