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shadamyheadcanons · 2 months

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Headcanon #296

Cross-posted on AO3.

Knuckles’s jaw was clenched, and his arms were crossed tightly over his chest. Amy’s bubbly voice floated in from the loveseat to his right. He scowled straight ahead at the wall in front of him instead of looking at her, knowing he’d only get more irritated if he did.

“Sounds like you two had a good time,” Rouge said from the armchair to Knuckles’s left.

Knuckles could see Amy’s head bob excitedly out of the corner of his eye. “Yeah! And then we went swimming by Emerald Coast,” Amy continued. “The water was beautiful!”

“Aside from the orcas,” a low voice added.

Knuckles whipped his head over without thinking. “Orcas?! Amy, are you—”

Knuckles choked on the last word. Shadow was staring back at him, eyes intense and unreadable. He was sitting directly behind Amy on the loveseat, keeping his knees apart so she could sit between them. His arms were wrapped around her midsection.

Knuckles’s eye twitched.

“Don’t worry!” Amy piped up. “Shadow was keeping an eye on me. He had a Chaos Emerald on hand just in case to warp me out of there.” She beamed over her shoulder at Shadow. He grunted and rested his chin on top of her head.

Knuckles looked away. Rouge’s lips were spread into a subtle smirk.

BEEP

Amy jumped at the sound of the oven timer. “Oh! That must be the surprise I mentioned earlier!” She hopped to her feet. “It’ll be done in just a few minutes.”

“I’ll help,” Shadow said immediately.

“Thanks!” Amy offered a hand to pull him to his feet.

Knuckles started to stand. “I’ll come, too.”

“Nope!” Amy interjected. “Someone has to keep Rouge company.” She winked.

Without another word, Amy dashed off toward her kitchen, pulling a willing Shadow along with her. Knuckles sighed.

He heard the quiet flapping of wingbeats and peeked an eye open to find Rouge had perched on the arm of the couch to lean into his personal space. “She’s turning into a real matchmaker, hmm?”

Knuckles tried to relax his muscles. “Some days, I can’t tell if she’s trying to set me up with you or Sonic.”

Rouge made an interested noise. “Now that’s an idea.”

“I don’t even want to know what you mean by that.”

In front of him, Shadow and Amy had just entered her kitchen. She opened up the oven, but Shadow nudged ahead so he could reach in and extract three cake pans from it for her. When he placed them on the stovetop, she gave him a grateful kiss on the cheek. Shadow wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, far closer than Knuckles would have liked. He grumbled.

Rouge spoke up beside him once more. “Aww, worried about your little sister?”

“She’s not my sister.”

“You don’t have to be shy about it. I think it’s sweet!”

Knuckles ignored her. Through the doorway to the kitchen, he could see Amy take out a bowl of cream from her fridge and lay out a few other ingredients. Shadow, apparently feeling quite at home in Amy’s kitchen, easily located a large mixing bowl and a whisk. She tossed the ingredients into the bowl and started whisking them together at an impressive speed. Shadow muttered something inaudible in Amy’s ear. She smiled brightly, and he stepped over to hold her from behind, peeking over her shoulder as she worked.

Knuckles felt pain in his jaw, cluing him in that he’d been clenching his teeth. He relaxed his jaw, though he kept glaring at Shadow. “Would it kill him to keep his paws to himself?”

Shadow’s ear twitched slightly, making Knuckles wonder if his enhanced hearing was keen enough to pick up on their conversation. He decided he didn’t care.

Rouge shrugged in his peripheral vision. “Aren’t all new couples like that?”

Knuckles snorted. “I expect PDA from Amy, but Shadow? He never touches anyone! And now he’s acting so...”

“Possessive? That’s because he is.”

Knuckles’s face soured. He whipped his head up to meet Rouge’s easy smile. She seemed far too happy about the situation. “You don’t think that’s creepy at all?”

Rouge scoffed and leaned back. “Not one bit. It’s just who he is.”

Knuckles squinted at her. “What do you mean?”

Rouge’s eyes flicked over to the kitchen. She sighed. “When I first met that guy, he had nothing but the shoes on his feet,” she said, keeping her voice low. Her eyes fell shut. “Gerald, G.U.N...they took everything from Shadow. His freedom. His memories. His identity. Everyone who ever cared about him.” Knuckles could see her jaw clench. “All G.U.N.’s ever given him is a goddamn motorcycle, and he loves that thing. Paints it. Maintains it. Polishes it every single weekend. He won’t even let Tails touch it.”

An unwanted pang of sympathy made itself known in Knuckles’s chest. He crossed his arms and tried to ignore it. “What does a bike have to do with Amy?”

Rouge’s eyes opened slowly. She looked as weary as he’d ever seen her. “I’m saying Shadow’s hardly had anything that’s actually his, and when he does, he keeps it close and takes damn good care of it.”

Knuckles paused. Then, he stubbornly turned up his nose. “Still sounds creepy to me.”

Rouge rolled her eyes. She grabbed his shoulder and roughly turned him to face the kitchen. “Is that really what you see?” she hissed.

Amy stood next to the counter. She’d set aside a bowl of some red, sugary substance, seemingly taking a break to hold a strawberry up to Shadow’s mouth. He took a bite right from her hand. After a moment of chewing and contemplation—far too intense for a strawberry, Knuckles thought—Shadow nodded. Amy’s smile was brilliant. He gazed down at her with an obvious softness in his eyes, then held her closer with the arm he still kept around her waist and kissed her fondly.

As he kept kissing her, though—far longer than Knuckles felt was strictly necessary—the memory of Shadow abandoning him to help Black Doom in Glyphic Canyon sprang to mind. Knuckles turned away. “Well, excuse me if I don’t exactly trust the guy. He—”

He was cut off by Rouge’s fierce growl, and her sharp nails stabbed into his shoulder, making him choke.

“I know you’re not about to trash-talk my best friend right in front of my face,” Rouge snapped, her teal eyes flashing in warning. Knuckles shrank back. “Shadow’s a good man, and he’s saved all of our asses more than once, yours included. He’s more than earned our forgiveness.”

Rouge’s wings were flared out behind her, and her fangs were bared. From his position below her on the sofa, Knuckles was bluntly reminded of why so many people were afraid of Rouge. He nodded slowly, eyes wide.

The glare remained on Rouge’s face for several seconds. At last, it faded, and she averted her gaze. The pain in Knuckles’s shoulder disappeared. He let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding, and the pounding of his heart slowed down.

Rouge let out a deep breath. After an extended silence, she spoke up again. “Do you really think Amy would put up with that kind of mistreatment?”

“She put up with Sonic running away from her for years.”

Rouge opened her mouth to reply, but then her expression pinched. “...I guess that’s fair.”

Knuckles slumped. He stared down at his feet. He could feel Rouge watching him, waiting for a response. His throat tightened.

“It’s my fault.”

Rouge’s tone was softer than before. “What are you talking about? Sonic’s the one who ran away.”

Knuckles shook his head. He kept his eyes on the floor. “No. We all did it. Sonic was immature, and Tails was just following him, but what’s my excuse? I was the oldest. I should’ve been the responsible one.”

Rouge rested her hand on his shoulder, gently this time, but Knuckles brushed it off and shook his head. “I told myself it wasn’t my business. I had my island and my Emerald, and they had their world, but...” Knuckles’s face twisted. “I abandoned her just like they did. She got kidnapped over and over, and Sonic never learned. He left her behind every time.” Knuckles snarled and punched his palm. “If I’d just knocked some sense into him, if I’d just been there for her...stood up for her—”

“Knuckles...”

His muscles went limp, and his eyes squeezed shut. “I don’t have the right to call myself her brother. Any halfway decent older brother would have protected her.”

He remained there for a while, just staring into his hands.

Rouge’s hand returned to his shoulder. He tried to shrug it off again, but she remained steadfast.

“Knuckles, you can’t blame yourself for all of that.”

Knuckles squinted up at her concerned expression at last. “It’s my fault. Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because it shouldn’t have been your job to begin with.” She shook her head. “You weren’t an adult, you were a teenager. All four of you should have had actual adults looking after you.” He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up a finger to stop him. “Eggman did the kidnapping, not you. And yeah, we all should have treated her better...” She averted her gaze. “Even me...but we were all just kids and teens doing our best out there. Don’t beat yourself up over it, Knux.”

“But—”

“No buts,” Rouge cut in. “Would Amy want you to be so hard on yourself?”

Knuckles paused. He glanced into the kitchen again, only to find Shadow and Amy were out of sight. He searched for a moment, but then he heard Amy giggle from around a corner in the kitchen and say, “You little—!”

Knuckles growled immediately. He was halfway to his feet when a gentle hand pressed against his chest to stop him. He couldn’t help but comply.

“Ah, ah! Down, boy,” Rouge teased, guiding him back down to his seat. “Does she sound upset?”

Knuckles pouted, wishing he weren’t so easily swayed. Amy turned the corner with Shadow in tow. Her mischievous laughter floated back in once more. Knuckles rolled his eyes. “...No. I guess not.”

I definitely don’t like that smug look on his face, though.

“Well, I hate to tell you this, Knuckles, but you don’t have a choice.”

Knuckles glanced back up at Rouge. Despite her words, her expression was playful. “What do you mean?”

Rouge chuckled. “You can claim you’re not Amy’s brother all you want, but she’s still your sister. She’s already decided that.”

Knuckles snorted. “What are you talking about? She’s never said that.”

“She doesn’t have to, hun. It’s all there.” At his skeptical look, she continued. “Why do you think she’s worked to get so strong?”

Knuckles waved it off. “She had to. We all did.”

Rouge crossed her arms and raised a smug brow. “So it’s just a coincidence that she specifically chose boxercise for a fighting style? She goes through a punching bag a week, just like you do.”

Knuckles thought for a moment, then snorted. “Punching things is the best way to fight. Doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out.”

Rouge smirked. “I don’t know about that. My way works just fine.” She extended one of her strong legs and rested it in Knuckles’s lap. His breath caught in his throat.

“That’s not all, though,” she continued. “Haven’t you ever noticed she just so happened to pick a red dress with a white collar? Doesn’t that remind you of anyone...?” To drive her point home, Rouge dragged one finger over Knuckles’s collarbone down to trace the white crescent shape on his chest. He gulped.

With Knuckles stunned, she was free to keep talking. “And haven’t you ever wondered why she keeps her quills down like that? Doesn’t that look familiar?”

Knuckles’s head cleared for a moment, and his attention snapped to the kitchen, where the two hedgehogs were assembling a cake. Shadow was stroking his fingers through Amy’s quills, which were immaculately styled as always to point downward. Knuckles’s heart thumped unexpectedly. “Do you really think that’s why?” he asked, barely above a whisper.

“Mhm,” Rouge crooned. “And she has to use a ton of product to do it, too. Hedgehog quills don’t do this on their own.” She shifted her hand back up to thread into his quills. “She wouldn’t do that if you weren’t worth looking up to, riiiight~?”

Knuckles’s muscles started to unwind. “Y-yeah...I guess so...”

“Sooo...don’t you think it’s time you forgave yourself...and maybe someone else, too?”

It was hard to think with Rouge’s nails gently scratching his scalp. The couch creaked underneath him as he leaned back into the cushions. “...Mmmaybe...”

He could hear the smile in Rouge’s voice as she added, “Y’know, it’s gotta be pretty nice not to have to worry about her anymore.” He tipped his head back and made a quiet, inquisitive grunt. Rouge chuckled under her breath. “She’s strong as hell from emulating you, and if all else fails, she’s got a clingy, overprotective boyfriend looking out for her now. Strong enough to flip a bus. Faster than the speed of sound. Can teleport to her side whenever she’s in danger. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“Hmmm...”

Amy was putting the finishing touches on the dessert. Shadow swiped a dollop of whipped cream from her cheek. When she looked up in curiosity, he licked it off of his thumb and smirked at her. She held back a shy giggle, and he clung to her once more to press a kiss to her temple.

Even so, Knuckles somehow felt less concerned than before.

When she puts it like that, it doesn’t sound too bad.

Rouge shifted closer, drawing his attention. “That’s half the reason he’s always all over her like this, you know,” she pointed out with a smirk. “No one’s dumb enough to mess with Shadow’s girlfriend. So long as he’s around, no one can touch her.”

Knuckles gazed up at her sincere smile for a moment, unable to argue. She kept running her fingers through his quills, and an unfamiliar warmth washed over him for the first time in a long while.

I’m...calm.

A few seconds later, though, a thought tugged at the back of his hazy mind, and he frowned, suspicious. “If that’s only half of the reason, what’s the other half?”

“You two look cozy,” Amy teased from the doorway.

Knuckles nearly jumped out of his skin. Realizing Rouge was practically sitting in his lap, he wrenched his head out of her hand and scrambled out from under her leg.

Rouge righted herself on the couch and pouted. “So rude.”

Knuckles shuffled over to take refuge on the other side of the couch, running his hands through his disheveled quills and fur to straighten things out. “Hmph.” His face burned while the others laughed. Desperate to change the subject, he fixed his gaze on the dessert in Amy’s hands. “So is that the surprise you mentioned?”

Amy glowed with pride as she presented the triple-layered cake, complete with strawberry drizzle, immaculate whipped cream swirls, and carefully-placed strawberries. “Yup! I think I finally nailed my new strawberry shortcake recipe!” She set the cake on her coffee table and straightened back up. “Let me know what you think!”

Shadow knelt next to the coffee table, plates and silverware in hand. He cut the cake with clean, precise strokes, and soon everyone had a slice.

Rouge chimed in first. “Mmmm! This is delicious, Amy!”

Knuckles nodded. The sweetness of the strawberries was mellowed out by the cool whipped cream. The light, spongy cake tied everything together perfectly. “You’ve outdone yourself this time. I think this might be your best yet,” he said through another mouthful.

Amy grinned and sat down on the loveseat to take her first bite. She squealed and kicked her feet in place. “Oooo, this is perfect!” She swallowed and added, “I’m so excited. Strawberry shortcake is my favorite!”

Knuckles paused in his chewing. “I thought your favorite was soft serve ice cream.”

“It was for a long time,” Amy said. “But then Shadow took me to this cute little bakery in Westopolis. They had the best strawberry shortcake!”

Shadow slid his empty plate onto the coffee table next to her. “Still not as good as yours.”

Amy gaped. “You’re already done?! I’ve barely—”

She cut herself off with a yelp when Shadow abruptly lifted her to sit sideways in his lap. He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Couldn’t help it. It was delicious.”

She laughed and settled easily into his arms. “You almost made me drop my cake!”

Knuckles stayed quiet while Amy told Rouge about the supposedly indispensable shoe store next to the Westopolis bakery. His focus shifted to Shadow, who seemed content to admire Amy’s bubbly demeanor instead. He held her far more closely than he had to.

He’s too handsy.

Shadow admired Amy’s enthusiasm with unusual intensity.

He’s too fixated on her.

Knuckles thought of Shadow’s past actions, some of which bordered on indefensible.

He’s got a checkered past and takes things too far.

But...

Then, Knuckles’s gaze fell upon Amy—her easy, radiant smile and the fully relaxed state her muscles only reached when she was in the complete security of Shadow’s arms.

Maybe...that actually works for her.

Amy and Rouge kept chatting. Knuckles looked back over to Shadow, who was now staring back at him, unreadable as always.

And it might be useful to have someone around to talk to who’s just as uninterested in shoe shopping as I am.

Knuckles mulled it over. Soon, he found himself thinking of things they might have in common. He was on the verge of formulating a question about martial arts or workout routines...until he caught sight of something on Amy’s neck that definitely hadn’t been there twenty minutes ago.

His blood boiled.

“Amy. WHAT. IS. THAT?!”

All conversation stopped at Knuckles’s outburst. Following Knuckles’s gaze, Rouge burst into a loud cackle.

Amy rolled her eyes. “Oh, grow up, Knuckles. We’re all adults here!”

Every muscle in Knuckles’s body tightened, and he turned his most heated glare on Shadow, the glare that made everyone else wilt.

Shadow’s unreadable face morphed into an unmistakable smirk, and he let out a smug snicker under his breath. Knuckles clenched his fists.

He can stay for Amy’s sake...but he’s still the worst.

((I will tolerate the Sonic Twitter Takeover changing Amy’s favorite dessert if they admit it happened during a Shadamy date. I think that’s fair.))

#Shadamy #Shadow the Hedgehog #Amy Rose #Sonic the Hedgehog #knuxouge #knuckles the echidna #rouge the bat #hc #a valentine's day headcanon with TWO ships? it's more likely than you think #clingy #Everyone Ships Shadamy

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