Espio felt quite nervous when he returned home to meet Shadow, who was sitting on the couch while reading one of his history study books, as Silver was sleeping with their head resting on his lap. They were curled up on the couch holding Bunny Bun tightly.
Shadow stayed that night. The two of them talked all night about the meeting with Silver's caretaker and the information he shared with them. Espio's eyes often moved down to Silver, while they were talking Shadow was stroking their quills almost constantly, which made Espio feel uncomfortable. He had hoped to talk with Silver and give them some affection after the conversation he had with their caretaker.
The next morning, Silver was surprised they slept the whole night and didn't even notice Espio returning home. They were very happy he'd returned home, but it also felt quite awkward to not be able to talk to Espio in private as they'd been quite worried the evening before.
At breakfast, Silver didn't eat anything either. It was quiet at the table as Shadow and Espio were quite tired by talking everything through all night long. Neither of them said anything about Silver not eating as they felt quite grumpy because the house was out of coffee.
That morning, Silver and Espio kept exchanging glances because they both really wanted to talk, but with Shadow near them, it didn't seem like a good idea. They had to split up when they got to school, but they awkwardly promised to see each other at lunch. Silver went to art class and Shadow and Espio went to the library to meet up with Lanolin.
The girls perked up curiously when Silver entered the classroom. "Hey," They said uncomfortably, and their eyes moved to Honey, who didn't actually look at them. They looked a bit doubtful and carefully took the seat next to her.
"Hey, Honey."
"Hey," She responded quietly.
Ms. Rose started the lesson on aquarelle techniques. She explained how to use the materials and how you can use it in different ways. They all started to experiment by first making a colour sheet of all the aquarelles they had, to see what happens when you add more water and use it on wet and dry surfaces.
Silver looked curiously at Honey as she was quietly working with the aquarelles. "How are you doing?" They asked, concerned.
Honey rested her head in her hand and let out a deep sigh as she made another brushstroke, "Okay, I guess."
"Are you sure?" Silver asked. She shrugged her shoulders as a response. Silver bit their lip doubtfully, "I really am sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I feel so bad about it."
"It's not your fault," She said and looked upsetly down at her hands, "It's just... Why is it that the first time I actually feel something deeper for someone and I think he feels something for me too, he turns out to be gay?"
The girls looked a little painfully at her. "I really am sorry, but well, Espio hides it pretty well in public, to be honest. I didn't know he was gay either. Well, eventually I knew he was not straight, but well, I didn't expect him to be gay either," Silver explained, unsure if it would make her feel any better. "He does his best to hide it from others."
"Why, actually?" Honey asked as she looked up at them with a frown. Silver could see that she looked rather tired and confused, as if she hadn't slept so well that night. "You would expect nowadays it wouldn't be such a big deal. Why fool others?"
Silver bit their tongue and sighed, "He doesn't do it to fool anyone, but he doesn't want to let the word out. His father is a very traditional man. I heard him say that he only wanted Espio to date other reptiles," Silver blushed as they thought back to the benefit and what they heard Harold say.
Marine frowned, "You actually met his father?"
"Uhm... Well, yeah."
"So he knows about you?" Sally asked interestedly.
"Well, it's a complicated story," Silver said and cleared their throat, "I kinda went there as his girlfriend. But well... He wasn't really fond of me. I heard him talking down to Espio, he was angry because Espio brought a 'mammal' with him."
They all raised their eyebrows in surprise.
"He said," And Silver's cheeks turned slightly red, "That a chameleon and a mammal could never make healthy children."
Some of the girls chuckled quite uncomfortably, both because it was such a rude way to say such a thing and because they now knew that Espio would probably never have kids of his own.
"Yeah, it was quite weird. And when we danced, he only talked nasty about him. He's an awful man."
"Wait, what?" Nicole said suddenly.
"You danced with Espio's father? Why?" Marine asked with a confused frown.
"Well," They said doubtfully, "We were at a benefit and he asked if he could take over from Espio."
Marine raised an eyebrow and Nicole chuckled uncomfortably, understanding it must have been a weird situation.
"You two went to the benefit?" Marine asked in shock, "THE benefit?" Silver frowned confusedly at her. "November the 7th? Where only the really high-up people go?"
The girls looked towards Silver with interest and surprise.
"I guess so," They said with confusion, as they didn't understand what was so important about this specific benefit.
"How did you get in?"
"Espio asked me to come with him."
Marine frowned curiously, "Wow, wow, wait, Espio normally goes there?"
Silver shrugged their shoulders, "Well, I know he has been there before."
They all raised their eyebrows, "Why is he allowed to be there?" Sally asked curiously.
"Oh uhm well," Silver said nervously, "I think he gets invited. Something with work I guess."
The girls looked confused at each other, "What is it Espio does for work?"
Silver gulped, "Well, I'm not really allowed to say anything about it," They spoke apologetically.
"So Espio's loaded?" Nicole asked interestedly.
"Sort of, I guess," Silver said, and started to frown at their own words. Was it okay to talk about this? Had they said too much already? They looked nervously at the girls, who looked eager to ask more questions.
"Is that why you are with him?" Honey asked.
"Wait, what?! No, of course not," They said, offended, "I didn't know about it when we started getting together. I even started liking him before Shadow and I actually broke up," Silver said a bit awkwardly.
"So you cheated on Shadow with his best friend?" Nicole asked in surprise. She hadn't expected such a thing from Silver.
"No I didn't!" Silver said frustratedly, "We didn't do anything, we didn't even kiss at that time," They sighed frustratedly as this conversation wasn't going how they hoped it would go. "It all just went rather quick after Shadow and I broke up."
"Why did you actually break up again?" Sally asked with frown.
Silver let out a deep sigh, "Can we please talk about something else?" They asked, feeling conflicted by even bringing this up. They all went quiet and turned back to their aquarelles. Silver tried their best to focus, but felt conflicted by the conversation and started to worry if they had said too much. They laid down their brush and looked at all the girls, "Can you please keep all this to yourselves?" They asked worriedly, "Espio is pretty worried about everything and because of his job it's important the word doesn't spread."
Marine smiled endearingly to them, "Of course, your secret is safe with us," She assured Silver, who smiled weakly and thanked her, but didn't see the faces of the others, who nodded doubtfully.
"So..." Silver said carefully and smiled at Marine, "How was it, meeting Tails' parents?" They asked to change the subject.
She smiled brightly at them, "It actually was pretty nice."
"Tails' parents are nice, right?"
"It's maybe weird, but it's kind of awkward how nice they actually are."
Silver chuckled, "Yeah, I think I know what you mean. But I'm happy it all went well."
The rest of the lesson, they continued to experiment with the aquarelles and had some small talk to get distracted from everything Silver told them.
When class was over, the five of them made their way to the cafeteria to get some lunch. Silver smiled brightly when they saw Espio, Shadow and surprisingly Lanolin sitting at one of the tables.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Silver asked in surprise as they sat down between Espio and Shadow. They carefully held Espio's hand under the table, as they still didn't have any time to talk together, but at least it was nice to be able to do this.
Marine, Sally and Nicole also took seats, but Honey stood next to Espio and cleared her throat.
"Can I maybe talk to you?" She asked carefully.
Espio looked surprisedly at her, "Oh yes, of course," He said curiously.
Silver felt how Espio let go of their hand as he stood up from the table. Silver frowned as they saw them both walking to the other end of the cafeteria.
"Shadow and I are working on something," Lanolin said with a sweet smile, "It's good to see you again," She said with a wink.
"Wow, you have the most amazing hair," Nicole said, impressed. "What products do you use?"
Lanolin chuckled at her reaction, "It's all natural," She said with a wink, and curled her hair between her fingers.
Silver looked at Shadow, "So you're not studying for your test?"
"No no, I am, really," Shadow said quickly. "But Lanolin also needed some help with work. Besides, I've been studying almost all night."
Silver raised their eyebrows in surprise, "Wow, you're on a roll."
Shadow chuckled, "Well, it's as you said, after the tests, it will be over again. I promise for next period I will try and keep up with everything."
"I'm proud of you," Silver said with a smile.
"Well, I first need to pass that test."
"I believe you will," Silver said with a sweet smile.
Shadow smiled back at them, "That means a lot."
They all started on their lunches and Silver looked over their shoulder to see Espio and Honey talking. Espio looked down at her with a slight frown on his face. For a moment, his eyes moved to Silver, who smiled endearingly, but Espio didn't respond to that.
"Cookie?" Nicole asked, and offered the bag with cookies to Silver.
"No thank you," Silver said to turn down her offer.
"Didn't you bring lunch?" Marine asked.
Silver shrugged their shoulders, "It's okay, I'm not really hungry." They looked up as Espio and Honey returned. Silver smiled up at Espio who took his seat next to them, but he didn't make any eye contact with them. Silver frowned slightly, they carefully tried to hold Espio's hand again to make sure everything was okay, but the moment they touched hands, Espio went to take his lunch out of his bag.
Silver frowned and looked from Espio to Honey, who didn't look at them and also took her lunch out.
Thank you Zeltaris for spelling checking <3