Boring.



Amy slowly blinked as she wrote down her notes for her wordy medical class. She had to strain herself to pay attention.



Stressful.



Metal threaded his fingers through his quills as he stared at the scientific formulas he just had to write down in class. He saw so many different numbers and letters meant to be numbers that all he could think about was numbers.



Depressing.



There were a lot of things that could go wrong if a procedure failed... Why did she have to learn about surgeries when she never intended to be that kind of nurse? Couldn't she take a course more specialized for what she'd apply for?



Aggravating.



What was the point of these theories if they were just going to be corrected and re-taught a year later? How much of the material he learned would actually apply to him when he had to work in the field?



Amy and Metal sighed. They leaned back in their chairs and checked their phones for the time. Just ten more minutes, then their classes were finished.



Of course, that ten minutes would be accompanied by an overbearing amount of work to do before they returned later in the week. As soon as their professors dismissed them, they hastily put their books away and left their classrooms.



Metal would usually go to track around this time... He didn't bring any change of clothes and he didn't feel like leaving his dorm after getting there, so the recreation center wasn't something he desired much, either. He had some more free time than usual. In a way, that was just as stressful.



He'd get something to eat and just... go back. He'd use the extra time to plan for his next day.



Ugh, and Amy was starving. She thought something quick while she was out would do the trick... Maybe a sandwich or something. She made her way to a sandwich place located on campus and fantasized about what ingredients she wanted on it. Ooh, that kind of cheesy bread would be so good.



There was a large two-tier food court on campus; the bottom floor was full of different fast food places and even a couple restaurants, while the top floor was the university's local cafeteria. The sandwich place was sandwiched (ha!) in between a burger shop and a noodle shop. So many calories.



Amy eagerly joined a line to order her food and stared at the menu from afar. She wondered to herself: get the usual, or try something new? Hmm... Her class was so soul-sucking that something new might reinvigorate her a bit. She laced her fingers together and lightly swung on the balls of her feet as she waited.



"Oh, shit. That's the Robotnik kid, right?" a student whispered to their friend from behind her. Amy's ears twitched. She flicked her gaze around the room to see if Metal really was there.



"Yeah," the friend whispered back. "He's in one of my classes. Surprised he even showed up after his face was plastered all over the news for cheating in a competition. He gets the highest marks in our class; probably cheating in that, too."



"I wonder if the dean will grow a pair and kick him out," the first person said. Amy dropped her arms.



The friend scoffed. "Some other rich guy's gonna have to pay him to do it at this point."



Amy clenched her fists. She turned her head; Metal was patiently waiting for his food at a salad bar a bit away from them. Some other students occasionally glanced at him; some pretended not to, while others openly talked about him. Was it always like this for him? His father was infamous in a lot of ways, but surely their own studies were more important than gawking at another student, right? College was supposed to be different than high school...



Amy inhaled through her nose, then purposefully widened her eyes. "Oh!" she exclaimed, leaving the line to join Metal. "Hey!"



Metal's eyes widened too. He glanced at Amy, then turned his head around to gauge their surroundings.



Amy rolled her eyes. "I'm saying hi to you, Metal," she huffed. "You have any classes left?"



He genuinely didn't know how to reply for a while. Finally, he muttered out an answer: "N...No?" He took a deep breath too. "Why are you talking to me?"



"Because I want to," she sternly replied. "Let's eat together! I know your room number now so you can't run away from me forever."



"... Is..." He squinted. "Did you just threaten me?"



"Of course not! Unless you run away." She gave a confident nod. "Wait for me at a table! I'm getting my food, too. Okay?" Amy passed him a small wave, then eagerly rejoined the sandwich line again, this time at the back.



Metal blinked. He... He had no idea what just happened. He couldn't get a proper read of Amy at all. If anything, speaking to her would allow him to figure out her angle. He grabbed a bag of his food once it was ready and sat at an available table near a wall.



A few minutes later, Amy rushed over to the table and put down her backpack and purse. "Watch my stuff! Be right back!" She ran away again. Awfully commanding. He wasn't sure whether it impressed or annoyed him. A bit of both, maybe.



Metal glanced at her purse as he began eating his food. Her purse was covered with colorful keychains, all of them jingling whenever she walked around. A few keychains were generic hearts and sparkles, one was a blue flicky, one looked like a fantastical red hammer, a few more were different flowers. Her backpack had a bunch of buttons and pins of various sizes, some with random phrases or words. A bunch of chao stuff, too. A chao plush hung off the side of her backpack, connected with a closed hook.



She was... expressive, to say the least. Metal didn't have nearly as much color. His backpack was a solid black, his phone black with a red case on it, his clothes black too with only an accent of color. Sometimes he liked red, blue, or purple. He wore buttoned shirts under his coat and had about five pairs of the same slacks. That was about it.



Amy came back with a paper bag containing a giant sandwich inside it. "Thanks for waiting!" she beamed, moving her stuff aside to sit across from him. Metal was partway through his meal, pausing only to stare at her.



She eagerly unwrapped her sandwich and took one half. She bit into it. "Ugh," she grunted, "It's so good. I needed this." Her mouth was full as she talked. She took a few more bites, took her time to eat, then put her sandwich down.



"I have no information to give you," Metal grumbled. "But feel free to grill me for more if you want to get filed for harassment."



"Oh my God, relax," Amy said, covering her mouth while eating. "Do you have any friends?"



He glared at her.



"Genuine question!" she exclaimed. "Okay, so, there's this cool things friends do, and it's called hanging out. It's when you're in the same space as someone else and you decide to not kill each other."



"Do you think you're cute?" Metal asked with a sneer.



"I do, actually," she replied in a light tone. "Anyways, I just wanted to hang out and have a good sandwich. I have no ulterior motives or whatever. I don't give a damn about who you're related to."



"Then why talk to me?"



Amy shrugged. "You looked like you could use some company."



"I don't need your pity, Amy Rose," he said with an irritated sigh. He averted his eyes and picked at the food in front of him.



"It's not pity. It's..." She sighed, tilting her head. "Curiosity." She smiled a little. "Why just email me out of the blue to say I'm not a nuisance? We're in person, so you can't refuse to elaborate this time."



"I called you a nuisance before, then I took it back. But now you are being a nuisance again," he grumbled.



"Hahah!" Amy surprised herself in not minding his response. He was honest, though she affected him enough to make her want to talk to him more. He scowled, but his cheeks reddened the longer they talked. Amy wasn't sure whether he was irritated, frustrated, or flustered. "Well... I think I owe you something."



He glanced at her again.



"I saw something really personal from you, so I think it's only fair I tell you something personal. I'm not saying you'll care about it or whatever... But, you can view it as leverage. I never really told my friends."



Metal went remarkably quiet. Amy noticed how he tensed as soon as she mentioned seeing something 'personal' from him.



"I... really hate my major. Not like in an, 'oh this is hard' way, I actually hate it. It's miserable. I hate going to any class about nursing. Sometimes I feel sick before class and it takes everything to get out of bed. When I finally do get there, I go numb, or I try to distract myself, or I just have a really hard time focusing at all. More than anything, I feel like a fraud." Amy's voice softened as she spoke. "But I don't know what else I can do. I want something with a solid job and I don't really have any special talents that'd make me change majors... So..." Amy shrugged. "There you go." She continued to eat her sandwich.



When she next looked at Metal, he stared right at her, his eyes wide. He looked like he wanted to say something... Instead, he continued eating his food, too. The air between them felt less tense than Amy expected.



"Sorry if this is annoying, but... I also wanted to say I'm sorry about track," Amy hummed, finishing her food. "I mean, I watched Sonic a lot, but... I watched you a lot too." She smiled.



Metal adjusted to partially cover his face while he finished his food. Amy couldn't see his expression.



"Sonic looked like, if he tripped, he'd fly off into space since he's just so light on his feet. But you looked like you'd go through a brick wall and keep running if you didn't stop," she chuckled. "I had fun watching you. I thought you were cool!"



"C--... Cool?" He quietly repeated.



"Mmhm. Really cool!" Amy tilted her head, smiling more. "If you were wrongfully removed, then I have full faith you'll get to come back. It'll be weird not seeing you there."



Metal sucked in a breath that sounded a bit concerning. He coughed and cleared his throat.



Amy blinked. "Hey, you okay?"



"I-I'm... I'm..." He stood up from the table and very quickly turned away from her, hastily grabbing his backpack and his empty food container. "F-fine." He coughed again. "I'm fine. Bye." He practically disappeared from the food court, hiding his face away from Amy the whole time.



"Uh... Bye!" she called, waving as he left. He had different ways of being weird, she guessed...



Metal rushed back to his dorm and quickly locked himself inside. The first thing he did was fill up the bathroom sink with cold water, then he dunked his head in right afterwards. He gasped for air after lifting his head back up, focusing on the droplets of water falling off his face and back into the sink. His face was still burning. It wasn't an attack, was it?



He wiped his face dry, then left the bathroom and lay himself flat on the floor.



His heart pounded. Why? Instead of not getting enough air, he simply forgot to breathe. No, it wasn't an attack... But it was something.



He covered his face with both of his hands and groaned at himself.



"What's wrong with me?"