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Chapter Text

In his bout of rage, as he slammed the front door to his home so violently behind him that it shuddered on its hinges, Shadow completely neglected to lock it.

In his defense, however, could he truly be blamed for such an oversight? Because when one was as mad, as enraged, as livid as he was, there was no time to be wasted on a triviality such as locking a door. No, what he needed was an outlet for his anger, and as his scathing gaze surveyed the tidy and pristine layout of his home before him, he realized with dismay that unless he wanted to spend more time cleaning up after a rampage than actually blowing off some steam, he was going to have to reign it in. Get his fury under control.

With a sharp growl, his fingers curled into tight fists at his side. Punching a hole in the wall was certainly tempting. Beyond tempting. However, he held himself back, knowing that shattering the drywall would not fix his problem, and certainly not return to him what had been lost.

His damn Chaos Emerald.

What was one of his most prized possessions, after perhaps his motorcycle and a photo of Maria he kept tucked away in the drawer of his bedstand, was no longer, well, in his possession.

It had been stolen from him on a G.U.N. mission he had embarked upon that morning. The objective was standard affair, nothing out of the ordinary. Infiltrate one of Eggman’s bases, steal a hard drive suspected to contain the blueprints and schematics of his upcoming evil plans, and return the hard drive to G.U.N. headquarters. Nothing spectacular, and yet, despite the simplicity of it, Shadow hadn’t been properly informed of the sheer number of forces that Eggman had equipped his lair with, because if he had known, he maybe would have gone in with backup. Shadow almost always did solo missions, though he did know his limits and when soliciting the services of Rouge and Omega would be in his best interest.

But that was beside the point. Because the point was, due to the overwhelming number of Badniks, his red Chaos Emerald had been knocked from his quills during a particularly nasty scuffle, and before Shadow had the chance to retrieve it, his precious Emerald had been snatched up by a smaller robot who had immediately taken off at an alarming speed. Which only promised certain doom for the insignificant Badnik, however, right as he had been about to pursue it with a baring of his teeth and a vicious growl, Eggman had shown up, distracting him and forcing Shadow to focus on the mission at hand.

Ultimately, he had been successful in retrieving the hard drive. But recovering his Emerald? That was a different story.

Delivering the hard drive to G.U.N. had been done with a monstrous scowl that made every single lower-level employee scramble out of his way as he had stormed through the hallways of the headquarters. And filling out his G.U.N. paperwork and reporting the loss had simply rubbed salt into his bleeding and oozing wound, his jaw clenched and teeth gritted the entire time he typed out the post-mission note with each slam of his fingers against the keyboard threatening to smash the damn thing into a million fragments.  

Because the truth was, obtaining Chaos Emeralds was an absolute chore. An agonizing endeavor that made Shadow want to pull out his quills in agony. They were ridiculously hard to come by, either due to being elusive and their location a secret locked behind riddles and rumors, or because they were in the possession of someone powerful enough to make retrieval a headache. And while Shadow was reluctant to label Dr. Eggman as powerful, his antics certainly did make him a headache, and it was because of this thought that a fresh wave of anger surged within him, the temperature in his core igniting and bringing his mood to a violent boil.

The wall (and the image of his fist through it) was looking more and more enticing by the second.

But no. Doing such a thing would solve nothing, other than perhaps bring him temporary reprieve. Down. He needed to cool down.

With a slow inhale through his nose, Shadow closed his eyes, forcing the fists by his side to uncurl and for his fingers to relax. It was a herculean task, but as he exhaled through his mouth, and then repeated the steady breathing process for a few more cycles, he finally felt the cutting edge of his wrath begin to dull, his anger receding in miniscule increments, but still receding all the same.

This was fine. Everything was fine. It was just his Chaos Emerald; he would find another one, he would just have to work for it. There were seven of them, after all. If doing a reconnaissance mission with the Doctor wasn’t feasible, then he could find a different one. All he would have to do was be patient, and one would make itself known.

Naturally, the solution to his little problem would present itself mere moments later, though not in a way that Shadow would expect nor give him much joy.

In fact, as Rouge opened the unlocked door to his home, announcing her presence with an exuberant and flirty, “Knock-knock, Shadow!” even though she didn’t even bother to knock at all and just let herself in, Shadow actually felt his rage return twofold as his eyes flew open at the intrusion and his head snapped towards where Rouge twirled her fingers in greeting.

He didn't even bother to try to prevent the white-hot vitriol from seeping into his tone. “Get out,” he snarled, his loosened fingers immediately tightening back into clenched fists. “I’m not dealing with you right now.”

To be honest, he almost never wanted to deal with Rouge. However, it was important to note that now, especially right at that very moment, he absolutely did not possess the capability to deal with her antics. Shenanigans, buffoonery, just plain heckling… whatever it was she had in store for him was almost certainly going to make him punch that hole in his wall he had tried so desperately to avoid doing.

Instead of reacting to his violent vehemence with something normal, like fear or caution, Rouge simply smirked at him, her eyelids lowering lazily as she closed the door behind her and leaned up against it. Casual, unbothered, and ultimately, the complete antithesis to Shadow’s stormy demeanor. “Oh come on now, Shadow, is that really any way to say ‘Hello?’”

Her nonchalance irked Shadow to no end, so with a ferocious bearing of his fangs that would have struck terror into the heart of literally anybody else, he growled. “Whatever it is you want from me, it’s going to have to wait.”

He wasn’t an idiot. Shadow knew she was here for something, Rouge never just showed up unannounced without a purpose. There was always a motivation with her, and while some of them were obvious and glaring, they were just as frequently hidden. Concealed under a mirage of innocence, something that Shadow didn’t buy for a damn second.

Predictably, she played the innocent card. Shadow shouldn’t have expected anything more from her. “Want something from you?” she asked, infusing as much hurt and offense into her tone as she theatrically placed a delicate hand on her chest. “You wound me, Shadow. Is it really such a crime to want to stop by and say hi to my closest, most dearest friend?”

“When it comes to you? Yes,” he retorted hotly.

His eyes narrowed as she made her way into his kitchen, sliding into a seat at the high-top counter right across from him. Her seat, he distantly realized; the amount of times he had come home to find her sitting there, eating things she had helped herself to from his fridge was innumerable. It had gotten to the point that he had half a mind to start sending her invoices to pay half of his grocery bill, but he digressed. Coming home to Rouge intruding on his space was usually nothing more than a minor nuisance, but right now, he didn’t have the bandwidth for her diablerie as he moved to stand almost protectively in front of his fridge. So help him Gaia, if she attempted to finish off the last slice of his strawberry cake, he was actually going to slaughter her.

Thankfully, she didn’t make a move for his fridge, instead propping an elbow up on the table and using it to settle her cheek onto in an overly casual manner. Something that made Shadow’s quills bristle in stark, defensive anticipation. “And what if I did want something from you, hm, Shadow?”

“I’m not letting you in my fridge.”

Rouge laughed at this. “I already stopped by earlier when you weren’t here. You need to go grocery shopping, your food selection is quite slim at the moment.”

Shadow’s eye twitched. He hated the fact that he hadn’t been aware of Rouge’s intrusion, and he hated the fact that his strawberry cake slice that he had been so defensive over was probably already gone, if she had visited while he had been out on his mission.

Which reminded him.

He had lost his Chaos Emerald.

Just thinking about it made a fresh surge of rage swell up within him, and seeing Rouge’s sultry, smug face just heightened his frustration. His patience was wearing thin, to put it lightly.

“What. Do. You. Want.”

“Other than for you to go grocery shopping?” She snickered, mirth coloring her voice before she sobered up, removing her cheek from her palm as she steepled her fingers together and leaned forward over the counter. “I have a proposition for you, Shadow.”

Shadow was immediately uninterested in whatever degenerate debauchery she had in mind. “No. I’m busy.”

“Are you? Looks like you’re just standing rather angrily in your kitchen right now. You don’t seem very busy to me.”

Damn. She had a point.

Not wanting to admit it, though, Shadow folded his arms as he glared at her over the tip of his nose. Rouge was stubborn, a trait he admired and detested depending on the day and his mood. Whatever she wanted, he knew that the quickest way to get her out of his place would be to hear her out and allow her to get whatever stupidity she needed to bother him with out of her system.

And so, he tersely bit out, “If I agree to let you tell me whatever your stupid little proposal is, will you promise to leave right after?”

Rouge brightened as his acquiescence, begrudging and gruff that it was. “You have my word,” she promised smoothly, and then without waiting for Shadow to acknowledge her or give a reply of affirmation, clasped her hands together and pinned him with a serious, no-nonsense look. “Sonic’s hosting a game night to kick off summer tomorrow. I want you to come with me.”

Shadow blinked, the forwardness and absurdity of her request taking him off guard for a moment, before his eyelids lowered back into their permanent scowl. “No.” He tilted his head towards the door. “Now leave.”   

“Oh, come on Shadow! You won’t even consider it?!”

His lip curled in disdain. “Absolutely not.”

“Why not?!”

“Because it sounds stupid.” He let out a huff of disbelief, the mere thought of it making his gorge rise. “And I hate Sonic and find his friends annoying.”

There was something indecipherable that flashed across Rouge’s face at this statement, something that if Shadow had to assign a description to it, could be labeled as pensive. It was fleeting, though, as it was quickly replaced with indignation as Rouge continued to protest. “How would you know that you don’t like it if you don’t even try to go?”

Shadow outwardly scoffed at this. “I don’t need to attend to know that it would be a waste of my time,” he snipped. He could think of several other ways he would rather spend his evening, and at the top of that list, he needed to go look for a new Chaos Emerald. “Why do you want me to come to this so damn bad, anyways.”

Rouge settled him with an austere look, one that was formal and practiced and put Shadow on edge.  “We have an odd number of people. Sonic asked if we could help him find one additional person for the event he has planned for tomorrow.”

Shadow looked her up and down, skeptical. “That’s it? You just need one extra person?”

There was that flash in Rouge’s expression again, of something mysterious and unknown, before she was able to school her expression into one of complete, serious neutrality as she nodded with resolution.

In response, Shadow snorted his disgust. “That’s the stupidest reason I have ever heard of.” His fingers drummed against his folded arms in pure derision as he afforded himself a few extra seconds to contemplate it, before shaking his head. “No. I’m not doing it. Find someone else.”

“Oh please, Shadow, why not? It’ll be fun!”

“Why me? Can’t you just get Omega to help you or something?”

“He’s a robot, Shadow. He doesn’t know what fun is.”

“And you’re implying that I do?”

He brought up a valid argument, one that Rouge didn’t bother to refute as she instead rolled her eyes and fished behind herself to retrieve something. And before Shadow could ask her what the hell she was doing, and why she had chosen the absolute worst possible time to ask him to do something as asinine as go to one of Sonic’s stupid game nights with her just to even out the damn roster, as if he was just some character on a video game selection screen, she pulled out something that made his jaw drop. It may have seemed like an exaggerated expression, but truthfully, what glowed, sparkled, and pulsed in her gloved hand shocked him to his core.

She was holding up a Chaos Emerald.

It wasn’t his, granted, but it was still one of the coveted seven gems nonetheless. Green and glowing, glimmering with energy and power that sang to him and called his name in a melodious whisper, Shadow could hardly believe his eyes.

“You— how did you get that?!” he demanded, his voice a mixture of indignation and incredulity.

Rouge, who had been admiring the gem as she rotated her wrist, doing so in such a way Shadow just knew she was trying to entice him with how it caught and reflected the light in a way that made fractal patterns dance and twirl on the walls, tore her gaze from the Emerald to apprehend Shadow. “I have my ways,” she said simply, which made something irritated thrash around in Shadow’s stomach as the furrow between his brows deepened. “Believe it or not, this is my spare. Stunning, isn’t it?”

At this, Shadow sputtered in outrage. Two? Two Chaos Emeralds?! What the actual hell— why did she have two?! And when had she gotten those?!

The more he stared at it, the damn thing almost offensive with how he had just lost his own hours earlier, sparkling and taunting him as Rouge simpered over at him, Shadow’s already enraged state darkened as he refocused his fury onto the Emerald’s holder. “Why are you showing me this.”

“I thought that it might interest you, perhaps.” It was hard to hold her gaze as she continued to twist and turn the Emerald, and Shadow had to focus on regulating his breathing to prevent himself from lunging over the high-top counter of his kitchen and just snatching it from her. “I heard that you lost yours during your mission… what a shame, truly. Although I must say, you really need to be more careful with these things, Shadow, they are awfully hard to come by.”

Despite himself, Shadow pressed his fingers in agitation to his temple, attempting to massage away the massive headache he felt rolling in like a storm cloud. “No need to remind me,” he bit out through gritted teeth, clenching his jaw to prevent himself from hurling something more vitriolic her way.

“What do you think, Shadow?” she asked sweetly, her saccharine voice sickening on his ears. “It’s quite the beauty isn’t it? Certainly far more appealing than that red one you used to have.”

Shadow’s eye twitched. He had actually liked his red Chaos Emerald, thank you very much. He always felt it had gone rather nicely with the highlights in his quills, not that he would ever admit to caring about such a superficial thing out loud, of course. “What are you playing at, Rouge.”

“I would be willing to part with it.” The Emerald was transferred to her other hand, Shadow’s gaze following it with hunger and unveiled desire. “On one condition, however.”

She spoke casually, but still, her comment was enough to command Shadow’s immediate attention as he stiffened, eyes snapping back to Rouge and subsequently narrowing in suspicion. He knew her well enough at this point, had been exposed to enough of her antics that he knew whatever she said next, he was going to despise, loathe, detest. Granted, every other word out of her mouth induced such a volatile reaction, however, something told him that the condition she was about to name was going to be exceptionally grievous.

He could see it in the cheeky glimmer of her eyes, the coy curl of her lips. And so, his ears flattening against his skull in defense, he warily asked, “What do you want.”

“Come to Sonic’s game night with me. If you do that, it’s all yours.”

He should have seen it coming. Context clues and all that nonsense. Still, the blunt directness with which he spoke took him aback. “That’s it?!” he demanded in disbelief, before pointing an accusing finger to the Emerald and hissing, “Is that damn thing even real.”

“Of course it’s real,” Rouge retorted, sounding affronted that Shadow would accuse her of such a thing. And she literally verbalized this sentiment as she said, “I can’t even believe you would accuse me of such a thing.”

To which Shadow retracted his finger and threw his hand up into the air in exasperation. “Well, what kind of a stupid deal is that?!”

“The kind that gets us both what we want, of course.”

Shadow had some additional choice words he wanted to throw Rouge’s way, however, he held his tongue as he paused in contemplation. As he had stated earlier, Chaos Emeralds were often ridiculously difficult to come by. They were overpowered relics, each priceless and usually requiring a massive sacrifice to obtain.

Was attending one of Sonic’s game nights and wasting an evening attempting to tolerate his friends really so bad? When the alternatives of owning a Chaos Emerald were far more harrowing and dangerous?

Shadow’s lips twisted in uncertainty. “Just one night?” he asked Rouge trepidatiously.

Because in truth, despite his dramatics, it was an absurd trade for a Chaos Emerald. Just one night dealing with Sonic’s degenerate friend group, and he would get a brand new Chaos Emerald out of it?! It sounded too good to be true; Rouge was notoriously frugal with her gems, and the fact that she was offering Shadow one in the first place, regardless of the baffling condition, was nothing short of suspicious. There was something else going on with this little deal she was proposing, Shadow could just sense it.

Unfortunately for him, though, he couldn’t figure it out. Rouge was guarded and cautious, and above all else, a master of deceit. There was a slim chance she would just rip him off, given that their relationship danced the line between being teammates and friends, but whatever she was hiding eluded him.

“Hm, well, just one game night seems little imbalanced, wouldn’t you agree?”

Shadow cursed himself for opening his damn mouth, his scowl darkening as he waited for Rouge to quit with her damn posturing and get on with her damn point. Damn. The amount of times he was using that word just really showed how frustrated he was at the current moment. He was going to soon upgrade to a more colorful swear at this point, one that would almost certainly need to be censored or redacted should he choose to say it out loud.

Oblivious to Shadow’s growing ire, or at least, willfully oblivious, Rouge pressed on. “No, in order for you to earn this Emerald, I think that we might have to up the number.” She tapped at her chin as she gazed off, lost in thought, and her faux showmanship enraged Shadow to no end. She knew exactly what she wanted from him, so the fact that she was wasting time feigning ignorance made his desire to punch a hole in his wall rear its ugly head with a vengeance. “Oh, I know! Five game nights, yes, that seems like a much more fair trade. That should be more than enough time for me to accomplish what I need to.”

And there it was. That confirmation that there was something else going on, a hidden motivation for this whole insanity. With a furl of his brow, Shadow’s eyes thinned in distrust as he completely neglected to address the absurdity of Rouge wanting him, of all people! To go with her to five. Five! Game nights. “And what exactly do you mean by that, Rouge.”

His tone was dangerous and perilous, and yet Rouge waved him off easily anyways. “You don’t need to worry about that,” she replied. “All that matters is that you show up to five of Sonic’s little summer events with me, and then this Chaos Emerald is all yours.”

 His lips flattened into a thin line. “That thing really is a fake, isn’t it.”

“Oh, I assure you, it is very much real,” she purred in response. “I don’t waste my time with fake gemstones, you should know this by now, Shadow.”

Shadow’s ear flicked. She brought up a point; she was rather picky about her taste in jewels. Fake Emeralds were far beneath her. She probably would find herself dirtied if she were to hold one in her hands, if Shadow had to wager a guess.

But anyways, that was beside the point. “What’s the catch.”

Rouge’s eyes lit up at this, a brilliant smile flashing across her face as, to Shadow’s surprise, she didn’t tack on any unnecessary or humiliating stipulations to her proposition. “No catch. Just five games, and then I give you the Chaos Emerald.” With the hand not holding the Emerald, she extended it over the counter in offering. “Do we have a deal, Shadow?”

Shadow glared down at her hand, unable to prevent the sneer that marred his face as he apprehended it. Five game nights was an absurd number to attend, especially for him, and yet, the green Emerald she held in her hands was awfully tempting….

Trying not to think about how he felt like he was setting himself up for doom, Shadow reached across the counter and gave Rouge a firm and brisk shake of the hand, sealing his fate.

There was a dangerous twinkle in her eye as they shook hands, one that put Shadow on edge as he pulled his grasp away. “Wonderful,” she purred as she put the Chaos Emerald away and stood up from the chair, making her way towards the door. “And now, I will leave you to resume standing angrily in your kitchen, just like I promised.”

Shadow didn’t deign her a response, simply glowering at her form as she walked over to the entryway.

However, she wasn’t quite done yet, because as she settled a prim hand onto the door handle, she turned to give him one last sly smirk, one that made Shadow’s glower deepen before she even had the chance to open her mouth and speak. “Oh, and do me a favor and try not to beat up Sonic too much? I know how much you two like to get in your little…” with her hand not on the door, she waved it idly about, vaguely gesturing at nothing as she eventually finished by saying, “…squabbles.”

Shadow frowned at this. “I only beat him up when he deserves it.”

“Don’t you attempt to fight him every time you see him?”

Shadow’s frown somehow deepened. “Well, that’s just because he almost always does something to deserve it.” Sonic was just about one of the most annoying, obnoxious, grating creatures he had ever met, which made Shadow’s willing agreement to attend five game nights hosted by him significantly more astounding. To put it bluntly, he was really desperate for Rouge’s extra Chaos Emerald, if he was willing to stoop so low and engage in something so childish.

In front of him, Rouge let out a tired huff. “Just… try to be nice? We want the others to like us.”

“I personally couldn’t care less what his imbecilic group of friends thinks of us.” Shadow’s words were firm, candid, and resolute, though as he caught a glance of the withering look Rouge sent his way, one that conveyed quite clearly that she was the one in control and with power in dynamic of their little deal, Shadow let out a grating sigh. “But fine. I’ll play along. Even if I think that they’re all morons.”

Rouge brightened up at this, shooting him a triumphant beam. “That’s the spirit, Shadow!” she gushed, and in response, Shadow rolled his eyes. “Now. Sonic’s hosting the first game night tomorrow evening, so I’ll stop by so that we can go over together. How does that sound?”

“Horrible,” he said, being difficult even though he had just promised to play along. Just because he agreed to be nice to Sonic and his gaggle of goons didn’t mean that he had to extend the same grace towards Rouge before the damn thing even started. His compliance was conditional, after all, and he was still pissed off after his awful outcome of a mission that morning.

In response, Rouge simply laughed. “I knew you would say that,” she effused, before gifting Shadow with a light wave of her fingers. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

And with that, she was gone.

Finally.

At her departure, Shadow let out a tired sigh, the tension in his body disappearing as he leaned up against his counter. He was exhausted, and even though Rouge’s visit had been downright irritating and not at all helpful for his soured mood, it did provide him some hope. A new Chaos Emerald, it seemed, would not be so elusive after all.

In the end, Rouge was lucky she had left. Because as Shadow finally turned to open his fridge, he found that she had indeed helped herself to his last slice of strawberry cake when he had been out on his mission that morning. And it was only by the saving grace that she was offering him a brand new Chaos Emerald that he shut the door to his refrigerator with a sigh rather than chase after her to give her a piece of his mind, resigning himself to a fate of what he knew was about to be the worst summer he had experienced in a while.

Chapter Text

The first time it happened, it had been purely an accident.

But we were getting ahead of ourselves, because in the current moment, Shadow was minding his business, lounging on the couch in his living room as he idly read a book. He was biding his time, attempting to get the most out of his day off from work before Rouge would show up later in the evening to whisk him away to the dreadful game night that awaited. Shadow hated social interaction, especially in large groups of people, so reading through his book in the blissful presence of his own company served the purpose of mentally preparing himself for the hell he knew he would be put through later on in the day.

He still had a few more hours before Rouge was probably due to pick him up, which left him with plenty of time to finish his novel.

Or at least, that was what he had assumed, because not five minutes after having that fleeting, casual thought, there was a sharp banging at his door.

His head snapping towards the source of the harsh sound, Shadow let out a sigh as he bookmarked his spot and went to go see who it was and what they wanted. He seldom received visitors or guests, so as he opened the door to find Rouge waiting for him with a massive beam on her face and a troublesome glint in her eye, he supposed that he could have expected her to be his solicitor.

It didn’t make him any less surprised, however; she was a few hours earlier than he had been anticipating. And he expressed this surprise by asking rather bluntly, “Why are you here.”

 “I’m here to pick you up for Sonic’s game night! The first one of the summer!” At the apathetic look Shadow extended her and the silence that accompanied it, Rouge followed up her statement with a dubious clarification. “You know, the thing I told you about yesterday? The deal we made?” In wake of his continued silence, her skepticism morphed into something a bit more incredulous. “Shadow. Have you really already forgotten?”

Shadow’s eye twitched in irritation. “Oh, I remember,” he replied curtly, really wishing that he had actually forgotten, if only for his own peace of mind. “I just fail to see why you’re here so early.”

Rouge gave him a baffled look. “Um, early?” she asked. “Shadow, we were supposed to be there five minutes ago. We’re actually running a little late.”

Now this came as an unpleasant surprise to Shadow; he hated being late anywhere. Tardiness was a pet peeve of his, so the fact that he was unwittingly committing one of his least favorite sins brought him a great deal of displeasure.

However, instead of verbalizing this fact, he was distracted by something else. A detail about this little encounter that made no damn sense to him, so leaning up against the door and extending Rouge a pointed look, he didn’t hesitate to share his qualms.

“I thought you said this thing was a game night.”

“It is.”

“It’s the middle of the afternoon.”

“So?”

“So?” Shadow parroted incredulously. “Then it’s not a game night.”

“Eh, who cares, it’s all the same thing,” Rouge said with a dismissive wave of her hand before fixing Shadow an austere look. “Now do you want to keep arguing over the semantics and be more late than we already are, or can we head on over?”

Shadow’s mouth twisted into a grimace; there was nothing more he wanted to do in that moment than continue to point out the stupidity of labeling an afternoon hangout as a game night. Not only was it facetious, but also, he really wasn’t all that keen on going and being forced to socialize with a bunch of people he barely knew— it was easier to stall. However, figuring that he would rather just get the whole thing over with rather than drag it out, he found himself unfortunately relenting. “Ugh. Fine. Let’s go then.”

Rouge’s stern expression shifted into one of genuine joy, and with an agitated huff, Shadow closed and locked the door behind him, and followed Rouge out into the street.

As they began to walk over, he was perfectly content to walk in silence, and Rouge seemed more than happy to respect this desire of his, however, in the end, curiosity won out. And that was how Shadow ended up begrudgingly asking for some details.

“So what is this game we’re going to go play, anyways.” He took extra care to deliver the question in as disinterested of a tone that he could manage, but ultimately, his efforts were for naught.

“Aw, Shadow, are you getting excited? I didn’t think you cared.”

“You’re right. I don’t,” he sniffed. “I just want to know what foolish buffoonery I’m about to walk into. I need to mentally prepare myself.”

Rouge laughed at this, as though Shadow had told a hilarious joke rather than being completely, dead serious. “I actually have no idea what the game is going to be,” she said, though if she had paid more attention to the title of the chapter, perhaps she would have had a clue. “All I know is that we are supposed to meet in the picnic area of the local park.”

Shadow elected to criticize her for this, something that was just a little uncalled for given the fact that he also had not read the title of the chapter. “You didn’t even think to ask?”

She grinned at him. “Nope!”

Shadow’s response was to utter a withering sigh.

They reached the park not too long after, the open space situated a few blocks over from where Shadow lived. It was settled on a large chunk of land, equipped with a couple of playgrounds, long swaths of lawn, winding paths, and speckled with other menial things such as bocce ball tracks, tennis courts, horseshoe pits, and of course, the picnic area.

The picnic area was snuggled up against the boundary of the park, right where the manicured and mowed met the wild line of unkept nature. It was supposedly an off-leash area for pets, according to the signs lining the forested area, however, to Shadow it just looked like a plot of undeveloped land. Rugged and untamed, and hopefully, not where this supposed ‘game’ during the fabled ‘night’ would be.

He didn’t have much time to contemplate this though, because his irritated ponderings were interrupted as they approached the group of people Shadow had the great misfortune of knowing and Sonic tore away from where they all milled about to make his way over to them.

Shadow bit back a groan. Just great. The absolute last person he wanted to see, much less talk to, out of the whole insufferable posse.

“Rouge, you made it!” he called out as he approached, giving them an exuberant wave that was in stark contrast with the wary looks the rest of the partygoers extended them. “And you managed to bring Shadow!”

Shadow couldn’t help the derisive sneer that graced his lips, a displeased turn as he prepared to deal with his idiotic rival. He hated it when Sonic said his name, something about his voice mangling and desecrating the word, and he had been about to promptly inform Sonic to never refer to him directly ever again when he was interrupted by Rouge slinging an arm around his shoulder and pulling him close.

The display took him off guard, and because of that, he could do little more than give her an affronted glance as she said, “Of course I brought him, didn’t I say that I would?”

“Well, yeah, but I mean, it’s Shadow. I think it’s reasonable to say that I had some concerns!”

“You wound me, Blue. I always deliver on my promises.”

“You’re right, you’re right, I should have never doubted you.”

Shadow didn’t miss the wink that Rouge extended Sonic, and deciding that he was done being pulled up against her side like some mindless prop, shrugged her away as he turned on Sonic, pointing a furious and accusing finger in his direction. “Hold on a damn second. You requested for me specifically to be here? I thought you just needed one extra person.”

“Well yeah, we do need one extra person.” Sonic let out an easy laugh. “That’s why I asked her to bring you, duh.”

“It could have been anyone,” Shadow countered dangerously. “Why me.”

“Well, why not you?”

Shadow lifted up a threatening fist. What a stupid thing of Sonic to ask. Did the concept of rivals mean absolutely nothing to him? They fought, they raced, they argued, and they certainly did not engage in friendly games together. No, nothing about them was friendly, and Shadow suddenly felt himself hellbent on reminding Sonic of that fact as he brought up his fist until it landed just inches from Sonic’s insufferable, unflinching face. “I can provide several reasons,” he growled, making the smile on Sonic’s features only widen, and right as he had been about lunge forward and knock Sonic unconscious with a singular punch to the face, he was stopped by a hand coming to rest on his shoulder.

 It was Rouge. “Remember what we agreed upon, Shadow?”

His eyes flickered over to meet hers in scathing glare. He was really beginning to regret agreeing to the condition of the deal to not with Sonic; at the moment, he was sorely tempted to just outright punch his rival in the nose for the sheer insolence of apparently being the one to request for his presence. While initially, he had figured that Rouge was the one to blame for this whole fiasco, his perception was quickly shifting. It was Sonic’s damn fault.

However, as Rouge gave him a pointed look and a flinty angling of her head, the message she silently conveyed couldn’t have been more clear. Fight with Sonic, and this little gathering won’t count towards the five needed to fulfill his end of the deal. He wouldn’t get his Chaos Emerald, or at least, this particular event wouldn’t contribute towards it.

He resisted the urge to let out a suffering groan. This was going to be far more difficult than he anticipated, especially with the smarmy smirk Sonic was extending his way, the one that was making his face look particularly hittable. 

His fist lowering to rest at his side, Shadow knew that he needed to extract himself from the entire interaction before he did something that he would regret. “I’m done with this conversation,” he snapped bluntly, and turning sharply on his heel, stalked away.

Shadow didn’t exactly know where he was going, just that it was away from Rouge and Sonic. And that was how he found himself coming to a stop by the picnic table the group had claimed as their own, an odd assortment of things such as a bowl of cheese puffs, a platter of sliced watermelon, and some empty cups and massive bottles of soda scattered about on the surface. It was a pathetic assortment, but then again, Shadow was in no place to judge seeing that he hadn’t brought anything to contribute.

Folding his arms tightly over his chest as he surveyed the group of people around him, it was clear to see that his presence at the party made everyone deeply uncomfortable.

Those loitering around the snacks by the picnic table fled almost immediately upon him coming to a stop beside it. The cautious side eyes he received from those loitering about were equally as incriminating, strained conversations drifting past his ears that indicated to him that his attendance was not only unanticipated, but also unwelcome.

It all made the scowl already adorning his face deepen into something more menacing and ferocious.

This was dumb. And not just the gathering, but him being there as well. He should have known better than to expect that this would have ever been a good idea; these people clearly didn’t trust, much less like him, and the sentiment was mutual. The whole thing was a waste of his damn time.

He would probably do everyone a favor by simply up and leaving.

And he had been just about to push himself off of the picnic table and simply walk way, departing so that the flock of morons could enjoy their dumb little game night (that still bothered him about how it wasn’t at night, but rather in the middle of the afternoon) when he was interrupted by a sweet voice to his left, the sound slicing through his escape plans and making his ear flick in surprise about someone having the gall to approach him.

“Shadow! I didn’t expect you to, uh, be here.”

It was Amy. Tightening the cross of his arms over his chest, Shadow looked pointedly away, lifting his nose up into the air in disdain as he did so. “Neither did I.”

“Did Sonic invite you?”

The option to leave was still there. No one would stop him, not unless they wanted a black eye or a broken bone, so he was more or less free to just walk away.  “Apparently.”

 “Well, that’s awfully sweet of him!”

Shadow snorted at this, tearing his wistful gaze and musings away from the path that meandered away from the picnic area and turned back to face Amy with a flat expression. One that she unexpectedly didn’t balk away from, her eyes bright and shining as Shadow warily apprehended her. “Hardly,” he snipped, and before Amy could offer him an optimistic, if not slightly patronizing response, Blaze appeared by her side, whispered something in her ear, and pulled her away.

Leaving Shadow alone once more.

Good riddance.

Feeling relief at the end of the conversation, if not slightly lonely as Blaze guided her away, Shadow allowed some of the tension to seep out of his shoulders as he minutely relaxed. However, his relief was short lived as he caught sight of Sonic and Rouge still talking, leaning in towards each other as they gossiped in hushed undertones, speaking so quiet enough that even as he strained his ears, he couldn’t make out a single word they were saying.

The sight baffled him, and Shadow frowned. He didn’t realize that Rouge and Sonic were so… close. Like sure, they were friends, but the way they leaned in to talk to one another, as if they were sharing secrets, was nothing short of uncanny.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that they were talking about him. But then again, that was the sneaking suspicion he had as he chanced a glance over to the rest of the party, clumps of people he could only describe himself as being vaguely associated with huddled together and talking in hushed, private conversations.

Shadow let out a huff, unable to shake the nagging feeling that he didn’t quite belong. He knew that his presence was nothing short of baffling, and it begged the question as to why Sonic had apparently requested his presence in the first place. He didn’t get along with these people with the exception of Rouge, and he certainly, most definitely did not get along with Sonic. Shadow knew his existence had the impact of sucking the life out of the party, and no game could be so important to have even numbers to require his presence. It made no sense.

He was snapped from his dark brooding as Rouge finally pulled away from Sonic, making her way over towards Shadow. He didn’t miss the wink she shot his rival as she departed, and because of this, he didn’t even offer her a proper greeting as he instead bombarded her with a harsh question the moment she was within earshot.

“What were you two talking about.”

Rouge had the audacity to play coy, batting her eyelashes in a way that was probably meant to make her appear more innocent, but truthfully only had the effect of deepening Shadow’s suspicions. “What was I talking about with who?”

“You and Sonic.”

Shadow’s words were pointed, barbed and laced with derision as he narrowed his eyes at Rouge, who swiftly deflected his concerns. “Blue? What about him?”

“I didn’t realize you two were close friends.”

“Believe it or not, I do have a social life outside of hanging out with you, Shadow,” she retorted. “I know that might be hard to comprehend, given that you never leave the house, but—”

Whatever ridiculousness Rouge had been about to say next, Shadow would never get to hear as she was cut off by Sonic’s jarring, heinous voice calling out to them. With a frown on his face, and a vow to interrogate Rouge more about whatever the two of them had been talking about later, Shadow turned to face Sonic, who had climbed up onto the table with all of the snacks (like the reckless, mannerless heathen that he was) as he addressed the crowd of people before him.

“All right people, gather around, let’s do this thing!” he called out, and Shadow resisted the urge to say something snarky. There was just something about Sonic that brought out the worst in him, a competitive side and desire to be a menace that seldom few others could invoke.

He huffed to himself. There was a reason Rouge had made him swear to not slaughter Sonic, after all.

Above him, Sonic continued to talk. “Welcome to our first game event of the summer! You’ve all probably figured it out by now, but we’re kicking things off with a good, old-fashioned game of Capture the Flag! I’m sure you all remember the rules from when we played last year, but in case you’ve forgotten! We can do a quick recap.”

Shadow would never admit it to anyone, but he had no idea how to play Capture the Flag, or most games for that matter. Sure, he had learned a few from Maria during his time in the ARK Space Colony, but she sure hadn’t been arranging massive games of Capture the Flag with the G.U.N. soldiers stationed up in their cold settlement. They hadn’t had the time, she hadn’t had the energy, and after all was said and done, there had been more important things to worry about.

And so, because of this, he listened rather intently all while wearing a carefully constructed veneer of bored disinterest. If he was going to be forced to participate in this degeneracy, he might as well know what the rules were so he could at least be aware of breaking them.

“The rules are simple. Each team has two flags, and it is their goal to not only steal the flag from the other team, but defend their own as well!” Sonic reached behind him and revealed two pieces of fabric, holding them up in triumph. “I present to you, our two flags!”

Shadow rolled his eyes, breaking his façade of apathy to call Sonic out on his crap. “Those are t-shirts,” he stated bluntly, unable to help himself and ignoring the nervous looks everyone gave him as he glared pointedly up at Sonic.  

Sonic paused, giving him an offended look as he placed a theatrical, excessive hand over his chest. “Um, no, it’s the flag. Duh. To represent our two teams.” He unfurled what were now absolutely, undeniably t-shirts and frowned as he read them, as though it were the first time he had ever seen them. They were crumpled and wrinkled, and Shadow got the distinct feeling that he had fished them out from the depths of his closet. “Team, uh ‘Banana Joe’s Smoothie Stand,’ and team ‘I Paused My Game To Be Here,’ I guess?”

With an irritated huff, Shadow turned to Rouge, lowering his voice to a growled undertone. “I’m not touching his gross t-shirts,” he grumbled at her. “I didn’t even know he was capable of wearing such things.”

Rouge shrugged lightly in response. “Maybe he wears it when you’re not looking.”

“Don’t be stupid. He doesn’t even wear pants. Why in the world would he own a t-shirt.”

“Hey! I’m still going over the rules up here!” Sonic called down, before continuing to monologue without waiting for a response. Which was a good thing, because Shadow certainly hadn’t intended on giving one, save for perhaps a middle finger if he was feeling particularly feisty. “The playing area will be divided into two halves for each team. If you go into the other team’s half to steal their flag, you can get tagged by them. You get tagged, you get sent to jail. And the only way to get freed from jail is for one of your own teammates to come tap you out!”

Shadow wore a light scowl, but internally he nodded to himself. Seemed straightforward enough.

“Your team wins if you manage to steal the flag and bring it back to your side without getting tagged! Like I said, simple, right? Does anyone have any questions?”

Despite certainly being the only person in the crowd who was hearing these rules for the first time, Shadow didn’t have a single question. This exposition, as one could call it, had run its course. He was ready to move on in actually playing the game, all in the name of getting it over with so he could pack up and go home.

Of course, he should have recognized that he was jumping ahead just a bit, because Sonic’s next statement made him realize that they were missing a crucial step.

“And now, to start, we’re going to divide everyone into two teams!” With a mock bow, Sonic gestured towards Tails, beckoning him with a curl of his fingers. “Tails, shall you do me the greatest honor of being the captain for the other team?”

“Why certainly, Sonic!” Tails replied with an equally ridiculous flourish, floating up to join Sonic on the table with a quick flutter of his twin tails. He too landed dangerously close to the bowl of cheese puffs, his foot almost descending straight into the snack before he shifted at the last second, and Shadow could do little more than quirk a brow in flat bemusement at the lack of decorum. Poor manners seemed run in the family, he supposed.

His silent and scathing judgments were cut short as he abruptly realized what was happening a few seconds later, right after Sonic handed Tails one of the shirts and turned to survey the throng of people gathered at his feet.

They were selecting teams.

And right at that very moment, Sonic stared straight at him, a sly smirk on his face and an infuriating lowering of his lids making Shadow’s quills bristle in defense. Don’t you dare, he internally seethed, giving Sonic a glare that he could only hope would relay his message as he knew that being on the same team as Sonic, with the stupid blue hedgehog as his captain no less, would make what was already an insufferable event infinitely worse.

Luck was on his side (at the moment, at least, for it would run dry later on in the match as Shadow would soon find out), because Sonic blissfully called out the name of someone else. “Rouge.”

However, even as he said her name, Sonic maintained that cheeky eye contact with Shadow, who found himself so wrapped up in not being the first to break it purely in defiant competition, that he didn’t even question how odd it was that Sonic had called Rouge’s name first. Of all the people in the group. Before his arguably closer friends, such as Knuckles or Amy.

As Rouge moved from his side, though, the strangeness of the choice caught up to him, and he broke that challenging eye contact to watch her move to join Sonic, puzzled and a little skeptical.

Before he could question it, though, the selection process had already moved on.

“Knuckles!”

Watching the echidna join the fox, Shadow let out a quiet Hmph! under his breath. That had been a no-brainer. Knuckles was quite clearly the most powerful in the group, only after Shadow himself of course.

While Knuckles had been an understandable first pick, every choice made after that became more and more nonsensical. And before long, the people in the crowd dwindled, until the last person standing was none other than Shadow.

Glaring at Sonic as he gave him that insufferable smirk, one that no-doubtedly served the purpose of rubbing it in his face that Shadow had been selected last, even the stupid bee being chosen before him amongst others, Shadow only broke his scalding smolder as he heard Tails’ uncertain, timid voice speak. It was filled with doubt, reluctance, and above all else, fear.

“Um, I guess that leaves me with, uh, Shadow.”

Indignation about the humiliation of the scenario coursed hot through his veins— Shadow didn’t really know why he was the last pick. As far as he was concerned, he was superior to every single one of the fools present at the stupid gathering; whichever team he was on would be the clear victor, something he was now hellbent on assuring now that he was officially on the opposite team as Sonic.

He couldn’t afford to lose. He might not have been able to physically fight Sonic, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t redirect the full extent of his ire into other, slightly healthier channels. Such as giving his all to Capture the Flag.

“Well, now that that is decided,” Sonic said, finally looking away from Shadow to address the others, “let’s head out onto the field!”

Shadow wasn’t sure why, but crossing over into the forest felt significant somehow. Like he was embarking upon something that he couldn’t turn back from, and this tiny, yet persistent feeling nipped at his heels the entire walk to the center of the cluster of trees, Sonic finally coming to a stop next to a piece of neon string that snaked along the floor, weaving and circling around the trunks of trees to anchor itself.

“All right, here is the boundary,” Sonic announced, quelling all side conversations that had cropped up on the walk over. “This will separate our two halves.”

Shadow quirked a brow from where he lurked on the edge of the group. Sonic coming prepared to something was a surprise; he didn’t realize his disaster of a rival had the capacity to arrive early to tie a string across the stretch of trees.

“We’ll start the match in ten minutes from now,” Sonic continued as he turned to address everyone. “Should give us all plenty of time to place our flag, strategize, and then get into our positions.”

Tails gave his affirmation, and with that, the group split into two. Sonic’s team consisted of Rouge, Charmy, Vector, Silver, Amy, and following Tails was Knuckles, Big, Espio, Blaze, and of course, Shadow. He made sure to follow a few paces behind of course, not feeling the need to engage in any sort of banal chit-chat with any of his so-called teammates. He was insistent on doing the bare minimum to get his first party crossed off his list, and pretending to talk about things like the weather or the current political state of the world or whatever menial topic of equal dread was strictly outside of the list of expectations Rouge had outlined for him.

“We’ll secure our flag first, and then we can assign roles,” Tails explained over his shoulder as they walked. The members of the time idly talked with one another as they walked, filling the forest atmosphere with their meaningless words and only occasionally shooting Shadow uncertain glances as he trailed a few paces behind. His arms were folded tightly over his chest and he wore one of his characteristic scowls, his entire standoffish demeanor a repellant for people to not address him.

And this was respected as they reached the edge of the forest, the farthest away from the halfway line that they could reach. The group came to a halt as Tails paused to hang Sonic’s crusty t-shirt up over a low branch in the tree, all before turning to face the rest of the team.

He picked up a stick, kicking aside a few leaves on the ground to uncover a lumpy patch of dirt. He tapped at the ground, catching everyone’s attention as he began to display what Shadow could only begrudgingly describe as a surprising show of leadership and competence. “Okay guys, you all know the drill from when we played this last summer! We need to strategize. We all know where our flag is, but we should all split up into offense and defense so that we can both snag their flag while protecting our own.”

He drew a square, dragging the stick through the dirt to outline the box before scratching a star into the base of the outline. “Here’s our flag, at the way back. We have six people on our team, which leaves three people for offense, two for defense, and one to protect the flag.”

Shadow’s lip curled in poorly-concealed disdain. All of those positions sounded horrible. But then again, the whole game was, so he digressed.

Tails glanced around the circle, seeming to take stock of his teammates, before nodding to himself. “I think our best bet is to place Espio, Blaze, and I on offense.” He drew three circles along the border of the box opposite of the flag, pointing to each of them as he assigned the positions. “Blaze will take center, Espio flank left, and I’ll focus on the right.”

The others nodded, seeming to be way too invested in the game to be normal. Not for the first time, Shadow wondered what the hell he was doing there, and if stooping this low to obtain a Chaos Emerald was truly worth it. Perhaps he would have been better off hunting down Eggman; at least then, he wouldn’t have to subject himself to this humiliating ritual with this gaggle of hooligans.

As he sat there and seethed and questioned his life choices that lead him to that very moment, Tails continued with his directions. “Next up, defense,” he announced, shifting his attention away from the offensive line. “You don’t have to sneak around on defense because you can’t get tagged on your own half, so I’m going to place Knuckles to defend the right quadrant—” he drew a circle in the desired position to accentuate his point, “—and Shadow on the left.”

Shadow frowned at this. He was far from the bumbling fool that Knuckles was; being implied to be on the same level was downright insulting. In fact, he was probably the most competent, stealthiest member of the team (save for perhaps Espio, seeing that he was quite literally a ninja). It was a waste to place his talents on defense—the game would be over faster if they would shuffle him to offense, there was no doubt about it.

In front of him, Tails finished up his assignment. “And Big….” He hesitated, glancing between Big and the dirt schematics before he finally finished his sentence. “You’ll guard the flag.” He drew a circle that was slightly larger than the rest, and whether this was intentional or not Shadow couldn’t tell, but it was comically rude all the same.

Despite his complete and total apathy towards the game, Shadow couldn’t help but find himself mildly invested. In a way, the strategic decision made sense; Big was too large and slow to be of much use elsewhere on the field. Loitering around the flag would require the least amount of effort on his end, yet at the same time, Shadow couldn’t help but feel like guarding the flag was an impossibly important position. And they had just given it to Big. Someone who Shadow actually didn’t mind all that much, finding him to be by far the most tolerable out of the entire group (even more so than Rouge, which really said something), however, given the current circumstances, made him feel rather irritated.

All it meant was that he would have to work harder. He suddenly had an epiphany as to why Tails had assigned him to the defensive line; his purpose was to overcompensate for Big, to make sure that Big didn’t have to work at all by preventing anyone from getting that far in the first place.

“I think that just about covers it!” Tails commented as he tossed his stick to the side, straightening up as he looked between the outline and the people assembled before him with satisfaction. “Does anybody have any questions?”

Yeah, I’ve got one. Why the hell are you all doing this as if it’s fun. And more importantly, why the hell am I here.

With a great deal of restraint, Shadow held his tongue.

And in this silence, in the absence of questions because clearly everyone was familiar with the game and on board with Tails’ strategy, Tails shot his team a boisterous thumbs up with an accompanying beam on his face. “Great! Let’s go out and have fun then!” There was a beat, and with an awkward laugh, Tails’ bright posturing faltered as he added, “And uh, try not to kill anybody.”

It was undeniable that the last part of that statement was directed towards Shadow. It didn’t help that everyone turned to face him, and instead of reassuring them all that he wouldn’t kill anybody and say seriously, when is the last time I’ve killed someone, or at least, when’s the last time that I’ve killed someone that you all know of? Don’t be ridiculous, he simply glared at them. Daring someone to say something, anything to him.

To his complete lack of surprise, no one spoke, and the silence was broken by Tails gulping uncomfortably.

“Um, well, okay guys, hands in!”

Everyone huddled around, stacking their hands on top of each other’s. Shadow was the only one who didn’t put his hand in the center, and to his satisfaction, none of his moronic teammates goaded him into doing it.

Sparing him an anxious look, Tails was quick to snap out of it as he shook his head and resumed his peppy, upbeat tone. “Team Banana Joe’s Smoothie Stand on three! One… two… three…”

“Team Banana Joe’s Smoothie Stand!” everyone cried, well, except for Shadow. Who sat there with his arms pointedly folded over his chest, a disdainful sneer painted upon his features as he stuck his nose up at the display. This was all so stupid. The event. Him being there. The whole lot of them.

Oh well. The sooner they won, the sooner he could be done and leave. Check off his first game night from his list, bringing him one step closer to his coveted Chaos Emerald. The one that Rouge hovered tantalizingly right outside of his grasp, provoking him to participate in this foolishness, the one that would replace what he had so idiotically lost.

“To your positions!” Tails ordered, and just like that, everyone peeled off in the general direction of where they had been assigned to be.

As Shadow turned on his heel and walked away, disappearing into the trees and into the area he had been banished, he grumbled obscenities under his breath. Now, more than ever, it would be incredibly easy to leave; no one would see him go or be none the wiser to his absence. It was tempting, however….

A sense of duty, of obligation prevented him from simply exiting the game.

And as he approached his area, he was struck with a rather sudden realization. Huh. This might not actually be all that terrible. While it was technically a team game, he was more or less working alone. He just had to patrol along his little corner of the map, stop anyone who was idiotic enough to trespass, and that was it. He didn’t have to speak to anyone, or pretend like his presence wasn’t unwanted, he could just sit there. And wait.

 A good ten minutes passed before his first encounter.

For someone who flew, Charmy sure as hell made a lot of noise, crashing through the trees as though he was deliberately trying to call attention to himself. Shadow caught up to him nearly instantly, landing a sharp hand on the bee’s side to tag him out. While Charmy’s initial response had been to complain quite profusely, upon seeing that it was Shadow that had sprung upon him, he had promptly clamped his mouth shut before squeaking out some incoherent comment that he would just go to jail, don’t worry about me, and sorry for trespassing, heh-heh.

After that particular encounter, however, there was nothing for a long while.

Shadow kept his senses on high alert as he wandered through the trees, his ears pricked up and vying to catch a hint of anything. The forest was serene, filled with the chirping of singing birds, squirrels rustling around in the trees, and once in a while, was punctuated by the distant calls and yells of the other players. Despite his enhanced senses, Shadow wasn’t quite able to make out the words, but what he could glean was that most of the action was happening elsewhere. His quadrant was awfully quiet.

Which was good. Just the way he liked it.

It made the entire experience significantly less insufferable, if not a tad boring. At least twenty minutes of this eerie inactivity passed, until as Shadow was passing by the same weeping willow tree for what had to be the fifth time in the loose circle he patrolled, wearing a light trail into the dirt and grass, he heard something snap in the bushes off to his left.

His head whipped to the source, immediately recognizing it to be too large to be a bird or squirrel. Perhaps it was a deer, but he doubted that there were any deer wandering in this plot of land so close to the park, and what he saw next immediately dispelled the notion that the cause of the disturbance was due to any wildlife.  

There was a flash of blue.

Cursing under his breath, Shadow allowed instinct to guide him, springing into action as he embarked on a hot pursuit. Sonic wasn’t going at top speed, likely because the thickness of the underbrush, but that didn’t make him any less fast.  

And without thinking, he leapt out in front of Sonic’s path, effectively cutting him off as Sonic dug his heels into the ground and skidded to a stop. “Shadow?!” he exclaimed, his voice colored with surprise, to which Shadow rolled his eyes.

“Obviously,” he replied cooly, not entirely sure why Sonic felt the need to make such a dumb, useless statement.

Sonic was quick to overcome his shock, straightening up and cocking his head to the side in a comical display of confusion. “Wait, hold on, they put you on defense? Why?”

That’s what I’m saying, he mentally griped, though refrained from sharing this out loud since he did not, under any circumstances, want to catch himself agreeing with Sonic. He would rather be contrarian just for the sake of it.

And so, with a dismissive Tch!, he said, “To stop idiots like you from passing through, clearly.”

Sonic interpreted it as the challenge that it was, his puzzlement settling into an arrogant grin as he sank into a light crouch, his knees bending in preparation to take off into what Shadow could only assume would be a sprint. “Yeah, well, you’re going to have to catch me first, won’t you?”

And with that, Shadow’s suspicions were confirmed as Sonic darted off to the left, disappearing into the trees as he tore away into the forest.

The move had been absurdly telegraphed, and because of this, it took less than a second for Shadow to lunge into the chase, his browline furrowed and his teeth bared in exertion as he unwittingly found himself sucked into the heat of the game, disregarding how ridiculous he felt about playing along because it was Sonic he was chasing, and he would be damned if he let the moronic blue hedgehog escape from his grasp.

However, as he trailed Sonic through the trees, his rival zig-zagging in dizzying patterns that only Shadow was remotely capable of keeping up with, Shadow found himself thoroughly displeased with the scenario. To put it simply, merely tagging Sonic with a light touch was going to require a copious level of restraint, something that Shadow felt would be both unsatisfying and unrealistic given his history with Sonic. Rouge had told him not to fight, although, did those rules still apply when they were on opposite teams? Alone in the forest, without her watchful scrutiny?

Shadow let out a noise of distaste as he leapt over a fallen tree, soaring through the air and clearing it with ease before slamming down onto the ground and continuing his pursuit. He didn’t think so.

Their petty game of chase continued on for a few minutes longer, Sonic’s path wild and disorienting, and it was only after a few minutes that it crossed Shadow’s mind that Sonic likely had no idea where he was going. Hell, even Shadow had no idea where they were, much less where the flag was and if he was even still in his assigned quadrant of the map.

But it didn’t matter. He had tunnel vision and a singular mission, and with his competitive spirit rearing its ugly head, he was certain of one thing and one thing only: he was not going to let Sonic get away from him.  

“Still back there?” Sonic taunted from somewhere up ahead, causing a scowl to blossom on Shadow’s face at the blatant mocking. “I wouldn’t know, you’re so far behind that I can’t see you!”

It pained Shadow to not respond, to not bark out a boiling retort, however, he held his tongue. Because he wasn’t stupid, he knew exactly what Sonic was doing. He had lost track of Shadow, and was trying to decipher just how far behind his rival was trailing.

It made an idea pop into Shadow’s head, an alternate tactic he knew he would have to take. He wouldn’t catch Sonic from behind, no, not like this. He loathed to admit just how wicked fast Sonic was, but it was the cold hard truth. They would engage in this stupid dance for the rest of the game if he didn’t alter his approach, and so cutting sharply to the left, that’s exactly what he did.

The plan was to skirt in a wide berth around where he suspected Sonic was going to go, a task that was difficult due to the erratic nature of Sonic’s path-making but simultaneously easy due to his heightened hearing able to pick up on exactly where Sonic was blundering through the shrubs.

 And because of this, it didn’t take very long for his path to intercept with Sonic’s, Shadow shooting out of the bushes on a straight collision course with his rival. So caught up in the thrill of the moment, he lowered his shoulder to knock Sonic off balance instead of simply landing a hand on his arm to tag, and Sonic let out a grunt upon impact. Distantly Shadow heard himself do the same, but the sound was drowned out as they both went tumbling to the ground, their bodies becoming a painful mess of combined limbs with Shadow not knowing where he stopped and Sonic began as they rolled over one another through the long, lush grass. Their momentum carried them for a while (Shadow hadn’t held back in his crash with Sonic, in fact, he had put more force into the shove than was probably necessary), the somersaulting making Shadow go dizzy in the head as they eventually skidded to a stop.

It took him a moment to orient himself from where they had landed. And when he did, there were two things that he noticed, in a rather particular order:

One. He was on his back with Sonic on top of him, the full weight of the hedgehog’s body pressing flush against Shadow’s chest.

And far more importantly, two: As Shadow let out a moan of discomfort from the back of his throat and fluttered his eyes open to assess the damage, he realized that not only were the entire lengths of their bodies connected, but it extended up to their faces as well.

And that Sonic’s lips were pressed to his own.

It was a stunning development, one that Shadow’s mind struggled to comprehend as he could do little more than lay underneath Sonic in mute petrification and stare at him in shock. Above him, Sonic groaned, clearly as disoriented as Shadow felt. His eyes were still squeezed shut as he frowned, and as Sonic moved to shift himself his lips dragged across Shadow’s, that movement was more than enough to snap Shadow out of his stupor, so with an indignant snarl, he shoved Sonic off of him.

Harshly.

Sonic went toppling to the side, and in an instant, Shadow scrambled to his feet, slapping the back of his hand over his mouth in scandalized shock as he could do little more than glare at Sonic’s discarded form. Sonic had… he had just… his lips had been on….

A deep growl rumbled in the back of his throat as he dragged the back of his hand along his mouth in a desperate attempt to scrub the taste and feel of his rival that was burned into his memory. “You,” he hissed, unable to conjure up any other words in the blinding aggravation that shone like a supernova in his mind. He was struggling to process what had just happened, how it had happened, but all he knew was that he was absolutely, downright livid.   

Letting out a muffled noise of complaint, Sonic similarly lifted a hand to press lightly over his mouth, as though he were feeling the spot that had accidentally been kissed by Shadow mere moments earlier. He looked confused, and as he pushed himself to stand, his fingers still remained splayed over his lips. Concealing them from Shadow’s view, a frown of unease marring his features.

Just seeing him stand there induced a fresh wave of fury to roll through Shadow, and with yet another snarl, he jutted a finger out in Sonic’s direction. Accusing, wrathful, violated. “You’re dead, hedgehog,” he seethed, feeling his cheeks warm in outrage. Yes. That was most certainly the emotion he was feeling at the moment. Pure, unbridled, anger.

Seeming to be wrenched free from his stupor, Sonic finally allowed his hand to drop to his side as he gave Shadow a confused, albeit affronted look. “Excuse me? You’re acting like I did that on purpose.”

 Shadow could do little more than sputter indignantly for a good long moment, before he finally found the scalding words that could adequately convey his deep displeasure. “Purpose or not, it doesn’t change the fact that it happened.”

“It was an accident, Shadow, I feel like you’re kind of blowing this out of proportion.”

Sonic’s attempts to placate Shadow’s rage did not have the intended effect, his flippant dismissal only serving to stoke the flames of his mounting anger. “I can’t believe you placed your abhorrent mouth on mine.” Acting instinctively, Shadow rubbed at his mouth again, trying to scrub away the searing sensation. He could still feel the phantom of the kiss, a sensation he thought he would have never had to experience in all of his infinite life, much less with Sonic. “You disgust me.”

Sonic lifted his hands in the air, clearly having enough of Shadow’s tantrum and accompanying insults. “Hey now, you’re not the only one upset by this! It’s not like I enjoyed that either, you know!”

“Upset doesn’t even begin to cover how I’m feeling right now.”

“What do you want me to say, that I’m sorry?” Sonic scoffed at this. “If I’m not mistaken, you’re the one that tackled me. If anything, this was your fault!”

Shadow’s teeth bared, his fangs flashing as he emitted a thundering growl. Damnit. Sonic had a point. Not wanting to acquiesce however, he stomped over to Sonic and used both of his hands to grab at the fur on his chest in a display of malicious threat. “If you ever tell anyone about this. Anyone. I will personally ensure that your death is slow, agonizing, and painful.” He dug his claws into Sonic’s skin, not missing the way he subtly flinched as Shadow could feel his nails puncture flesh through the thick fabric of his gloves. “This. Never. Happened.”

Shadow wasn’t sure he had ever said anything so threatening in his entire life, hell, the words sounded like they were coming from a different beast entirely, barbed with thorns that dragged along the skin and drew rivulets of blood in their path. But he was dead serious.

“Yeah, yeah, trust me, I’m not exactly itching to go tell everyone about this either!” Sonic grabbed at Shadow’s hands and shoved him off, something that Shadow allowed to happen as he took a hasty step back to restore some of the space between them. “Seriously, why do you even think I would share that? Not to mention, I don’t think anyone would even believe me.”

“I mean it, hedgehog. I will beat you until you are nothing more than a pitiful smear on the ground  if I ever catch even the slightest rumor about others knowing about this happening.”

“About what happening?”

Shadow gave Sonic a bewildered look, taken aback by the idiocy of his statement. Was he really so obtuse? Was he really that much of an idiot, to have already forgotten?! “You know what I’m referring to.”

“Do I?”

Not putting it past Sonic to actually be this moronic, Shadow gritted his teeth together as he forced himself to say it. “About us kissing,” he hissed, hating the fact that he had to say it out loud, his ears feeling assaulted by the ludicrous statement as he curled his hands into dangerous fists by his side.

Shadow didn’t like the mischievous grin Sonic extended him, and he found that he liked what Sonic said next even less. “I though you said that never happened?” he quipped. “But man, there is just something so hilarious about hearing you say those words, I’ve gotta admit. Must be excruciating for you. Pure torture.”

Shadow blinked in shock, before his disposition darkened tenfold. That damn Sonic, with his stupid smirk, his stupid lips that Shadow had accidentally kissed, how disgusting, how repulsive, Shadow had been handling this quite well in his opinion, but now, he was done. He was actually going to do it. He was going to beat Sonic senseless, regardless of Rouge’s orders for him to not do so. His rival deserved it, more than deserved it for sullying his mouth, desecrating Shadow’s dignity, violating him in such a way—

Unfortunately for Shadow, right as he was about to lunge forward and throttle Sonic in retaliation, they were both interrupted by a distant cheer rising up from somewhere farther off in the forest. It wasn’t like the other calls that had sounded out before, no, this was multiple voices, the exuberant celebration being followed by unintelligible complaints.

Shadow’s ears flicked in confusion, and Sonic similarly turned to face the source of the noise. “Is the game over…?” he asked, which Shadow thought was an asinine question given the fact that he had no clue either. He had been with Sonic the entire time. How the hell was he supposed to know.

Before he could voice his snarky retort, however, there was a rustling sound from the bushes standing in the path towards the celebrating shouts, and to Shadow’s surprise, it was Rouge who emerged.

“There you boys are!” she exclaimed. “The game’s over.”

Sonic cocked his head to the side, his quarrel with Shadow forgotten for a moment. “Who won?”

“Our team, of course. Like there was any doubt.”

Sonic let out a whooping cheer, abandoning his standoff with Shadow to go give Rouge a cheesy high-five. The celebration sickened Shadow, especially as Rouge and Sonic turned to give him a smarmy smirk in infuriating unison, ganging up on him when there were far more important things to worry about than the outcome of the foolish game.

The running. The chasing. The… the….

Chaos. He didn’t even want to think about what he and Sonic had just done. The mere concept made bile rise in the back of his throat, vertigo make his head spin, his blood boil. It was a systemic reaction, a repugnant rejection that had him barely maintaining his composure.

Either way. That didn’t prevent him from pointing a vehement finger in Sonic’s direction, his disposition darkening as he hurled a vicious accusation towards his rival. “You did that to distract me, didn’t you!”

Rouge looked between the two of them, confused. “Sonic did what to distract you?” she asked, seeming to be genuinely perplexed as she waited for one of them to answer.

To his credit, Sonic didn’t answer, giving Rouge an uncertain side-eye before waiting for Shadow to respond, clearly interested in seeing how he was going to handle this.

Which, it was important to note, was very poorly.

With a frustrated growl, he retracted his finger. Sonic’s underhanded tactic to make him lose focus and therefore lose the game was nothing short of infuriating. It was dirty and lawless, even for him, and because of this, Shadow knew that he had to extract himself from the situation before he did something he might regret.

(Well, nothing he would ever do to Sonic could ever be regrettable, no matter the severity, but having Rouge watch certainly wasn’t ideal, so the point was, he had to take his exit. Now.)

“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”

Rouge blinked at him. “Wait, huh? Shadow, what happened?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he bit out, finding his patience fraying and waning with each passing second he stood in Sonic’s presence, forced to look at his hideous, obnoxious face. “We’re leaving.”

He turned to storm away, not caring to see if she was following. “We are?” he heard her ask behind him. “I mean, there’s still snacks, and it’s still light out so I’m sure we can play another round—”

Shadow didn’t bother to turn around and address her. “I don’t care. We’re going. They can manage without us.”

His footsteps were heavy and sharp, each stomp through the forest deafening. Even so, he could hear a faint sigh from Rouge as she spoke softly to Sonic, her tone defeated.

“I guess I’m heading out with him, we’ll see you next weekend okay Blue?”

Shadow pinned his ears flat against his skull, not wanting or caring to hear what Sonic had to say. He didn’t want to hear his voice. He didn’t even want to think about him, unless it was to lash out and pummel him.

Shadow heard more rather than saw Rouge follow him out of the forest, not deigning to  stop and wait for her to catch up, and it was only when he broke out of the forest and returned to the park did she finally speak to him.

“Shadow! What’s going on? What happened back there?” Rouge called after him as they came across the picnic area. They were back in civilization, away from the feral and lawless wilds where apparently one ran the risk of kissing their detested rival on the lips. “I mean, I know that you really don’t want to be here, but that was kind of rude and abrupt even for you.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You don’t want to talk about what has you so upset that you wanted to leave right in the middle of the game?”

Shadow faltered at this, his march coming to a stop as Rouge’s words suddenly induced a sharp stab of shame to twist at his innards. Without even thinking about it, he had unwittingly drawn her into his petty squabble with Sonic, when she truthfully hadn’t needed to leave with him at all. He grimaced, slowly turning to face her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to pull you away from the game Rouge, not if you were having fun.” He sighed, running an agitated hand through his quills. They felt messy, sliding through the ground and ending up underneath Sonic causing all sorts of unsavory plant life to become threaded through his tresses. He idly began to pluck out some of the twigs and grass, casting them to the side as he grappled with his guilt. “You can go back if you want. You don’t have to come with me.”

He must have made for a pretty pathetic sight, because the look that Rouge extended him was nothing short of pitiful. “No, no, it’s okay,” she said after a long moment of apprehending Shadow, “I think I’m ready to head out with you. I wasn’t having that much fun anyways.”

Shadow knew she was lying, but he didn’t feel like calling her out on her bluff.

He nodded once in affirmation, preparing to finally leave and be done with the whole mess, however, was stopped as Rouge held up a hand. “Hold on, Shadow, before we go.” She walked over to the snack table, grabbing the platter of watermelon slices and returning to Shadow with it held up in offering. “Here. I have no idea what’s going on with you, but maybe this will help cheer you up?”

Shadow had absolutely no interest or desire in eating a watermelon slice, not when he still felt nauseous from his encounter with Sonic, however, instead of rejecting Rouge’s offer, he paused, recognizing it for what it was. A gesture of goodwill, something that he would be remiss to not accept. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” he eventually mumbled, gingerly selecting a thick slice from the top of the pile and taking a tentative bite.

To his pleasant surprise, the watermelon was surprisingly good, juicy and sweet and melting on his tongue. It was warm from sitting out in the sun for the better part of the afternoon, but in a way, it was this warmth that made it all the better, the embodiment of a hot summer day.

But even so. The sweet juiciness of the watermelon couldn’t quite erase the residual taste of Sonic he could still sense on his tongue, the taste lingering long after he made it home and said farewell to Rouge, persistent and lasting throughout the evening and up until he finally drifted off into a fitful sleep.