Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't belong to me.

Rating: T

Summary: Sonamy. 'Love is friendship set on fire.' Sonic and Amy have grown into being the best of friends. So comfortable and attuned to each other that they might as well class themselves as a couple if they were even aware of it...

A/N: Not really sure where this is coming from. It's been a small niggling idea of a moment here and there between them. Like I've been getting scattered patches of an image, the full picture not quite coming into focus. But yet I need to get it out there anyway. So here goes, I know it won't be a couple of chapters so I guess this is my first proper Sonic story. I hope I can pull it off while I just run with it. This is also my first bit of writing I've done in a long while. I've been having a really tough year and am so emotionally shut down that I don't know if I can pull this off. So I hope you guys don't dislike it too much. Also, apologies if they seem OOC. They're older in this story and I just don't believe Sonic wouldn't mature a lot in that time. Anyway, thanks for reading. x

'Love is friendship set on fire.'

Serendipity

Sonic the Hedgehog approached Amy Rose's house with the same neck breaking speed with which he goes everywhere. He stopped just short of falling through her open front door, grabbing on to the doorframe to uncharacteristically steady himself. His mind had been wandering while he was running and he wasn't expecting her door to be open when he arrived. The smell of fresh paint wafting from the house cleared his head though as he stepped inside without being invited and caught sight of his friend in cut off denim shorts, her tank top somehow streaked with paint along her back, her quills up in a haphazard ponytail.

She looked adorable and Sonic grinned as he tiptoed up to the pink hedgehog humming to herself while she rolled a paint brush across her lounge wall.

"Hello, Sonic," Amy Rose greeted him without turning around or stopping in her painting.

Sonic huffed as he stopped trying to Ninja his way to surprising Amy and casually went to stand beside her, admiring her handiwork thus far.

"Decorating again?" he asked pointedly, as it seemed that at least three times a year Amy got the bug for painting a new room. He was sure the lounge was still relatively new. "What's eating away at you this time?" Sonic turned his full attention on Amy, his mouth twitching at the cream paint spread across one cheek and smeared under her bangs. He waited for her to meet his gaze that she was avoiding as best she could.

Sonic knew that if she was pulling out the painting clothes, rollers and colour chart then something was gnawing away at his friend. Her restless energy being converted into her redecorating and 'revamping' her life as she has put it each time. He crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for her to look at him. His foot started tapping impatiently, a habit that has still stuck with him as he's grown up. His patience getting slightly better - just a touch - over the years. When Amy looked down at his foot and arched a brow at his tick she shook her head.

"I don't want to talk about it," she simply replied, turning back to her wall and cocking her head to the side to admire her mind numbing work.

Sonic frowned and wondered if it was worth pushing her to open up about what was bugging her. Another change and proof of his maturity, the fact he wasn't running out the door, but rather actively thinking about talking about emotions and stuff. With Amy Rose no less. But you see their friendship has changed a lot over the years. As have the two hedgehogs. There wasn't a defining moment that caused it, or an open conversation of feelings and thoughts. Just a simple passage of time that helped their friendship mature along with their personalities, into a deep respect and understanding for them both.

Sonic would even go so far as to class Amy as close a best friend as Tails.

Not something he would have thought would ever happen when he was fifteen.

Deciding to not push her on whatever was upsetting her, Sonic uncrossed his arms and nodded, respecting her want of privacy and knowing that if she did want to talk about it then she would come to him if and when she is ready. "Want some help?" he offered instead, bending to pick up a spare roller and liberally coating it in fresh paint. He looked up at Amy with a wicked grin and twinkle in his eye.

"Oh no," Amy panicked, taking a hesitant step back. "Oh no, put it down! No, no, NO!" Amy cried as she turned tail and ran from Sonic who charged her with the roller dripping with paint. Thankfully Amy had the foresight to cover everything in old sheets, including covering the floor, in the hopes that she would make minimal mess in her distracted cleaning state. She hadn't factored in a humorous Sonic and his need to cheer her up by the most messy way possible.

She tried to dodge out of the way of his attack but felt it impact her shoulder as she spun around -

And came face to face with a roller.

Gasping she blinked past her shock, noting the very pleased grin stretched across Sonic's muzzle as admired his handy work. "You missed a bit," he shrugged, swivelling the roller around in his hand carelessly, flickering paint in an arc in the process. The growl coming from Amy stopped him though as he in turn took a shaky step back. "Ugh, Ames, what are you doing?" he quivered, putting his roller back up like a guard.

Who was he kidding though? This woman knew exactly how to get him, she spent enough time chasing him in her early teens.

Amy dived at him without hesitation, anticipating his next manoeuvre and meeting him halfway with her roller streaking through his quills and running down his back. Sonic halted instantly, his shoulders tensing under the attack. When he looked up at Amy she wore an equally cocky grin as she planted a paint covered hand on her hip and winked at him. Clearly she's been spending too much time with me, Sonic thought to himself with only a touch of pride.

"Oh yeah," Sonic murmured darkly. "It's on now!"

Amy only had a second to squeak before the true battle started between them. For the next ten minutes they ducked and dived from each other as they dipped their rollers quickly and tried to smother each other in as much paint as possible. Coating much of the sheet covered furniture as they jumped over it, hiding and attacking. They laughed, growled and howled as they got shots at each other. Amy held her own really well against Sonic who cheated a couple of times, using his speed to his advantage. But by the end they were both pretty well covered and out of breath as they bent over, leaning on their knees to recover.

"Thanks, Sonic," Amy finally spoke once she could breath properly.

Sonic didn't have to ask what for, he already knew by the way her tone softened and her eyes sparkled slightly as she looked at him. Without hesitation Sonic stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her to pull her in for a hug. He planted a firm familiar kiss to the top of her head and said, "Anytime."

They stayed in that familiar embrace for a few more moments before Amy pulled away, smiling again in gratitude. As she turned away to look back at the wall she'd been interrupted painting, she willed her heart to slow down as she ignored the heat still searing her back where Sonic held her. Years of being really great friends with the blue blur and Amy still got the same tingles and heart racing thrill from him. Now it's such a normal feeling that she barely notices it sometimes. But times like now, when she was feeling a touch more vulnerable than normal and it became a little harder to ignore.

"Are you staying?" she asked Sonic as she rolled her brush in more paint and got back to the job in hand, already wishing it was done so she could go shower the paint out of her quills.

"I've got no where else to be," Sonic replied, getting stuck in to the paint with more eagerness than Amy expected. Smiling, happy to have the company, they worked side by side like that without hesitation and in a comfortable and easy silence. Both lost to their own thoughts as they rolled and rolled until they got the rest of the room finished in half the time it would have taken for Amy to do it alone. That was something Sonic cherished the most about his friendship with Amy - the silence. She didn't expect him to fill the void with mindless chatter, she just let him come and go as he pleased and didn't ask anything of him.

He felt the guilt and niggle of sadness that he hadn't realised she was as happy for silence and peace as he was back when they were younger.

They stopped as they met at the final wall and stood back, side by side and looked at their work. It was plain, just a generic cream that covered all of the walls. But Sonic knew it wouldn't take Amy long to brighten it with accessories, artwork and flowers. Interior design is what she's good at after-all. Even if she has never quite figured out what her own home style is yet.

They dropped their rollers and collapsed down onto the covered couch, their bodies pressed up against each other.

Sonic threw a casual arm across Amy's shoulders and she leaned her head down on his shoulder companionably. "You know Tails could have made you something that would have painted this room in no time." Sonic mentioned, his hand waving lazily in the air to gesture the room around them. He felt Amy shrug against him and mutter something unintelligible. Sonic nodded and sank more into the couch. "I know," he simply replied, unaware of how grateful Amy was that he just got it. Got her and understood what she was saying, without her having to say a word. It was a relief to be able to just shut down around him and not have it be questioned.

They sat there for a while, resting their aching hands and bodies. Before long though Amy heard Sonic's stomach rumble with hunger.

Laughing she didn't hesitate to get up from her spot on the couch, missing his warmth instantly, as she made her way to her kitchen. "Chilli dogs OK with you?" she smirked as she glanced over her shoulder catching Sonic's dopey happy reaction as he stretched out on the couch and winked at her.

"You sure know how to treat a guy." he grinned, rubbing his belly with anticipation.

Laughing Amy turned away and walked into the kitchen, this same song and dance between them so regular and familiar, she didn't even stop to think about what to do next. Her body and mind going into auto-pilot as she imagined the blissful hot shower that would come once lunch was finished. She didn't question whether Sonic would still be there when she walked back into the living room or if his staying to help her and having lunch meant anything more than a friend helping another friend out.

She just felt grateful to have him in her life at all, in whatever way she could get him.