Shadamy one shots.

Roses bleed red. (Shadamy Week 2023- Day 2)

There were roses on her doorstep every morning. At first, she thought it was from Sonic. No, she'd hoped it was from Sonic. But Sonic would never remember to de-thorn roses. Whoever left these, didn't want her to hurt her fingers.

Didn't want her to bleed.

Cute.

Amy loved the roses. They were her little secret. She loved waking up in the early hours of the morning, and finding the little beautiful rose on the cobblestone outside her door.

Always a rose. A single rose. No thorns.

So romantic.

Amy knew if she shared this little secret with her friends, they would worry for her; That she had a stalker, who knew her address and was so consistent in his affection for her, for Amy had been receiving a solitary rose every day for a little over a year now.

She preferred to think of him as her secret admirer.

It was a nice feeling, to know that she was being adored from afar. She knew she could easily take down any stalker if he did try to break into her house and demand her affection, but something told her that maybe this person wasn't like that. Maybe it was his patience to leave her a rose on the daily, maybe the fact that he cared enough to de-thorn them for her safety; so that she may never prick her fingers, never bleed.

Call it intuition, a hunch or even innate clairvoyance, but she knew that this person meant her no harm.

Her friends noticed a change in her. Slowly, but there indeed was a change. She no longer chased Sonic for his affection, and that, in itself, came as a huge surprise. Especially once when she snapped at him for his immature taunts at loving him.

"Sonic, could you please shut up!"

The room went still. Someone choked on their drink. Sonic shifted from one foot to another awkwardly.

"Woah, Ames, don't get so mad, I was only joking."

"Sonic when you do grow up and realize we're not 15 anymore, you would know that joking about a girl's feelings is for assholes!" Amy glared at him furiously, despite the whole briefing room being filled with the freedom fighters, who were waiting for an update on the new Eggman base and attack plans.

Someone choked on their drink again and Knuckles was growling, "For Chaos' sake, Rouge, get that drink out of Shadow's hand before he chokes to death!"

A shift went through the gathering as the friends tried to pretend they hadn't just heard Amy rip Sonic a new one.

Vector the crocodile chugged both his and Charmy's drinks, oblivious to the young bee protesting by his side. Rouge barely heard Knuckles ask her to help the wheezing Shadow, completely engrossed in the drama, with a smirk on her face. Knuckles, in turn, began to bang Shadow's back to help him, earning him an angry hiss from the ebony and red hedgehog.

Espio the chameleon turned to his new girlfriend, Momo the Red Panda, apologizing for the unprofessionalism of his friends. Espio followed it up with a suggestion that perhaps the two could venture on their own to figure out what Eggman was up to. And perhaps seek some peace together away from the chaos unfolding before their eyes.

To his dismay, however, Tails chimed in, wanting to come along as he sensed that the storm that was brewing will not soon cease.

And Tails was right.

No sooner had the trio stepped out of the room, that Sonic opened his mouth to blurt the most ridiculous thing he could have ever said,

"Ames, I was talking to you as my friend, not as a girl."

That did her in. Completely. Sonic didn't even realize she was a girl and that girls feel in different ways. That dumb 19-year-old blue-

"Rose, Stop!"

In a flash of green light, Shadow was by her side, holding her arm, preventing her from unconsciously crushing the azure hedgehog with her Piko Piko hammer she didn't even realize that she had summoned.

Amy blinked. Her heart thumped a mile a minute in her chest. Had it taken her so little to want to murder someone she had fancied all he life?

Huh, Amy never thought she would ever be able to relate to Dr Eggman, but here she was, wanting to crush Sonic into nothingness.

"Walk with me, Rose," Shadow said quietly, his hand holding her arm back. He could see the wild look in her eyes, the fire that raged within. He looked at her as though he understood what she was feeling right then and there.

Her eyes grew wide. Of course, he did. Shadow the Hedgehog was yet another person who was often riled by Sonic's immature antics. She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding and nodded, averting her eyes. The Piko hammer in her hand disappeared and she hurried out, unable to look at the shock in the rest of the eyes staring at her; unable to look at the horror so clearly apparent on Sonic's face as he digested that one of his oldest friends wanted to smash him into the ground.

Amy was horrified at what she was almost going to do. She hugged herself, miserable, as she hurried off. It scared her; how little of a push it took her to turn into a straight-up villain.

She knew Shadow was following close behind, his longer legs striding slowly, but keeping up with her pace. His hands were deep inside the pockets of his leather jacket.

She sighed and stopped, turning around to look up into those brown eyes.

"Shadow, what's wrong with me?"

He chuckled.

"Absolutely nothing, Rose. It just happens that..."

He paused, moving to a nearby bush to pluck a rose and skilfully snapped its thorns, before holding it out to her.

"Roses have thorns. And thorns bleed. Sonic is a fool for not having figured that out."

But Amy was staring at him open-mouthed in a mixture of shock, delight and pure disbelief.

"You," she said softly, "The roses were from you..."

Shadow's face instantly changed. Was that agitation she saw in his eyes? He tried to speak, gulped, closed his mouth and tried again. No words.

But Amy was frowning now.

She plucked the rose from him and twirled it with her fingers; her frown deepened.

"Roses have thorns you say, yet you give me roses with no thorns, Shadow." She looked up at him, fierce determination radiating from her.

"Are you asking me to embrace my thorns or deny them?'

Shadow took in a shaking breath. A moment passed. Then another.

"Embrace your thorns, Rose. Be as wild and fierce as you please, and never, never let anyone decide that for you."

She smiled, then blushed.

"And what if my thorns hurt you, Shadow?"

He smirked, taking her hands gently into his own.

"For you, my Rose, I'll bleed if you want me to."