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"So", said the Quokka, "I know it's not my place to ask but; Blue Boy and Birthday Girl. What's their 'deal'?"
"Oh boy", replied Tails. "We've all been asking ourselves that question for YEARS."
-Earlier that day-
Sonic the Hedgehog paced in front of the station’s gift shop. Even more restless than usual, which, given this was Sonic, meant things were very dire.
“I don’t have a present. How do I not have a present?! It’s literally THE DAY! It used to be so easy: I’d get her something pink and cute, she’d yell ‘Oh Sonic, it’s perfect!’ …And then she’d hug me. Like she just did today, man that felt good ARGH DISTRACTIONS! See, this is EXACTLY the problem! Everything was fine and then Werehog happened, Restoration happened, Virus happened, Starfall happened… SHE happened and now I can’t get her presents because NOTHING IS GOOD ENOUGH. But if I DON’T get her one I’ll mess up everything and she’ll leave for her road trip thinking I don’t care - why am I so bad at this?!”
Thankfully, Knuckles barged out of the shop’s door and said with his usual bluntness as he passed the silently-panicking hedgehog:
“Rouge is stealing from the gift shop. You handle it.”
Before Sonic could even protest, he was walking away.
“Seriously how can you tease me for running away from Amy and then do THIS?!”, he hissed back, and resigned himself to the task.
Inside, Rouge was JUST about to slip a pen into her pocket when a literal blue blur manifested before her. “You WERE planning on paying for that, right?”
She groaned as the loophole in Knuckles’ statement on catching her in the act, “I’m not dealing with this”, became clear.
“Of course he got you.”
“Be thankful he didn’t get Amy or you’d be apologizing to the clerk right now.”, Sonic countered.
“Can you go one second without mentioning her? Honestly, I’m curious.”, she counter-countered.
“Hey, it’s her birthday. Nothing weird about that.”
At this Rouge leaned back and… squinted. “Blue. You can hide your blush from the others, but not me.”
“WHA-?! HOW?!”
“Got you.”
Ugh, Sonic really was distracted. He’d normally know better than to play into Rouge’s mind-games.
And what he did next was even further proof he wasn’t thinking clearly.
“O-kay. How about this. I pay. Just this once.”
“Catch. Please.”
“The conversation I’m about to have with you never happened. Deal?”
Now this was interesting.
“I’ll bite.”
Getting romantic advice from Rouge the Bat had “red flag” written all over it, but who else was he going to get it from? Vector? Gaia knows he was never doing THAT again. Here goes…
“You’ve that… ‘thing’ going on. And an eye for treasure. Say you were, hypothetically, getting a gift for someone you’d been friends with for a long time. Someone who, hypothetically, is going on a long trip soon and you don’t know when they’ll be back. And lately you’ve started to… think they’re really… special. Too special for words. And you want her, er, THEM, to know this before they leave. What would you get them?”
Rouge could hear Sonic’s heart rate slowing (bat thing, the others often forgot she could do that), which told her he wasn’t joking around. He was also completely hopeless, which sadly compelled her to help.
“Sweetie. First, what you’re trying to convey? I only know one treasure good enough for that. And I already laid claim to it a long time ago. You probably don’t fancy fighting an angry Echidna either.”
“Great, real helpful.”
“Hold the sarcastic remarks until I’m done, please. Second, you’re lucky.” She paused. “Infuriatingly so.”
Sonic could’ve sworn he’d just noticed Rouge gaze wistfully in the direction of the store’s entrance, and gave a knowing smirk.
“What I mean is… ugh, it makes me practically gag to give the ‘be yourself’ spiel, but the… girl you’re hypothetically thinking of? You made her genuinely crazy for you without even trying. I’m sure whatever the first thing you think of is, she’ll love it.”
Her bat ears heard his heart rate rise again, so she braced herself.
“That’s what EVERYONE tells me! It’s just… How can I can be so cool, cocky, confidant, around everyone else, even when the world’s literally falling apart, but when I’m with her, I shut down because…”
Oh. Saying it out loud finally caused the reason to ‘click’ in his head.
“I know how much I can’t afford to screw up.”
Poor guy was outright dejected now. Rouge cursed her sympathies for the group as she realized she now cared more about fixing that than loose change and a pen.
“What you said before. About this hypothetical person being ‘too special for words’?" (She mimed quotation marks over that part) "Well, actions have always been your thing, and you are her thing. So maybe, you need to look at this from another angle. Not all treasure has material value.” She coughed and hastily added the following: “Or so I hear SOME believe. Not me. But she-”
“Is one of those people, obviously!” Sonic cut her off, jumping up and down. “Rouge, you’re a genius!” He instantly blasted out of the room.
Then came back.
“Oh right. Paying.”
He burst out of her vision again, this time towards the counter.
“Please accept this payment on behalf of my frie-” Sonic caught himself as he reached into the pocket on his costume’s jacket and felt empty air.
“Be right back.”
He zipped to Rouge.
“Be right back.”
He zipped out of the gift shop towards another friend.
“Hey buddy! So, err, is now a bad time to make another withdrawal from the ‘Bank of Tails’?”
----------
“So, let me get this straight. You forgot your wallet.”
“…Yeah.”
“Because you spent all week, and all this morning, worrying about what to get Amy.”
“…That’s a possibility.”
“Have you considered telling her that, and making that your present? Would probably make her year.” Tails smirked.
Sonic looked away, knowing his blush this time was visible even to non-superspies. Sadly for him, his pain was only beginning.
“Please at least tell me you remembered the cake.”
Sonic’s fur turning from cobalt blue to extremely pale cyan, his eyes widening, and him freezing in place told Tails the answer.
“Welp, I’m out. I don’t wanna be Piko Piko collateral damage today. Good luck!”
“NO WAIT-”
The fox had already bounded onto the train, leaving the hedgehog alone with his increasingly explosive thoughts.
“That means no loan. Which means I owe the store clerk, I owe Rouge an explanation, and, OH WAIT, for Amy’s birthday I decided to get her RUINING EVERYTHING! I’m not even her boyfriend and I’m already the worst boyfriend ever! This is somehow going to be worse than when we literally fought in Grand Metropolis-”
Stepping onto the train, Sonic noticed a small, red-furred staff member, carrying what seemed to be a menu. Maybe he could think better on a full stomach.
“Hey pal, can I get one of those chili dogs?”
“Argh, of course sir!”, the intern replied in a voice just like Cubot’s pirate mode. Was that in response to the captain getup, or had Sonic actually found someone as nervous as he was? That’d be a relief.
“Sonic! Wait until I announce everyone’s roles to get food!!”
Oh no. That voice. And she was mad NOW?! Okay, be cool. Remember, she loves you. Hopefully?
“Haha, sorry about that, birthday girl!”, Sonic replied, giving her the most charming smile he could muster. All this just had to happen on a day when she was dressed up and… pretty.
“Shoot, I was supposed to get Amy a cake… What am I gonna do?”, he found himself thinking aloud once she was out of earshot.
“Uh, good luck with that.”
Sonic looked down to notice a certain intern was not out of earshot. From the glint in their eyes, this was someone clearly awestruck to meet him, yet also completely oblivious to his raging inner turmoil.
But wait. Awestruck. What was he thinking? He was Sonic the Hedgehog. A multiple-time world-savior could certainly save something as simple as his crush’s birthday.
“I’ll figure something out.”
Dashing to the corner of the dining car, Sonic fired up his wrist communicator. Being the fastest thing alive had its advantages when typing. In a flash, he’d searched up a list of all bakeries on the Mirage Express’ route. Next, he hammered out an email.
to bakery
Sonic here the real one
need a large strawberry cake with roses by tonight
will stop at one of you but don’t know which
will pay all of you later
print edible image of attached photo
matter of life or death
Attach image, aaaaaand send to all. So that’s the store clerk, Tails and now… count them… 17 bakeries he owed money to. Totally worth it. He’d figure out how to get off the train, pick up the cake, and get back on again, later.
The next pressing concern was his actual present.
Tickets were collected, roles explained, and the game began. And by sheer luck, Sonic’s assigned location was the conductor’s car, which gave him the perfect opportunity. As he followed the large, green dog wearing the conductor’s cap, he began his plan:
“Hey. Could we… walk and talk? I have something planned and I’m gonna need your help.”
----------
“Oho! Yes, that can very much be arranged!”
“Really? All of it?”
“Of course, my boy! We aren’t a renowned event train for nothing! We do this all the time!”
On their walk to the conductor’s car, Sonic was glad to finally have some good news. Although some of his confidence gave way to nerves when he asked for this final clarification:
“And you’re sure we’ll pass Never Lake at sunset? And that window’s got a good view?”
“I’ve been doing this for 32 years; I know the route by heart now. I must say, you’ve made a great choice. Why, I proposed to my wife in that very car!”
The conductor gave a hearty laugh, but Sonic couldn’t hear it on account of the klaxons going off in his brain.
“PROPOSED?! She’s not going to think that’s what I’m doing, is she? We’re WAY too young for that! And besides, it’s not like I want to propose! I just want to tell her I think she’s amazing and I want to go on adventures with her forever. That’s… totally different. Though when I put it like THAT it sure sounds like OH NO. Nonononononononono-”
“Elevated heart rate detected. Does passenger require a physician?”
Sonic jumped as he was pulled out of his dangerous reverie by a metallic voice. He couldn’t help but yell once he noticed the voice’s source was a robot hand right in front of his face.
“Woah! Personal bubble, PLEASE!”
The conductor’s uproarious laugh continued. “Don’t mind them. Just the ol’ Express doing its job.”
“SCANNING”
Blue lasers traced up and down the hedgehog’s body.
“Passenger condition STA-BBBBB-LLLLLLL-EEEEEEEEEEE-”
The voice stuttered and dissolved into static. After which, the robot hand FROZE, the eye-like L.E.D in its palm shifting from green to a deep, deep red.
And Sonic immediately felt a chill up his spine. This wasn’t the good kind of scared he got around Amy. This felt more like…
He turned around, slowly.
And was instantly greeted by the sight of 5 more robot hands. Directly behind him.
“Uuuuuuuuh…… Conductor?", he spoke out, delicately. “Are the robot arms meant to be this… creepy?”
“Probably just a glitch”, he replied back, unconcerned. “Happens from time to time. Remind me to reboot the system at the controls.”
The conductor’s car. Okay. Sonic cautiously maneuvered around the arms and got as close to the conductor as he could. No bad vibes from that guy, but the arms… well, Sonic had been fighting a certain someone’s inventions for long enough to know their vibe.
He WOULD try to ruin Amy’s special day, wouldn’t he?
But it was just a hunch. He needed to be sure, or the one ruining her special day would be HIM.
“Hey, conductor-man!”, Sonic began. “For my surprise, I’m gonna need to know all I can about this train. Could you bring up the specs when we’re inside? C’mon, help out a fellow guy in love!”
Sonic rationalized that admitting it as part of a ruse to fool a potential killer Badnik didn’t count.
“Not a problem, m’boy!”, the conductor replied and led him towards the control car.
“Sorry Ames”, Sonic privately thought, “your surprise is gonna hafta wait. If my hunch is right… your birthday’s about to get a whole lot crazier.”
----------
So, on the plus side, Sonic got to see Amy hammer-suplex a train.
And got to catch her in his arms right after.
On the minus side, his present was officially ruined.
Amy exited the now massively dented, non-Flicky-abusing Mirage Express. Tied but satisfied. Sonic followed close behind. They saw an older pink dog embrace the conductor, and remind him of their planned vacation to Spagonia.
“Happy first day of retirement, dear.”
Amy let out an audible squeal and “aww” at the sight. Always one to appreciate love wherever she saw it… although, entering her characteristic ‘daydreaming’ pose, it was clear it made her think of a certain other love in her life.
“I wonder if me and Sonic will be like that one day!”
It was just a silly fantasy. His thoughts had to be somewhere entirely different.
“Huh. Wonder if that’ll be me and Amy one day.”
Strangely, they were not. But she had no way of knowing.
Which is exactly what he was trying to fix. And Step 1 was…
Vanishing.
And appearing in a blue flash at the station’s bakery.
“Hey! You get my email?”
The elderly walrus at the counter produced a very fittingly pink cake in response.
Sonic picked it up and sighed with relief. “Thanks. You might be a literal lifesaver. I’ll pay you tomorrow, I pro-”
“It’s on the house.”
The hedgehog blinked in disbelief. The baker answered by looking down at the cake, to the suspiciously heart-shaped picture of its intended recipient. Then adding:
“Don’t keep her waiting!”
Sonic gave a sly smile of acknowledgement, and, in less than a second, grabbed an icing bag and hand-wrote ‘Happy Birthday Amy’. Then he zipped back to the group.
“Everyone, guess what! This station has a bakery! And look what I boughhht!”
Her yell of delight, tail wagging in joy… maybe forgetting the cake earlier was a blessing in disguise?
“To the confident, unshakable, and radiant Amy Rose!”
How about that. Guess there were words for how special she was.
The cards had once told her meeting him was her destiny. It was only now, after all these adventures, surrounded by the loving friends she’d found along the way, that Amy realized it meant far more than a possible romance. This wonderful life began when she met him.
“You guys won’t ever leave me, right?”
And if he hadn’t met her that day, and showed him that maybe letting others in might not be so bad… well, he’d probably still be that lonely kid playing baseball by himself.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
The group dug into the cake, but it wasn’t exactly a meal, and they certainly had room for more after a day of unexpected work. Unfortunately the dining car was kind of… flattened right now, so their dinner plans had gone out the window. So had his plans of looking out the windows.
Or had they?
Sonic glanced around to see if the intern was still there. On spotting them, he called out:
“Any chance the microwave still works?”
They gave Sonic the most adamant, determined glare in all the world. And answered, as if their very life depended on it:
“I will MAKE it work.”
Tails did some aerial reconnaissance and found a park just outside the station, perfect for an unplanned evening picnic. After discovering the intern was absolutely not exaggerating about their microwave-wrangling skills, Sonic ordered two chili dogs. One for himself, and one for the ‘birthday girl’. And, while chatting and giving their usual post-battle play-by-play (read: playful teasing over who got the best hits in), Sonic casually slipped in an invitation to enjoy their meals on a bench a little further from the others, that happened to have a view of the sunset.
Like most of their (increasingly frequent as of late) outings, the pair of hedgehogs chatted about… everything. This time, the most ‘animated’ point of discussion was the full reveal of their Lore Cards, now the murder mystery game was over.
He was a ship’s captain who spent his life sailing the world on wild adventures, only coming to shore for one day every year. She was a nosey person who became a journalist… and was madly in love with a certain captain. Though they could only be together once a year, they still loved enough for a thousand lifetimes. But as the years passed, the void he left in his absence grew. And so one day, the journalist made a decision. The next time he came ashore, she would leave her old life behind, and ask to accompany him on his voyages, together for the rest of their days…
“And then he was TRAGICALLY MURDERED!!!”
Sonic spat out a mouthful of Chaos Cola and burst into laughter.
“Hey! No laughing at my tear-jerking love story!”
“Sorry, *snrk*, I just… always had you pegged for a ‘happily ever after’ kind of gal.”
“Well then there’s a lot you still don’t know about me”, she replied proudly.
“Tell me about it. True crime podcasts? I have learnt so much about you today.”
“Oh really?” She leaned in a little with half-lidded eyes, and practically whispered. “Then let’s make it even. Tell me something about you I don’t know. That you’ve never told anyone.”
Well, Sonic figured, it was her birthday.
“I…” he hoped he’d spare himself the embarrassment by avoiding eye contact. “I like bags with cat whisker designs.” A short pause. “I don’t know why.”
They easily could’ve kept this up all evening, and if they were alone, they’d want to. But for now they had to return to the party. Didn’t want to start too many rumors, but mostly they were just eager to catch up with friends. Especially Blaze, not often they had a chance to see her, other dimensions and all. She told them Silver wanted to come, but apparently the fate of the time-space continuum rested on him NOT being present at this birthday specifically. Eh, figures. They even exchanged a few sentences with Shadow, who against all odds had got Amy a gift. (Sonic was so proud)
She was always a bundle of energy, which was one of the many things Sonic had come to love about her (who else could keep up with him?), but as the sun dipped below the horizon, he could tell she was beginning to flag. The moment a yawn betrayed her, he was ready.
“Been amazing catching up with all you guys, but it’s time I took the birthday girl home.”
Amy blushed a little. “Sonic~!”
“C’mon, you thought I’d let you walk on your special day?”, he reached out his arms and – OOF that leap was fast.
“All aboard the Sonic Express! Guaranteed to NOT be an Eggman robot or your money back!”
As Amy giggled, the others gave knowing looks and waved the pair off, yelling final “Happy birthday”s as they raced into the night.
----------
Sonic made sure to take a detour around Never Lake in hopes she’d notice even at this speed. He felt her snuggle into his chest pretty tightly right after, so maybe she had? Come to think of it, that was the first time he’d… held her like this. Back then both their hearts were going a mile-a-minute. This time, they were steady. Calm. Comfortable.
Though maybe a little too calm.
“Pst. Hey Ames.”
“Mmm… yeah?”, she mumbled.
“Don’t fall asleep just yet. I still haven't given you your present.”
“Okay. I’ll…try.”
Still a few minutes to go, and he wasn’t sure he could hold her to that. There had to be some way to keep her awake. How could she miss this night, the moon, the air? It just makes you want to-
Huh.
“The skies ahead are vast and clear
I hold my head, step up the gear.
Feel the wind, smell the air
Chances are everywhere”
Before he could decide whether this was a bad idea, or whether to continue:
“Our sights are set, beyond the moon
We’ll show the world what we can do
Dreams are big, eyes are wide
Hear the voice, deep inside”
“How did you know I loved this song?”, Amy whispered from his arms after finishing her verse.
“I… didn’t”, Sonic replied, unable to take his eyes from the path, but able to feel the warmth of her bliss. “Just something I’ve been into lately.”
“I wonder why…”, she teased, and jumped ahead in the lyrics:
“They said we’d break, they said we’d lose”
“But here we are, what else is new?”, he continued.
[S] “You and me, we’re built on trust”
[A] “That’s why we can always get up”
[S] “Even if they laugh, we’ll never bite the dust”
[A] “Heads up high, reach for the top”
[S] “Give it everything that you got”
[S & A] “This is how we ignite!”
“Wanna do the chorus?”
“You know it!”
[S] “Boost your spirit off the ground”
[A] “I’m a spark that won’t go out”
[S] “We can go much higher now”
[A] “Gravity won’t hold us down”
[S & A] “We’re only at the beginning of this one way dream”
“And here we are!”
Now he’d come to a stop, Sonic took a moment to look at the face of the girl in his arms… and noticed the faint sparkle of tears in her eyes. As he set her down, he turned away and rapidly wiped his to make it clear he was ABSOLUTELY not doing the same thing.
And now for the hard part.
“So, err, about your present… it kinda got wrecked with the train.”
“We could always go back and search the wreckage, maybe it survived?”
“That’s… not gonna help. The train was the present. Well, part of it.”
Sonic wasn’t sure whether spilling this was a good idea, now that it’d never happen. But like they just, well, sung, they were built on trust. Here goes.
“I was gonna reserve the lounge car for us. We’d have dinner, watch the sunset over Never Lake, maybe… hold hands. I’d get the live Chao band to play your favorite song, even sing a bit. It would’ve been everything you wanted…”, he looked away. “I’m not good at this, Ames.”
He was expecting disappointment, sadness. Maybe a little anger. What he certainly wasn’t expecting was her gently taking his hand, and pulling him to face her.
“Oh Sonic. You’re better at this than you think. We did all those things.”
No they didn’t! They didn’t eat in the lounge-
But they did have dinner together.
Watching the sunset.
And he sang for her.
And… HANG ON.
“Wait, we held hands?!”
“At the park. I’m surprised you didn’t notice; you were squeezing pretty hard.” Sensing his oncoming embarrassment, she changed the subject. “And best of all, we did all that and fought an evil train! You should know by now that nothing ever goes as planned when you're around. But the, ahem, 'ensuing chaos' is always... better. What I'm trying to say is, I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day with my Sonic. So…… thank you.”
That sparkle in her eyes, that smile… he’d done it! He’d finally found the perfect present! And all it took was… not overthinking things, and just winging it like he always did. Why didn’t he realize that sooner?
Wouldn’t be the first time.
“So… isn’t this the part where you hug me?”
“Sonic, if you want it that badly, why don’t you do the honors?”
Okay. He tugged on her arm and pulled her in, wrapping his other around her back as she nuzzled her cheek against his. It wasn’t often that he initiated their hugs, but he could get used to this.
“Happy birthday, Ames.”
For... a few seconds. A minute. More. They just held there, silently.
Now what? Guess it was time for him to go?
Unless he kept winging it.
“Uh, Ames? I… don’t want to leave.”
She looked up, into his eyes, and held him just a little tighter. “Then don’t.”
“Okay! Guess I’ll look around for a tree and-”
She loved him, but he sure could be dense sometimes.
“Or you could crash on my couch?”
“I dunno, I’ve slept in some pre-ty great trees in my time, there’s a high bar to-”
Amy’s couch was so comfortable he wondered how she ever got any work done. And the blanket swiftly thrown his way was even better. Enough to… woah, it just hit him how tired he was. He only managed one clearly audible mumble before blissfully drifting off.
“G’night, birthday girl.”
Amy herself was also tired. Too tired to freak out at the implications of the love of her life sleeping over at her place.
All she knew was, tomorrow she’d make him breakfast.
For hopefully the first time of many.