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Silver knows Sonic, in the same vague way he knows everybody that grew up in the same relatively small town as him. That's how he knows Blaze, too—until he gets shipped off to a private boarding school on a different continent when he's eleven, sees her there on the first day, and instantly latches onto her as the only slightly familiar thing in his immediate vicinity.
Thankfully, Blaze takes it in stride. She even offers to be his student mentor, an offer Silver graciously accepts.
He doesn't regret it—not really, at least. Blaze is kind and attentive; she showed him around, introduced him to new people, helps him with is homework, and is always ready to offer advice when he needs it…
But, also, she will not shut up about Sonic.
After three years, Silver knows more about Sonic than he does some of the people in his class. His birthday is June 23rd. He's a nationally ranked track and field athlete, although he's good at most sports—but not swimming, which he doesn't like. He plays the guitar; he mostly knows rock songs, but Blaze likes it best when he plays something acoustic and slow. He has a little brother who's some kind of genius. His favorite color is red. He likes to read, especially when it rains.
He's also very handsome. Blaze didn't tell him that, but she didn't have to. She shoves a picture of Sonic into his face at least once a week, and Silver has eyes; he can see that Sonic is good-looking. Most of the pictures Blaze show him feature Sonic grinning at the camera in some scenic location outside—which is also how Silver learned he likes nature and going on hikes in the weekend. Really, the only thing he doesn't know about Sonic is—
"When am I going to get to meet this guy?"
Blaze looks up from the math homework she's ostensibly doing, though Silver is pretty sure she's been doodling in the margins for at least the past five minutes. And talking about Sonic, of course. "Depends on if you're actually coming home during the break."
Silver scratches at his cheek and looks away, embarrassed. It's answer enough.
"Right." Blaze taps the back of her pen against her notebook. "Next time you don't spend the entire holiday traipsing around some foreign country, I'll introduce you."
He doesn't get to meet Sonic that year. The next year is shaping up to be the same—right up until the fateful day when Blaze checks her messages during lunch, nearly chokes on a cherry tomato, and rushes out of the cafeteria so fast it's a wonder she doesn't leave a cat-shaped cloud of smoke in her wake.
Silver doesn't get the chance to ask what that was all about until after class—and regrets doing so almost immediately.
"Sonic's in trouble. I have to go help him." Blaze clasps her hands together in front of her chest, looking so earnest that for a moment Silver can almost believe she isn't saying something completely crazy. "I'll return in time for class on Monday, so you really only have to cover for me tomorrow. Just tell people I'm sick, or something."
"Are you out of your mind?" Silver hisses. Blaze skipping class for a day is one thing; doing it because she's on a nine hour flight home for some guy is another. He frantically tries to find a convincing argument to keep her from going, but his brain is a mess. All he can come up with is: "What about the weekend?"
Blaze waves a hand. "Nobody actually cares where we are during the weekend. Come on, Silver." She turns wide, pleading eyes his way. "Please?"
Silver looks away; her sad eyes can't influence him if he can't see them. "No," he says, "This is insane. You can't just—"
"I'll tell the proctor about your cigarette stash."
Stash is a strong word. It's one pack with exactly one cigarette missing, which Silver smoked in the bathroom in an attempt to be cool before coming to the conclusion he fucking hates cigarettes. He should probably just throw it away, but he's not entirely convinced the school won't dig through the trash, find the pack, and somehow know it's his.
Silver narrows his eyes. "You wouldn't."
Blaze meets his gaze, not a trace of hesitation on her face. "Try me."
And so Blaze spends that Friday on a plane ride home while Silver bribes her roommate with—ironically—cigarettes to pretend Blaze is sick in bed, too contagious to even go see the school nurse.
Silver spends that weekend freaking out, worried Blaze is going to get caught and kicked out of school. It doesn't help that she's mostly radio silent. When she does answer his texts her responses are short. By the time she returns—Sunday night, as promised—Silver is so anxious he feels like he might explode.
He's hoping for some kind of apology. At the very least a better explanation than Sonic was in trouble. Unfortunately, what he gets is Blaze sighing dreamily about how responsible Sonic is and how good he looks in his work uniform.
Silver's seen the pictures. Sonic is handsome, sure, but not even an underwear model would be able to make that uniform look good.
The entire incident is enough to convince him that, no matter what, he needs to go home for the summer break. If Blaze is willing to sneak out of school and hop on a nine hour flight just to pay off his debt, this Sonic character has got to be pretty impressive—and Silver definitely has to meet him.
Silver is not impressed.
Fine, yes. Sonic is incredibly good-looking. And yes, admittedly the uniform isn't as unflattering in person as it had seemed in the pictures. He's charming, friendly, and funny—
But he's also kind of an idiot.
"Your head is kinda pizza shaped," Sonic says.
After waking up at four thirty to go to the airport and then not sleeping at all on the flight, Silver would have preferred to meet Sonic tomorrow, after a good night's sleep, instead of heading over to visit him at work immediately after dropping their bags off at Blaze's house—but here they are, sitting on the curb outside during Sonic's break, eating pizza.
He feels a little delirious—and yet Sonic is the one talking crazy.
"Like—" Sonic moves the slices of his half-eaten pizza so the crusts are touching, forming a shape that vaguely resembles half a cartoon sun. "See?"
Silver looks at Blaze, incredulous. Is he for real?
Blaze hums. "I see it."
…Is she for real?
"What are you fucking talking about."
"Silver," Blaze hisses, nudging him in the side, "Be nice."
Meanwhile, Sonic merely laughs. "You don't see it, huh? But man—" He locks eyes with Silver, gaze intense enough that Silver starts to feel a little flustered. "Your eyes are even sort of cheese colored. It fits."
What—and Silver really cannot stress this enough—the fuck.
Sonic looks at Blaze. "Yours too, Blaze. Guess I'll be thinking about you any time I'm at work."
He picks up a slice of pizza, apparently blissfully unaware of Blaze's entire face going scarlet beside him.
Because he's not an asshole, Silver doesn't write Sonic off based on one relatively short interaction. He keeps an open mind during their trip to the mall the next day, determined to discover what it is about Sonic that Blaze finds so appealing.
Fortunately, it doesn't take long for him to figure it out. Barely twenty minutes after they've arrived, Sonic has helped at least five people—stooping down to pick up something a little kid dropped, reaching out to steady a pile of merchandise in the arms of a clerk in a clothing store they visit when it looks like it's about to topple, catching somebody before they take a nasty tumble down a flight of stairs, and more. He doesn't even seem to be aware he's doing it most of the time, acting more on instinct than conscious thought.
It's a relief to know Sonic is, like, actually kind and selfless and that Blaze doesn't just like him because of his good looks. Silver respects Blaze's opinion, but that probably would have changed if her taste had actually been as questionable as he was first led to believe.
After a few hours of mostly browsing, they head to the food court for lunch, where Sonic immediately gets sidetracked telling off some asshole who bumped into a tween and caused them to drop their soda. He makes the asshole apologize, then goes with the tween to buy them a new drink.
"So?" Blaze asks.
Silver jumps, because he was under the assumption Blaze was still gazing after her crush like a love-struck fool. "So, what?"
"What do you think of him?"
"He's nice," Silver says, "I get why you like him so much."
Blaze smiles, wide and unrestrained in a way she usually doesn't let herself do out of concern for her image. "I'm really happy to hear that. It'd suck if my best friend didn't like my future—"
"I got everybody soda," Sonic interrupts, holding a cardboard cup holder with two drinks in it in one hand and another cup in the other.
Silver and Blaze both jump at his sudden arrival. Blaze's face turns red with impressive speed; even Silver feels himself start to blush.
"Or, well, technically the cashier got us all sodas," Sonic continues, "Apparently she saw what happened and wanted to thank us for being nice. Here."
He wiggles the cup holder in their direction and takes a noisy sip of his own drink.
Silver takes the proffered cup. With a shaking hand, Blaze reaches out to do the same. Her expression is a little pained.
For the first time—though he's sure it will be far from the last—Silver is glad Sonic is sort of stupid.
"You usually travel during the breaks, right?" Sonic asks him, once they're sitting down with their food, "Is it nice to be back home for a change or are you bored out of your mind?"
"I haven't really had the chance to get bored yet," Silver says, "I mean, I got in less than twenty-four hours ago. And anyway, I'll only be here for a week."
"Oh? That's kinda short." Sonic pauses to lick some chili from the corner of his mouth. Next to Silver, Blaze drops her fork. "Any specific reason you wanted to go home?"
"Um." He came to meet Sonic, but he can't exactly say that.
"We're just trying to make sure Silver didn't forget about this place completely," Blaze says, voice tinged with only a tiny bit a panic, "So we'll be doing stuff around town, mostly."
"Cool." Sonic takes a bite off his chili dog and continues to talk with his mouth full. "Anything in particular?"
"We're going hiking tomorrow," Silver says. It was his idea; he never realized there were that many hiking trails in this area until he saw all those pictures of Sonic on hikes.
Sonic's eyes light up. "Really? Where?"
"That trail up the mountain you showed me last summer," Blaze says, "Silver doesn't exercise much, but I think it should be doable for a beginner."
Sonic nods. "Yeah, definitely. And it has a couple spots with really beautiful views, especially when the sun is setting."
"We'd planned to go in the morning," Blaze says, "You think it's better to go in the afternoon and try to catch the sunset?"
"Eh." Sonic wiggles a hand. "You'll have to be fast on the way back to make it down the mountain before dark. Might be hard to do if Silver hasn't really hiked before. There's some hazards on the trail that are easy to miss if you're not familiar with it, especially in the dark, so—"
"You should come with us," Silver says.
Now that he officially approves, he figures he might as well play wingman.
"You know the trail, right?" He continues. "So you can watch out for us if we don't make it back before dark."
"Sure! Oh, but," Sonic's eyes dart between the two of them, "I don't wanna intrude if you two would rather be alone."
"No!" Blaze's voice is a little too loud; a couple at the next table over shoot her weird looks. She blushes and smooths down her blouse self-consciously before continuing at a more reasonable volume. "I see Silver all the time at school already, but you and I never get to hang out. Come with us. Please."
They meet up at the foot of the mountain, which is really more of a hill but gets called the mountain out of habit, around three-thirty the next day. Silver and Blaze both have a backpack with some food and a bottle of water; Sonic has a larger backpack, with extra food and water and flashlights in case they don't make it back before dark.
He walks them through the plan. A leisurely hike up to an area with picnic tables that has a nice view during the sunset; eat and admire the view until six, then start heading back down.
"The sun will finish setting a little before seven and then we'll have about half an hour of twilight before it'll be fully dark. That gives us an hour and a half to hike back down," he says, "We won't be able to take it easy like on the way up, but it should be doable, especially since we'll be going downhill."
"You've really thought this through," Silver says, impressed in spite of himself. He knows Sonic hikes a lot, but he'd still assumed he would approach it with the same happy-go-lucky attitude he seems to do everything else.
"Of course," Sonic says, "It's no fun if somebody gets hurt or dehydrated."
"All sounds good to me," Blaze says, "Shall we get going?"
They head out. Silver keeps up for the first forty-five minutes or so, then starts lagging behind.
Turns out a leisurely pace for the likes of Sonic and Blaze, who exercise regularly, is still pretty damn fast for Silver.
Sonic notices almost immediately. He slows down to keep pace with Silver and puts a hand on his shoulder. "You okay? Do we need to take a break?"
Silver shakes his head, a little too winded to speak.
Sonic's brow furrows in concern. "Let's take a break. We could all use a snack, anyway."
They take a break—at least, Silver and Blaze sit down in the grass at the edge of the hiking trail and eat a granola bar. Sonic puts his bag down beside them, houses his own granola bar in less that a second, then promptly goes off-trail and disappears.
"Sorry we're walking so fast," Blaze says, "Are you having fun, at least?"
Silver nods. "This area is really pretty. I can't believe I've never been."
"There are some nice hiking trails near our school, too," Blaze says, "Maybe we can get a weekend pass sometime and go hiking."
Silver pulls a face.
Blaze laughs. "Got it. Hiking's not your thing."
Sonic returns from wherever he went off to, carrying a stick that's only a little shorter than he is, about as thick around as three of his fingers.
"Found one! Here," he holds the stick out for Silver to take, grinning, "a walking stick. The incline is gonna get a tiny bit steeper soon, but this should make it a little easier to manage."
Silver blinks and accepts the stick. "Thanks. You didn't have to get me this."
Sonic waves him off. "Hey, no worries. There are plenty of big sticks in the woods here, so it wasn't hard to find."
They continue. Silver insists Sonic and Blaze shouldn't slow down on his behalf, but he's pretty sure they do anyway. The walking stick helps him keep up, especially when—as Sonic had warned—the path starts to slope up more.
After another hour of walking they stop to rest again. Sonic actually sits with them this time, though he's up and moving again in under a minute. Silver gets the impression he's not great at sitting still.
The last leg of the journey only takes half an hour; they make it to the picnic area near the top of the mountain a little before five.
"Exactly according to plan!" Sonic announces triumphantly. "In half an hour the lighting will really be perfect, so we should walk a bit further to the scenic overlook to really enjoy the view."
Silver is already enjoying it plenty. They're high up enough that any buildings are hard to see, making it seem like an uninterrupted view of nature. Even when they sit down at one of the picnic tables, he can hardly tear his eyes away.
He goes to plenty of exotic places on holiday, but he mostly visits cities. Nature is hard to come by.
"And?" Sonic's tone is smug. "Was the hike worth it, in the end?"
"Definitely," Silver says.
"Silver really likes nature," Blaze explains, "He even started a gardening club at school. Ah, but," she lowers her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "he's not that good at it."
"Hey!" Silver flushes, embarrassed. It's true that he struggles to get anything to grow more often than not, but he's trying.
"Don't be embarrassed," Blaze says, "I think it's sweet that you try."
Sonic nods. "Yeah. It's cool that you're so passionate. Trying hard at something even if it doesn't always work out immediately…" He smiles. "I think that's really admirable."
Oddly, Silver's blush only intensifies at that.
He spends the next few minutes valiantly attempting to tune out the conversation, until Sonic gets up and announces they should head to the overlook. Silver leaves his walking stick behind; it's only a two minute walk. How bad could it be?
When they get to the overlook, he has about one second to admire the—as advertised—absolutely breathtaking view before his foot slips and he nearly falls flat on his face.
Sonic catches him. Somehow, impossibly—like, it's physically impossible; he was falling forwards—Silver finds himself being dipped like some kind of princess. Sonic's face hovers above him, haloed by the setting sun; beyond that is the cloudless sky, dyed in shades of pink and orange.
It might be an even better view than the one they're here to see.
A swarm of butterflies erupts in Silver's stomach and all he can think is oh, fuck.