#sonic ship server requested shadamy short fic and it was well received so I'm posting it here!!!!

[tk-writer]

what's in a rose? [shadamy]

The spring sun falls upon Shadow’s shoulders, warming his dark fur as he takes careful steps down the cobblestone path leading to Amy’s garden. Blue and purple windflowers greet him as he walks through the wooden gate, leading him to the pink hedgehog with garden gloves full of dirt and weeds. She’s surrounded by pink roses, like her namesake, and when his eyes fall on her long quills and rosy cheeks he wonders for a moment if he’s stumbled into a fairy tale.

He clears his throat, alerting her of his presence. She turns around and smiles warmly when she sees him, wiping the back of her hand across her sweaty forehead.

“Hey, Shadow! Can you hand me that trowel over there?”

She points to a wheelbarrow full of gardening tools, all of which Shadow is unfamiliar with. He walks over and starts to sift through them, eventually grabbing something that looks kind of like a triangular spatula. He brings it back to Amy and her face lights up when he hands it to her.

“Thanks a ton!” she gives him that charming, sunny smile of hers, and his heart melts once more.

He squats down and starts pulling out some of the weeds growing near the bushes. Careful, not too hard, her voice echoes in his head, or else you’ll hurt the flower’s roots, too.

She hums a little tune as she works, occasionally stopping to wipe the beads of sweat off her brow. He reaches out to brush away the pink quills plastered against her cheeks, but stops himself before she notices. When she looks at him again, he turns his face away. He feels his own cheeks grow warm, and no matter how hard he tries to suppress it, the reddened color doesn’t go away. His eyes dart back to the ground, and he prays that she hadn’t noticed.

“It’s been really nice having you help me out in the garden lately,” she sings in a bubbly voice. “These weeds are no joke! They’re practically taking over my poor flower beds.”

“Think nothing of it,” he says in a quiet voice.

“Why’d you offer to help, anyway? I didn’t think that gardening was your thing.”

Shadow falls silent again as he searches his mind for a reasonable answer.

Was it because he wished to take some of the burden off of her sunburnt shoulders?

Was it because he wanted to bury pieces of himself in the ground in hopes of growing something new that she could love, too?

Or was it because Amy was the most beautiful rose in the garden, and watching her blossom under the sun made flowers bloom within his own heart?

In the end, he simply shrugs in response.

Someday he’ll tell her how much he loves the aroma of flowers and the way she smiles at him with dirt-stained cheeks, as if he’s her favorite flower.

But for now, he’s happy just to be beside her. Dirt and all.