I thought about what Metal said about Sonic. He essentially thought Sonic was goody-two-shoes incarnate, and like, I could see where he was coming from to a point. Sonic could definitely be a bit annoying... He absorbed flattery like a sponge and received a ton of it from both friends and strangers, but that flattery was admittedly earned and he never just, snapped his fingers and saved the world. He always put himself in intense danger, sometimes even recklessly, so no one else had to. He never asked for gratitude, either. He would fight whether everyone wanted him to or not.



When Metal and I started dating, I knew there would eventually come a time where I'd have to handle him and Sonic crossing paths... I just didn't think it'd be so soon. Battle is one thing, but...Ugh. I hoped there could be a way they could compete so Metal could get out his frustration in his disguise. Best case scenario would have him start softening up to Sonic. He could learn to understand him in a different light.



I knew there was a lot I could never truly grasp with Metal, though. I'd never know what it feels like to exist because of a person you're supposed to surpass. There must be so many complex feelings with that, never being able to truly break from a person you don't want to associate with, even if you change goals. Metal felt a type of conflict I couldn't reach for... All I could do was be there for him and tell him how significant he was to me regardless of everything else. I hoped he knew I wasn't trying to invalidate his feelings.



We at least got along after the conversation about Sonic yesterday. I loved being with him... And I was so excited about what he'd do for my birthday! Plus, he was willing to deal with Sonic so I could have a nice birthday, since there was no way Sonic wanted to talk to him alone so soon for any other reason. Aaaah, I couldn't wait!!



I had such a nice morning, too. I got Metal to stay with me in bed and cuddled him until I fell asleep again. He woke me up with some breakfast and I cuddled him some more afterwards. Today was a lazy, lazy day... I wanted to stay in his hold and listen to his machinery and let him take care of me...



"I'm leaving to care for my garden."



Noooooooo!!!



I was being clingy and annoying but I didn't care. I eventually let Metal leave when I gave enough kisses to last him...



I was slightly less lazy since I didn't have a boyfriend to keep me warm in bed. I got dressed for the day and wanted to have a little adventure of my own. Where would the day take me? Who knows!



I opened my front door to leave and was surprised to see Sonic right there, about to knock.



"Oh! Uh, hey Ames."



"Hey! I'm just about to go on a mini adventure. What's up?" I asked a bit more cheerfully. I could tell something was bugging him and I had some pretty good guesses as to why.



Sonic placed his hands on his hips and gave me a more genuine smile. "Mind if I tag along? Tails is in one of his study moods and I'm kinda bored."



"Nope! Let's go. Tell me what's on your mind." I made my way to the sidewalk and was gonna head out of town. I thought it'd be nice to just explore and get some good exercise in; Sonic probably wanted that, too.



Sonic quickly caught up to me and laced his hands behind his head. "Uhh... Well, I see what you mean about your boyfriend being grumpy now..."



I sighed. "I'm sorry about that, Sonic. He's pretty difficult around most people. I talked to him, so hopefully the next time you speak, he'll be less... uh, grumpy."



"I guess I was just a bit surprised. You're, you know... So bubbly." He gestured at me. "I know I guessed you'd get along well with Shadow, but Shadow's kind of a softie. What about Kai? He's, like... nice to you, right?"



"Yes, Sonic, he's very sweet to me." I rolled my eyes. "Ask better questions than that. You think I'd tolerate a guy being an ass to me?"



"N...No! My bad." Sonic sighed too and scratched his head. "I guess I had a weird feeling for a second... But maybe I'm just surprised a guy dislikes me so much off the bat. Sure, there's villains we fight and stuff, but this is Amy Rose's boyfriend, for crying out loud. Did I..." His voice trailed off.



I looked at him. "What?" I asked. He looked away, gaze near the ground. Eventually, he turned his head and looked at me with a frown.



"Was it... that bad? Did I really hurt you that badly by not turning you down more directly?"



Damn. I thought of how to answer him. "I mean..." I fixed my quills with one of my hands. "You've turned me down before, Sonic. I was just too stubborn."



"But..." He crossed his arms and slightly hung his head. "Maybe I could've been a better friend than I was. I was so focused on not hurting your feelings that I hurt them even more. I'm sorry, Amy."



I shook my head and smiled at him. "That's okay. I think everything worked out. For the record, I don't speak badly about you to my boyfriend. You're still really important to me."



He chuckled. "I know... I just figured maybe there was something I wasn't getting." Sonic shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I'd love to befriend the guy sometime, but I get it's a process. I'll try again later. At the end of the day, as long as you and I still get along fine, I'm happy."



"Me too," I said, smiling at him... Honestly, that was kind of a lie. I did hope they would get along a bit better, but it wasn't on Sonic. The ball was in Metal's court, and I honestly wasn't sure he'd play the game.



Sonic being completely himself wasn't going to make things easier, either... His way of befriending enemies worked on everyone except the very person we were talking about. I couldn't control anyone's feelings, but I wanted to do what I could to keep it from getting worse.



"Hey," I said. "I have some advice about Kai. Don't say friendly stuff to him. You don't have to be off-putting or anything, just, like, avoid talking to him if you can."



Sonic's eyes shot wide open. "Huh?"



I flailed one of my hands. "He's incredibly wary about people and assumes kindness towards him is fake. Give him space and I think he'll realize you've been genuine."



"Uh, sure, I'll try that and see how it goes," he said, sending a sympathetic smirk my way. "To be honest, I'm preparing to step around him forever if y'all are going to stay a thing."



"There's no if about it," I huffed.



"Wow, you're that close, huh?" Sonic crossed his arms. "That's impressive since you haven't been dating long, from what you told me." He sounded slightly bored.



He was starting to irritate me, but I didn't know if I was looking too deeply into his tone. I loved Sonic, but sometimes he had a way of words that made me want to take Metal's side. "Why does it matter to you?" I asked, maybe a bit sassier than I intended.



"It doesn't!" he exclaimed back. "My original point is that I might not see eye-to-eye with him, and that's totally fine, because we're still cool."



"Mm." I wasn't as comfortable as I was a minute ago. It was probably more on me, though. I had to just take everything Sonic said at face-value... reading tones was what exactly made me take so long in letting go. "Look," I sighed. "I'm not putting either of you out of my life, so you'll have to meet again. If he's rude to you, confront him; he'll respect you more."



"Sure, I can do that," Sonic said, much more cheerful.



I continued: "Some people don't respond well to friendly attempts to de-escalate, either. Stand up for yourself like you would for others."



"Are you sure that wouldn't just turn into a full blown fight?" He raised a brow at me. "Not that I'd try to fight, but..."



Usually, I wouldn't be sure... But I believed in the power of love in situations like this one. A gown was also on the line, and if that was successful, there would be more opportunities to get along. "Trust me," I confidently replied. Metal had his chance to prove he loved me more than he hated Sonic, like he said!



Sonic accepted my answer and paced ahead of me some. I rolled my eyes, smiling, then brought my hammer out. I ran ahead of him and smacked my hammer to the ground to launch myself into the air. Sonic excitedly followed, and together, we maneuvered out of town and towards the rural horizon. That uncomfortable feeling faded for a little while.



It was nice to get some fresh air and do nothing specific, too. Sonic ran ahead and I had a lot of fun catching up to him! We sped past the meadow, went around some trees, and found ourselves in a valley. There were some Eggman traps and bots here and there, which we took care of swiftly.



"Whoever gets the most bots wins!" yelled Sonic as he sped past me. Unlucky for him, I had some practice!



Unlucky for me, I think anyone faster than me had quite the advantage. Still, it was fun to do some bashing and clean up some of Eggman's messes. The brief competition made me think of my and Metal's wager at Little Planet, but that one was admittedly more fun... Agh. I shouldn't have compared time spent with people I cared about like that.



"Hey," Sonic mentioned as he hopped over to my side. We both slowed down and took a short break. "So... How'd you meet Kai? What's the story?"



I wanted to keep my and Metal's story relatively truthful without giving out details; I'd tell Metal what I said to others, but I still wanted to draw from something safe so we wouldn't contradict each other if he ended up sharing about us, too. "I've known him for a while, but he's out of our circle of friends," I explained. "We met when I was away from home, like, ages ago. There was a long stretch of time we didn't talk much, but we kept in touch."



"Ohh..." Sonic scratched his head. "Did it take time for him to warm up to you? Since he doesn't do well with people."



"Not really." I twirled my hammer around a bit just to keep myself busy. "He's always had a thing for me."



"Wow, really? Did you know about it for a while?"



"Nope. Not that I'd notice... I was really into you." I shrugged at him. "He directly confessed to me one day and it threw me for a loop. I did a lot of thinking and soul searching, and along the way I realized what little romantic chemistry you and I had."



He let out a slightly nervous laugh. "Just wasn't in the cards, huh?"



"Definitely not. I mean, the more I think about it, I'd just be pushing you around all the time and never know if you were bothered by it or not. I want someone who isn't afraid to tell me what's up." I didn't know why I was feeling annoyed in the moment, but I was. "I want someone to be romantic to me without me having to remind them, even if it's just a little thing. Just, like, gestures that make me feel loved. It's so hard for Kai to make connections, but he still does those things easily with me. I feel really special... And he's really special to me. He's the most special to me."



Sonic didn't exactly look overjoyed. Whatever he wanted to say, it was probably going to irritate me, but I knew he wouldn't go through with it.



I rotated my hammer upside down and played with the charm at the end of its handle, calming me down as soon as I let myself get riled up. "I don't think many people could understand my relationship with him, but I don't care. I understand, he understands, and that's all that matters to me," I said, firm. There was a pause between us and I refused to let it affect my mood. I let go of the charm, then tapped the end of my hammer with the side of my heel. "By the way, I got fifteen bots. You?"



"What?!" Sonic whined and threw his head back. "Man! Twelve!"



Hah! Speed didn't win, after all! Weirdly, I needed that. "Guess you've been slacking."



He heartily patted me on the back. "You bested the best, Ames. Want to keep going?"



I gave him a wider smile this time. I answered him by running ahead.



We went through pretty much the whole valley and cleared it from unwanted bots and obstacles. The animals there were much safer from our work and no one would get in the crossfire of a random bot wanting to cause havoc!



I ultimately had good time with Sonic. I did want to treasure my time with my friends, but I found myself missing Metal over the course of the day. I didn't feel that way when I hung out with Rouge, so I hoped this wasn't a pattern cropping up with Sonic. 'Kai' really shook things up, I guess. Maybe these feelings would clear up after Sonic and Metal interacted with each other more.



Sonic sped me back into town after we were done hanging out, which was nice of him. We said our goodbyes, then he went off to do something else. I went back to my house, but I didn't have any ideas. What was I gonna do?



Hmm... Metal took care of me all morning, so I wanted to do something for him and clear my head. I started up some dinner I hoped he'd like. I thought a nice, classic pasta would be great. I didn't want to give him anything too wacky so he could get used to all the different flavors... I wasn't sure if that made sense, but it did in my head, so.



Like he was summoned by my thoughts, I saw my front door's handle jiggle. Metal walked in with his disguise and a house key in hand, slipping the key back into his pocket. He sniffed the air, clearly interested.



"Welcome back, cutie!" I beamed.



"Hello, Rosy," he said, closing the door behind him. "I also had to tend to some duties, so I was gone for longer. What are you doing?"



"Cooking for both of us. I'm gonna make you do another taste test." I just had to let the pasta boil in water for a while and let the sauce simmer over the stove. I made the sauce with some vegetables from the garden, too! I had a timer set so I couldn't stay distracted. "Did you have a nice day?" I sweetly asked, walking over to him.



Metal leaned in like he was going to hold and kiss me, but right as I went over to him, he backed away and squinted at me. That made me way more sad than I expected.



"Metal!" I whined.



"You were with the Hedgehog. His stench is on you."



Wow, he could tell? I checked myself. I didn't really notice anything... I made fun of Sonic a bit, but he actually didn't smell bad, and I certainly didn't touch him much. I let out a more irritated sigh. "Yes, I hung out with Sonic today. Kiss your girlfriend."



"... I'm fine."



"Excuse me?!" I screamed. "You're not going to avoid me every time I'm with him!"



"I'll embrace you when you're dressed in something else."



"I'll get dressed in something else when you embrace me."



I was going to choke him. He looked like he was actually thinking about it and considering the pros and cons.



I growled a bit. "Metal, I swear..."



"I suppose this could be an opportunity to override his stench with my scent..." He tapped his chin in thought.



I jumped against him and made him hold me. "I'm going to fight you if you back away from me like that ag--" He shut me up with a kiss, oh my God I was so mad but I couldn't pull away from him. I knew he could tell, because he had such a smug look on his face when our kiss broke.



"I apologize, Rosy," he said in a soft tone. "I'll embrace you regardless. You'll have trouble escaping my hold from now on."



My face felt so hot. "G... good!" I huffed, blushing more. I hated that I forgave him so fast. "I don't know if you deserve more kisses," I said, turning my head away.



He held me a little tighter and smooched my head and my cheek. Steam had to be coming out of my ears at this point. He slowly twirled around with me firmly in his arms.



He was so unfair. He was so unfair. I finally looked at him and his eyes were sparkling. I was starting to forget why he made me mad! I had to stay strong... But I wanted to kiss him back so badly...!



Agh!!!



I kissed him on the mouth again. I was going to break myself from him and say something, but he deepened the kiss and I immediately forgot what it was. I totally melted in his arms. He won this encounter...



Ding!



That was the food! I huffed and shoved his head away from me, getting out of his arms and going back to the stove. When I glanced at him, he was grinning at me. I still kinda wanted to fight him. Hmm.



"You're very cute," he said in a more cheerful tone as he sat at the kitchen table. "I admit I like to make you a little angry."



"Yeah, I can tell!" I yelled back. I made our plates, then walked over to him, placing his down in front of him. "We're playing a fighting game after dinner and I'm kicking your ass."



He laughed a little. Cute!! Ahh! I tried to hide my reaction. He briefly studied the pasta; he kinda did that with other food he ate before, which was funny and endearing. "Thank you," he said, tone much more relaxed.



"Of course! Give me your honest feedback. This is about figuring out the kind of food you like," I replied with a proud nod. I didn't realize I forgot to eat lunch until I looked at my food in front of me and ached for it. I went ahead and ate. Metal took a second to try the food, but once he did, he lifted his head up, eyes wide.



He continued, and before I knew it, that pasta was gone. I was weirdly honored! Was this how he felt when I ate his food? It was kinda nice... My face heated back up. I tried to stop thinking about it and focus on my own meal.



"Your cooking is wonderful," he said. "I have no criticism." He stood up and took his plate over to the kitchen to get himself a second serving.



"Aw...! What do you like about it?" I asked back.



"The sauce and the texture. Also, the flavor."



I laughed. He pretty much liked everything, then. "I'm really glad you like my food. Have as much as you want, Metal."



"I have trouble describing what I like, but it pleases me. I'll enjoy anything you make, though," he said, returning with another filled plate. I was done with my food, so I just watched him. He ate very similarly to how I did except way faster, so he probably studied me. I guess he didn't have too many sources to draw from on how to properly eat... I thought it was cute he chose me to copy from.



I tilted my head as I watched him. "So you were just messing with me about sensing Sonic?" I asked.



"No," he replied. I glared at him. "But I will not let him dictate how I interact with you. I love you above all else."



... Aww...



"I reacted on impulse; my apology was sincere. The reality is that nothing could keep me away from you."



Aww...!!!



"I appreciate your patience with me," he concluded, cheeks lightly flushed. "... Did you have a nice day?"



"I think it turned out to be a pretty good one," I said, smiling. My face just as quickly dropped. "It's hard for me to stay mad at you even though you drive me crazy. You know that, right?"



"Yes," he said, very pleased. Before I knew it, the plate was empty again. He stood up and transformed back to Neo, readjusting himself by rolling his shoulders. "Are you finished eating?" he asked in a soft tone afterwards. He held his palm out to me.



"... Yeah..." I looked away and offered him my plate. My face felt way redder than I wanted it to be. He washed both of our plates back in the kitchen... Ugh... He was so sweet... Ugh!!! "We're s-still fighting!" I stammered.



"In a video game?" he asked.



"Yes!!"



He chuckled. "Sure, Rosy."