#This whole freaking fanfic is just a testament to how horribly I name things

[jouska-the-deer]

A Short Quiz

Chapter 20: Best Explanations

Upon opening the door, Amy was shocked to see Sonic standing in the hallway. She wasn’t expecting to see him so soon, especially after the way he ran off earlier that day. No matter how strange it was for him to meet with her again so quickly, she still found it to be a massive relief for her worries.

Sonic opened his mouth to speak, the words were clear in his mind. ‘I’m sorry.’ But, they wouldn’t come out. His ears turned back, and he looked away in shame. He awkwardly rubbed his arm as he tried to figure out why he couldn’t say anything.

“Would you like to come in?” Amy asked, figuring it was awkward for him to stand in the hallway saying nothing.

After a small nod, he walked into Amy’s apartment unit, hearing her close the door behind him.

He stood still once he walked in a bit more, turning to face Amy afterward. Quickly, he tried apologizing again.

“I’m… sorry.”

It was something, but not really anything too special. Amy still looked confused and upset, so he tried to add more.

“For… leaving you behind, even though I promised not to.” Sonic looked away. “It was, a horrible thing to do. And, I understand if you don’t want to forgive me this time.” He continued to look away, unable to face her. “I just wanted to let you know that… I’m sorry…”

Amy let out a sigh, thankful for the apology, but wanting an explanation for everything as well.

“Sonic… I just… want to know why. Why did you kiss me, and-” she looked down in sadness, “-why did you run away?”

Sonic took a step forward and reached his hand out, withdrawing it soon after. She looked sad, and he wanted to comfort her. But, he was the cause of her pain, and he didn’t know if he would only make her feel worse.

“I, I just…” He wanted to give her an explanation but couldn’t think of one at the moment. “I… I don’t know…” His breaths became shaky as he looked down in shame, covering his eyes with a hand and turning away.

Amy took a deep breath to relax, taking a short moment to think.

“Do you want to sit down?” she asked.

“…Yeah.”

Sonic trudged over to the couch, falling into a cushion with a small thud. He brought his hands to his face, slouching over and letting a moan of distress muffle into his palms.

They were both stressed, and Amy wanted to do something about it. She walked into the kitchen, turning to Sonic for a brief second.

“I’m making tea. Would you like some?”

Dragging his hands down his face, Sonic took a deep breath and lifted his head, releasing his breath and giving a reply.

“Sure… Thanks.”

The tea kettle was filled with water and set on the hot stove, being left to heat up as Amy leaned on the kitchen island. She watched the kettle while waiting for it to boil, but became understandably bored after a little bit. Instead of sitting there staring at nothing, she snuck a quick glance at Sonic, both out of boredom and concern for how he was doing.

His foot tapped relentlessly on the living room carpet, filling the otherwise silent apartment with a soft thumping sound. If that didn’t already clue Amy into his predicament, he was also fidgeting with his glove. It appeared that he had scratched at the fabric so much that it was starting to wear, exposing a sliver of his hand near the cuff of his glove to the open air. He also stared into the wood of the coffee table, appearing slightly detached from reality.

Just as Amy began to realize she was looking at Sonic for a bit too long, the whistle of the kettle blew. She stepped across the kitchen and turned off the stove, setting the kettle on an inactive burner. Realizing she hadn’t taken out any cups to actually drink the tea with, she quickly opened the cupboard to resolve the problem. Soon, she had a plate ready with a couple tea cups containing tea bags, a sugar shaker, and a couple spoons. After pouring the hot water into each cup, she brought everything to the coffee table.

As she set the plate on the coffee table, the loud clink tore Sonic from his intense gaze. He quickly sat upright, trying his best to not look completely uncomfortable. His efforts wouldn’t matter though, as the state of his glove displayed the extent of his discomfort clearly.

Amy carefully picked up one of the teacups, setting it directly across from Sonic on the coffee table.

“Here you go,” she said, sneaking another glance at his damaged glove. Briefly, she wondered if she could find something to help him stop unintentionally damaging things while nervous, as it was a problem she had seen him display many times before.

“Thanks,” he replied, scooting forward and reaching for his cup.

As Amy took her teacup off the plate, she watched Sonic gently grab the string hanging off the lip of his cup. He began to gently bob the teabag in the water, making the tea darken in color.

“You like yours strong?” Amy asked, trying to start some sort of conversation.

“Yeah,” Sonic replied quietly.

It was clear this wasn’t the first time he had tea, not even close. The way he impatiently diffused the tea into the water and how strong he appeared to take his tea led Amy to believe he had it many times before this.

“Do you drink tea often?” she asked to make sure.

“Yep.”

“I didn’t even know you drank it at all.”

“I do whenever it’s available.”

With the water fully saturated, Sonic lifted the tea bag out and let it hover above the cup.

“You can just throw that on the plate,” Amy said.

“Alright.”

After setting it on the plate, Sonic took the sugar shaker and added a small amount of sugar to his tea, then gently stirred it in with a spoon. Once he took a small sip, he relaxed into the couch and let out a sigh.

“Do you drink coffee?” Amy asked as she removed the teabag from her cup.

“Well, it kinda makes my chest hurt, so not really.”

“Too much caffeine?” she continued as she stirred a little sugar into her cup.

“Yeah. Tea’s fine, though.”

“I understand.”

Sonic relaxed a little more as he spoke with Amy, casually leaning back and letting his shoulders drop.

“So, you drink coffee?” he asked.

“Just before work. Other than that, I don’t have it much.”

“Ah.”

He slowly took another sip of his tea, then leaned forward to set his cup back onto the table. With a sigh to further calm himself, he turned to Amy, soon receiving her full attention.

“Hey uh, thank you… for everything. You’ve been an awesome friend, and I just, want you to know I appreciate that.”

As Sonic mentally congratulated himself for finally finding something to say, Amy blushed at the kindness of his words.

“I… I’ve just been doing my best to make you feel better.”

“And, it’s helped.”

Sonic donned a soft smile, causing Amy to blush even more. He chuckled a little as she looked away and hastily sipped her tea, obviously trying to hide how red her cheeks had gotten.

For some reason, her love for him didn’t feel bothersome anymore. There she was, showing obvious signs pointing to her romantic feelings toward him, and Sonic didn’t feel uncomfortable at all like he used to. Sometimes just knowing how she felt bothered him, but not anymore. If anything, he felt a strange comfort with her now. A feeling that, everything was going to be okay if he stayed by her side.

Once Amy had cooled down, Sonic shared more of what was on his mind.

“I uh, never liked sharing personal stuff with anyone. I just wanted to be there for my friends, but I didn’t want them to worry about me.”

He looked into his teacup, his reflection looking right back.

“I’ve had a lot to deal with over the years, and I just wanted to stay strong for everyone, especially Tails…”

Amy’s expression shifted to one of concern, but she continued to listen.

“I never talked to him about my problems, even though I’d always listen to his. I couldn’t tell him how terrible I felt all the time, or what happened six years ago…”

Sonic took another sip of his tea, his hand trembled as he set it down.

“I even told him not to look into it. I told him not to talk to Knuckles or Shadow about it since they knew what happened. Once Orbot and Cubot started living with him, I told him not to talk to them about it too. No matter what, I didn’t want him finding out what happened and thinking it was his fault, but he blamed himself for my stress anyway. I think he figured out a good deal even without anyone telling him, but he wouldn’t tell me if he did.”

After taking a deep breath, Sonic continued.

“Remember about a month ago when I gave you that quiz and bet you couldn’t get all of the questions right?”

Amy nodded.

“Well, the week before that, I got a call about a big robot trashing stuff in a nearby town. It was one of, one of Eggman’s that had activated somehow. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle, but, it still reminded me of, what I did.”

Picking at his glove some more, Sonic’s distress was apparent.

“I had been keeping my usual stress under control before then but, fighting that thing made it hard to relax again. To be honest, the stress was eating me alive, and I think Tails knew that. I never talked to him about it though, instead, I just promised I would talk to someone about it. And, even after I promised, I still thought about not talking to anyone. Letting myself feel like garbage sounded better than bothering someone with my problems, even if I needed to talk to someone about everything.”

Slowly, Sonic turned to Amy, then gently grabbed her hand. He held it between his hands while looking at her directly with a relieved look.

“Amy, thank you for, finally getting me to talk. And for still being there for me, despite everything I’ve done. I thought when I first got here you’d be mad at me for what I did earlier, but you’ve been so nice to me instead. You’ve helped me a ton, and I’m really grateful for that.”

Tears began to well up in Amy’s eyes, but her smile indicated she wasn’t feeling sorrow.

“Oh come on, don’t start crying,” Sonic said with a small chuckle, “you’re gonna make me cry again.”

He gently used his thumb to wipe away a tear that trailed down her cheek, keeping his hand resting on her face afterward.

“I’m sorry,” Amy spoke. “It’s just, I’ve never heard you say something that nice before.”

The warm gloved hand on her face did not go unnoticed and only made her smile more.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Sonic stated. “Everything’s fine.”

He wiped another tear from her eye, hearing her softly giggle afterward.

She looked so happy. Her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm and smile radiated glee. Sonic couldn’t help but smile wildly, letting out a small ecstatic laugh.

Soon, their smiles softened. They sat on the couch silently enjoying each other’s company as the evening settled closer to night. As things calmed further, they gazed into each other’s eyes, forgetting the world around them.

Sonic’s hand was still resting on Amy’s head, his thumb gently rubbing her cheek and fingers resting beneath her quills. Together, they slowly began leaning forward, eyes closed and lips slightly parted.

Suddenly, Sonic pulled away before the gap could be closed, his heart pounding in his chest. He quickly reached for the teacup on the coffee table, shakily taking a drink and acting like nothing happened.

Amy awkwardly sat in place, missing the warmth of Sonic’s hand on her head. A bit disappointed, she too took a sip of her tea, leaning her head against her hand with her elbow on the armrest afterward. She knew Sonic wouldn’t want to acknowledge what just happened, so she remained quiet so he’d hopefully feel comfortable.

Once Sonic had calmed down a little, he quickly glanced over to Amy. The resigned way she looked filled him with guilt, his chest aching with it. He figured he needed to do something to make her feel better, but what?

After a short moment of thought, he figured he could try to give her an explanation as to why he kissed her earlier, as she appeared to really want an answer to that. He took a deep breath and broke the silence.

“Hey uh, I uh, think I figured out why I kissed you.”

Lifting her head off her hand, Amy glanced over to Sonic.

“Why do you think?” she asked, not sounding as enthusiastic as Sonic would have hoped. At the very least, she sounded somewhat interested in the answer.

“Well uh, I guess the way you talked to me, it was really… hopeful.”

“Hopeful?”

“Uh, yeah.” Sonic adjusted himself in his seat to be more comfortable. “I felt so much better than I did before. It felt like, I just knew things were gonna get better. I just felt so happy, and I guess, my first instinct was to kiss you.”

Amy sat silently for a moment, processing Sonic’s words. It wasn’t exactly what she had been expecting, well, she didn’t know what she was expecting in the first place. All she knew was that it wasn’t really that much of a satisfying answer. But, that didn’t matter too much. She still had something else she wanted to know.

“Have you figured out why you ran away from me afterward?”

Looking away and scratching his head, Sonic tried his best to give her an answer, despite not having one on standby.

“W-Well, I’m not exactly an expert on romantic stuff. I wasn’t even sure why I kissed you at the time. It kinda just, happened…” He took a brief moment to collect his thoughts, silently staring at the ground. “Everything was kinda just instinct, I guess. And, I didn’t really know what to do at all. I never really dealt with that kind of stuff before, and I guess… I was kind of scared. Maybe, all my brain could handle was running away…” Sonic turned his head completely away from Amy. “Sorry that it’s not a great answer…”

Amy sighed. “It’s… fine.” It was pretty much what Cream had predicted. She guessed he ran away because he was shy, which was kind of how Sonic described it. Soon, Amy’s thoughts trailed to another thing Cream discussed. She suggested asking Sonic about his feelings, about if he had romantic feelings for her. It was the only thing left on Amy’s ‘to ask’ list, so she spoke up.

“Sonic, do you…”

The words died in her throat. She stiffened up, turning away and internally scolding herself for even thinking to ask anything so personal. “N-Nevermind.” What was she thinking?! Asking him if he loved her?! How could asking that possibly end well?! There would be no way he’d want to be her friend after asking something like that!

Amy’s mind ran through every horrible scenario that could come of asking Sonic about his feelings, while Sonic turned to Amy with a look of concern.

He spoke gently, eyes fixed on Amy’s behavior.

“You can ask me anything, Amy. I won’t mind.”

Sonic watched as Amy shuddered, a barely audible whimper heard in the silence of the apartment.

“Just, forget it.”

Her voice cracked, making Sonic’s stomach drop. He could tell she was beginning to cry, each stiff and shaky breath making it obvious. There wasn’t anything he could think to do, so he sat there, mind being consumed with dread.

After wiping away her tears, Amy took a breath to try and sound composed.

“It’s getting late. Maybe you should go.”

Despite being worded like a suggestion, it was clear to Sonic that she wanted him to leave. He held back a whine, wanting to stay and comfort her, but also feeling guilty for being the reason she felt so terrible.

“Oh, uh, okay…”

When he stood up, his mind screamed at him to sit back down. To slide over and hug Amy. To pull her close and let her know everything was okay. To make her happy again. He didn’t listen, of course. Instead, he walked with pained steps to the door, stopping just before it.

Amy stood up, only taking a few steps toward the entrance.

“Thanks for coming over,” she said, head turned away and words filled with sorrow.

“Thanks for having me…”

“Well, goodbye.”

“Yeah… Uh, bye…”

Sonic stood still with his hand on the doorknob, hand refusing to turn as thoughts raced through his mind. He couldn’t leave her like this, but he didn’t know how to make her feel better. And what was she about to ask him? Why did it make her so sad?

Finally managing to open the door, Sonic looked into the hallway, his feet refusing to move. He didn’t want to leave without making Amy feel better, or without figuring out what her question was. It was going to burn at the back of his mind until he figured it out. He tried thinking of what she could have possibly wanted to ask.

Then, he closed the door, feet firmly planted inside Amy’s home. Finally, he got it. What she could have wanted to ask, but feared the consequences if she did. A question that would make sense to cross her mind after everything that happened today.

He turned around, taking quiet steps over to Amy, who had been confused as to what he was doing, but adamant on not showing her face. Standing a couple feet away, Sonic once again spoke to her in a soft tone.

“Were you gonna ask me if I love you?”

Amy brought her hands to her face, letting out a whine and turning away. Her body trembled as she fought to hold back tears, failing to do so. She gave a quick nod, soon falling to her knees as she began to cry into her hands.

Without a second thought, Sonic stepped closer, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

“It alright. I’m not mad or anything,” he reassured, gently nudging Amy to stand up. “Please don’t cry.”

After a few more attempts, Sonic finally managed to get Amy to stand again. Once she did, he gently turned her around, then pulled her into a hug. He could feel her shaking, and heard her sniff before pressing her head against his chest.

“I’m sorry. I should have thought about how it would bother you. I shouldn’t have said an-”

“Amy,” Sonic interrupted, pulling her just far enough away to see her face. Her eyes were red and puffy, and tears streamed down her cheeks. He wiped them away, then pulled her close again. “Amy, it’s fine that you wanted to know, especially after everything that’s happened.”

Gently holding her closer, he began slowly rubbing her back as she continued to weep into his chest. There wasn’t much else to do, so he offered her comfort until she could feel better.

As her open sobs began to die down, Sonic breathed a small sigh of relief. Soon, he felt her relax, wrapping her arms around him and returning the embrace. She stood taller and rested her head on his shoulder rather than his chest. It felt, nice.

With the last of her tears shed, Sonic thought to answer her final question, as best as he could.

“Amy I…” He paused, his heart pounding in his chest. “I, don’t know if I love you or not.” As gently as possible, he pulled her away so they had eye contact. “But, what I do know, is that I care about you a lot. You, mean the world to me, and I need you to know that.”

Amy’s lips curved into a gentle smile, and soon Sonic was smiling in return. After sharing a content look for a moment, Amy stepped forward, once again feeling Sonic’s embrace. They sighed, pulling each other closer. Sonic caressed her back, being calm and gentle as he continued speaking.

“Maybe, I’ll figure out how I feel later. But until then…”

…

Sonic really enjoyed how nice Amy’s embrace felt. Had her hugs always felt this warm and comforting? He would wonder why he never enjoyed her embrace in the past if he wasn’t too busy enjoying it now. All he could think about was the soft gloved hands holding his back, and the smooth quills brushing the side of his face.

“Sonic?”

Wait, wasn’t he saying something?

Clearing his throat and stepping away, Sonic tried to get his mind back on track.

“Uh, until then, just know that I’ll be there for you, alright?”

Amy smiled, a hint of blush dusting her cheeks. “Alright.”

The soft red glow of late sunset seeped in through the glass patio door, alerting Sonic to the current time. He scratched his quills, looking away with a nervous smile.

“Oh uh, it is actually pretty late. I really should get going soon.”

“That’s okay. I need to get some sleep anyway.”

After making his way to the door, Sonic stopped and turned around.

“Well, see ya later Amy.”

“Goodbye, Sonic.”

Before he could leave, Sonic ran over and gave Amy one last quick hug, awkwardly stepping away afterward.

“Uh, bye.”

He quickly made his way to the door, waving goodbye before leaving.

As the door clicked shut, Amy stood with bright red cheeks, confused as to what just happened.

“Um, bye.”