. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . .

[Name] slowly opened their eyes, squinting them to adjust to the rays of lighting hitting their eyes. A small, fatigued groan left the [Animal Name's] mouth, slowly turning over to look over on one side.

They noticed how, they were on top of a comfortable surface and they were seemingly inside a household that wasn't familiar to them. They put some of their strength into the forearms, making the [Colour] mobian try push themselves up to sit up.

[Name's] left ear twitched, as they stopped abruptly from a voice that perked in unexpectedly;

"Ra-- Uh, [Name]! You're awake..." The [Animal Name] sat up quickly and let out an obscure yell, from hearing the surprising voice of the one and only, Sonic. The blue hedgehog backs away in shock, in return and his ears are pinned down from the sudden yell.

[Name] stopped their yelling, flickering their gaze around awkwardly and cleared their throat, "Oh, it is you, hedgehog."

"Mhm! The one and only! I-- Uh, Tom was worried about us, so he brought us over here and he got even more worried that I had woken up, and you hadn't." The blue speedster proceeded to ramble on, fumbling with his gloved hands and [Name] listened intently, narrowing their eyes in the exhaustion leaving them.

The blue mobian's ears perked up, quite excitedly, as if he had remembered something. "Oh, wait: I almost forgot something, just wait right here, don't move a muscle."

And, with that: the hedgehog zipped out from the room.

[Name] took their time to process and reel in what was happening in this moment, slowly getting up and they stumbled upon their feet. They started to walk around the room, taking in their surroundings and poked a vase, recoiling their bandaged-gloved hand back to see if they were truly back in the real world.

They were distraught from their thoughts, when the blue blur zipped back in with an object beside himself. "Here! This thing is heavy, wheh!" Sonic wiped off invisible sweat from his fluffy forehead and laid, what appeared to be [Name's] dented hoverboard by the side.

The [Animal Name] widened their eyes in happiness, jogging up to their hoverboard and hugged it tightly. "Reunited, at last!" The [Colour] mobian went to turn to the blue fuzzball, but he was already gone in a flash and quickly returned with a hefty toolbox.

"I, uh, found this toolbox too! I figured, you'd want to fix your hoverboard, after the energy source-thingy got destroyed..." Dropping the toolbox by the side, Sonic mumbled this sentence out and scratched the back of his head stiffly.

[Name] vigorously nodded, hastily grabbing the toolbox and set out the tools onto the floor in anticipation to fix out their hoverboard. Sonic kicked his brand-new shoes at the ground awkwardly, hands behind his back and he stared at his feet on the ground, a disdained frown appeared on his face.

"I, uh--I'll head on out--"

"No-No, wait!" [Name] interrupted, ears pinned down in realising what they'd have to do. A sigh left them, starting their work to repair the hoverboard's energy source and at the same time, Sonic widened his eyes in surprise, swallowing down the fear he might feel from whatever [Name] might say next.

The [Colour] [Animal Name] patted down a spot beside them on the floor, for Sonic to sit by them on. The blue hedgehog reluctantly sat down beside them, his tail flittering about anxiously, tapping his shoes together in a hurry.

Neither made eye-contact with the other, only the sound of [Name's] tinkering antics of working on the hoverboard were heard amongst them in the room.

Swallowing down their pride, [Name] finally uttered out;

"I'm sorry."

"Wait, what?" Sonic perked up, his pupils widened in bewilderment and [Name] pressed their lips against a thin lining, putting a halt to their hoverboard repairing and huffed.

"I am sorry."

"For--For what?" The blue hedgehog inquired on, his right ear flickered and he raised an eye ridge coyly within curiosity. He felt quite shocked and dumbfounded to see the [Name] of all people, actually apologising to him, of all people.

[Name's] pride and ego have both been officially damaged now.

Gritting their teeth, the [Animal Name] grimaced and harshly continued on with repairing the almost-forgotten hoverboard. "For, if I have by any chance...Damaged your feelings with how I worded things out on the rough, travelling-journey in a rather harsh manner..."

Sonic wavered his right hand dismissively, letting out a 'pffbt' sound in retaliation. "Hurt my feelings? Wha-aa-aaat? Heh, no-no, you didn't damage or hurt my feelings at all-- Okay, okay. Maybe, it did hurt my feelings, when you said that." The blue hedgehog sighed, his shoulders slumped in defeat of no-longer, trying to shrug off this fact.

[Name] merely nodded, "You do not need to hide the fact that I have caused a sudden wave of damage to your feelings. I...--am sincerely apologetic." Grabbing a screwdriver, they paused mid-way and finally set their stubborn gaze onto the hedgehog beside them.

Sonic had an unreadable expression, which caused [Name] to question themselves on whether the words they vocalised out were of the right accordance. But, their absurd questioning was ceased from what Sonic did next.

Sonic hugged them.

The [Colour] [Animal Name] froze up, as their [feathers | fur | quills | spikes | etc.] were roused up in the shockingly pleasant moment. The blue hedgehog widened his eyes in realisation of what he was doing, regards to the [Colour] mobian's stiff posture and he quickly pulled away, before the other could fully process on even reacting.

His ears twitched, as they pledged downwards and his face was filled with a surprising worry that seemed to grow on. "I-- I am so sorry! Not, just sorry for that sudden hug, but for what I also said too, before in Tom's truck. I just, didn't understand why you were fine with him leaving Green Hills. I'm sorry, [Name]."

Silence slithered over the tense atmosphere, the two didn't say anything after that. This whole thing was taking an awkward turn, and [Name] decided to input something on.

"I suppose, we are both apologetic for something. My ego is about to be in even more disbelief from what I am about to say next, but: as this one peculiar statement goes...I say, we shall 'let bygones be bygones'. I forgive you, hedgehog. Do--...Do you forgive me?"

They held out their gloved-bandaged hand towards the hedgehog in a reluctant manner, their screwdriver had been placed on the ground and [Name's] head was turned away, not managing to maintain eye-contact with Sonic.

Sonic's mouth was agape in small shock, staring at [Name's] open hand and he swallowed down his breath, before grabbing their hand. "I-- I forgive you, [Name]." A look that expresses tenderness formed on the blue hedgehog's face, his eyes softened and he grasped [Name's] hand gently.

[Name] firmly nodded, shaking the awe-struck hedgehog's hand and their lips twitched upwards into a small smile. Sonic fawned over this feature of them, fumbling around with some sudden thoughts in his own mind.

As it is known, the hedgehog can be known to do a lot of things without taking the time to actually think of the outcomes. Well, this was to be another one of these antics of his, because this was to be one of the most-unexpected-but-expected things he was yet to do.

Sonic the Hedgehog kissed [Name] the [Animal Name] on the cheek.

And, he did it just by the corner of their lips too. The [Animal Name] was the first to recoil back, furiously feeling the side of where the embarrassed hedgehog had given them a peck.

Sonic widened his eyes, his gloved hands placed over his mouth and he started to explode out a heap of apologies. He cursed himself for even acting again, upon his reserved feelings. He glanced away in shame, as [Name] sat upright with a flabbergasted expression, hand of theirs still on the cheek, where Sonic committed the act.

Sonic's outburst of apologies was cut off, by the question [Name] abruptly asked him. "What was that?"

"An accident!"

"No-No, what was the action you implemented onto this cheek of mine?"

S I L E N C E.

"You--You don't know what a kiss is?"

"...I've spent years, plotting on how to capture you: do you think I'd focus mainly on what that sudden action was? No. So, what is this kiss you just named this action of?"

The blue mobian blinked dismissively, before breaking out from his dumbfounded gaze and cleared his throat. "Well, a kiss is, uh...that thing I just gave to you, because I like you."

The [Colour] [Animal Name] acknowledged this, tapping their chin in thought. "Well, I would not say that I like you, hedgehog." Sonic's eyes spread into such disappointment and discouragement. "But, I can certainly say that I tolerate you, Sonic."

The hedgehog's eyes were filled with hope, as he puffed out his chest in joy and a smile was slowly lifted onto his face. He noted down on how [Name] actually said his name and not 'hedgehog'. "That's a great start! The kiss was just my way of saying: 'thank you' to you."

Sonic tried to simplify it down for the confused [Animal Name], as they must not have enough knowledge on this whole topic of liking one another. He was unaware of the imaging of ideas he put in [Name's] head from this simplified explanation.

"That is understood, hedge--Sonic!"

The blue hedgehog stood up in a burst of energy, his smile never leaving his face and he clasped his hands together in accomplishment. "I'm gonna go let Tom and Pretzel Lady know that we're good to go now. I'll be right back, Ice-Spice!" With that, Sonic zipped out from the room.

[Name] could retaliate, and spout out the correction of using their name. But, this time:

They didn't mind the nicknames, now.