Author's Note: This is a quick Shadow/Amy one-shot I found lying around on my computer, based on the song "Waste My Time" by Saint Asonia. They're pretty rad. I encourage you to check them out. Read, review, and enjoy.

There's no reason at all.

You realize this as you're both walking across that bridge that's her favorite. She lets go of your hand when she sees the butterfly crossing your path, and she giggles when it perches upon her delicate fingers. Its luscious, crystal-blue wings flutter slightly when she presents it to you, and you can only stare at it and try to hide your curiosity.

Your hand reaches up to hers, and her gloved fingertips brush yours when you try to let the blue insect cross over onto your index finger. Instead it flickers like azure lightning and flies onto your nose. Shocked and frightened, you back up into the fence that keeps in the idiots like you that try to jump off the bridge and into the lake below.

She laughs even though she tries not to and rescues you from the scary butterfly. "Silly."

You can't help but smirk at the nickname she has devised for you. Your face flushes with color and you feel your insides go numb.

But the thought still gnaws at the back of your brain.

Your smile fades.

There's just… no reason.

"Hey, what's the matter?"

Her head cocks to the side, and her jade eyes glimmer with sparkling innocence and joy amidst the confusion in her voice. She sweeps those pink bangs out of her vision in order to see you more clearly. You remember shyly how she had asked you that day if she should let her hair grow long. You blushed and shook your head at her and acted like you couldn't care less. But somehow she figured out that you thought she looked impossibly cuter with long hair.

"What's with the frown? C'mon."

She grabs your hands in hers and swings them around, but you stay stationary. She pauses and puffs one of her cheeks full of frustrated air to let you know that you're being totally lame.

There's this long silence that seems to fill the whole park, and even the cicadas seem to have gone quiet. The virgin autumn leaves come falling like rain as a gust of wind blows through and across the bridge. Red, green, and yellow brush tumbles through the sky and sprinkles down onto the lake below. The fabric of that viridian dress that she knows you like flutters softly in the breeze.

"Why?" you finally ask.

Her eyes widen. "Why what?" she asks back.

You try to look at her, but you fail. Talking to her has never been this difficult. "Why do you do this to yourself?"

She still doesn't understand. One of her hands touches your face and turns you towards her. You've told her countless times that you wish she wouldn't do that, but the amber color that paints your skin tells her otherwise.

"Why do I do what?"

You get frustrated and pull away, turning to look over the bridge and into the water below. The clear, summer surface reflects your image perfectly. Too perfectly. You look off into the trees instead.

"I'm not interesting," you tell her. "I'm not a hero. I'm not handsome. You're just…"

There's another long pause.

"You're wasting your time," you find the words at last.

You're surprised when she wraps her arms around you from behind and lays her head on your shoulder. Her bubblegum locks tumble down the front of your jacket and tickle your nose. She glances up at you from her place beside you, her arms squeezing harder to let you know that she's really there. Then she smiles that crescent-moon smile and grins at you with her sunlit-emerald orbs.

"I like wasting time with you, silly."

You feel her soft lips peck your cheek, and then you hear her giggle like a schoolgirl as she pulls away.

It's at that moment you realize, with a smile of your own, that she loves you not because of what you do. Not because of the way you look.

You take her hand in yours and kiss her back. You're Shadow the hedgehog. And she loves you for you.

She's Amy Rose. And you love her for her.

And you like wasting time with her.