Work Text:
He wasn’t ashamed to admit that when he’d first seen Amy marching up the hill after him on the Fourteenth of February, he’d very much considered making a dash for another continent and apologizing for it the next week. What? He knew she probably meant well, but it wasn’t like past experience wouldn’t dictate that Amy Rose plus Valentine’s Day would be a bad combination for him. And he’d already been planning on getting out of there soon, anyway.
Valentine’s Day was just like, exhausting… Tacky storefronts, annoying couple’s discounts that he’d never be able to make use of, much higher than usual levels of public displays of affection that he could deal with seeing but would also really, really rather not? Well, he could deal with all of it, really. He just typically chose not to. Just not his kind of holiday.
But it was Amy’s, and that was sort of what was giving him pause. She’d definitely been way too much to deal with on Valentine’s on the past, but… She’d grown up a little now. Both of them had. She was still Amy, so he was frankly a little nervous as to why she had quite such a determined look on her face marching up to him on Valentine’s, but he trusted her. And if she liked this stupid holiday…
“Sonic! Thank Chaos, I really thought I wasn’t going to be able to find you in time!”
She was—literally—bouncing in her boots, swaying back and forth on the tips of them. Her attitude was always at least a little infectious, so despite his trepidation, a grin came easily to him to offer back at her.
“In time for what?” he laughed.
“You were going to leave soon, right? Like… Get away from all the people and stuff. You always do on Valentine’s,” Amy explained.
Well, she wasn’t wrong.
“Uh, right,” Sonic said. “Didn’t realize you’d noticed.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “Of course I noticed! And anyway, I just thought… Well, doesn’t it get a little lonely?” She looked at him expectantly, but when he wasn’t too snappy on the uptake, rushed to correct herself. “Don’t get me wrong, I totally get why! I know all the Valentine’s stuff makes you feel weird, but I just… I felt really bad that you have to be the one to leave for everyone else.”
Wasn’t this holiday kinda supposed to be for people who, y’know, actually felt romantic love? Whatever. Once again, Amy wasn’t wrong, because it did make him feel weird to see, and having to get the hell away from it all was sort of a pain… Sonic still couldn’t really tell where she was going with this, though.
“It’s a choice,” he shrugged. “Don’t you, uh… have plans today? Always nice to see you, Ames, but you know…”
“Well… I’m hoping to…” she said, sort of shyly.
He was a little ashamed at the sharp bolt of fear than ran through him at that. Like, seriously, who got scared at their friend saying she wanted to have Valentine’s plans? It was almost certainly not with him anyway, because Amy had assured him time and time again that she felt really bad for being so insistent in the past, and he was pretty sure she’d had other crushes since anyway? Regardless, the fear was stupid, because he trusted Amy.
“Gonna ask someone out?” he hummed.
Maybe he could stick around for just a little while to wingman her. It wouldn’t be hard… She had a lot of good qualities to talk up.
“Oh, uhm,” Amy blushed, “not… exactly…?”
“What does that mean?” he snickered.
“So, listen, Sonic, I thought, since today is such a hassle for you, and since it’s really not fair that you should have to feel alone on it for who you are, I’m not going to be taking part in it either,” she declared.
He blinked. “Uh… What? I thought you loved Valentine’s.”
“I do!” she huffed. “But it’s no fun if I know one of my friends is miserable on it! What would you say to spending the day with me? N-Not like a date, I swear! But just… Hanging out, as if it were any other day.”
He studied her for a moment, because he did trust her if she said it wasn’t a date, but also… what…? Amy seemed genuine—as ever—if a little more nervous than should really have been normal.
“You sure you wouldn’t rather join in on the festivities?”
“I’ve been thinking about this for ages, Sonic,” she admitted softly. “You don’t have to say yes, but I… I really couldn’t just celebrate knowing I hadn’t even tried.”
Huh. Well, go figure, there was no heart bigger or more golden than Amy Rose’s.
“What did you have in mind for us?” he asked.
Amy visibly brightened. “Oh! I scoped out some places that never really make a big fuss for Valentine’s, so we could go there? It’s like… bowling and stuff. Nothing too grand… But if you’re up for it!”
“If you organized it especially, ‘course I am,” he grinned. “First stop?”
“O-Okay! Hah! Uhm…” She beamed right back at him. “Follow me?”
“If you insist,” he replied, easily.
Probably a good thing he hadn’t made a mad dash for another continent, huh?
“So this market’s pretty low-key about most holidays…” Amy was saying. “But their produce is really good! And I think there’s a food truck nearby too, so I thought we could start with brunch? I know a spot where we shouldn’t be disturbed… It can be… a Valen-friend’s Day picnic!”
Hah.
“Breakfast,” Sonic smirked.
Amy stared. “…Huh?”
“Well, you said brunch, but given that the Sun’s only just up, I think it’s still breakfast.”
“Call it what you want,” Amy sighed. “But… Does it sound nice?”
“Sounds like you put a lot of thought into it,” he responded. “So yeah. Definitely, Ames. What kinda stuff were you thinking of grabbing?”
She grabbed his wrist and led him down the hill towards the stalls. Seemed like a nice enough place. Sonic thought he’d probably been here before at some point, but it wasn’t like he was going to remember every small market he’d stopped by at in the past at first glance. The Amy Rose seal of approval was enough for him, though.
“They do lots of really nice fruit,” she explained. “Maybe not as good as Knuckles’s, but… not all of us can grow produce on Angel Island… What are you feeling like?”
“Hey, if it’s as good as you say, I’m not sure I’ll mind anything,” he shrugged.
Amy crossed her arms. “Alright then, should I just get a vat of strawberries?”
Sonic snorted. “Hey, it’s strawberry shortcake I hate, not the fruit…”
He guessed her plan for ‘Valen-friend’s Day’ was working already, because this did just feel like any other day of bickering with Amy. Maybe it was just because she was setting herself right up for him to be pedantic. Not that she was not pedantic herself.
“Whatever you say, Sonic,” Amy sniffed.
He probably shouldn’t push her too hard. He wouldn’t want her effort to go to waste.
“Well, fine, do you have any specific recommendations?” he asked.
“I like the apples here. They’re juicy and crunchy, and ooh! We could cut them up into cute little shapes! Perfect brunch picnic food!” Amy said.
“Breakfast,” Sonic corrected.
“Oh my gosh, you’re awful… Fine! You can have perfect breakfast picnic apples, but I’m still calling it what them what I want for my slices.” She began to lead him off to what was obviously an apple stall. “That’s good with you though, yeah?”
“Not as good as a chili dog,” he hummed.
“Sonic….” Amy whined.
“Amy, you could have brought me stale bread, and it still would have been a sweet gesture. Just, chill. You’re trying to do something nice for me, so I’m not about to bolt,” he told her.
She worried because she cared, and because she really hated letting people down. He had his suspicions about why exactly that was, but… Her business was her business. The point was that he wanted her to not have to worry so much—especially when they were both here to have fun. And also… Given the day, her stressing out was likely to just start making him stress out, and Sonic was pretty sure that defeated the point of doing a Valen-friend’s Day celebration, or whatever.
Well, he wasn’t about to sweat it. Breakfast picnics were always nice, and—what was it that Amy had suggested earlier? Bowling? Well, he was pretty decent at bowling, so if Amy’s planning was as meticulous as he knew it was going to be, then the biggest issue there would be whether she could handle him getting competitive about it. But she was Amy; she knew exactly what he was like. Especially liked him for it, apparently. She was a good friend.
“Y-Yeah… Yeah. Okay. You wanna get pizza twists too? Or is that too much of a brunch food?”
She was teasing by the end of that. He gave her a smirk. Pizza twists were cool. But not as cool as a certain other food he’d already mentioned.
“I think you know what I want to say to that.”
“Ugh…” She rolled her eyes. “How do you manage to make everything about chili dogs? I can’t take you anywhere, I swear…”
“Hey, you’re the one who brought it up this time!” Technically. “Not me!”
“You implied it, same difference…”
“Hey, Ames, no need to get too twisted about it,” he snickered.
“I changed my mind,” she said dryly. “I’m taking you to the lake to go swimming.”
Why were all of his friends so cruel about the whole aquaphobia thing? He dealt with water where it counted, and what good was swimming to a guy who could run on top of water anyway? What a terrible revenge.
“Okay, hold on, hold on,” he backpedaled hastily, still smiling. “Amy, let’s talk about this…”
“It’ll be nice and empty, since it’s cold,” she hummed.
“Amy…”
“I guess you’ll have to convince me it’s not a good idea over brunch,” she grinned, serenely.
Sonic opened his mouth to correct her for a third time, before deciding against it. A February lake trip might quite possibly have been an even more horrifying prospect than Valentine’s Day itself, in all of its not-quite-glory.
“Hah… You hang around me too much,” he decided instead. “You stole my attitude.”
Amy elbowed him. “I had to learn how to keep you in check somehow. Chaos knows how much trouble you’d be in on the daily otherwise.”
He’d argue that it was more that trouble found him than the other way around, but then it would be fair game for Amy to point out that he actively enjoyed it, so… She could have this one. Because it was Valen-friend’s and he was being nice back, obviously.
Amy was laughing silently at whatever face he had been making whilst deliberating over that. He elbowed her back, nudging her in the direction of the stall.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Can we hurry this up before… ‘brunch’ becomes lunch?”
It was shaping up to be a pretty nice day, properly sunny and all, so a picnic had definitely been a good shout. Sonic wondered what Amy would have suggested instead if it had been tipping it down with rain or something. She seemed like she’d definitely have at least some back-up. Some people actually liked firm plans, he supposed.
“So, uhm… If it’s okay to ask, I was sort of wondering,” Amy said, “what do you usually do when you run off on Valentine’s?”
Sonic hummed, crunching on an apple slice. She seemed to be assuming it was a lot more of a set tradition than it actually was. If the world suddenly stopped being obnoxious in Valentine’s, then he’d stop booking it out of civilizations’ way on it. Simple as.
“You make it sound like a proper ritual,” he laughed. “I dunno, really. I just go somewhere I’m not going to be bothered, and then do whatever I feel like.”
“Were… people bothering you a lot on it, before?” Amy asked. He caught her bite her lip at the end of her question.
He knew why she felt weird asking, obviously, but… It probably wouldn’t help to just mask over the truth. They were beyond that by now, anyway.
“Well, when I way younger, it was only really, er… you,” he admitted. “But I’m not sure Valentine’s made any of it that much worse. The stuff I’d seen of it just put a bad taste in my mouth, so I guess it still felt worse.”
“Of course…” Amy looked away guilty. “You know I’m really sorry about all of that… I just… I thought—”
“—That you had to,” Sonic finished. “Yeah, I know. It doesn’t bother me anymore, Amy, seriously. It’s all in the past. It’s more like… once I started doing more stuff in the big cities, especially after that incident with Chaos, I think I gained like, a bunch of notoriety or something. Yeesh. Suddenly the year after that, I had a bunch of strangers approaching me for it, and uh… That’s weird, right?”
“It’s… disrespectful,” Amy settled on. “Maybe that makes me a little hypocritical to say, but…” She bit her lip again.
“Nah, it was different with you, because we were actually friends. I know people were just trying to show their appreciation, but c’mon… They can do that any day of the year. That’s what I decided, anyway. Hence the solo Valentine’s Days—I don’t even have to think about it if I’m out in the middle of nowhere, y’know?”
“I just really hate that you have to be the one to go so far out of your way because of people like me,” Amy said. “O-Or… Not exactly like me, I guess… But still. It’s unfair, and I hate that for you.”
“I know, Ames,” Sonic said, fondly. “That’s why you’re here.”
“Right. Yeah! So… It’s been alright so far?”
“Definitely,” he grinned. “I appreciate you looking out for me.”
He sort of hoped she wouldn’t be looking for reassurement that he was happy all day, because was it really not obvious enough? But also, he has suspicions about why Amy wanted that constant reassurement as well, and it wasn’t really that annoying.
Besides, she loved Valentine’s, and yet she’d still been determined to turn it into Valen-friend’s for him. She was pretty popular these days, he had to assume, so he was pretty sure she was missing out on at least something for this. Or, well, as far as he knew she wasn’t dating anyone, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to be, or that she didn’t have any admirers of her own. Hah, she definitely had admirers of her own.
“That’s… good. Yeah, very good,” Amy fumbled. “I know I’ve never seen what you get up to on Valentine’s before, but… I do worry.”
“I spent it with Rouge, once.” He snorted at the memory of it.
“Huh?” Amy turned to stare at him. “Really?”
“Yeah, I was trying to head over to Angel Island, because that’s where I’d been the year before, but Rouge intercepted me. I think she knew ahead of time that Knuckles wasn’t particularly in the mood for guests, so we just chilled at her place for the day. Was sort of boring being all cooped up, but better than being out and about ‘nd getting bothered,” he explained.
Amy had a weird look on her face. “I guess I just thought that Rouge would probably, uhm… make it worse, with her whole…” she gestured helplessly, “y’know.”
“She flirts with everyone, so I know she’s not serious when it’s with me.” He smirked, “Makes it kinda like a game, actually. Who’ll fluster easiest.”
And neither of them ever did, because he just couldn’t take it seriously knowing that she was playing around, and he figured that in her end, she wouldn’t have ever adopted the flirty persona if she couldn’t take a little back. It was just stupid fun.
“That’s… sweet, I think. I think because she spends so much of her, er… goodwill looking after Shadow, I never really thought about her bothering to help you,” Amy admitted.
“Hey, she said I owed her a favor afterwards,” he laughed.
The favor had just been an afternoon with Shadow pawned off on him—which he would have agreed of anyway, just because Shadow had been so mad at the false prospect of Rouge finding someone to watch over him—so it hadn’t exactly been bad, but it was always principle of the matter, with Rouge. She didn’t do free. Not like Amy, he supposed.
“And there’s the catch,” Amy sighed. “Well, it’s still sweet, but… Now I’m just determined to do better!”
“Oh, yeah?” he smirked.
Amy picked up an apple slice and threw it at him—enthusiastically. He caught it and chuckled.
“Absolutely!” she returned. “I—”
“Amy! Cool, you are here!”
Sonic turned, with Amy quick to follow. There was a look of dawning horror on her face at the interruption, but it dissipated with a sigh at what both of them saw. Just Tangle, jogging over with a grin.
He was pretty sure Tangle would be spending the day with Whisper, but she had asked after Amy, so maybe something urgent had come up. Probably not, though; Tangle was smiling fairly heartily. It was always nice to see a friend, Sonic figured, so as long as Amy wasn't too peeved by the interruption—she might have been on principal, but he could work with that—all was good in his books.
“Tangle…” Amy hissed, once Tangle was close enough to hear. “What are you doing here?”
“Well,” Tangle paused, and waved at Sonic. “Well first, hey, Sonic! Everything going alright?”
“It’s been nice so far,” he said, leisurely.
“Great to hear! I know Amy worked really hard on this, so y’know, I wanted to see it going the best that it could, and— Ooh, I am probably interrupting, aren’t I…” Tangle finished her rambling with a grimace.
“Hey, I don’t mind,” Sonic said. “The more the merrier, right?”
Given that Tangle was dating Whisper and, as far as he knew, a lesbian, he was pretty sure there was little danger of her contributing too much to any of the stuff that made him avoid others on Valentine’s. And she’d been nothing but a cool friend, for as long as he’d known her. Amy was still giving a not-so-subtle death glare over his shoulder, but hey, Tangle was probably used to that by now. Also, Amy was armed exclusively with apple slices that she’d given animal ears, so hardly anything too threatening…
“Heh, I would love to join, but I have a bit of a to-do list this morning, and I don’t want to keep Whisper waiting too long,” Tangle replied.
“It sounded like you were looking for me?” Amy asked, a little strained.
Sonic nudged her and brightened his grin, reinforcing as best as he could silently that this was still all good.
“Yeah! I’m giving out cards for Valentine’s, so…” Tangle rummaged around a satchel she had swung around her shoulder. “Here!”
An envelope was passed over to Amy, who stared at it blankly. Not that Sonic really understood what was going on here either.
“Uhm, Tangle…” Amy said hesitantly, “aren’t you…?”
“It’s not a super romantic thing!” Tangle quickly assured, blushing slightly. Hah, reminded him of when Tangle had first met Blaze. “I’m a taken lemur! Just… I thought it’d be nice to give out cards to friends that I… Er… And, uhm… I always thought you were cute, and super capable and stuff, so-! Hah!”
“M-Me?” Amy was blushing now too.
Oh, yep, he’d definitely been right about the admirers thing, though it seemed like Amy herself wasn’t too aware of that fact.
“Yeah, well… Like I said—it’s just a fun thing!” Tangle turned her attention quickly to Sonic. “Sorry, Sonic, I didn’t bring you one, ‘cause from what Amy was saying… I wasn’t sure it’d be too appreciated.”
Given what he was pretty sure the point of the cards were? Yeah, probably not. Still, it was nice to see Tangle.
“Nah, don’t think it’d be my thing,” he said. “I’m just doing Valen-friend’s instead today.”
“Yeah, I heard! Sounds pretty awesome.”
“All credit goes to Ames,” he returned, making an exaggerated show of displaying her between his arms. She seemed to grow yet more embarrassed.
“It’s not a big deal…” she insisted.
It kinda was, but he didn’t think saying that would help. He was good at letting stuff not be a big deal, so that was fine. Just a small favor in return.
“So, Tangle,” he said, conversationally, “you got many of those cards left to deliver?”
“Nah, only a couple more now,” she answered. “It’s pretty easy ‘cause they’re just mine, so the list isn’t too long. Makes me feel lucky that I’m not on Restoration mail duty, though!”
“People have been sending Valentine’s cards into the Restoration HQ?” Sonic questioned, feeling a vague sense of amusement.
Listen, most Valentine’s traditions were pretty weird to him, and this would definitely fall into that category, but it was also sort of… funny-weird. The Restoration did good work, so it was nice to hear that they were getting some thanks for that, but… Hah, Valentine’s cards as a means for that was certainly one way of expressing that thanks. Good thing Sonic had never been officially affiliated with them?
“Ohhh…” Tangle let out a noise of understanding. “No, no, it’s all people with the Restoration giving them to each other. Signs of goodwill and all that. It just gets kinda crazy, with that many people wanting to pass stuff around. Heh, you should see her locker!”
To Sonic’s total lack of surprise, Tangle was pointing at Amy, who had paled a little. Her eyes were wide like she’d just remembered she’d left the stove on or something. He assumed she’d probably meant to clear everything out or something. Honestly, he hadn’t even known she still had—or rather, had even had in the first place—a locker.
“Oh no,” Amy said. “I— I meant to check it beforehand. Make sure it was locked, so— So nothing could get in the way.”
“How much does Amy have stuffed in her locker?” Sonic asked.
“I think someone put a bunch of boxes in there, so…” Tangle laughed nervously, watching Amy. “I dunno how much exactly, but it looks like a lot.”
“Well, hey, maybe we should go check it out then, right?” he suggested.
Tangle began to nod furiously. “Yeah! Definitely! Some– Er, I mean people— I mean! The Restoration’s always happy when Amy stops by HQ!”
“Sounds like a plan!” Sonic nodded. “We got time for an extra stop, Ames?”
“You want to go look at my Valentine’s stuff?” Amy questioned, incredulously.
“You don’t?” He tilted his head to the side. “C’mon, no way it’ll take long, and it’d be weird for me to drag you around all day doing only stuff for me.”
“But I planned this out for you.” Amy sounded frustrated.
And that was sweet, really, but if he went around with Amy Rose avoiding anything remotely lovey-dovey all day, wouldn’t that feel weird? Having a Valentine’s Day he didn’t want to hide from because it was a Valen-friend’s Day was awesome, but didn’t Amy still deserve a real Valentine’s? Even just for part of the day?
“Yeah, but if we’re doing stuff as friends, I want to do stuff that you want to as well,” he said. “Seriously, you planning this out is awesome, Ames, but it’d make me feel weird if you singled me out in an attempt to avoid Valentine’s stuff. If, er, it was all about me. Then it’d feel like a date kinda, right? And, uh…”
“I… I didn’t think of that…” Amy had frozen up. That was what got him wondering if he’d gone a little too far trying to prove his point. Amy only froze when she was hit with some big emotional burden, because usually, she let her hammer do the talking when she was upset. “I’m sorry, Sonic! I didn’t mean for it to feel like that at all! I swear!”
“I didn’t say it did yet!” he corrected hastily. “Just… I want to make sure you have a good Valen-friend’s too, yeah? And I know for you, that means doing some Valentine’s stuff.”
“But… you hate it, don’t you?”
“I hate random strangers confessing to me and storefronts trying to make me feel bad about stuff I don’t feel,” he said. “It’s fine if it’s you looking at like, sappy love cards or something in your locker. It doesn’t upset me that other people are in love… Even if it is kind of icky.”
He’d been worse about when he was younger. It had been gross then, rather than just icky. Character development, right? Whatever. It was just like, he was happy for Tangle and Whisper, and they were admittedly a pretty cute couple, but he didn’t especially care for the sappy details, and he didn’t want that kind of stuff… involving him.
“You’re sure…?”
“Yeah, it’s like Rouge’s flirting, if you think about it. I know she’s not actually trying to start anything romantic with me, so it’s chill. I know you looking at cards has nothing to with us, so it’s just like gossip, or something. You think I don’t get loads of that from Tails?” He grinned. “And besides… I’ve been around Tangle crushing on my friends since I first met her!”
“Hey!” Tangle protested, but she was grinning too. “Was I that obvious?”
“You shouldn’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to, Tangle,” he snickered.
“Oh my Chaos.” Tangle buried her face in her hands.
Sonic tilted his head back to watch Amy more clearly. She was staring very intently at an apple slice cut with cute bug wings.
“If… If you wouldn’t mind a quick stop…” she said, slowly. “I am sort of curious… Tangle, do you really think there’s stuff from a lot of people?”
“Prettttyyy sure, yeah!” Tangle confirmed. “One extra special thing from one extra special person, but— Oops! Uhm. You didn’t hear that from me, though.”
Amy let out a sheepish exhale. “Okay, if you’re wingwomaning, I guess I really should at least take a peek… We can… After this?” She looked nervously at Sonic.
“Well, now I kinda want to know who the secret admirer is,” he said.
“My lips are sealed!” Tangle insisted. “And I kinda need to go anyway, ‘cause like I said, I don’t want to keep Whisper waiting, so…”
“Alright, alright, see ya, Tangle,” Sonic said, waving.
“Thanks for the card,” Amy added.
“Any time! I’ll see you both later! When— Uh, when there’s next big trouble, probably!” Tangle waved back, before running back off the way she’d came.
Sonic leaned over and grabbed the last apple slice—save for the bug one Amy was still holding and staring at, anyway. Hah, this one was a hedgehog apple. Fun.
“We’ll have to tell the Chaotix we did some investigating in the middle of the day,” he joked.
“It’s not even really a secret admirer, Sonic,” Amy huffed.
“Oh, yeah? You know who it is then?” He made a funny face at her.
“I don’t… I mean, I don’t really know, but… maybe? We’ll have to see, I guess. If— If you’re really—“
“I really am sure, Amy,” he laughed. “Picnic then HQ?”
“Picnic then HQ,” she nodded.
Amy’s locker at Restoration HQ was, indeed, very full. Now, to be completely fair, it also wasn’t a particularly big locker—probably on account of the fact that Amy didn’t really officially work with the Restoration these days either. But it was very full.
“Lots of admirers for the lovely Miss Rose,” he teased.
“Shut up…” she groaned, shoving one hand in his face, and sliding the other down her own.
“Anything good in there?”
“Well, I hope you really like chocolate, Sonic, because there’s way more here than I could have in my own.”
“Better than strawberry shortcake,” he shrugged.
Amy laughed, and flagged a pink box in his face, pointing to something on the back. Strawberry shortcake flavor chocolate? No way…
“Gross,” he said.
“Guess this one will have to be all for me,” Amy returned, laughing.
She looked the lightest she had all day, which was probably a good sign. Part of him was a little sad that she hadn’t seemed that happy just hanging out with him, but he also knew that was pretty unfair. She hadn’t been unhappy; she’d been nervous. And also, if he were to ask her for her favorite person, she’d probably still say him, so… Unfair comparison, really.
“Strawberry shortcake is your favorite, right?” a new voice cut in, shyly.
Sonic looked over his shoulder. Huh, go figure. Jewel was hovering nearby, from just around the corner.
“J-Jewel!” Amy stammered. “Yes! Yes, they are!”
“Did you… Did you read the note I posted with it…?”
In hindsight, he could see it. Amy had gone on that camping trip with Jewel, hadn’t she? And then something had clearly happened there, because they’d looked at each other… differently, when they’d come back. They’d probably be a good match, Sonic figured. Not that he’d really know, but they were good teammates, and that was a good enough equivalent for him.
“Oh! No, I… There’s a decent few here, and I didn’t want to bore Sonic whilst I read notes, s-so…”
“No, of course, sorry… I didn’t mean to rush you. It’s just… You’ve done so much for me… Helped me in so many ways! And I really wanted to show my appreciation for you,” Jewel explained.
“Really?” Amy asked, softly.
“W-Well, I really did you leave you those chocolates and note… Is it too much…? Tangle told me it was good, but she can be a little eager, I suppose… So…”
“I meant that I’ve really helped you…?”
Jewel approached, gently brushing past Sonic to take Amy’s hand. “Of course you have, Amy. You’re a big inspiration for everyone here. But me especially! You told me that I was good enough to take charge when I needed to, and I… I did it because of you!”
“I’m really happy to hear that,” Amy said. “You’re really awesome, Jewel. I wanted you to see that too.”
Would it be rude to interrupt? Well, they were speaking right in front of him, and it was Valen-friend’s Day…
“And Tangle’s advice was definitely good,” Sonic added. “She sent us over.”
“Sh-she did!? I told her not to bother you…”
“She was just doing delivery,” Amy quickly said.
“Oh, good…” Jewel sighed, antennae twitching in relief. “And… I know you’re here with Sonic, so… I’m not bothering you now, am I?”
“No!” Amy blurted. “I— I mean… It’s fine. Can I just ask, though… Uhm, is this like when Tangle gave me a card, or…? As in, does it mean something, o-or…?”
Sonic caught Jewel blushing as she looked away.
“Read the note…”
Out of respect—and also because a love note would probably be a little too mushy for him, knowing that it was serious—Sonic stepped back to give A,y space to read. He caught Jewel’s eye though, and gave her a small nod. Guess they really did have a lot of ‘goodwill’ here at the Restoration HQ, hehe.
He couldn’t read what Amy was looking at, but he could read her expression, so Sonic could tell when Jewel’s words started to get to her a little bit. It was an expression he’d seen a lot before, even if he’d spent a while ignoring it, when Amy’s smile creased in narrow hope at the edges, and the edges of her eyes lifted up with the slightest hint of tears. Sweet. If Jewel got her like this, then he definitely approved.
This was probably what the point of Valentine’s Day was supposed to be. It wasn’t Amy’s fault that it sucked in practice, and when it was like this, he could see why she liked it. It was still never going to be his thing, but at least he could say he’d seen enough on it to give some parts of it a begrudging respect. He’d probably still bolt for the hills next year—unless Amy or someone else invited him out again—but that was hardly a mark of hatred or anything… He ran for a lot of reasons.
When Amy finished reading, she was hugging the side of her face with her shoulder, and she sidled closer to Jewel expectantly.
“That’s… That was so sweet, Jewel!” she declared. “I’d love to go out with you!”
He caught Jewel’s light up too, and yeah, he could see why Tangle had been eager to get Amy here. Best friends, right?
“Y-Yeah?” Jewel affirmed.
“Yes! Absolutely! As soon as possible!” Amy squealed. “You’re so sweet!”
“Well, I have this afternoon free, actually, so maybe we could… do something then? N-Now?”
Amy’s expression tightened in indecision. She stared at Sonic wordlessly. He’d seen her battle her emotions a lot, over the years, and that was obviously what was happening now. But did it need to be? He’d get it, if she wanted to go on a date with her, er… crush? He was pretty sure Amy had to be crushing on Jewel, by this point. Anyway. It was Valentine’s Day, and Amy loved Valentine’s Day, so he’d get it if she wanted to actually make the most of it.
If Amy had leave, he’d probably… Okay, to be honest, he’d probably just go back to that field they’d been at earlier. That had been very quiet, so Amy clearly had a good eye for that kind of thing. Seemed like a nice place to stargaze too. Of course, he could still make a dash for another continent, and he wasn’t particularly ashamed to admit that now, either.
“Do what you gotta, Ames,” he shrugged.
And just like that, she straightened up with a new-found confidence. “I’m sorry, Jewel, but I have plans this afternoon. With Sonic. I promised him a Valen-friend’s Day, and that’s what he’s getting!”
“That’s alright, really. I totally underst—“
“But!” Amy interrupted. “Oh my gosh, Jewel, I will be right down here first thing tomorrow morning! I promise! If— If, uhm, you’re free tomorrow, that is.”
“I can make sure my schedule’s clear,” Jewel nodded, shyly playing with her skirt.
“Great! I’ll be sure to give you the best first date ever to make up for the wait!”
Sonic laughed. Heart of gold indeed.
“Y-Yeah? Okay. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Okay! That’s amazing! Yeah!” Amy looked as though she couldn’t quite believe what was happening, but she turned back to him as if it were no big deal anyway. “Sonic?”
“Am I ready to go eat a ton of cheap Valentine’s chocolate in a bowling alley whilst showing how absolutely awesome I am at it? Absolutely.”
Amy rolled her eyes again. “Uh-huh. Okay…” She turned back to her soon-to-be-date. “Jewel, this was all really lovely of you, so thank you so much! And… And I’m excited to see you tomorrow!”
“You too, Amy…” Jewel returned, still seeming shy. Sonic figured his presence probably wasn’t helping in that regard.
Amy shut the locker, most of the letters accompanying chocolate still left inside, and shuffled away from it—towards Sonic.
“You hear that, Ames?” he asked.
She stared. “Hear what?”
“The sound of a strike calling my name.”
Bowling was neat. He was a little more out of practice than he’d remembered, but it was fine, because Amy was too nice to say anything about it. Actually, that wasn’t true; she’d absolutely teased him when his first ball had gone down the gutter, but she’d also politely not mentioned that it had taken him more rounds than her to get his first strike.
It was the final round now, with his turn up first. His opening throw had left him with a disgusting split.
“Seriously!? It’s like the universe actually despises me,” he complained. “And do the pins hate the ball or something? That’s not very Valen-friend’s of them!”
“Sonic…” Amy snorted. “Is it really friendly behavior to let yourself get run over by someone?”
Wasn’t that literally what she’d let him do to her for years? He shot her look.
“Okay, bad example…” she admitted.
“Do you think I can trickshot these until still getting a spare?”
“I mean… It’ll be your last throw, if you don’t,” Amy replied, a sly edge to her smile.
“Good thing I work well under pressure,” he laughed.
The machine overhead was trying to give him a demonstration of how to hit both of the remaining pins. Had anyone ever actually succeeded using the machine’s advice? Sonic was pretty sure physics didn’t even actually work that way. Whatever… He could hit this shot perfectly well by himself,f thanks very much. He was a bowling champ.
He spun the ball fast down the lane, smirking as it arced just enough between the two pins to clip them both. The second was a little stubborn in going down, though. A close-call, really. But it did go down, so hah, suck it, universe.
That was pretty fitting, actually. He’d probably been telling the universe to suck it all day—just with the very concept of Amy’s Valen-friend’s Day.
“Nice shot,” she praised.
“So now I get my bonus throw?” He did a little mock punch in the air. “Epic.”
“Gonna get a strike?” Amy teased.
“Oh, yeah. And I could do it with my eyes shut. Backwards!”
He picked up a new ball from the dispenser, and spun on the spot to face away from the alley. Amy was making a very obvious face at him.
“Oh my Chaos, Sonic, do not actually do that… You’re going to crack someone’s head open!”
He shut his eyes rebelliously, and let the ball fly. He heard it make contact with the lane, at least.
“Sounds all fine to me!”
Then he turned to actually examine his throw. Gutter ball. Welp.
“Okay, okay, if that’s how you want to play it… Let me show you how it’s done,” huffed Amy.
She picked up a bowling ball of her own—hers much heavier than Sonic’s, because apparently she preferred to get her power from the sheer force of the ball slamming down the lane rather than a nice speedy shot, or something—and sidled him out of the way. Her first throw knocked down a solid nine pins, and then she took a second, precision shot with a smaller ball to snipe down the last pin. So… A bonus throw for her, too.
“Now you do it backwards!” he called.
“Sonic, that’s a safety hazard!”
“Please?” he tried. “For… Valen-friend’s Day?”
It would certainly make the day memorable…
Amy bit her lip, but she was still smiling, so he could tell immediately that he’d gotten through to her.
“Okay, okay, fine… If it’ll make you enjoy the day more, or whatever…”
She turned around, and though she didn’t shut her eyes like he had, Amy did make the shot whilst facing away. The ball rolled slowly down the center left of the alley, and—
Nine pins again, really!?
“Show-off,” he scoffed.
Amy winked. “Don’t be jealous if I’m better than you. You’re the one who said Valen-friend’s Day needs to be equal!”
They both moved backwards to look up at the screen displaying their scores, and Sonic belatedly realized that that final shot had actually just won Amy the game. Well, he’d rather lose to her than like, Knuckles or something, he guessed. She was at least going to be nice about it. Probably.
“Huh, looks like you get the crown this time.” He mimed taking something off of his head, and passing it over to her. “Don’t let it get too heavy for you or anything.”
“You’re such a sore loser,” Amy laughed.
“Hey, I’m being perfectly cordial right now!”
“For now…”
He waved her off, because—one, hey—and two, if the game was over, that meant they were probably supposed to leave the lane. Sooner rather than later, if the attendant’s bad attitude earlier had been anything to go off of.
“You wanna grab fries from the food counter?” he asked.
“If you’re lucky,” Amy said, “they might even do chili dogs.”
He looked up quickly at her. “Wait, do they?”
She laughed. “You think I’d pick a place that doesn’t sell your favorite food?”
“I thought you picked it for the lack of Valentine’s presence!”
“Well, that too,” Amy shrugged.
It was dark outside, when they left the bowling alley. So this was what it was like for Valentine’s Day to go by quickly, huh? Well, to be fair, it was still winter, so it did get dark pretty early, but… Still!
“Anything left on the agenda? Or is it getting a bit late,” he asked.
“…As soon as I leave, you were going to go stargaze, right?” Amy returned.
“Yeah, probably.”
“We could together?” she offered.
“Oh!” he grinned. “Sure thing. You know a spot for this too?”
“Nope, sorry… I wasn’t sure how long you’d actually want to put up with me for…”
“I wasn’t just putting up with you, Ames,” he corrected.
She gave him a fond smile. “Well, anyway, I don’t know a place, but… You probably do, right?”
“Oh, yeah, loads.”
“Show me? For Valen-friend’s?”
“I don’t even need the excuse, Ames,” he laughed. “Anytime. You want a lift?”
She nodded, and he lifted her up—bridal style, because it was both easy for him to run this way, and probably still comfortable enough for her. He was planning on heading back to the field she’ taken him to for breakfast—or brunch, or whatever—because he hadn’t been wrong when he’d been considering what he’d do if he needed to dip earlier; the field did seem cool to stargaze in.
“Sonic,” Amy said, mid trip, though she’d raised her voice quite a bit to be heard over the rush of the wind, so maybe that would be better described as Amy yelled. “You did have a good time today, right?”
“Funny,” he chuckled freely. “I was about to ask you the same thing!”
“Yeah?”
He could imagine her expression—soft and teasing—without even looking.
“Well, did you?”
“Absolutely, Sonic. I’m… I’m really glad you agreed to this. Honestly, I’m just really happy seeing you happy.” She paused. “Uhm, well.. You are happy, right? It was fun?”
“Obviously, Amy!” he snorted. “Definitely the best Valentine’s I’ve ever had.”
“Okay,” she said, simply. “That’s… That’s good. That’s really good.”
“I’d be down to do it again next year, if the fancy to help strikes you again. Maybe we could even get more people in on it, next time,” he said.
“I’d love to do this again next year! And it’s… It’s like you said to Tangle—the more the merrier!”
They arrived at the field from before, so Sonic deposited Amy down on the grass. She tumbled a little bit, before easily finding her footing, and giving him a pleased grin.
“Sounds awesome.”
“So… You’d say this was a Valen-friend’s Day success?”
Sonic flopped back, looking at the stars. Amy joined him with—thankfully—little hesitation.
“Absolutely.”