@adventurousblur : ❝ I don't want it seem like you need my approval at all — ❞ His words are sudden in the comforting silence of her kitchen. Fork in hand, Sonic pokes at the little dessert Amy made specifically for him / コーヒーゼリー , his mothers favorite. ❝ But . . . I'm happy. For you and Metal. I . . . know I was real hesitant before but — you were right about it; he's his own person, and . . . he deserves love as well. ❞ Insistent prods stop at the hedgehog finally looks up at them.
❝ I'm sorry for not putting more faith in you. ❞
It's been a little — tense. Since their fight. It feels wrong to call it that, but that's what it had been. Amy can't really remember the last time they'd yelled at Sonic, or he at her; their exchange on the islands had been too short - lived to count, and it was motivated by care for one another and the world, not a real conflict or disagreement. But this —
Amy feels the resentment still sitting in their chest ease at his words; they don't look away from the counter they'd been wiping off, but their shoulders loosen. If they put themself in his shoes — and that's easy to do, and it would be even if they hadn't grown up together, even if they hadn't abandoned their self to learn his — they understand why he'd been uncomfortable with she and Metal growing closer. Growing into something like a — relationship. It has to feel strange, to watch the girl who's chased you for years to allow their eyes to drift at all, let alone to someone so like you. Someone who's tried to hurt you. Kill you.
He's tried to hurt and kill Amy, too.
Amy understands, with hindsight and time for the ache to ease. But in the moment, it had just felt cruel. To suggest that Metal was just a copy of him and therefore not deserving of being loved as himself. To suggest that Amy was so pathetic that she'd just run to the first person that looked like him once the rejection finally sunk in. It had felt like doubting Amy's love — and, for all the way she can resent every other part of herself, that's the one thing she never feels the need to question. That's the one thing he should know never to doubt, too.
The treat had been an apology, maybe. She'd reacted badly, and she knows it. But he'd been cruel, too, cruel first. More cruel than Amy deserves. Even with their self - esteem so often so threadbare, they'd known that. Even simmering with resentment at him ( how could he ever think — ?! ) they'd trusted the apology would come.
They smile, finally, turning to face him. Her hands shift against her back, gently pressed to the counter. "It's okay." A pause; it isn't. She amends, "I forgive you. And I'm sorry, too." Not for loving Metal or for defending herself. But for being so hurt she forgot to try to understand her best friend. For being so hurt she tried to hurt back. Green eyes on green eyes. Lips part — close — part again.
"I'm really happy with Metal."
They spent so long unable to imagine themself as a person anyone else could love romantically, sometimes struggling to imagine being loved at all. They spent so long, convinced they'd be alone. It's hard, for both her and Metal — that she still loves Sonic the way she does. But everything with Metal is so good, too. It feels easier, less serrated, to love Metal than it's felt to love Sonic in years.
"Things feel...really easy. Comfy. Natural. But that doesn't mean you've stopped being my best friend. I love you, too." Her smile goes sweeter.
"I knew you'd come around!"