I Can't Believe It's Not Beta

“Oh my gosh! Your breath smells so bad!” Silver giggled, his luscious miles of soft quills fanning out around him like a magnificent halo.

“Are you sure?” Sonic quirked a mocking brow. “How about you check again?” He smirked before pressing back down into a deep kiss.

Silver was laughing so much, he couldn’t lock his lips with Sonic’s, leaving the blue hedgehog to messily smooch flesh pulled taunt by uncontrollable mirth. “Get off! Get off!” Silver managed to shove Sonic aside, causing the older man (by age at least) to flop off the couch and get awkwardly wedged between it and the coffee table.

“What a travesty!” Sonic exclaimed, also having difficulty maintain a straight face. “All I want to do is kiss my handsome boyfriend and I’m thrown off the couch? The nerve!”

Silver rolled to peek over the edge of the couch. “Go brush your teeth. You have chilidog breath.” Sonic had taken Silver to his favorite restaurant. Well, maybe lunch counter was more accurate? There weren’t really tables, just a counter along the walls that patrons could stand and eat at. Still great grub though! Silver had been impressed with how much meat Sonic could fit in his mouth at once.

Sonic’s eyes went wide. “How dare you, sir! I’ll have you know, many have found my chilidog breath endearing, nay, irresistibly attractive!” He would have placed a hand against his chest in feigned outrage, but he was still tightly jammed between furniture.

“Well,” Silver smirked coyly, “maybe you should go make out with them, huh?”

Sonic wormed his way free and rose to a sitting position before blowing a raspberry at Silver.

Silver grinned and then sobered. “But you did bring a toothbrush, right?”

“Ooof, that bad, huh? I got it in my bag. Give me a minute.” Sonic pushed himself up, but instead of walking around the couch like a normal person, he crawled onto Silver while the light-colored hedgehog broke down into another laughing fit and then exited over the back of the couch.

Silver and Blaze’s apartment was huge and fancy as hell. There were big canvas of abstract blotches of color on the walls even. “Man, your place is sweet, Sil.” Sonic walked towards the front door, near which he’d haphazardly thrown his overnight duffle.

“It’s Blaze’s.” Silver and his frumpled head of quills popped over the couch. “She pays the mortgage and I cover, uh, most of the utilities.”

“Mortgage?” Sonic snatched up the duffle and propped it on a thin table near the door. “This a co-op or something?” He dug for a moment to locate his toiletry bag and pull the toothbrush from it.

“Yeah, something like that.”

Sonic walked to the kitchen sink and began cleaning his teeth. Silver’s apartment was kind laid out that his and Ames’ but way bigger and open. Also, their living room didn’t have a wall of floor to ceiling windows overlooking a trendy neighborhood of the City. Small differences.

Sonic spit into the sink. “Cool.” Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he ran the facet to wash away his expectorant. “And we’ve got it all to ourselves?” His tone lilted seductively.

“Yeah, Blaze sent me a text an hour ago that she boarded her plane. No adult supervision for a whole two weeks.” Silver smirked.

“Well, let’s get back to being irresponsible!” Sonic zipped around the breakfast bar and rolled over the top of the couch onto Silver.

Silver dove in eagerly to restart the make out session, but Sonic moved at the same time and the boys knocked heads. “Shit!” Sonic hissed, covering his bruised eye.

“Oh god,” Silver cringed meekly. “I’m so sorry!”

“No, no! It’s good. It’s all good.” Sonic gingerly rubbed the offended spot.

Boy did he have weird emotions about this black eye. Holy shit. Like, shove it way back in the back of the closet and never think about it again sort of emotions. Shadow Kintobor, in the fucking flesh. Sonic had panicked when he ran into the guy at the bar. Like, what the fuck? What do you say to the face you’ve gooned hard on (at least until he asked Silver out, then it was cold turkey on all that stupid shit)? Certainly not what Sonic had said, which was an amazingly blatant breech of confidentiality for which he’d get fired for in a heartbeat if Dr. Prower ever found out.

Yeah, so he panicked and ran. Not his best moment, but come on!

Anyway, everything was going fine, he got with Silver and they were gonna bail, but then he heard Amy and…well, there was fucking Shadow again looking all Alpha. Sonic had got in the first blow, but god damn could Shadow hit hard. Sonic had stayed on his feet after the blow that split his lip, but the second laid him out and he’d probably would have ended up in the hospital if that echidna hadn’t bodily drug the black hedgehog away. Whatever. The fucker didn’t get Amy and that’s what mattered.

“I only need one eye to see how good looking you are.” He smirked provocatively.

Silver blushed an adorable shade of pink. “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who can get hurt like that and turn it into a pick-up line.”

“I’m one of a kind, baby!” Sonic smiled. Then his eyelids drooped. “Now, where were we?”

Once Sonic fell off the couch again and got really wedged in there good this time, the pair retired to Silver’s room which, and get this, was on the second floor of the apartment! Sonic didn’t even know two story apartments were a thing. How does that even work? Hold on, this line of questioning is going off on a tangent. The important thing was-

Silver fell down on his bed with a slight bounce. Sonic ripped his t-shirt off over his head and tossed it carelessly to the floor. A thrill rushed through him as he watched Silver admire his chest. Sonic wasn’t the athlete he was in high school, but he never stopped going to the gym. He might have the metabolism (and food preferences and attention span and sense of humor) of a kindergartener with ADHD, but he could maintain a routine.

Sonic licked his lips. Blushes were especially noticeable on those cute white cheeks.

With a sly smirk, Sonic took a flying jump. He face planted next to Silver with enough force to launch him high enough that he could roll midair and land on his back. Before Silver could comment on how totally wicked that maneuver was, Sonic straddled him and started pawing at the younger man’s belt like it morally offended him (which it did – come on, who wears a belt when they don’t have to?).

Sonic slipped the leather thing free of the loops on Silver’s pants and threw it across the room to clatter against Silver’s bookcase. Before he could get a grip on Silver’s fly, said hedgehog snatched Sonic’s hands and started pulling off his gloves. Sonic relaxed his hand to allow for easier disrobing, but Silver’s tugging still pulled him off balance and he had to catch himself with a hand planted beside Silver’s head to keep from completely collapsing on the guy.

Their noses touched and they immediately joined lips. Desperately trying to maintain the kiss, they wiggled out of their remaining clothes. He widened his straddle so Silver could push down his trousers and boxers, then Sonic fumbled at the buttons on Silver’s shirt (He didn’t even want to think about Dr. Prower making Sonic wear a button-up to work. At least Silver didn’t have to wear a tie. Wait, that might be pretty hot though…or, holy shit, a bow tie? Adorable and sexy! Oh god, that’s the perfect Winter Solstice present idea! Amy is going to be so proud!). Sonic finished taking off his gloves, awkwardly worming one hand to another and still maintaining his balance. They did have to break for the occasional gasp.

Finally, they were completely naked, and it was awesome. Silver was already peaking out of his sheath and Sonic’s heart beat so fast his legs twitched, thinking they were about to launch him from the starting blocks of a race. He pushed Silver over, claiming his mouth once more as his hands carded through Silver’s luscious jungle of quills (seriously, some groom tips might need to be asked for. Sonic had been using the same 4 in 1 since middle school). Silver’s hands went to Sonic’s pouch and the blue hedgehog felt Silver’s brow crease.

Curious at what was curious, Sonic pulled back. Silver looked down between their bodies. Fingers pressed against Sonic’s abdomen. “You’re soft?” Silver’s curiosity is twinged with something Sonic didn’t like so he ignored it.

“Huh?” Sonic looked at himself. “Oh, right. Yeah. Give me a minute.” He turns his face to the side and closes his eyes.

Okay. Let’s see. Uh…

Sonic rolled through a couple of images he’d masturbated to in the past, but nothing seemed to be stirring the pot as it were. Frustration stared to mount along with a growing embarrassment until Sonic realized why none of his usual go-to twinks and swole pin ups were getting his motor running. None of them were Silver. Shit, Sonic internally thought, I’m down bad.

But, then, why the fuck was he flaccid? It was like something was short circuiting along the system. Wires were unplugged or something. He was hot and bothered and very eager to break Silver down into a billion ecstatic pieces. So why wasn’t Little Sonic?

Okay, okay, okay. He had to think about this logically. When was the last time he played a duet?

The sight of Amy’s face, pinched with desperation, formed in his mind’s eye and Sonic immediately felt himself rise to the occasion.

Oh.

Huh.

That’s…Shit, that’s not great. Sonic was 100%, absolutely certain, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was not sexually attract to Amy or any woman. Soooooo, what the fuck?

Sonic heard Silver gasp and he opened his eyes. Roll with it for now and think about it never. “Holy crap!” Silver’s eye had grown large. “I’ve never seen anything like that. Your dick inflated like a balloon.”

It was Sonic’s turn to squint quizzically. “Uh, yup.” That’s how it works, dude.

“Oh, uh.” Silver chuckled to cover his embarrassment (adorable). “I guess because I’ve never seen it in real life. Like seen it, seen it.”

Alarms flared in Sonic’s mind as one of his wiser brain cells screamed hold the phone! He lifted back onto his haunches. “Beg your pardon?”

“Well, I mean,” Silver scooted out from under Sonic and leaned against the headboard of the bed. He looked away, abased, his cheeks blazing. “You know, one that’s not my own.”

Sonic blinked slowly. “Silver.” The white hedgehog’s gaze darted to Sonic briefly before it found the walls more fascinating again. “Are you a virgin?”

“Well, I mean, kinda?” His voice lilted up, like it was a question.

Conflicting battle cries of god damn it and jackpot erupted in Sonic’s mind, combining to make a messy static. “How can you kinda be a virgin?”

Silver plucked at a loose thread on his duvet. “I had a boyfriend in secondary school, but we’d just do hand and mouth stuff. No inside stuff.”

Well, Sonic needed to think about this. He needed to think real hard and tread carefully. That would be the responsible thing to do. “We were about to do…inside stuff.”

Silver frowned and his ears wilted in about the saddest sight Sonic had ever had the misfortune to lay his eyes upon. “Do you not want to?”

“Of course I want to.” Sonic huffed. “I mean, as long as you want to. You want to, right? I thought I was getting the vibe that you did loud and clear, but I didn’t, like, ask, I guess…Do you want to?”

Silver nodded enthusiastically.

“Okay,” Sonic held up his bare hands, “But let’s start off slow. Do you think you can set the pace? I don’t want to go too much or too hard or fast or whatever. So, I’m going to follow your lead and you’ll let me know if anything doesn’t feel right.” Sonic smiled. “Sound like a plan?”

“Sure.” Silvers eyes darted to Sonic’s pelvis. “Can I touch you?”

Oh boy, howdy. Yes, please. “You sure can. And you don’t have to ask. Just go to town and I’ll say something if I’m not feeling it.”

“Not feeling it?” Silver’s brow pinched. Fuck, how could one marshmallow be so cute?

“If I don’t like it.” Sonic clarified. “Let’s just fool around until something is too much or we’re both spent. How does that sound?”

“Great!” Silver sat up with a wonderous eagerness that excited Sonic. He was going to take this man to see the stars if it was the last thing he did on this earth.

Light-colored hands wrapped around Sonic’s stalwart soldier and his breath hitched at the sudden wave of sensation rippling though him. Confusion bubbled up from the more mature parts of his brain, but the curiosity was drowned in an animalistic soup of anticipation and sparking surprise.

Silver’s fingers seemed to be slamming on a button directly injecting dopamine into Sonic’s brain because the briefest squeeze was sending the blue hedgehog into fucking space. When Silver started to pump, Sonic knew he was in trouble. The pressure and heat grew so quickly he hardly had a chance to utter oh fuck! before he was coming white ropes all over Silver’s hand and stomach.

“Woah!” Silver yipped. “That was quick!”

“S-sorry.” Sonic grunted, his hips jerking uncontrollably. “I’m not used to it feeling so good. I’m not good at edging.” He was used to going fast…but that might have been a bit too fast.

“Oh.” Silver looked at the sticky fluid webbing his fingers. “Uh, well, should we clean up and watch a movie or something?”

Sonic frowned and his stomach clenched. “Oh man, did I put you off that much?”

Silver shook his head. “N-no. It’s just that I thought, well,” He gestured to his messy stomach, “you’re done so-“

Oh, that’s what he was worried about? “Naw, man, just give me five minutes.”

Silver laughed. “Okay, I know I’m new at this, but even I know there’s no way! I have to wait like an hour.”

“That sounds like a challenge.” Sonic smirked. “And in the meantime,” He leaned forward and licked his lips, “Let me clean you up.”

Silver gulped and flushed pink to the tips of his ears.

Truth be told, Sonic hadn’t tasted a lot of semen in his day. Sure, he knew what he tasted like (because, like, who doesn’t get curious?), but normally he was pitching. However, no matter what, he was determined to lick Silver clean. Luckily for him, Silver’s come was, god damn it, it was good. Sweet and salty and hot as fuck and- hnng- There was Little Sonic, ready to go again.

Sonic lifted to take in the gorgeous sight of Silver absolutely unraveled and panting below him, a lovely, wanton mess just from watching and feeling Sonic drag his tongue over. He was about the most beautiful thing Sonic had ever laid eyes on in his life. The stars should hide in shame.

Silver’s length was hard as a rock and leaking while his sparking golden eyes were lidded and cloudy. “Oh, fuck.” He whispered. Sonic grinned self-satisfied and leaned back on his haunches.

Wiping his mouth, he asked, “You want me to rubber up?”

“Rubber…?” Silver mumbled absently.

“Condom, dude. Do you want me to put on a condom?” Sonic pointed at his erect equipment.
I’m totally clean, but it’s what you want that matters.”

Silver just stared at the ludicrous display and said, “I want you inside me.”

Well, fuck condoms then. Let’s go!

Sonic pushed Silver’s legs apart and lined himself up.

Woah woah woah woah! The corner of Sonic’s smile dipped as something very important was trying to muscle itself in front of Sonic’s raging lust. Hold on. Think for one god damn second! What’s wrong with this picture?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing is wrong with this immaculate paradise he was about to sink himself into. Also, how dare you think there was anything wrong with Silver? How rude!

Silencing the niggling voice in his head, Sonic pushed his smaller head against Silver’s puckered entrance teasingly. Silver’s thighs quivered and Sonic felt like he was being summoned into the darkness, so drawn to it was he. There was no power in heaven or on earth that could hold him back. But he grit his teeth the tried anyway to prolong the inevitable, holding them both on the edge for just a little while longer.

“Come on, come on!” Silver begged and Sonic’s resolved burst like a breached damn.

And speaking of breaching.

Holy. Fuck. Silver was so tight. Sonic was seeing stars. It was…a little hard to get in, not going to lie. And dry.

Wait.

Dry?

Oh, you fucking idiot, Sonic!

“Ow!” Silver’s pained whine speared Sonic through the heart. “Sonic- Ow! Stop stop stop!”

Sonic froze. “Shit, sorry!” He pulled all the way out, Silver groaning a little as he did. “I’m so, so, so sorry!”

“I-it’s okay.” Silver cringed. “It’s just, uh, stings a bit, I guess…”

Oh god. Sonic forgot to prep. Somehow something so incredibly important just slipped his mind completely. Jet was right. Sonic was a terrible lover.

“I’m so sorry. I got way too far ahead and I didn’t prep you at all.” Sonic sat back on his haunches and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked away bashfully, “I guess I’m just to used to everything being all slicked up.”

“What?” Silver pushed up on his elbows.

Sonic froze, his eyes going large and his mouth going dry. “Uh- Uh-“ Not often did Sonic find himself speechless, but the embarrassment and horror of what he’d just let slip had struck him dumb, utterly throttled him senseless. Every wise cell in his brain had just hit the emergency shutdown button to keep him from doing something stupid like trying to lie.

Silver scooted back and sat up against the headboard. “Slick…like from an Omega?”

Sonic’s mind was rushing faster than normal. Amy didn’t want anyone to know she was an Omega, and Sonic didn’t really want Silver to know that he’d been fucking Amy every month for the past ten years. What if Silver was disgusted? What if Silver couldn’t be with someone so depraved? What if he wanted to break up?

It was really hot in here. “Does it feel really hot in here to you?”

Silver looked confused. “No? Are you okay?”

Whatshouldhedowhatshouldhedowhatshouldhedo?

“I have a confession!” Sonic declared so loudly Silver startled.

“Uh, okay?” Silver raised a brow.

“I’ve had sex with Amy.” God, why did his voice sound like that?

“Oh.” Silver’s face fell. “Uh…okay, I guess.”

Sonic wasn’t done. “I’ve had sex with Amy a lot.”

Silver grimaced. He scratched his ear. “Wow, uh, I guess I thought you two were close, but I guess I didn’t really know how close.”

“Because she’s an Omega.” Seriously, why was his voice all whiny like that?

“Oh.” Silver said. The conversation paused as Sonic waited for Silver’s angry breakdown. Instead, Silver’s adorable face scrunched and he tilted his head, “What? No, wait.” He squinted. “What?” He repeated. *“*I don’t get it. What does Amy being an Omega have to do with you sleeping with her? I mean, it’s okay Sonic, if you’re bisexual-“

“I’m not!” Sonic was quick to correct Silver, but that just led the light-colored hedgehog to look even more confused.

Silver’s head tilted to the side. “I don’t understand.”

“It was for her heats.” He tried to explain.

Silver shook his head, his frazzled fan of quills swaying. “But I thought Omegas had to mate with Alphas for their heats.”

“No, actually any dick works…or least it used to.” Sonic frowned. “You didn’t know that?”

“Soleanna hardly has any Omegas or Alphas now after the…uh…,” Silver bit his lip and frowned, “Petrovian pogroms about a hundred years ago.”

Uh, genocide jumpscare there, Silver.

“S-so…you have sex Amy, but you’re not attracted to her?” Silver tried to bring them back on topic. “And this helps her heats?”

“Yes!”

“Oh.” Silver swallowed. “I guess it makes a lot more sense why you got into a fight at yesterday. You were protecting Amy, right?”

“Yeah…” Sonic sighed, “I get kinda mad when people bother her…she kinda like a sister to me.”

“One you fuck?” Silver deadpanned.

“Damn it, Silver, don’t make it weirder than it already is!” Sonic exclaimed self-consciously.

“S-Sorry!” Silver hugged himself. “It’s a lot to wrap my head around.”

Sonic hung his head. “Yeah, I get that.” He looked up. “I’m sorry for lying. Amy normally doesn’t like people to know she’s an Omega, but she said I could tell you.”

To Sonic’s surprise, Silver snorted. “You really do have a savior complex.”

“Hey now!” Sonic wasn’t really sure what he was getting fake offended at.

“I think it’s really noble…” There was that word again. Made Sonic feel like some medieval knight. “I think I can be cool with this. I guess you’ll not be available on occasion?”

Sonic lit up. “No! Amy’s started dating this Alpha she met online.” Silver grimaced. “No, no, nothing like that.” He shook his head emphatically. “The way she talked about the guy, he sounded super sweet. He’s like a quokka, I think? Anyway, that means I’m off the hook!”

“Off the hook?” Silver frowned, concerned. “Does that mean you had to have sex with her?”

“No!” There was a bit more force in the declaration than he probably meant. Defensive much, Sonic? ”I mean, no one is making me. I just made a promise to Amy a long time ago…before I knew I was gay sadly.” Sonic looked away. “Back then I thought we were meant for each other, so it seemed like such an easy promise to make.” Silver reached forward and laid a hand on Sonic’s thigh. Sonic’s head snapped around, surprise stretching his features. “You’re not mad?”

Silver grinned and shrugged. “Honestly? I don’t really know what I’m feeling right now, but I don’t think I’m upset.” Lithe shoulders shrugged. “I mean, it’s unconventional, but you were just helping your best friend, right? I think that’s super sweet.”

Pink bloomed across Sonic’s muzzle. Silver was such a good person. Sometimes Sonic felt like he must have mixed some reagents incorrectly and passed out in the hood in the lab. Silver seemed just too good to be true, so he had to be some volatile chemical induced illusion.

“It’s like you having another ex, right?” His fingers traced little circles on Sonic’s leg as Silver tried to process the whole situation. “And Amy didn’t yell nasty words at us like that parrot did.”

“Don’t be racist, Silver. Jet’s a hawk.” Sonic smiled, absolutely incorrigible. “Or do all avians look the same to you?” Shit…probably not the right time for jokes like that.

Silver looked shocked but then burst out laughing. “You are such an ass.”

“No, no, no!” Sonic held up a pointer finger and waved it back and forth in a tsk tsk manner. “We’ve already established I’m a dick.”

“Fuck you.” Silver huffed.

“Wait!” Sonic snapped his fingers. “That’s a great idea!”

“W-wah?”

“Fuck me!” Sonic enthusiastically indicated to himself.

Silver laughed. Like really laughed and Sonic thought he might need to feel a little peeved about that, but then Silver apologized. “Sorry,” He was still giggling the adorable asshole, “It’s just…you’re just so…self-sacrificing? I guess? Like you really don’t care about yourself at all if there’s someone who needs help.”

Sonic shrugged. “What can I say? What you see is what you get.” He moved to sit by Silver against the headboard. Sonic interlaced his fingers with Silver’s. “But you’re not off the hook either, Mister Pancreas Pulverizor.”

“Is that how you’re calling me sweet now?” Silver leaned his head against Sonic’s shoulder, trying to absorb some heat from him. Most of the sexual energy in the room had dissipated, leaving the pair much cooler to the touch.

“I’m workshopping it.” Sonic grinned.

“Sweet, huh?” Silver’s smile faded. “I think I can understand how Amy feels being, uh, always on the receiving side of your relationship.” Sonic’s ears perked and he had the sense to keep his goddamned mouth shut for once in his life. “When I was in secondary, my parents…died.”

Sonic’s eyes went wide. “Silver, I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t know.” He wrapped an arm around the pale male and hugged Silver to his side tightly.

“Of course you didn’t.” Silver twisted in Sonic’s hold and the blue hedgehog eased off a bit. “I never told you. I don’t talk about it much, mostly because I’m ashamed about what I became after.” Silver pulled away, but maintained their handhold, and shrunk in on himself, spare hand coming to play with the fur on his bicep.

“I got extremely angry. At the world. At everyone around me. At myself.” He swallowed. “At my parents.” He said in a small voice. “Angry at everything. I wasn’t pleasant to be around. I felt like my whole world had turned into a molten hellscape. The future was bleak and pointless. I stopped paying attention to school or my friends. Dumped my boyfriend. I barely graduated and I failed out of my first university.”

Silver picked at the loose sting on the duvet again. “Blaze stayed with me through it all. She never gave up on me, even as she was finishing law school and starting her career. I resented her though. Like, a lot.” Silver’s eyes grew wide with the horror of his memories. “I hated how she would drag me out of my room and do stuff with her friends. I hated how she made me go to therapy every week. I’d just sit there silently glaring at this nice little mouse lady for an hour a week for years.”

Sonic could relate somewhat. His mom made him go to therapy for awhile after he threw Finals and got banned from competitive running. His parents and therapist seemed convinced he was in denial, that he couldn’t be so fine with tearing up his future like that. But Sonic was. He’d made his choice and he didn’t regret it. Its not like he couldn’t run anymore. Everyone was making such a big deal about it. If anything, it was Ames who needed help.

But the pressure from all the people who were upset that he wasn’t upset…well that had been part of the reason he’d followed Amy out of their small town. He had a wonderful boyfriend and a great, interesting job where he helped a lot of people (that also paid the rent!), and he got to hang out with his best friend all the time. His life was great and he wouldn’t change anything for the world.

“None of it was Blaze’s fault, of course. But I treated her like it was.” Silver continued, his voice getting strained. “Her parents adopted me and took me in. I should have been grateful, but instead I was insufferable. They were just…within range, I guess. I couldn’t stand the world, and they were the only part of it I could reach to take out my pain and fury on.”

Sad golden eyes shifted to sympathetic green. “If I met you back then, I think I would have hated you.” Silver swallowed. “Your energy and your optimism. Your brightness. I would have found some way to twist things so that I believed you were at fault for my terrible future.” He looked down at his hands, nails running along his paw pads. “I used to wish lights like yours would just die.”

Well, Sonic didn’t really like the sound of that. How about a change in topic? “That’s not you now, though. What made you change?”

“Apples.” Silver said simply.

Sonic frowned. “Apples?” Well damn.

“Apples.” Silver laughed. “It was random Sunday and Blaze dragged me out of my dorm to go to this farmer’s market because Nicole needed to get something. I don’t even remember what.” Sonic straightened, his brain working overtime to try to concentrate on Silver’s story. “So, we’re walking along the river front and normally I would just…not feel much other than irritation. Like everything sucked all the time and all I could think about was how fake everyone was or how everyone was stupid for liking things…just stupid nasty thoughts. But that day it was sunny out and kinda nice even though it was late autumn, and then I smelled something really good.”

Silver leaned his head back. “This farmer had set up a stall, and he just had tons of apples. Before then I only thought there were just three types.”

“Red, yellow, and green?” Sonic quirked a brow.

“Exactly! But there’s actually hundreds of varieties of apples and they all taste different. So, I’m looking at these apples and the farmer or stall attendant, or something asks me if I want to try one and I remember just shrugging. But he smiled at me and cut me a slice of Cosmic Crisp as a free sample.”

“Cosmic Crisp?” Truth be told, Sonic knew very little about apples. The red ones were sweet, the green ones were sour. End of dataset.

“It’s a cross between a Honeycrisp and an Enterprise. It entered commercial release about six years ago. It’s got-” Silver stopped himself, “Ah, I’m getting sidetracked. The important part is that it was the first thing I’d tasted, like really tasted, in years.” He choked. “In four years…”

Swallowing hard, Silver continued, “So, I start talking to the farmer and he keeps cutting me new slices from different apples. I must have tried twenty varieties. He’s telling me about which ones are good for eating and which ones are good for baking. Before I know it, it’s been close to an hour, and I look to the side and Blaze and Nicole were just standing there waiting on me.” He snorted. “Nicole wasn’t pleased.”

Sonic had heard that name before. “Nicole was the lynx chick that was with up on the alter, right?”

“Yeah, she’s Blaze’s best friend from uni.” Silver nodded. “Anyway, I bought so many apples, Blaze’s boot was filled with them, and I had bags sitting next to me in the back seat on the way home.”

“That might be too many apples, dude.” Sonic grinned, elbowing Silver gently.

Silver chuckled. “Yeah, just a bit. I think I ate nothing but apples for a week. But first I started baking. Anything you could think of with apples, I tried to make. Pies, turn overs, strudel. I made a huge mess of the kitchen. Flour just everywhere. I must have run through pounds of flour and butter as I kept messing up making rough puff pastry.” He smiled. “But Blaze just kept bring me more. She’d come home at lunch to bring me stuff I’d ran out of.”

“Blaze and Nicole tried everything, no matter how burnt it was.” Silver laughed, sadly. “I overheard Nicole asking if I was having a psychotic break down and Blaze told her off. I don’t know. Maybe I was. I skipped classes for two days.”

“But then I made this one pie and…” Silver’s face crumpled. “I-It was exactly like this one my mom made for the Autumn Equinox back when we still live in Soleanna.” He sniffed. “I was like twelve and it was just a stupid pie and-“ Tears started to roll down his cheeks. Sonic scooted closer and wrapped an arm around Silver’s shoulders, giving him a light squeeze.

“And I didn’t eat any of it! I told her I thought it looked disgusting and I hated it.” Silver was openly sobbing now, and he folded into Sonic’s embrace. “Why did I say that?” He whined, looking to Sonic for an answer the blue hedgehog was simply unable to provide. “And now I can never unsay it.” Silver choked up and couldn’t get any more words out for a bit. Sonic held him and his own tongue quietly, but on the inside he was definitely freaking out. Just a little bit. A tiny amount of oh god what do I DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?

Eventually, Silver swallowed hard and regained his voice. “So, I made the pie and I ate it. I just sat and ate until I got sick. I cried. I cried a lot. More than I cried in the four years since my parents died. Eventually I stopped crying and it was like I was coming out of a cave. I’d been stubbornly looking for the sun in a cave and I just suddenly remembered that’s not where the light was.”

A silence grew and, with it, Sonic’s awareness of how buck naked they both were, but that’s not that weird, Sonic. Well, he wasn’t thinking it was- And also, shut up and pay attention to Silver, Sonic. Damn, that’s good advice. You’re welcome.

Still, Sonic abhors silence like nature a vacuum. “So, like, you hate apples, now, right?” Sonic grinned.

Silver playfully punched his arm, sniffling and giggling. “I know it sounds lame…but apples saved my life.” He shook his head, “No, that’s not fair. That farmer, and my therapist, and Blaze, and Nicole, and everyone else who stubbornly refused to give up on me saved my life.”

Silver pushed away and Sonic let him, pivoting and taking both of Sonic’s hands in his. “So, I guess what I was trying to say before I started crying was that I think I understand what it’s like to be a burden. On one hand, I thought I was in control of myself, that I could just decide not to be an insufferable asshole. But it didn’t feel like it.”

Sonic squeezed his hands. “I don’t think Blaze thought you were a burden.”

“Well then, she’s wrong.” Silver grimaced. “I was awful and mean and angry and just generally bad company. But she didn’t give up on me and because of her I made it out the other side. Now, I’ve got a job and I’m going to go to law school.” Silver stared into Sonic’s eyes with a bold-faced fondness. “And I met you.”

Sonic felt warmth bloom in his chest and radiate outwards until he was burning up. “I have another confession.” Sonic couldn’t stop himself. All this honesty was catching.

Silver snorted, but his ears perked, “Oh?”

“Uh, so I do know the guy I got into a fight with at the wedding.”

“O-Oh.”

“It was, uh- You see Amy was-” Sonic bit his lip. He should just rip the band aid off. “I punched Shadow Kintobor. I-in the face.” For some reason Sonic felt the need to clarify the location of the assault, as if they made the act any less…bad?

Silver froze and his eyes went wide. “Oh my god.” He pulled his hands out of Sonic’s and covered his face with his hands. “I am so fired.”