Tales from the Phantom

My No Romance - The Pride Parade

  Sonic sighed yet again. "Amy. I've told you no. I don't want to date you. Why can't you take no for an answer?"
Amy huffed impatiently, "Oh, Sonic! Please? Just this once? You know you'll eventually have to settle down with someone, so why not make it me?"

Sonic seemed to think long and hard about it, Amy could tell. She plainly believed that he was actually thinking about it.
No, I don't have to, I won't have to. Just tell her, no! That would break her heart, just let her have her fantasy.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat, "Maybe some other time, Amy. Right now I'm just busy with hero stuff."
"It's your birthday in a few weeks," Amy protested, "You should take a break."
Alas, the hedgehog started to walk away, Amy still huffing, "You will marry me someday! You'll see!"

We'll see about it.

Sonic sped throughout the town until he came to Main Street cutting close to where the coast was, where the hotel was placed. And then there was Twinkle Park, Sonic cringing at the memory of Amy trying to drag him in there.
The place was always bright and colorful, with it holding many main attractions of Station Square, but today it was especially bright and colorful. A parade was being set up. As many of us know, June isn't just the month of Sonic's birthday, but it is the month of Pride. For those in the LGBT+ community.

He'd never told anyone, but he was the A.
The Aromantic and Asexual.
Not even Tails knew.

So many times he'd heard people say; "Oh, Sonic and Amy make such a cute couple," "No, what about that Blaze girl?" "They'll have such a lovely family," "I bet Sonic gets all the girls,"
He just blocked them out, sick to his stomach of it. He didn't want to marry, didn't want to settle down, he didn't want kids.
How could he get married if he's never attracted to anyone?
"Oh, but you just haven't met the right one,"
No, there was no 'right one,' Even from a young age, he'd known. Everyone around him talked about their crushes, who they were dating, and who they wanted to take to prom. Sonic had just never been into that.
I wonder what it's like?

A few people had noticed him looking, and one nudged their partner, "Hey, look who's looking," they commented, the person next to them looking up, beaming from ear to ear, "I knew it! I mean, who didn't? That Shadow dude, amIright?" He nudged his friend, the two bursting into fits of laughter.
Even though the duo had whispered, Sonic's quite sensitive hearing had picked up what they were saying, and he began to walk off, sighing. Here we go again. Sonic with them, Sonic with that. Sonic just wants to be left alone.

"Hey, wait!" One called after him, "don't go! We were only joking,"
"We both know your straight,"
"Straight as a line," the other joked
"But lines can be curved," the man commented
"Oh yeah. You're right."

"But I'm not!" Sonic finally said, "Or at least, I don't think I am,"

"Ah," the first one nodded, stroking their beard, "I get it, you're bi!"
"No, he's definitely pan!" The couple then got into a playful argument about it.

Sonic took a deep breath, "Aromanticandasexual" he said it quickly. There. No turning back.

The two turned their heads slowly, "oh?" They said in unison, "That's cool. You see, I told you he wasn't pan, you never listen to me," the first one rolled their eyes, pretending to be annoyed.

The other one spoke up, "Anyways, come down tomorrow, don't worry about anyone seeing you. Only gays and Co come here. And supporters. No... the straights."
His partner shuddered, "Ohh.. the straights. tm."

They then cleared their throat, "Ahem. Anyways, if you're not busy tomorrow, just swing on by! And don't worry about being spotted, only supporters and members of the community come here."
Sonic nodded, before heading back home, of course after saying bye.
Maybe that would be a good idea? It seemed like fun. It might be nice for everyone else to have their hero there as well. If it all goes south, he could just say that he was a supporter.
And so that was the plan.

Arriving back at Angel Island, Sonic checked his watch. 7 pm. He hadn't realized quite how late it was.
"Sonic? Is that you?" He was greeted by the general noise of the workshop, but Tails' fox ears picked up any noise clearly around him. The noise stopped for a bit and Tails appeared around the corner, covered in oil.
"Where were you? I phoned, but you never picked up. I was scared that you'd fallen down a cliff or something. Again." Tails questioned.
"Just went for a run. I saw Amy on the way." Sonic justified, "I guess that I forgot to charge my phone,"
Tails just nodded. "Oh, I told Amy that you might hang out with her tomorrow, she came around here pretty upset earlier and I said that I'd send you to talk to her. You seem like a good listener."
"Nani? You did what, Tails?" Sure, Sonic liked helping his friends out, but Amy was sometimes just a bit too much.
"Fine, fine. I'll think about it," he quickly finished before Tails could get another word in.

Of course, that next morning, he was up early. But he wasn't going to Amy's. Nope! Not at all! It was quite the opposite. He headed straight down to Station Square, to where the train station was.
The place looked amazing. All bright colors, people parting and just having a good time, music blasting through the speakers,
And then of course there were the shoppers, some of them annoyed by the noise, others cheering them on.

The two from the day before spotted him, "Hey, look who actually showed up," the first one, let's call them Bones, announced to their husband, and the second one, we'll call him Finn, grinned.
"Well, let's go say hello then." The two marched over, Sonic glad to see two familiar faces. He didn't know why, but he felt a bit out of place here.
Perhaps it was because everyone else was dressed in the most brightest, beautiful clothing anyone could ever imagine. And yet here he was, in his plain old red sneakers, for once feeling awkward.
"Hey," Bones called, "glad you showed up. For a second, we didn't think that you were gonna come,"
Finn smiled, "here," he tossed something towards Sonic, the latter catching it.

Unfolding it, Sonic found out it was a large flag, the colors of the Aro/Ace flag. He draped it around his shoulders like a long cape, putting his thumbs up at the two.

Meanwhile, two familiar faces walked down the streets, doing some shopping.
"Nobody said that there was an event here today," Tails commented, about to walk into a store, when he felt Amy tap him on the shoulder,
"Uh, Tails?..."

Of course, Amy had spotted Sonic, her jaw dropping to the floor.
It took Sonic a few seconds to realize who was watching him, but when he turned around, the entire world seemed to shatter around him.
"Sonic?" Tails asked in disbelief.
"Tails, Amy, what are you guys doing here?" He was beginning to sweat nervously, "I can explain, I promise."

Amy shook her head a few times, eyes tearing up, "Oh no! He's gay!"
She then ran off, all of her dreams of marrying the love of her life crumbling before he eyes.

"Amy! Wait!" Sonic called after her, but she was gone, just awkward eye contact between the two best friends.
"So.. um..."
"Uhhh..."
Um.. your... um.."
"Aro & Ace"
"Right... and that means..."
"That I got zero Romantic, or, ya know, attraction to anyone.."
"Right..."
"Yeah..."
"You couldn't have told us..."
"I know... I just didn't know how... do you think Amy will get over it?"
"Yeah. Just give her time."

The two continued to look at each other in awkward silence, before Tails spoke up again,
"Mind if I join you? Or is it just for fruit salads?" Tails joked, Sonic and a few others who were listening laughing.
"Of course, I don't think anyone minds,"

The music started up yet again, the noise of people cheering and shouting lasting well into the night.

On the way back, the two best friends talked a bit, mostly about whether or not Sonic was going to tell anyone else, or if Tails needed to keep this a secret for now.
Coming up to the house, the two almost jumped out of their skins when they saw a figure sitting on the swing set, swinging gently to and fro.
"Amy?" Sonic whispered, "What are you doing here?"
"I've been waiting for you... please, explain everything."

About ten minutes later, and Sonic had done his best to explain, Amy nodding, "I see. I think. I don't understand it all, but I'm going to try to, I promise. I'll do my research."
She smiled a bit before getting up, looking back at whom she thought was destined to be with her forever, "But I support you, and I promise not to tell anyone until you're ready,"
And with that, she left, leaving Sonic surprised at how accepting she'd been.

Surprised.
But happy.