Exposed to a Rose, Chapter 1

Sonic was cocky. He had a go-to attitude, and he would never back down. He could, and would take any challenge that life threw at him as if it were a game. He laughed in the face of death and trampled over those who challenged his speed. He won metals for saving the world; he even had girls just begging to have eye contact with him, for Pete's sake! There was nothing he couldn't do, right?

Being the brave, courageous, and frankly cocky guy that he was, he naturally took it upon himself to get into plenty of trouble. This included fighting off Eggman's dastardly deeds, racing those insane enough to dare question his agility, and of course…

Bets.

When Sonic had mocked that Knuckles couldn't keep himself from falling for Eggman's silly tricks within the time frame of a month, Knuckles was, of course, greatly offended. He was a great guardian, and by gone it, he was anything but gullible, right? They argued over such petty things before, and this was no different from the rest of them. Sonic would argue that that Knucklehead couldn't keep himself from tumbling into the depths of gullibility in even thirty days, and the red echidna would retort that he could keep himself from it for the rest of his life.

They had grown tired of their previous fights, where there was never a proclaimed winner. The brawl would always end with Knuckles tossing punches at Sonic and him swiftly avoiding them, leading them absolutely nowhere in the end. The only real way to settle this very, very important argument was to solve it in a mature, orderly conduct.

Or, in other words, make a bet.

Considering that it would be hard to proclaim a winner when it came to the entirety of Knuckles' lifetime, they made a compromise. If the echidna fell for any foolish tricks that Eggman, or even Rouge, gave him within the timeline of ninety days, he would have to be Sonic's "slave" for three weeks.

Now, Knuckles on the other hand, wasn't into such ludicrous things as material items or, for that matter, "slaves". He didn't want Sonic hanging around him for three weeks. He wanted Sonic away from him. He wanted to know that Sonic was off paying for the incredibly rude and downright inaccurate remark he had made. Now, there was only one thing the guardian could think of that Sonic wouldn't dare try on his own.

He would have to ask Amy Rose on a date.

Not just a date, but instead a date of her choosing. She could make him go anywhere her little heart desired, and there was absolutely, positively nothing that Sonic could do about it.

As for Sonic - in his mind, there was no way he could lose. Eggman was overdue for his monthly scheme. The cerulean hedgehog estimated that, since Eggy came over for a 'visit' about once every thirty days, and that the bet lasted for ninety, it would leave Sonic with three chances to get the Doctor to use Knuckles as a tool and for the echidna to crack.

Now, how was Sonic supposed to know Eggman had taken a vacation to the sensational islands of Hawaii? And how was he supposed to know that the trip, indeed, lasted longer than ninety days?

I mean, what kind of person takes vacations that long, anyways?

On the last day of the bet, Knuckles was immensely satisfied with himself. Not only did he confirm his honor, but he also got to get that carefree little nit-wit a taste of his own medicine.

Heck, maybe he'd enjoy the date, how was he supposed to know? He didn't really care; He could care less about the prize. He just wanted to know that he had won. He had proved himself to be a magnificent guardian, and he'd get to see Sonic squirm for one of the first times in his life. Even if he ended up having a blast with the pinkette, he'd still have his honor.

Heck, maybe they'd become a couple and Amy would thank him for making her love life so much easier for her. I mean, anything's possible, right?

Knuckles had a proud, beaming smile laced upon his muzzle as he paraded to Sonic and Tails' house. He had never felt so alive. Everything had gone as he had planned; everything went smoothly. For once in his life, he'd get to laugh in his face. No longer could Sonic mock him – he wouldn't dare. Not after he was proven so utterly and inconceivably wrong.

The echidna knocked on the wooden door before him, trying not to break his fist through the door entirely with his great impeccable strength. The thumping of the door was like music to his ears. Man, was he feeling good today or what?

After pounding on the door a couple more times simply to take in the thrilling sound of it all, he was greeted in the doorway by an all too familiar golden fox. To no surprise to him and his friends, the boy before him had two tails swishing whimsically behind him.
Tails flashed a welcoming smile at his old friend, "Hey, Knuckles! What's up?"

"Sonic's home, right? I need to talk to him." The look on the echidna's face was radiating such delight that it nearly frightened the fox. Seeing Knuckles like this – heck, seeing Knuckles at all – wasn't a very common occurrence. Usually Knuckles was off, working on his sole duty of guarding the master emerald and, when seen, had a more serious (or gullible) nature to his presence.

"Uh… Yeah! He's in the kitchen I think…" The fox trailed off, tilting his head questioningly. He had honestly no clue what had come over his friend or why he wanted to see Sonic. You'd think that if Knuckles were this happy he'd want to stay away from the arrogant blue hedgehog that could easily take him from ecstatic to furious in seconds. "Why? What's the occasion?"

"That's not important right now." Knuckles was starting to get impatient. Though, it was an odd thing for him. It was as if he were turning into Sonic himself. "What is important is that I get to talk to him. Right now."

"Whatever you say, Knuckles." The fox stepped to the side, inviting Knuckles into his humble abode.

Knuckles walked—scratch that—Knuckles strutted to the kitchen, leaving Tails in utter astonishment as he watched his serious and somewhat-modest friend flaunt across the room to the kitchen. This day had truly gone off to a very, very weird start.

As Knuckles entered the kitchen, he caught the attention of a certain blue hedgehog, who continued to nonchalantly sit on the kitchen's counter and eat one of those ever so delectable, spellbindingly amazing chilidogs. At least, that's how Sonic would have worded it.

"Hey, Knux!" Sonic spoke with his mouth full of chili. Most would call such behavior unmannered, but Knuckles wasn't one to know table etiquette, so he couldn't judge. The figure on the counter top stuffed the last bite of his snack into his mouth and swallowed. "What's up?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten, hedgehog!" Man, he couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he told him the news.

"Okay, I won't."

"… Huh?"

"… That was a joke. You told me to not tell you that I forgot, so I told you I wouldn't—oh, never mind." he rolled his emerald eyes at his 'friend's naivety. Man, this guy was just hopeless! "But seriously, why are you here? It ain't every day I see you coming here."

"Well, I just came to wish you luck on your date with Amy." Knuckles smiled at his cleverness cockily and lowered his brow in satisfaction, just waiting to see the look on that cocky good-for-nothing-except-maybe-saving-the-world hedgehog's face.

He was anything but disappointed as he studied the hedgehog's facial expressions. At first, the blue teen raised one of his brows in a 'what on earth are you talking about?' kind of manner. Then, his face slowly molded into a look of utter horror - complete wide eyes and mouth agape. He quickly jumped off of the counter, and hustled to the Knucklehead in front of him.

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait! It hasn't even been three months yet—" he spoke quickly with fear obviously present. The poor boy was frantic; there was no way, no how he was going to go on a date with Amy. And there as absolutely no way he'd let her pick the destination. Who knows what she'd pick—a wedding chapel? "Has it?"

"As a matter of fact, it has! And guess what? Not once have I even so much as seen Dr. Eggman! You know what that means, right?" The echidna knew he was getting a little carried away, but he didn't care. After realizing that Sonic wasn't answering his oh so cleverly worded question, he answered it for him. "I won. And you lost."

Sonic was arrogant. He had a can-do attitude, and could laugh in the face of danger… but to ask Amy out on a date?

That's a whole different story.