Heartbeat.

~ Saturday. ~

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"Silver! Morning!"

I woke up once more and saw Charmy in the kitchen. He was making bowls of cereal for everyone. Vector was sitting at his desk and Espio was sitting at a chair near the couch I slept on.

"Oh, good morning." I smiled at the sight of all of the Chaotix. I looked over at the clock to see it was 10:08.

"Well, it's Saturday." Vector finished some paperwork on his desk and walked over to the kitchen.

"Done!" Charmy finished setting up the bowls of cereal.

"Silver! Espio!" Vector called for us.

"Yeah, yeah." Espio got up from his chair and held out his hand to me.

'Should I take it? Is this a trick? Why am I overthinking this?'

I gladly took his hand as he helped me get up from the couch, even though I didn't even need the help.

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"Have fun, boys!" Vector and Charmy quickly left the Agency to do work after breakfast, leaving me with Espio on his day off.

"So, what should we do?" I looked over at him.

"Hmm... What do you want to do, Silver?"

'Wait, he's asking me?!? He was the one who wanted to hang out! Well... I really wanted to hang out too, but he was the one who asked.'

"Whatever you want to do."

"Want to go to a Cafe?" Espio shrugged, not really knowing what he wanted to do either.

"Sure!" I was up for anything, as long as I was spending time with him.

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"So, you go here with friends often?" Espio asked me once we sat down at a Cafe table.

"Eh, decently often." I waved a waitress over. We placed our order and continued talking.

"Are you worried about the future? They ended up deciding to have people take turns defending the future and Blaze's dimension."

"Oh?" I was never really informed of much detail when it came to who was dealing with all of that.

"Shadow has one day off a week from protecting Blaze's dimension. He's determined to help you two have a good break."

"We'll have to go back soon..." I tried to hide the disappointment in my voice.

"Are you enjoying your break?"

"Of course! It's fun talking with Blaze and Amy. It's nice staying with you and your teammates. It's really amazing here." I wasn't lying, but of course there was something missing.

'Maybe it's better if I leave sooner than later... Maybe the future will help me get over this crush.'

"Vector said something about you this morning."

"What?" I pretended to not hear what he just said, hoping I heard it wrong.

'Vector told him?!? Are you serious? Why would he-'

"He was talking about how thankful he was of having you to protect the future. Everyone's really thankful for what you do, Silver."

'Oh... Thank goodness! I almost had a heart attack...'

"Yeah... I'm glad I make people happy." 

"So, what should we do after this?"

'Great... He's asking me once again.'

"Uh... Why don't we walk around the park?" I was not good at this at all.

"Understood."

'What am I supposed to do? Well... The best I can do is hope we don't run into Amy...'

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"I love nature." The park sure was beautiful. Trees, grass, nice paved sidewalks for people to walk on throughout the park... If only the future had more of this stuff. Of course I love nature, how could you not? It's a really nice thing.

"Yes. Nature really is amazing." Espio looked over at me. 

I was just looking all over the park. I didn't pay much attention to it before when I met with Blaze here, because I was too focused on what she was gonna say. Now, I felt relaxed and happy.

"Do you have anything you want to talk about?" I looked over at the chameleon I was walking with.

"Your naivety." 

'... My naivety? Well... I didn't see that coming. Should I be insulted? Because I'm not...'

"Yeah... I shouldn't believe everything everyone says, right?"

"Yes..."

"Do you know when my birthday is?" I stopped walking and looked him in the eyes.

"Why ask?"

"Well, do you?"

"No...?"

"I don't believe that. At least I'm not naive about something." I continued walking, victoriously. 

"... Why don't you believe that?" Espio looked shocked for a second, but he covered it up quickly.

"Shadow said Rouge spied on you and told him you had Charmy ask me about myself." There was no point in not letting him know how much I knew.

"... I see."

'I think I said something wrong... Okay, I most certainly did. But am I supposed to just sit around with information that could possibly be a lie? I need to get it confirmed.'

"So? Was he lying?" Why was I being so interrogative now? I feel like I just changed this discussion way too quickly.

"No... He wasn't."

"So you lied to me."

Silence. Uncomfortable silence. I didn't have to ruin the mood, but I did.

"I forgive you, you know. That's not that big of a deal." I laughed nervously. He just looked at me.

"I wanted to know more about you... I don't know why I didn't just ask you."

'It sounds like he was in a place similar to my own. Should I tell Blaze about this...?'

"I asked Charmy about all three of you... All of the Chaotix." I was being honest, even though I was only telling half of the story.

"... Interesting."

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"You two sure took your time!" Vector greeted us once we returned to the Agency.

"Yep! So, you both know that you asked about each other! Right?" Charmy buzzed around us in a circle.

"How did you know that?" I looked at the bee, who was still smiling cheerfully like always.

"Vector and I spied on you! That was the most awkward conversation I've seen in my life!" 

"Charmy!" Vector got up from his seat at his desk and walked over to the three of us.

"So, are you two gonna be friends now?"

"We're already friends..." I resisted the urge to shake my head at the bee.

"Oh."

"Nice job, Charmy. You told them for no reason." Vector sighed as he walked back over to his desk.