FOR YOUR HEART-BOOM

☆Ch12

The next afternoon Sonic ended up in Amy's place with a cup of tea sitting neatly on the table in front of him, still untouched, while Amy already wielded her own mug and occassionally sipped the warm fruity liquid. Sonic's eyes, for a moment, straight hypnotized the familiar bouquet of lavenders, that rested in her vase on the table.
"Is there anything you would like to tell me, Sonic?" Amy asked him, cutting off the uncomfortable silence. Sonic snapped out of the unwanted thoughts and finally moved his gaze towards the pink female, wondering, how she found the lavenders, when she rarely goes this far from the village.

"I mean, you came here for a reason, yes?" she continued, when Sonic just emptily opened and closed his mouth multiple times, like a fish on a dry land trying to desperately catch some breath.
"Yeah," he nodded and fiddled with his thumbs nervously while lowering his gaze to his lap, where his hands were resting.
"So?" Amy raised a brow, silently scanning her friend with calculating expression in her eyes, finding his behavior rather odd. Something was definitely off, she could tell.
"S-So... it's about Shadow," Sonic finally admitted, feeling, like he is being repetetive right now, which he surely is, because this isn't the first time he was so off because of Shadow.

"What about him?" Amy tried her best to NOT sound like interrogating him, but she needed to get something out of the blue hedgehog, if he wants her help. Weirdly enough, despite Tails being in a relationship, Sonic did not considered him fitting for being a relationship adviser, because he lacked what Amy had plenty of - a motherly instincts and care.
"Alright, you see... ever since I saved you all, including him.. he started acting pretty weird," Sonic started somehow, still avoiding an eye contact due to the embarassment flowing through his body. Amy didn't mind that, she was glad, that he is even willing to talk at all.
"Go on, Sonic," she encouraged him to keep talking as she sipped her tea. Sonic finally took his mug too and carefully sipped the aromatic tea, which soothed not only his taste buds, but his soul as well.
"O-okay, uh... whenever I kiss him, h-he actually kisses back, b-but when I bring up the question, if he does love me b-back... he just vanishes away, giving me some uncertain answers," Sonic confessed, turning deep red in his face and couldn't believe, how pathetic he was at the moment. Talking to Amy about his own loving affection experiences felt so weird to him. Perhaps, because it was all new for him.
"Yesterday, it was him, who kissed me first," he continued, finally looking up at Amy he saw her giving him a reassuring nod while smiling at him, which eased his nerves a little.

"How did it go?" Amy asked carefully, keeping her voice soft and calm.
"At first.. it went well, we sat together on the beach and just... stared into each other's eyes. Then I mentioned, that he does love me back, which he didn't respond to, only shyly looked away," he had enough courage to keep talking about his experiences from the previous evening. Amy was innerly melting, she always believed, that there is something more in Shadow, than what he lets on. And here she could hear a proof! Even though, it was a little difficult to imagine someone so distant and harsh acting so adorable and shy.

"And well, after I asked him where he was in the morning, he just said, that it doesn't matter before disappearing again. It just frustrates me so much, Amy," Sonic leaned his elbows on his knees and rested his chin in his hands, feeling helpless. Amy took a moment to think about it properly, then she gently extended one arm towards him and he simply complied by placing his hand to hers. His eyes softened and he was even close to tear up from the hopeless situation he was in.

"I understand you, Sonic. The way I see it, I think Shadow himself has struggles in expressing his feelings. Think about it, he is mostly used to live alone, or at least.. I think he does, because I rarely see him anywhere around," she spoke calmly towards her friend, wearing an empathetic expression in her soft eyes. Sonic listened to her and gulped a bit nervously, now realizing, that maybe he was just too paranoid or overly worried.
"H-He does, Amy. He does not wish me to speak of it, but.. I can safely tell you, that he lives in a place far from the village, saying, that he 'prefers to be alone than in a presence of the wrong people' - his words," he elaborated further, so Amy could understand it better. She appreciated Sonic telling her such secret information and was determined to keep her mouth zipped up about it.