Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Perhaps it was because they barely had survived the battle, or perhaps it was because the adrenaline coursing through his veins was still very much present as their most recent and life-threatening enemy fell to their knees, finally defeated. Whatever the reason was, Shadow found himself flinching when Sonic went for a high five, adrenaline having also affected the blue hedgehog.

Except the effects of adrenaline for the two of them seemed to be different, considering how Shadow’s first instinct to the high five was to flinch and smack the gloved hand away, albeit very harshly.

Smokes were all around them from debris scattering in the air after their fight, rubbles were littered everywhere of varying sizes, and most of Sonic’s friends were standing a bit further away from the two of them - not at hearing distance. Shadow’s coworkers - Rouge’s voice in the back of his mind was chiding him to call them his ‘friends’, but Shadow chose to ignore that voice - were also somewhere nearby with Sonic’s friends.

This was a case where Sonic and Shadow had to put past their ‘differences’ to defeat an overwhelming enemy, and this time around Eggman’s creation of a robot was tougher than usual. Something about him being able to grasp and understand how to use the energy from a chaos emerald he had stolen a couple of weeks ago through his most recent machine more efficiently.

Fortunately, Sonic and Shadow got lucky this time around and managed to defeat the robot - only after they stole back the chaos emerald embedded in the robot and after Sonic turned Super Sonic for the last half of their fight.

Believe it or not, the thing that unsettled Shadow the most throughout this short truce wasn’t the threat they were facing, but he was actually unsettled by his ally instead.

Shadow had seen Super Sonic in action plenty of times these days - especially taking into account how Eggman seemed to be able to create more and more challenging machines and robots in an increasingly short amount of time. He had seen traces of his blue hedgehog of a rival despite the blinding and bright glow of Super Sonic’s golden quills, and yet at times those traces were gone and all that was left was the golden persona that Sonic sometimes lost control of. (They’re supposed to be the same person - so why could Shadow detect such a distinction? )

The black hedgehog had always disliked how unstable Super Sonic was.

Super Sonic was gone in the blink of an eye as soon as the threat was taken care of, and there standing along with Shadow was none other than the Sonic that Shadow had regrettably - was it? - and slowly gotten to know of: just a blue hedgehog who likes adventures.

And yet, as Shadow looked into those green eyes that were no longer blood red, the black hedgehog couldn’t help but feel like he was looking at someone he was unfamiliar with.

Was he even familiar with Sonic the Hedgehog?

He raced him a few times, helped him occasionally when necessary for the world’s safety and if their goals aligned, and yet,

Does he know Sonic the Hedgehog?

Shadow’s origin was different from other people’s: he was created in a lab in space to be ‘the ultimate lifeform’, and ever since then tragedy seemed to make it its hobby to latch onto him wherever he went - at least during his earlier times.

Less tragic things happened around him these past years, and in these moments where he was not carrying the heavy weight of being lost and alone, he found himself thinking of the people he met along the way - the people on Earth that he was supposed to protect, according to Maria .

Maria was a kind-hearted and gentle soul. Even as she met her demise by the very people she believed Shadow was supposed to ‘protect’, her wish for him remained the same: for him to see the world and to protect its inhabitants.

She still believed that Shadow could see what she knew and loved.

The Shadow of the past was enraged - because how could he protect the very people who stole his most precious person away from him?

The Shadow of the past was carrying a lot of things: guilt, shame, rage, and anger.

Still; that was the past.

A past that became a recurring thought in his head from time to time, leaving him feeling empty and lost before he would eventually try to snap out of it as quickly as he could. (Maria wouldn’t like him blaming himself for her death, after all. It’s the conclusion that he had come to.)

Maria was like a beacon of light to him in the vast and never-ending darkness of space. She made the solemn ambiance of the ARK brighter just with her presence, always seeming to be shining with her generous bright smiles and laughter. 

‘A beacon of light’: Shadow had come to begrudgingly admit to himself that someone he met was similar - if not just like her .

It didn’t help that Sonic’s fur was blue like the clothes Maria had always loved to wear back then, and it especially didn’t help that the golden quills of Super Sonic reminded him too much of Maria’s soft, blonde hair.

Just like how Maria helped brighten Shadow’s life back then, Sonic was the beacon of light for his friends. 

People were always flocking to Sonic the way moths were always flocking to flames. ( Were Sonic’s flames truly harmless? )

Sometimes, in moments unlike himself, Shadow wondered if he was one of those moths too, always finding himself bumping into Sonic and being unable to turn down idiotic challenges suggested by the blue hedgehog; unable to ignore the hedgehog’s taunts and just the hedgehog in general.

Regardless of these similarities, the glaring difference between these two 'beacons of light’ was that Shadow, despite the numerous encounters and exchanges he had with the blue hedgehog, didn’t know Sonic.

Despite being so loved by everyone, Sonic’s background was somehow always so… elusive. People were always talking about how kind Sonic was, and how inspiring he was to them.

Shadow had met numerous people in his life with varying life motives and objectives: had met many people donning masks to get what they wanted .

Shadow had always been untrusting. Always having his guard up - so it was no surprise for him to see that perhaps he was the only one who considered that maybe the friendly demeanor of the blue hedgehog was all an act; a mask that he put on to get people on his side.

Whatever Sonic’s origin was, it was no secret that the blue hedgehog had speed that could get him anything he wanted. He had beaten numerous enemies and saved both his friends and the world numerous times; it’s no wonder that everyone loved him.

Still; Shadow had seen Sonic on the battlefield. Shadow had seen how the hedgehog thrived from danger and adrenaline, always looking for things that didn’t bore him.

Shadow had seen Super Sonic fighting alongside him when they agreed on a truce; had seen the power he held firsthand and seen just how dangerous it would be if Sonic just decided to turn against him - against everyone .

Did Sonic even realize this?

The blue hedgehog had always been cocky and downright smug at times, gloating to his enemies about his speed and showing off his capabilities at a moment’s notice whenever he pleased if he was feeling like annoying whoever he was facing - Shadow had been at the receiving end of such gestures plenty of times, after all.

However, the possibility of Sonic turning against the world , despite how low and pretty much non-existent it was at the moment, was unintentionally entertained by Shadow this very moment, looking at his blue rival in what-he-hoped disguised discomfort.

He was supposed to shrug the way he flinched off, was supposed to pretend that the way he smacked Sonic’s hand away was merely because of his usual ‘wet blanket’ and ‘brooding’ demeanor before leaving curtly and ignoring the unnecessary possibility of his rival turning against everyone.

Instead, the words slipped past his lips before he could bite his tongue.

“Stop the act, faker.”

The confusion coloring Sonic’s expression in response to his words was immediate, followed by full-force offense. (Shadow pretended he didn’t see the slight hurt in his rival’s green eyes.)

“Act? What in the world are you talking about? We just beat that guy! You’re saying that was all an act?!” Sonic asked, positively and slowly fuming as his eyes furrowed at the black hedgehog.

Maybe your whole personality was an act.

With all that power you have - what’s stopping you from doing as you please, unchained and not bound by the world’s rules and people’s morals?

Adrenaline - the rest of their conversation was blamed on adrenaline, Shadow came to decide later that day once he ran away from this conversation and everyone.

“ We ? You didn’t even need my help. I should’ve just left you to handle the robot by yourself.” 

Sonic’s voice was confused when he spoke next, so quick to cool down just as quickly he started fuming, eyes brightening a little by the end of his sentence, “Wha- Seriously, Shads- wait is that- is that a compliment -?”

“ Your super form clearly didn’t need any help. Clearly was raring to fight the moment your quills turned golden.” Shadow cut Sonic’s sentence off before the hedgehog could get the wrong idea, unconsciously taking a step forward if only to press a gloved finger right over Sonic’s chest - Sonic’s heart .

If Shadow reaped it out of the blue hedgehog’s chest, would he be able to decide if the hero’s personality was all an act to hide his true intentions?

Sonic paid a brief glance to the finger pressed on his chest, but quickly gave all of his attention back onto Shadow’s face again if only to try to figure out what the black hedgehog had in his mind as Shadow said these things that probably sounded like nonsense to the hero’s ears.

“I mean- I turned super to fight : obviously I’ll fight-”

“ Do you smile that wide because the fight brings you thrill, or did you fight with the thought of protecting the people you hold dear? ”

The way Sonic’s eyes widened the slightest bit - regardless if it was in recognition or realization - had Shadow’s mouth moving before he could really think, taking a step closer to the point that their noses brushed every now and then.

“ Would you succumb to destroying everything when boredom reaches its peak? Your friends? Your foes? Strangers?

Would you succumb to the power you hold when the world no longer excites you and only bores you? To wreak havoc and do as you please because you despise boredom so much - how could we be so sure that you wouldn’t break?

You’re not here to see you fight, Sonic. You love the thrill and danger as much as you hate boredom. You glow at the face of death .

What’s stopping you from doing as you please? ”

The moment understanding glinted in Sonic’s eyes, Shadow knew he pretty much messed up .

Sonic’s stare somehow grew more intense in a second, and suddenly Shadow was all too eager to create as much distance as possible between the two of them - which was unfortunately not happening anytime soon as Sonic grabbed Shadow’s wrist, keeping the black hedgehog in place.

For a split moment, Shadow swore he saw red in his rival’s eyes.

The blue hedgehog’s voice was curious - amused for a split second, if Shadow had heard correctly - when he spoke next.

“Is it just me, or…

Are you scared of me, Shads? ”

The answer that left his lips was immediate and sure.

“No.”

The hero hummed in acknowledgement, as if expecting the answer.

“Of course. There’s no way that the Ultimate Lifeform is scared of little ol’ me. At least not ‘scared’, no, you’re not.” Sonic drawled, fingers drumming against Shadow’s wrist. (Shadow hoped the other didn’t notice how his pulse was increasing far too rapidly.)

When Sonic turned to look right into Shadow’s eyes, the urge to pull his hand away grew even stronger - almost triggering his flight instinct. 

His chaos emerald was in his quills, and his unoccupied hand had been unresponsive the past few minutes - and it wasn’t because of unnoticeable injuries of some sort, no. His arm was just… not cooperating with him ever since this impromptu conversation started.

“You’re unsettled . That’s what this is, right?” 

Shadow never really called this unnecessary paranoia of his as him being ‘unsettled’, but once Sonic called it as that, Shadow couldn’t help but agree in his head.

This time around, his voice was less sure despite trying his best to make it sound the opposite.

“No.”

The slightest bit of hesitation from Shadow seemed to be a sign that he was right; judging from the way Sonic’s smile grew a tad bit wider. 

Chills involuntarily ran through the black hedgehog. 

The hand that was holding his wrist finally let go, and Shadow was all too eager to take a few steps away, not paying mind to how he probably looked like a prey running away from its predator. (He would chide himself about it later, though.)

Waves of laughter slipped past Sonic’s lips, and while most claimed that laughter is infectious, Shadow merely frowned harder at his rival’s show of ‘amusement’, looking like he was close to clutching his stomach from laughing too hard.

“ Man… Shadow, did you not have anything to do these days? To the point that you’re thinking about me so much to the point that you scared yourself into thinking that I might go crazy one day?” Sonic said out in between laughs, struggling to keep his eyes open from laughing too hard.

“I am not scared of you.” was the only reply Shadow could come up with - quite weakly, to his distaste.

It seemed that Sonic noticed the slip-up too, grinning as he finally stopped laughing in favor of standing properly and stretching his limbs, eyes kept on Shadow throughout it all.

“Yeah, sure, buddy.” Sonic hummed in agreement.

Eventually, when Sonic’s gaze on him was becoming unbearable, Shadow found that he had no reason to linger, glancing at Rouge and Omega - who were checking up on Sonic’s friends who were also wounded as everyone had fought the first half of the fight - and took out his chaos emerald.

Pointedly ignoring how Sonic’s attention was still on Shadow even though the black hedgehog was pretty sure some of the hero’s friends were calling for him from afar, presumably approaching them, Shadow kept his hold on his chaos emerald secure as he spoke.

“I’m leaving.”

Shadow didn’t usually announce his leave - he wasn’t sure why he did it this time around.

Sonic didn’t point out the odd attitude either.

“Wouldn’t you at least check up on Rouge and Omega?” Sonic questioned in leeway of a reply.

“They’re clearly fine; since they’re checking up on your less competent friends.” Shadow quipped, unsure of how to act when Sonic didn’t immediately defend his friends and instead just chuckled and shook his head a little.

Uncomfortably, silence descended once again, and Shadow was just about to teleport away and re-think about his decision to disclose his ‘paranoia’ to the literal source of the said ‘paranoia’ when Sonic spoke up.

“You’re the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow. You’ll try to stop me if I cross a line. ”

It was a statement.

‘ Try ’.

The last thing Shadow saw before he teleported was Sonic’s unreadable grin, eyes as if staring through his soul and seeing the thoughts Shadow swore he wouldn’t tell anyone.

There’s no way Sonic could see right through him.

But Shadow clearly didn’t know Sonic enough to be so sure, did he?

Sonic and the power he held… Shadow may be created to be the ultimate lifeform, but Sonic was not created; a lifeform of unknown origins who has always been able to keep up with Shadow.

A sinking feeling settled in Shadow’s gut, and the black hedgehog wasn’t sure if he should be surprised or not when he realized that the mentioned feeling had always been there ever since he met the blue hedgehog.

Chapter Text

A couple of weeks have passed since Shadow’s slip-up.

Shadow had thought that perhaps the slip-up was forgotten already - considering how Sonic didn't seek him out to bother him further about his words.

The black hedgehog spent quite an embarrassing amount of time chiding himself for letting his guard down: chiding himself for being too affected by unneeded paranoias and by mere adrenaline after a battle.

Still - Shadow had felt better since Sonic wasn't actively trying to clarify Shadow’s worries face to face. Shadow believed it would be quite embarrassing to be talking about what lurked in his head.

Unfortunately, his relief was short-lived in this very moment, as when he was in the middle of resting and sitting on a rock at the top of a random hill he just happened to bump into during his short ride with his bike when he heard quick approaching footsteps.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out who those footsteps belonged to; not many can run nor walk as fast as Sonic the Hedgehog, after all.

Sonic ran right past where Shadow was sitting at first, oh-so kindly giving the black hedgehog the time to internally smack himself for going through this area when he knew Sonic had always been a fan of running around here, before the blue hedgehog came back to stop right in front of Shadow, blocking the evening sun’s sunlight that was serenely shining on Shadow’s quills just a few seconds ago.

Fortunately, it was already approaching dusk; surely Shadow could use the excuse of ‘having to return home’ to avoid whatever it was Sonic’s going to say to him?

Shadow waited for the dreaded rambling and numerous strings of words - except even when a few minutes passed by, all Shadow was met with was silence.

Feeling increasingly impatient and unsettled, Shadow reluctantly properly looked at Sonic’s face, and found himself going the slightest bit stiff and rigid upon seeing the grin on Sonic’s lips. Shadow wasn’t sure what was more unsettling: Sonic’s smile or his unnatural silence.

Well, only one way to break the silence.

“What are you stopping here for?” Shadow broke the silence, standing up and quickly stepping away from Sonic, trying his best to be as discreet as possible as he created some kind of distance between himself and his unwanted guest.

The unreadable smile on Sonic’s lips finally turned familiar, and Shadow found himself relaxing a little at the small action - perhaps unconsciously comforted by the familiar display.

“What’s wrong with stopping to greet a friend?” 

The response from Shadow came more out instinctively than genuinely.

“I’m not your friend.”

Sonic merely laughed at the deadpan reply.

“Yeah, and you’re not an edgelord.”

“I’m not.” 

“Hm.”

A few moments passed after that, and it took a moment for Shadow to realize that Sonic was waiting for Shadow to speak. 

Great.

“If you’re just going to keep on staring at me in silence, I’ll get out of your quills and go home myself,” Shadow said, curt and short as he made a beeline for his bike only to be stopped when Sonic took a step and effectively blocked Shadow’s view of his bike.

Great.

“What’s the rush, buddy? Going somewhere?” Sonic interrogated , seeming to be purposely pretending that he didn’t hear how Shadow had said nice and clearly that he noticed how the blue hedgehog was blatantly staring at him. Not taking a hint, Sonic’s stare at him only felt more overbearing and intense.

“Home. I was enjoying the scenery when you came and destroyed the tranquility around here.” Shadow retorted, making a show of wanting to walk away when Sonic abruptly stopped the black hedgehog by wrapping an arm around him, repositioning so that they were standing side to side with their shoulders brushing so they could look at the descending Sun.

(Shadow’s quills did not bristle at the contact. Sonic did not look amused at the involuntary reaction.)

“Woah, woah, slow down. I am definitely a sight for sore eyes. I can’t see why you’re complaining. Here; how about we both just sit in silence and enjoy the view, yeah?” Sonic suggested, not particularly open to being rejected considering how he pretty much dragged Shadow with him as they sat back on the rock that somehow managed to fit both of them.

Silence and Sonic; Shadow couldn’t believe the latter was suggesting the former.

Still, true to his words, Sonic stayed - uncomfortably - silent after proposing his suggestion.

Again, it bothered Shadow terribly.

Moments of silence like these were rare for Shadow. This moment was not a product of awkward silence because Shadow missed a social cue, nor was it a product of uncomfortable silence because Shadow said something depressing and unfitting to the conversation.

This silence was unsettling . (Shadow was growing to loathe that word.)

Unable to bear with the silence any longer, Shadow blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Say what you want to say already, hedgehog.”

Infuriatingly, Sonic didn’t as much as pay a glance Shadow’s way, instead settling for an acknowledging hum, drumming his fingers on the rock in a rhythm Shadow was unfamiliar with.

“Amy said you’re outrageous - for thinking I would ever turn my back against everyone.” Sonic finally said after more unnecessary moments of silence - perhaps he purposefully did so merely to get on Shadow’s nerve.

“Don’t talk about me with your friends.” Shadow deflected, pointedly not addressing what exactly Sonic had talked about with Amy - or probably with all of his friends.

“I’ve thought about what you said though - regardless of how I think it’s a ridiculous thought. And you know what? I’ve come to a conclusion.”

In reflex and purely by reflex, Shadow turned to look at Sonic, not-at-all expecting for the other to already have his eyes on him.

Leaning in unbearably close, Shadow pretended that his breath didn’t hitch and that a barely audible gasp slipped past his lips, their noses brushing for one split moment. 

Whatever it was that’s written on Shadow’s face, Sonic seemed to like it.

“You’re right. I can do whatever I want. I’m the fastest thing alive, after all.” Sonic whispered, almost a purr as his hand reached out, fingers adjusting some of Shadow’s quills behind his ears that were untidy due to the wind from sitting so high up.

There was something in the blue hedgehog’s gaze; it was rendering Shadow unmoving. (Funnily enough, Shadow’s whole body was screaming at him to stay still and not move a muscle.)

With a far too amused and smug smirk, Sonic’s hand slowly moved downwards, tracing the side of Shadow’s muzzle before gingerly patting it.

“And you know what? Yeah; what is stopping me from doing as I please?” Sonic said cheerily, his cheery tone not matching his words that had Shadow’s heart beating erratically.

As if facing a threat, Shadow abruptly moved away, and this time around he couldn’t care if his guarded reactions were obvious, standing defensively as he narrowed his eyes at Sonic in distaste.

“What are you implying?” Shadow asked, tone accusing as he watched the smirk on Sonic’s lips widen a smidge more and stood up too.

“I don’t know. What are you implying?”

“What?”

Sonic took a step closer, but halted when Shadow took a step back reflexively.

“What do you have in that pretty, edgy head of yours?”

“What nonsense are you spouting, hedgehog?”

“The compliments I gave are no -nonsense. What’s in your head, however… it’s intriguing. 

Share with me what you have in that brooding mind of yours. If it’s not obvious enough; I’m quite interested.”

Unexpectedly, Sonic lunged forward, and Shadow was about to chaos spear the hell out of this oddly-acting hedgehog when he realized he was standing by his bike, taking a few seconds longer to comprehend that Sonic was no longer around, and Shadow was left all by himself.

The moon that had taken its place in the sky shone his way - as if mocking him for being left speechless despite being so guarded.

Shadow took a moment to regain his bearings, going over the conversation again and wondering if that was how the conversations between him and his rival were going to be in the future. If it was going to be like that, Shadow feared his future self may face quite a lot of headaches.

The cold breeze that brushed through his quills pulled him out of his thoughts, and Shadow finally got onto his bike, preparing to ride it home and busying himself with whatever was necessary to rid his mind of his oddly behaving rival.

Chapter Text

Shadow was running out of ideas; how exactly did he and Sonic always manage to bump into each other?

It was getting unbearable. It felt like wherever he went, Sonic was always just around the corner somewhere nearby.

“I’m telling you, hun. Sonic is not stalking you nor did he put some kind of tracker on you that your ultimate self couldn’t see. You know Sonic; he’s a hero, not a stalker.” was what Rouge said when Shadow reached out to her through a phone call, having been at his wits end to figure out how Sonic always knew where he was.

It was not-at-all helpful advice, and Shadow ended the call with a gruff ‘thank you anyway’ and hung up without waiting for Rouge’s reply.

“Hm… in Sonic’s defense, you live in an area that is frequently targeted by Eggman. So maybe these days his patrolling schedule just happened to align with yours?” was what Tails said when Shadow bumped into the fox at a local grocery store, the hedgehog for once grateful he’s met with yellow fur and not blue quills.

Unfortunately, Tails’s take also didn’t ease Shadow’s paranoia, but the black hedgehog decided that Tails clearly meant what he said.

And if even Tails, the closest person to Sonic as far as he knew, believed that Sonic was not personally going out of his way to mess with him, well, Shadow’s hands were tied.

Clearly, maybe this whole time, Shadow had been frequently bumping into Sonic - only this time he was fully aware of the time every meeting took place because he knew Sonic wanted something from him.

Something ; that was a whole other thing to think about.

What exactly did that hedgehog want with Shadow?

He said he was interested to find out more about what’s going on in Shadow’s head. Of course, Shadow wouldn’t really just lay it all out on a silver platter for Sonic just because the hero asked him to.

Shadow was selective in choosing who to confide in and talk with regarding whatever went through his head, and Sonic had never been an option to be at the receiving end of his thoughts.

At the very least, usually, the people he would confide in were merely Rouge and Omega.

Not Sonic the Hedgehog.

Thinking about all these made Shadow shudder, and only then did Shadow realize he had been jogging far too deep into the forest near the park he was jogging in, straying away from his usual course due to being so busy dwelling in his thoughts.

The trees around here were tall, and the leaves were thick and large, fortunately blocking the scorching and blinding sun from overheating Shadow.

Still; Shadow should really go back home if he wanted to avoid sweating any further than necessary. He had jogged enough for the day.

He was just about to walk back in the direction he came from when he paused, unsure of what to feel when his eyes met with familiar green ones.

To Sonic’s credit, this time around, it seemed like this meeting was purely coincidental judging from his equally surprised face. (Or was that surprise all an act to get Shadow to lower his guard?)

‘Stop being paranoid’, Shadow told himself internally, watching as Sonic got over his surprise and started making his way to Shadow, joining the black hedgehog under the shadow cast by the trees surrounding them.

He knew that he was unsettled by Sonic years ago, yet never had the feeling taken hold of his body to the point of it interfering with his life; for example in this very moment where instead of shrugging off his ‘paranoia’, he ended up focusing on it instead.

Sonic said it was an outrageous thought. Amy agreed with him. As much as Shadow hated to be the one in the wrong, this time around it’s two against one; obviously Shadow was being unrealistic with his worries - that was his reasoning and way of comforting himself anyway.

Once Sonic was at an arm’s length away, Shadow’s mouth moved instantly to speak, pretty much giving away how he’s not that fond of having his alone and peaceful time interrupted by his main source of… worries for the past weeks.

“Don’t go and make ‘following me around’ a habit of yours.”

Shadow was not supposed to say that. In fact, he’s pretty sure he was supposed to stay silent and wait for Sonic to say his stuff before leaving as soon as possible.

What the hell is wrong with him?

How hilarious; to be intimidated by unplaced worries and to be forced to act so defensive around someone so friendly and someone that was far from a threat (‘for now’, a voice in the back of his head unhelpfully added.)

Sonic smiled, eyes crinkling and looking far too happy for someone who was greeted with accusations upon meeting.

“Woah! You talked to me first instead of waiting for me to say anything! Putting aside your unbelievable and ridiculous accusation, I would rather make ‘Shadow initiating conversations’ a habit; finally getting some recognition from you, huh?

Even though I would prefer your tone to be less defensive, alas, we can’t have everything, can we? ” Sonic eagerly replied, hands on his back and bowing a little, reminding Shadow of his shorter stature compared to Sonic’s tall one. 

While the difference in height between them wasn’t obvious, it was undeniable that the other hedgehog was taller than him, unfortunately.

Shadow chose to look right at Sonic’s amused eyes anyway. Backing down wasn’t exactly wired into him.

“I merely want to quickly finish this over with. We’ve bumped into each other plenty of times already these days - you should’ve just gone ahead with whatever it was that you were doing before deciding to bother me.” Shadow said, trying to gauge what was going on inside Sonic’s head.

It seemed to be harder to see through the hero’s head these days - as if he was seeing right through the said hero or as if his vision was being clouded.

The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes at Shadow’s words, but he quickly got over it and instead crossed his arms over his chest, gaze as overbearing as always as he gave the black hedgehog a once-over.

“While what you said holds some kind of truth in it, hm, I don’t know… I think I like seeing you getting all riled up and defensive than doing whatever it was that I was supposed to be doing. 

You’re the ultimate lifeform, aren’t you? You probably know how amusing it is to see someone cower whenever you’re in the room .”

The hedgehog had said all those words with his usual cockiness, but there was something the slightest bit distinct in his tone that managed to rile Shadow up better than his usual taunts - which was why Shadow instinctively ended up taking a step towards Sonic, grabbing onto the peach fur of the hedgehog’s chest in offense.

(At the back of his mind, Shadow wondered why it was that despite how he’s indeed unsettled by the other, he’s always the one to be the first to take a step closer anyway - a step closer towards something that he’s barely able to understand .)

“I’m not cowering, faker .” Shadow seethed, narrowed eyes directed towards Sonic’s unaffected ones.

The nickname he often called his rival somehow felt different on his tongue this time around: was Sonic a faker for being a hedgehog like him or was Sonic a faker for the act he could be putting on to get people to act as he pleases and do his bidding?

Unlike the time when Sonic immediately took the close proximity as a chance to keep Shadow close by grabbing onto his wrist, this time around the blue hedgehog only needed to keep his gaze on the hybrid to keep him standing rooted to the ground.

Eyes hooded just the slightest bit, Sonic drawled, voice barely above a whisper as he took in Shadow’s rigidness and unwilling reluctant widened eyes.

“ But according to you, I can make anything happen, right?

According to you, I can have everything I want to have, right? ”

Whatever it was that got Shadow scoffing and harshly letting go of the peach-colored fur, Shadow was thankful for it.

“Absurd. I did not say anything of that sort.” Shadow scoffed, taking a discreet step away and keeping his eyes on the satisfied-looking blue hedgehog. ( What was he so smug and satisfied about? )

There was a sound between a laugh and a chuckle from the hero before he spoke again, amusement layering thick in his words.

“You didn’t; but the implication behind the words you said was as clear as day .”

Not giving Shadow a chance to refute, Sonic sighed annoyingly loudly before he stretched his arms upwards and rested his hands at the back of his head, far too relaxed in the face of Shadow’s glare.

“You know, consider yourself lucky, by the way. You might as well get a new friend because of your paranoia.” Sonic said, grinning cheekily and prompting Shadow to furrow his eyes in confusion.

“What are you talking about?” Shadow deadpanned in reply.

“I told Knuckles about what you said - the whole ‘I’m capable of far more gruesome things’ or whatever - and he said while it was hilariously and absolutely not happening, he promised he’ll be there by your side to stop me.

See? Making friends isn’t so hard . Heck, just hit me up if you want more friends - I have a lot of those.” Sonic generously explained, positively beaming at rendering Shadow speechless from the absurdity of his suggestion.

“I don’t need friends.” was the reply Shadow settled for in the end - which Sonic obviously had guessed before the words were out of his mouth.

“Yeahhh sure. I get it, coming from you. I mean, fewer people to betray, am I right? ”

Shadow’s quills bristled at those careless words.

He had thought that Sonic was implying that Shadow was one to stab people in the back and discard people like chess pieces, but before he could say anything, another possibility popped up in his head, and the dread Shadow felt creeping up to him was more ominous than he liked it to be.

Betraying his friends - would Sonic ever do such a thing?

No - Shadow was sure Sonic wouldn’t be capable of doing such an inconsiderate act.

Then again - Shadow doesn’t really know Sonic that well, does he?

They may be similar in the most obvious and less obvious ways, but being similar doesn’t necessarily mean two beings are exactly the same, does it?

A flick to his forehead snapped Shadow out of his thoughts, and the unamused growl he made was more out of offense than warning as Sonic retracted his fingers, snickering.

“Woah, calm down there, buddy . I can see the gears in your head turning. You’re not that hard to figure out once I get a glimpse of what’s going on in that head of yours.” Sonic chuckled, far too entertained to Shadow’s liking.

Was Shadow’s paranoia entertaining this sorry excuse of a hero?

The chaos emerald in his hand was there before he knew it, and only when Sonic whistled and pointedly looked at it did Shadow realize he had taken it out.

“Is that you offering for a fight or is that your cue to get out of here?” Sonic asked, genuine and all.

This whole thing was really messing with Shadow’s head.

“I’m not easy.” Shadow found himself saying in retort.

It didn’t make sense; he was pretty sure he had spoken less than Sonic during their exchange - so why did it feel like he had gained nothing out of it while Sonic seemed to be getting all the things he wanted out of it?

It seemed that Shadow’s reply was interpreted as a joke in Sonic’s eyes, chuckling and shaking his head from side to side at the hybrid’s words.

“Shads, you’re full of jokes these days, aren’t ya? Of course , you’re not easy.

That wouldn’t be very fun now, would it ?”

Shadow’s hands itched to wipe that empty and unsettling smile off Sonic’s lips - but he decided against doing so to not cause a ruckus. Plenty of people often hang around the park this time around.

“Don’t use me as you please,” Shadow said with finality, opting to start walking away and internally groaning when Sonic went along to walk beside him.

“Pfft- Me? Use you ? I didn’t know you hold me in such a high regard. There’s no way I could use the ultimate lifeform as I please.”

Only when they got to the park and could see people loitering around nearby did Shadow pause in his steps, glancing at Sonic and finding his heart beating faster in his chest when he found that the other was already looking at him.

“…but you can .”

Shadow wasn’t sure why he said it.

Sonic grinned, eyes with the same glint that Shadow had seen far too frequently the past few days. Shadow hadn’t been able to put that glint into words, but he wished he wouldn’t have been able to once he realized what the glint was.

“According to you, I can .”

Fortunately, Shadow’s ‘savior’ came in the form of Tails, who spotted the two hedgehogs and immediately started running towards them, speaking about a plan the fox seemed to have made with his brother-figure of a hedgehog. Judging from the pout on the fox’s lips, Sonic was probably late to the said plan.

Not like Shadow cared - that was the least of his worries.

“-I can’t believe I’m asking this, but are you actually stalking Shadow, Sonic? Seriously?”

Tails’ words pulled Shadow out of his thoughts, and the black hedgehog watched as Sonic talked the way he usually would; hands all over the place and tone so friendly and trustworthy.

“What?! Where did you get the idea? Oh my god- did Shadow complain to you?”

That was Shadow’s cue to interject with a ‘I was not complaining. I was inquiring the fox about it.’.

However, all Shadow could muster was a ‘hmph’, mind in other places and not really on whatever his rival and the fox were talking about.

Shadow thought back to the glint he now had a name for - but was it really what Shadow thought it was?

Tails seemed to be defending Shadow’s honor - surprisingly - and said that the black hedgehog’s worry was not necessarily wrongly placed considering the hedgehogs rarely bumped into each other in the past. 

After a few more exchanged words, Tails started to tug Sonic away, and Shadow responded to Tails’ ‘have a good day, Shadow!’ with a wordless nod.

Instead of waving Shadow off as Tails did, Sonic merely gave Shadow a look, and the black hedgehog kept his eyes on Sonic in return, heart racing and mind-numbing.

Not out of something he liked to admit. ( He was not afraid nor was he threatened by the hero. )

Only when those two were out of earshot, and Shadow had heard Tails questioning why Sonic was being so quiet, did Shadow let out the breath he didn’t remember holding, thinking of the glint in Sonic’s eyes.

Fondness ; Shadow wasn’t sure why such an emotion could be seen in the blue hedgehog’s eyes - especially when the said hedgehog was looking at him of all people.

The last time someone had sincerely given him such a look was Maria.

Yet, alongside the unexplainable fondness, Shadow also saw something that was more understandable, but not-at-all comforting.

Entertained. Amused.

Shadow was created in a laboratory - from experiments. He had seen scientists and humans who regarded him with those two emotions, thinking he was going to be the first step to their selfish wants.

He was familiar with such looks coming from those people who he no longer cared for and no longer saw on a daily basis.

In the past, the mere memory of those people looking at him like that would make Shadow curl in on himself and be defensive, loathing to be used despite knowing he was created with a purpose.

He was getting better - feeling better.

But to see such emotions in the eyes of his rival?

Shadow wasn’t so sure if he had gotten over it.

Just like the time when he had coincidentally bumped into the blue hedgehog at the top of a hill, he went back home hoping he could busy himself so he would stop thinking about the hedgehog that was becoming more and more of an incomplete puzzle with barely enough pieces.

The pieces Shadow had in his hands were all from the people Sonic surrounded himself with; a brother and some-sort-of-figure for Tails, a more-than-just-a-friend for Amy, a rival and friend for Knuckles, a challenging yet entertaining enemy for Eggman, and a hero and kind-hearted hedgehog to many others.

And yet none of these pieces were from Sonic himself.

The only piece that Shadow could safely say was from the blue hedgehog himself was something Sonic had said: how Sonic was just a hedgehog who loves adventure.

But even that perception of Sonic seemed to be unreliable to Shadow’s eyes these days - it seemed to the hybrid that Sonic often sought out adventures more so because he wanted to find danger and face it head-on, a favorite way of the hedgehog’s to overcome boredom.

Was Shadow really going to have his rest disturbed and affected by spending more time trying to figure out the philosophy of Sonic’s character?

He’s wasting his time - he ought to find things to busy himself with before he spiraled down into this neverending mess.

Chapter Text

The only people Shadow had brought home were Rouge and Omega - and it was only because joint missions between the three of them were getting far more frequent to the point that it would only be easier for all of them if they knew where to look for each other.

Whenever those two planned to stop by, usually to go on a mission together, they would always considerately message or inform Shadow earlier - to let the black hedgehog prepare himself.

Lately, Shadow was growing used to those two dropping by unannounced - not like he would ever admit it to the bat and the robot.

So when two knocks on his apartment could be heard, Shadow didn’t bother to clean up his slightly messy apartment, knowing full well that Rouge and Omega didn’t mind.

Having been awakened from his nap on his couch, Shadow stood up blearily and made his way to the door, eyes barely open.

Carelessly, as the black hedgehog went to his door, he adjusted the glasses he had grabbed and internally scolded himself to stop spending so much time on missions that involved staring at screens for hours. 

Somehow, the door suddenly felt so far.

The hedgehog opened the door then, expecting Rouge’s usual ‘good morning, hun’ or Omega’s usual ‘greetings, Shadow’ to greet him and not bothering to give his guest a good look as he gave a short nod and slowly started trudging back inside.

It took a while before Shadow realized the unusual silence that greeted him instead. 

Quickly snapping out of his post-nap haze, Shadow’s mind raced with millions of possibilities - of people seeking revenge for something he forgot he had done, or of people who held a grudge.

He already had his chaos emerald in hand when he turned to find a familiar face already looking at him - still standing right outside the door and staring a little dubiously and unabashedly.

…

Why is Sonic the Hedgehog at his doorstep?

“If I had known you let me in so easily, I would’ve come by sooner.” Sonic quipped as soon as he had gotten over whatever he was caught in, quickly stepping inside as if being even a second late would have Shadow pushing him out of his house.

He wasn’t wrong about that one.

Unfortunately, Sonic’s long legs were already crossing the distance between them, and when the blue hedgehog pointedly stopped in front of Shadow, the black hedgehog mourned his chance of shooing this terribly unwanted guest away.

Sonic had already taken so much of Shadow’s time in his thoughts - could the world at least spare Shadow from having to put up with the blue hedgehog’s antics?!

The hero squinted his eyes at Shadow for a few moments before walking past Shadow and annoyingly made himself at home on the couch in the living room - the couch that Shadow was sleeping on just a few minutes ago before he was rudely interrupted.

“Cute glasses. I may consider not destroying the world if you fight me in those.” Sonic… complimented(?), pulling many reactions and feelings from Shadow - namely confusion and annoyance. (Not bashful - Shadow was not flattered. No - of course he wasn’t. His cheeks were the slightest bit hot only because he’s angry Sonic somehow managed to find his way here.)

Just the slightest bit awkwardly, Shadow stood a few distance away from the couch, unsure of what to do before he blurted.

“Don’t joke about that.”

It seemed that Sonic had mastered the art of getting on Shadow’s nerves - he’s effortlessly doing it by humming dismissively at the black hedgehog’s words.

Resting his arms on the back of the two-seater couch he was sitting on, Sonic hummed appreciatively before focusing his attention on Shadow - who was still standing a distance away.

This was new - Shadow wasn’t prepared at all.

How did Sonic even find out where he lives?

“Cream said that friends shouldn’t be scared of each other.” Sonic said out of nowhere, Shadow immediately understanding that Sonic had even talked about Shadow’s paranoia with a literal child.

“We’re not friends.” Shadow chose to say instead of punching the guy and calling it a day for disclosing his slip-up to Cream. He was sure the next time he bumped into the rabbit, he would be interrogated on why he was ‘scared’ of Sonic.

Shadow liked spending time with Cream occasionally; she’s sweet and kind, reminding him a lot of Maria who was once Shadow’s only friend who was patient and kind enough to teach him about the world - how to live . Still; it wouldn’t be much fun if he’s interrogated instead of being able to focus on humoring the child and lending an ear to listen to her stories and chatters.

Sonic had the gall to put on a heartbroken look, pouting before he shook his head from side to side disapprovingly.

“ What?! How could you say that?! Come on, Shads! I even have a nickname for you! We’re obviously friends!”

Shadow really didn’t want to deal with his blue rival.

“How did you know where I live?”

“Well, it wasn’t that hard to find out; Omega told me when I asked.”

Damn you, Omega…

“It’s also not going to be hard for you to leave.” Shadow retorted, crossing his arms over his chest and stopping himself from impatiently tapping his foot on the floor.

Again, Sonic merely scowled.

“Stop deflecting and shooing me away, Shadow. As I was saying: friends aren’t supposed to be scared of each other. Sooo here I am to spend some time with you!” Sonic picked up right where he left off, prompting Shadow to furrow his eyes.

“Spend time with me?” Shadow repeated - if only hoping that Sonic realized how ridiculous his idea was.

Sonic didn't seem to think so.

“Yeah! I mean…

It’s hard to be scared of something that you’re well-versed in, right? ”

Shadow didn’t like the blue hedgehog’s question.

“As I had mentioned a few times already: I am not afraid of you. Leave.” Shadow said with as much finality as he could, turning away from his guest and making a beeline towards the kitchen.

For a moment, as no sound could be heard, Shadow thought Sonic had actually left.

It was only when Shadow was facing the kitchen counter against the wall, stirring a cup of tea for himself, when his ears twitched at the sound of movement.

Putting down the spoon, Shadow turned around only to recoil right into the counter when he found that Sonic was standing unbearably close, their chest almost pressing against each other as the black hedgehog was unable to stop his eyes widening from surprise.

It’s just Sonic , Shadow told himself.

Even as Shadow stared at the emotionless expression on Sonic’s face, he repeated those words in his head, convincing himself that Sonic wouldn’t suddenly rip his throat out.

(But what if he suddenly wants to?)

Shadow didn’t recall Sonic being someone who’s always comfortable with physical touch - he rarely joined or initiated hugs if not necessary, always preferring to be a spectator and short and quick high fives.

Why the sudden change?

A hand went to suddenly yet slowly rested at Shadow’s hip that had hit the kitchen counter too hard from the hybrid’s recoil, and shivers lingered all over as the hero’s hand stayed there, fingers tracing circles on the quills as if he was apologizing for catching him off guard.

The possibility of the hero liking the way Shadow would minutely flinch crossed the hybrid’s mind, but Shadow found himself immediately tossing such a reason aside for how uncharacteristic of Sonic it was.

( But could Shadow really decide what Sonic's characteristic was when he didn’t even know him very well? )

“You seemed to be panicking.”

Sonic’s words, whispered uncharacteristically gently, pulled Shadow out of his thoughts, unhelpfully reminding Shadow of the close proximity between them.

“I’m not.”

“Your pupils are shaking. Frantic.”

“Maybe you have to get your eyes checked.”

“I’m not the one wearing glasses, am I?”

Shadow huffed.

“If you get your eyes checked, then I’m not going to be the only one wearing glasses.”

After Shadow’s words, Sonic somehow thought it was a good idea to spend the next few minutes just staring at Shadow - as if trying to figure him out.

Shadow could try staring at Sonic all day, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to fully grasp Sonic’s truth just from what he saw alone.

When Shadow’s patience was running thin and he was getting closer and closer to just pushing the hedgehog away - even if it would cause a mess that he would have to clean later - Sonic finally took a step away, side-stepping Shadow and gingerly grabbing the tea Shadow had made for himself .

“Thanks for the tea, Shads! Always so prim and proper, aren’t you?” Sonic said, sounding gleeful like he had won the ultimate prize.

The black hedgehog didn’t like how his rival looked like that after staring at him in silence.

“That was for me. You’re supposed to be out of here minutes ago.” Shadow clarified, not bothering to make a cup of tea again for himself as he was suddenly not all too eager to take his eyes away from the hedgehog before him.

Unlike Shadow who was all rigid and stressed, Sonic was content and relaxed, sipping ‘his’ tea and humming in delight at the pleasant taste, probably. Shadow was told that he made great tea often by Rouge, who’s probably one of the few people Shadow had made tea for whenever she came over.

Placing the cup back on the counter, Sonic drummed his fingers on the counter for a short moment before retracting his hand, walking away from where they were standing, and prompting Shadow to follow right after him.

Just when Shadow thought Sonic would finally leave, the blue hedgehog made a beeline for the couch again, and the black hedgehog looked on in confusion when Sonic beckoned for him to come closer, patting the empty spot beside him as he took a seat on the couch.

“ Relax , Shads. I don’t bite .” Sonic teased, successfully making Shadow sit if only to show that Shadow wasn’t scared of Sonic ‘biting’ him.

Although, once seated, Shadow found himself feeling extremely awkward; so extremely awkward that for a moment he forgot why the hedgehog beside him had been running around in his mind non-stop for the past month in favor of wondering what exactly he was supposed to do at the moment.

Fortunately, before Shadow could explode from overexerting his brain trying to think of the best next course of action, Sonic - unnecessarily - draped an arm around the back of the couch and let his fingers occasionally graze Shadow’s shoulder, using his hand to pull Shadow even closer, for some reason. (Shadow had forgotten how long he had someone so close; he wasn’t sure if he should be worried or confused that Sonic had been the one he had been in such close contact with these days.)

“So. Get to know each other. Questions. And don’t worry your pretty head about having to lead the conversation; I’m the expert at making friends here, not you. I’ll ask questions, and you’ll answer.” Sonic said, casual and relaxed. So relaxed that Shadow had an inkling that the blue hedgehog was purposefully acting like so to get Shadow more relaxed.

Sure; of course Sonic would know how to make people trust him to some extent.

(Does Shadow trust Sonic?)

“Stop with the ‘pretty’ compliments.” Shadow opted to say as a reply, not really embarrassed whatsoever.

“Why? Don’t like it? Would you prefer I call you ‘handsome’?”

Shadow made a face at Sonic’s words.

“Are you imitating Rouge? Is that where these compliments are coming from?”, a pause, “Is it because Rouge is the closest to me?” 

Only after Sonic gave him a giddy look did Shadow stop with the barrage of questions, unsure what to do with his hands as they lay awkwardly on his lap.

“So you’re admitting Rouge is the closest to you?” 

“...I trust her.”

“ Don’t you trust me? ”

“...to some extent and when necessary.”

While Shadow had expected Sonic to scowl and complain, the blue hedgehog surprisingly hummed - as if the response was more so to let Shadow know that Sonic heard him and less as a reaction to the black hedgehog’s words.

As much as Shadow would like to know why Sonic was reacting oddly, he had noticed Sonic didn’t answer one of his questions.

“You didn’t answer my questions properly.”

“Which one?”

(It irked Shadow how it felt like Sonic was humoring him rather than taking him seriously.)

“You asked if Rouge is the closest to me without answering my other questions.”

When Sonic turned to look at Shadow properly, the black hedgehog stomped down on the regret and unease that immediately swelled up in the pit of his stomach.

“Isn’t the implication of my question enough?” 

“No.”

The way one end of Sonic’s lips twitched upwards at Shadow’s answer immediately made the hybrid realize he chose the wrong reply.

“Then humor me, Shadow.

The implications behind your words - why haven’t you enlightened me when I have made it clear I’m interested? ”

The fingers on Shadow’s shoulder started tracing patterns Shadow couldn’t care to focus on, and the black hedgehog swallowed a lump down his throat, heart skidding to a stop for a few seconds when Sonic’s eyes tracked the movement.

(Blood red pupils blown wide as broken machines laid all around the golden-turned-blue hedgehog, the picture of a hero triumphing once again against evil as his friends and the citizens he saved cheered for their nth victory.

And yet as Shadow stayed behind the crowd, all he could see was the dissatisfaction of a short fight and a thirst for something more promising in those eyes, red morphing into green a few seconds later as they met with Shadow’s observing eyes.

‘Sonic’ smiled.

Shadow couldn’t forget the almost-unhinged smile and jovial laughter of the blue hedgehog’s as he smashed machines and robots alike into pieces. )

“You’re deflecting again.” Shadow opted to point out - couldn’t possibly start talking about what’s been on his mind when it was so messy and all over the place.

Sonic stared for a few moments, fingers having stopped tracing patterns and just resting on Shadow, before he relented, fingers moving again.

“I wasn’t intentionally imitating Rouge. I can always dish out compliments when I want to - just so happened that I ended up dishing them like Rouge. As for the compliments…”

The fingers on Shadow’s shoulder moved all too abruptly, suddenly yet gently cupping Shadow’s muzzle and making the black hedgehog only able to look at him. 

Only when Sonic was sure he had Shadow’s full attention did he continue from where he trailed off.

“...I just had an epiphany, recently.”

Sonic let a few seconds of silence pass before he let go of Shadow’s muzzle, smiling all too pleased as Shadow stared at him like he had grown another head.

“...you’re being cryptic.”

“Trust me, handsome ; it’s for your own good.”

For once, Shadow didn’t prod.

Finally leaning away and retracting his fingers to instead just drum the back of the couch, Sonic grinned giddily.

“Great! Your turn, Shads.” the blue hedgehog prompted.

Shadow felt like this exchange of theirs was unfair.

How come Shadow had to talk about his ‘ridiculous’ worry while all Sonic had to do was admit that Shadow was… handsome?

Clearly, Shadow was being scammed.

Still reluctant to disclose more of his thoughts, the black hedgehog decided to address at least a change that had been glaringly obvious between the two of them.

“You’ve been oddly touchy recently,” Shadow stated matter-of-factly.

If Sonic was disappointed with the change of subject, he didn’t let it show on his face or in his body language.

“Have I?” Sonic chose to ask as his reply.

Shadow wasn’t sure what to say to that. (He had a feeling the short reply was Sonic’s way of making him speak more and longer.)

“Yes.”

“And you’ve come to this conclusion because…?”

“You’ve always preferred short physical touches compared to prolonged ones: high fives and nudges with Tails, appearing quickly uncomfortable when Amy hugged you longer than a second, bumping fists with Knuckles, and not waiting around for group hugs unless unavoidable.

Why the… sudden change? You’ve never initiated much physical contact - especially when it comes to me.

Why didn’t you seek Amy Rose for physical contact? She will be delighted to shower you with hugs and such.”

At the end of his words, Shadow realized that Sonic was staring again - confirming Shadow’s observation from before at the park as fondness leaked from his gaze alone.

(No amusement nor the feeling of being entertained could be seen in those green eyes; Shadow was far too relieved for someone who claimed that he wouldn’t bat an eye if Sonic was to suddenly treat him like an object of entertainment instead of a person.)

“Are you always so observant?

Or are you observant because I’m the person of interest? ” Sonic asked, tone a mix of genuine wonder and tease.

Absurd.

“I am the ultimate lifeform; being observant is necessary to ensure I make wise decisions in quick succession successfully without fail.” was Shadow’s choice of reply, suddenly very thankful for his ‘ultimate lifeform’ title that he liked to throw around.

Sonic laughed at that, the sound surprisingly warming Shadow as the hybrid tried to comprehend what was it about this laugh that had his stomach flipping unnaturally.

When Sonic had gotten over his bout of laughter and made eye contact with Shadow, the black hedgehog came to realize that it was simply because he was the one who made the blue hedgehog laugh.

(He remembered a feeling just like this; when Maria had laughed at one of his dubious questions as he asked if he could pick a fight with a cat from Earth as the two of them were going through pictures of animals on Earth.)

“Okay, yeah. You got a point there. Ultimate lifeform. Sureee.

Still…

I would’ve liked it if it’s because it’s me. ”

Having immensely relaxed at a fond memory of his lost one, Shadow scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Narcissist, much? You already have enough eyes on you as it is.” Shadow pointed out the obvious, thinking Sonic would also laugh this one off and dismiss it.

Instead, Sonic’s voice was sincere when he said his next words.

“ But they’re not yours, are they? ”

Sonic didn’t let Shadow say anything as he continued, posture still relaxed even though the words he said after obviously were chosen in all seriousness.

“I was not kidding when I said I’m interested , Shadow.

I’ve thought about it - and maybe the reason you had this different perspective of me is because you’re… not from here . When we look at it from this angle, your concern is, well, sort of valid, I guess.

Everyone’s wired to put their guard up when facing the unknown.

But you know what makes this interesting, Shads?

It’s 'cause it’s you .

It’s 'cause it’s me .

You said you’re observant because you’re the ultimate lifeform - but do you really pay as much attention to anyone as you do to me?

No - I don’t think so.

And yeah, I’ve come to realize: I’m not really a narcissist.

Selfish? Maybe .

If what you said about me was true - that maybe one day I’ll turn the world upside down to cure my boredom - then yeah ; maybe I am selfish.

But I don’t think me ‘losing control’ should be something you concern yourself about anytime soon; I’ve found quite the entertaining cure to my boredom .

You just have to keep your eyes on me - you’re the only one who can keep up with me, after all. ”

Not giving Shadow any time to process his words, Sonic suddenly stood up, prompting the black hedgehog to follow right after and stand up too - if only out of reflex more than anything.

“See? Always so quick to keep up.” Sonic commented just as suddenly, confusing Shadow with these barrages of words.

Tapping on Shadow’s nose and effectively pushing the glasses that almost fell off the hybrid’s nose, Sonic beamed like he hadn’t been saying confusing words just a few seconds ago.

“Well, I’m gonna have to head out now; don’t wanna bother you any longer.

Say, next time we meet, maybe you’ll figure me out, you know? I’ll leave you to do your thinking and lamenting.

See you when I see you, Shads!”

And just like that, Sonic was no longer in front of Shadow, having been left in the dust as the sound of his front door being closed could be heard.

Left to his own devices, Shadow slowly seated himself back on the couch, only then noticing how loud and fast his heart was beating as his mind scrambled to put together the blue hedgehog’s words and try to make sense of them.

One moment Shadow felt like he was able to grasp an understanding, and the next he found himself drowning in even more questions unanswered.

To truly understand Sonic the Hedgehog - is he capable of doing so?

…if there’s anyone that could, it should be him .

Chapter Text

Sonic embodied a lot of things Shadow had grown to learn about in his life upon pondering about what truly gets the blue hedgehog moving.

A small notebook filled with scribbles and barely incomprehensible cursive words littered all over its pages, and its writer sat there unwillingly writing down his thoughts to organize them.

The hero had told him during his impromptu visit that he had found ‘the cure to his boredom’, yet only after he left did Shadow realize the cure was never really shared with him.

What was it - the cure?

Lamenting over an answer to a question he couldn’t properly comprehend would do him no good, hence why he decided to cast aside the question in favor of focusing on what he could try to put into words instead.

Upon sitting down in his living room, opening the notebook he found conveniently on his desk, and picking up a pen, Shadow accepted that putting his thoughts into words was bound to happen sooner or later.

It’s not like he can run forever. (He knew of someone who could make it possible, though.

And if things were to come to that, Shadow’s determined to keep up .)

Growing up in space meant Shadow would always be able to see darkness all around him; stars and planets alike being the colors in the never-ending darkness that anyone could’ve drowned or got lost in.

Stars: it was the first thing he associated with the blue hedgehog he decided to try ‘understanding’.

Bright and blinding; even just one speck of it would stand out in the blackness surrounding the arc. The association of the blue hedgehog to the stars was self-explanatory.

The only difference between those two was for what they burn for. Whose path were they giving light for?

The answer to the question was simple for stars; could easily be searched up as long as one had the relevant materials at hand or a search engine close.

The same could not be said for Sonic the Hedgehog.

For what reason does Sonic burn for?

‘For his friends, obviously’ a voice quipped matter-of-factly at the back of his head, having enough of Shadow’s inconsistent thoughts and takes on the blue hedgehog.

A star glows because it has a reason. A star has no mind of its own, and yet still has one reason to glow.

As Sonic had a consciousness of his own, wouldn’t the possibility of Sonic having more than one reason to glow would not be zero?

The hybrid wrote down the word ‘boredom’ in somewhat neat handwriting, but chose to strikethrough it with a thin line before leaving a space enough to write other possible reasons that made sense.

(For someone as invincible and fast as Sonic: wouldn’t operating based on what bores and entertains him be fitting? Not many could keep up with him after all…)

The Sun: it was the second thing Shadow ended up writing down in his notebook after he made himself a cup of tea, trying to get a peace of mind to set his head straight.

The star that planets orbited around - just like how the world revolves around Sonic whenever he’s in the picture.

Always so captivating with his presence: inspiring speeches, captivating smiles, reassuring words - all those come to the hero with ease.

Just like the stars, this association was a no-brainer. Shadow was somehow glad associating the blue hedgehog with things that he was familiar with made it less… unnerving.

It crossed Shadow’s mind that maybe making sense of the blue hedgehog wasn’t so out of reach after all.

The Sun gave warmth and light to its galaxy. The Earth in particular benefited a lot from what was provided by the massive star. The same could be said of how Sonic saved the world countless times and did so without asking anything in return - at least not shamelessly nor demandingly.

And yet the same that was applied to the star could be applied to the sun: both of these were of no consciousness that Sonic had.

Hence, the same question was left unanswered once again: for what does Sonic run for?

Associating Sonic with things Shadow knew more of indeed made it feel like it’s possible to comprehend and understand the enigma, yet it also proved to show that Shadow could not make sense of a being as he could of the stars and the sun.

As he did prior, Shadow left a space in his notebook for an answer he couldn’t figure out.

More words and scribbles were written on the notebook, and it became more clear to Shadow why he was so unsettled by the blue hedgehog.

Purpose: the hedgehog was lacking a purpose .

It felt like he was trying to figure himself out.

Shadow no longer spent so much time dwelling on his purpose - and yet here he was trying to figure out someone else’s purpose.

Sonic was not a creation made in the laboratory like Shadow. It would make sense for Sonic to not care as unlike Shadow, he came to this world of natural means with no specified purpose.

Unknown, but natural, regardless. (Is it?

Is anything about Sonic the Hedgehog natural? )

Staring at the filled pages and wracking his brain, Shadow decided that lamenting these two comparisons wouldn’t be able to provide him with the exact result he wanted.

So, reluctantly, he moved on to another association that he had been avoiding.

Maria: the third word written neatly with care on a new page, the pen Shadow was using to write that dear name stopping as he stared at the name in silence, reminiscing.

He knew Maria was nothing like Sonic.

Yet he also knew they were similar .

He thought back to his previous thoughts when he accidentally told Sonic of his concern, remembering how he had compared the blue hedgehog’s super form to Maria’s physical appearance and internally realizing the similar impact both people had on the ones they surrounded themselves with.

The Sun - Shadow had associated it with Sonic.

The galaxy only has one sun in it, doesn't it? Both Maria and Sonic couldn’t be the Sun. There’s a reason why the galaxy worked well on its own without needing two suns, after all.

Zoning out thoughtfully and letting the background noise of the bustling city fill in the silence, Shadow thought of his origin. How he was born in space.

The hybrid thought of how he doesn’t shine like the Sun.

The moon - that, he may be. Something that didn’t shine as bright as the sun, yet was still prevalent to make sure the earth stayed the way it was created to be.

‘Stayed the way it was created to be’; in that sense, Shadow was needed to ensure stability of some sort - which begged the question: what?

Sonic.

But when the time came, would Shadow be able to bring ‘stability’ to the blue hedgehog?

Questions were increasingly stacking, and answers were barely gained.

Perhaps writing all these thoughts in a notebook only served to define the many questions left unsolved.

If Sonic was the Earth, it would be ironic.

Does the world revolve around him, or is he the world itself - regardless of who lives in his world?

Had it been the latter; what would happen if the day comes when no one but Sonic is left standing on Earth?

Maria the Sun, Sonic the Earth, and Shadow the Moon.

Shadow stared at the words he wrote in wonder, unsure of what was to make of his final decision on which role belonged to who.

An old memory from when Shadow was less closed off and more eager to find his purpose came to mind; of Super Sonic holding out a hand to Shadow and encouraging the black hedgehog to find his footing so the two of them could defeat Eggman.

Back then, despite how blinding Sonic’s golden quills were, Shadow had sworn he saw Maria encouragingly smiling at him from behind the golden hedgehog.

He had deduced that it was perhaps a hallucination from being heavily wounded - the Maria that was smiling at him was foggy, and the black hedgehog recalled how she was bleeding from a hole in her chest.

Yet a painful reminder that she was no longer here for him to protect or hold.

‘A lunar eclipse, huh?’ 

While most would be ecstatic at such a phenomenon and be eager to spread the word, this eclipse had Shadow feeling how the tape he used to put the pieces of his heart back together tore just the slightest.

Inhaling a sharp breath, Shadow reminded himself that he would no longer be at his past’s mercy, and tentatively put the tape back together.

“No answers yet again…” Shadow muttered to himself, half in disbelief but mostly in resignation.

Figuring out the blue hedgehog was no easy feat.

A notification on his gadget pulled him out of his thoughts, and he looked at it to find that Rouge had sent him a location and a message.

Pulling out his chaos emerald from his quills, Shadow teleported to the sent location in a rush, the message he read sending him into a feeling of unease.

[ Something’s not right with Sonic. ]

As soon as Shadow’s vision of his surroundings returned, he immediately noted how, as usual, the machines that were once attacking were left unmoving on the ground, and debris was clouding the air along with dust and dirt from the fight Sonic had put up with the machines.

What’s unusual, however, was Sonic dancing around with a machine that was barely able to keep up, having the lower half of his body already detached and not functioning.

Upon noticing Shadow’s arrival, the big smile on Sonic’s lips stretched wider, and he immediately discarded the machine he was dancing with in favor of giving his full attention to the newcomer.

“Shadow! You’re here! Wanna join the party?!” Sonic exclaimed, chaos energy seeming to still be crackling at the ends of his quills; a normal aftermath for the blue hedgehog after using his super form.

Despite the blue quills, Sonic’s eyes somehow stayed red. (Or was this yet another hallucination Shadow’s mind had come up with?)

“Party’s over. Can’t you see Eggman has retreated?” Shadow chose to say in reply, choosing to stand rooted to the ground while the hero giddily approached him.

The smile on Sonic’s lips was replaced with an exaggerated pout, followed by some complaining that got Shadow more guarded than annoyed.

“ Exactly ! Party’s over, and yet I didn’t feel like I partied at all! A shame, wouldn’t you agree?” 

Too focused on the blue hedgehog in front of him, the question of how Sonic became super without all seven chaos emeralds with him didn’t cross the black hedgehog’s mind.

“Where’s your friends?” Shadow chose to ask instead.

Sonic huffed at the question.

“They left; Rouge was saying something about how I need to cool off or whatever before ushering everyone away.” The blue hedgehog’s eyes were furrowed, as if displeased that Rouge even thought he needed time to cool down.

Seeing how chaos energy was still here around Sonic despite not being super anymore, Shadow could vouch for the bat that the hero certainly needed time to cool off.

It seemed that Shadow agreeing with Rouge was obvious to Sonic, seeing that the blue hedgehog scowled further in offense.

“Don’t tell me you agree with her.”

“You look like you still have pent-up energy to use.” Shadow chose to say instead of directly affirming the hero’s words.

Sonic’s green eyes lightened up at the hybrid’s words, and Shadow was barely able to dodge when Sonic made a grab for his neck, an unusual predatory yet ecstatic grin on his lips as he kept his eyes locked on Shadow.

“‘Pent up’ energy? Would you like to be my dance partner, then? ”

Neither Sonic nor Shadow waited for another moment for the hybrid’s reply, opting to immediately start swinging at each other instead.

Picking out words and putting them on his barely incomprehensible words to be told to the blue hedgehog had never been something he was used to, often resulting in Shadow saying more than he wanted and implying things that he was unaware of, hence making a fool out of himself.

This, however: of them exchanging kicks and fists, was a dance Shadow had grown used to - so much that it was indeed a dance just he and Sonic had learnt of.

Something just for the two of them.

By the time both hedgehogs had gotten themselves a few cuts here and there, Shadow had successfully rid his mind of thoughts for once, paying attention to the hedgehog in front of him instead of the hedgehog in his head that only promised betrayals and destruction.

( How could Shadow have known the blue hedgehog he’s talking to belonged to the world or belonged in his head? )

As they both paused to take a moment to take in the necessary breath of air, their eyes stayed locked on each other, and only when Sonic started laughing whole-heartedly did Shadow finally tear his eyes away from green ones, straying to get a glimpse of the wide smile on his rival’s grin before looking back into green.

“Why are you laughing?” Shadow blurted, heart thumping erratically in his chest as blood rushed dutifully all over his body. (He wasn’t sure what it was that he was feeling: surely he wasn’t getting a thrill out of all this? )

Sonic took a step closer abruptly, and while Shadow had crossed his arms over his chest defensively to block what he thought was an attack, gloved hands grabbed for his wrists instead before he was pulled forward into the blue hedgehog, noses bumping into each other as Sonic chirped ecstatically.

“For all those complaints you made about being afraid of me going bonkers, you’re smiling .

You’re smiling with no care in the world - so focus on me to the point that you forgot that you’re supposed to be here to calm me down; not to rile me up or encourage me to cause more ruckus. ”

Whatever pleasant feeling that was coursing through his heart dissipated in an instant.

Shadow swore he had made sure to cause the least amount of damage to their surrounding - was he really so swept away by the current?

( “Does the world revolve around him, or is he the world itself?” )

Before Shadow could look around to assess the damage their impromptu ‘fight’ had made, one of Sonic’s hands went to grab the hybrid’s muzzle, and the black hedgehog wasn’t able to move due to the unusual strength in the blue hedgehog’s grip.

It wasn’t harsh, yet it also wasn’t gentle or careful. His grip was firm .

“Don’t look away now, Shadow .

The whole world is right in front of you. ”

It felt off.

Everything felt off.

He was unfamiliar with this dance.

He was unfamiliar with his dance partner.

Shadow went in for a kick, having his legs free. However, Sonic dodged the kick, and now they’re standing a few feet away from each other.

That look and that smile - they’re staring right through Shadow.

“Thank you for your time, darling . But I’m afraid I’m totally drained of energy - for now . 

Don’t worry, though! You’ll find me again once I’m bored , won’t you?

You’re as much of a hero as I am, aren’t you? ”

With those last words, Sonic left in the blink of an eye, for the millionth time not bothering to wait for any kind of reply from the black hedgehog who was left to stare at the blue hedgehog disappearing from his line of sight.

A mistake - slipping up was truly a mistake.

‘ The whole world is right in front of you ’.

How self-centered.

(Is it truly self-centered if it’s the truth?)

The buzzing of his gadget snapped him out of his thoughts, and upon answering the call, he found that it was Rouge who had called him, asking if it was safe for G.U.N to enter the premises and did their usual clean up whenever Eggman and Sonic finished their frequent squabbles.

Only when G.U.N had made their appearance did Shadow chaos control away from the scene, going straight for his book and turning to the page where he wrote Sonic off as ‘the earth’.

Picking up his pen, he jotted down a short sentence before slumping onto his chair, thoughts swimming in murky water in his head as he tried to see through its depth.

‘ The world is at Sonic’s mercy. ’

Chapter Text

Contrary to popular belief, Shadow didn’t mind mingling with the crowds - as long as they didn’t bother him or get in his way. 

Okay, maybe he disliked being in a crowd more than he wanted to admit, but his dislike for it was justifiable and acceptable, he believed.

Another thing that seemed to surprise the people around him about himself was that he actually wasn’t really fond of staying cooped up in his apartment for too long; it would’ve been a no-brainer for people to figure out the reason if they just remembered that Shadow had been stuck in the ARK ever since he first opened his eyes upon creation, unable to move around much.

With a cup of coffee on his side, an opened and turned-on laptop, and a pair of glasses, Shadow had made himself comfortable in one nook of a coffee shop near his apartment, finding himself not bothered by the background noises of other customers chatting or of coffee machines whirring to life for numerous orders.

His day was proven to be even better when the tables near him were left unoccupied for the past hour, allowing him to fully immerse himself in the latest work that G.U.N had assigned for him.

As much as Shadow had insisted that he preferred missions that allowed him to run around than staring at screens, G.U.N seemed to think otherwise; always saying how they merely wanted Shadow to take a break when they both knew full well that these trivial tasks were shoved to Shadow if only to keep the black hedgehog out of trouble.

Nevertheless; Shadow accepted the task, regardless.

An hour had passed since he had started his work, and he found himself still immersed in it until someone tapped on his table, prompting him to look up and internally chiding himself for being so unaware of his surroundings. (In his defense, he had stayed up the night before to do the task in hopes of finishing it all by today.)

Surprisingly, it was Rouge who had tapped on his table - and right behind her were Tails and Amy.

“All by yourself, handsome ?” Rouge greeted, charming and amicable as she gave Shadow a smile.

“Are you planning to sit here?” Shadow asked in reply.

“Is that an offer?”

“If you don’t mind the mess,” Shadow answered, gesturing over his side of the table that had some papers scattered and the notebook he liked to scribble on.

Oh; he better kept that notebook close to him before Rouge decided to swipe it right from under his nose and read the content of the said notebook - especially the pages where the hybrid was making associations regarding a certain blue hedgehog.

Since the table was pretty much at the corner of the cafe, it was meant to be a four-seater table.

Rouge, the smart bat she is, dragged another chair from the nearby table and seated herself on it, smiling all the while. Meanwhile, Tails and Amy went to take seats opposite Shadow; the pink hedgehog looked all over the table curiously in general while Tails immediately honed onto the notebook that Shadow had just grabbed to put it closer to him and out of reach of everyone else’s.

“Hope you don’t mind the intrusion. We’ll keep our voices down.” Amy said, smiling kindly at Shadow while the hybrid hummed in reply, focusing his attention back on the screen of his laptop.

However, he didn’t get to do much else when Tails suddenly started talking, albeit a little timidly.

“Um, actually… can I, um, ask you a few questions, Shadow?”

…It wouldn’t hurt to humor the fox.

Giving the fox the green light by looking at the said fox, Tails brightened up a little before clearing his throat and firing away his question.

“How is everything going on with Sonic?”

Shadow, uncharacteristically, went rigid at the question.

In the corners of his eyes, he took note of Amy’s disbelieving look as she gaped at the innocent-looking fox, whereas Rouge’s eyes had that look in them when she was up to no good, looking back and forth between Tails and Shadow before settling on the black hedgehog.

Shit.

“Nothing is going on with me and faker-”

“Something’s going on with you and big blue? How come you never told me, Shadow?” Rouge took her chance to say, tone borderline teasing and amused.

“Because nothing is going on, Rouge.” Shadow bit back, deciding that maybe it would be best for him to just return his attention to his work-

“Uh, since Tails opened that can of worms, I also want answers.”

Oh god-

“Sonic seemed to have started to make ‘talking about nonsense’ a habit of his ever since you shared with him about your… unrealistic concern. And he kept on saying he had to look for you whenever he’s bored.

Tell me; have you been feeding him something weird? Sonic’s never talked about someone so much before this! 

Even more bizarre: I swore I saw you guys holding hands at some point.”

Shadow decided that the next time he wanted to enjoy the ambiance of a coffee shop, he would have to go to the coffee shop in the next town nearby; far, far away from where people he knew would be around.

It wasn’t really Shadow’s fault that Sonic had the tendency to grab onto him whenever Shadow’s flight instinct was triggered - which was always triggered whenever Sonic’s eyes were noticeably less like Sonic himself and more like something that Shadow couldn’t comprehend.

Feeling cornered, Shadow instinctively turned to look at the exit - as if he was planning to make a run or escape for a mission instead of an unpleasant topic of a conversation - and found himself feeling even more disheartened when familiar blue quills of a hedgehog could be seen entering the coffee shop.

Clearly, the world was out for Shadow’s blood that day.

Pushing the glasses up his nose and frantically opening his laptop, Shadow pretended to busy himself with typing on his keyboard despite how he couldn’t focus on the words and numbers displayed on his screen.

“We were definitely not holding hands. I did not feed him anything. I… do not know why he seeks me when he’s bored. As for his newfound interest in nonsense, I have no comments or answers to that remark.” Shadow murmured, voice purposely kept only loud enough so only the people at his table could hear his words.

Of course; Amy looked dissatisfied by the answers - so was Rouge, who probably thought Shadow’s answers were ‘boring’.

Tails, on the other hand, seemed to be deep in thought, fingers on his chin and all as his eyes were kept on the table.

Fortunately, before any of the ladies could speak up on their dissatisfaction regarding Shadow’s cryptic and short answers, Tails opened his mouth - which Shadow later came to realize was more so unfortunate than fortunate.

“Maybe Sonic has a crush on you?”

Shadow thought Tails was supposed to be the smart one.

“Who has a crush on who?”

A very dreaded voice joined the conversation, and sliding in beside Shadow’s seat was none other than the subject of their conversation himself, a chili dog in one hand as he took a bite of it, munching and looking at everyone with his typical grin.

Before Tails could repeat what he said and sealed the nail to Shadow’s imaginary coffin, kind and sweet Amy clasped a hand over the fox’s mouth, laughing all too forcefully and loudly as she waved a hand in dismissal quickly.

“ No one important, Sonic! No one! ” She added in a haste, chuckling awkwardly as both Tails and Sonic regarded her with a confused look while Rouge sighed at the impromptu cut of their oh-so intriguing conversation.

Silence descended upon them, but it didn’t last that long as Sonic, of course , turned to look at Shadow with a curious grin.

“Whatcha doing there, cutie ?”

Either Sonic didn’t care, or he somehow miraculously didn’t notice the way the three other people sitting at the table with them choked on their drinks that they had all taken a sip of to busy themself in silence.

Heat crept into Shadow’s cheeks, and the black hedgehog thought back to the fox’s words involuntarily.

A crush: no, both Sonic and him did not harbor such feelings for each other. No way.

“None of your business.” Shadow blurted rudely, not bothering to feel guilty as he was busying himself with internally panicking and tugging at his quills in embarrassment at having been affected by such a lame nickname.

Surely Shadow was heating up out of anger - not because he liked the blue hedgehog?

He barely understood Sonic to be able to like him. (Or does falling in love involve the urge to want to get to know each other?)

Unhelpfully, Sonic leaned closer to the black hedgehog, and this time around Amy didn’t bother to hide the way she choked on her drink and started coughing violently, eyes comically wide like saucers as she looked back and forth between the other two hedgehogs at the table in both disbelief and curiosity.

“Why the biting reply, Shads? Oh wait, is it because you’re embarrassed that people are watching? ”

If Sonic was having the time of his life making Shadow’s life harder, he didn’t bother to hide it.

To remind Sonic that this whole thing was not exactly their kind of dynamic, the black hedgehog turned his head, and he ignored the urge to lean away when their noses brushed against each other.

“You’re absurd .” Shadow simply said.

Of course, Sonic being the incomprehensible hedgehog he was, laughed at the insult, prompting Shadow to only glare harder at the hero.

By the time Sonic had gotten over his laughter, Amy had gathered her composure and was simply observing the hedgehogs in silence alongside the bat and the fox.

“Shads; has anyone ever told you that you’re hilarious? ” the blue hedgehog said once he could properly speak, a flush in his cheeks forming from laughing too hard.

“Being hilarious was not my intention.” Shadow deadpanned - and even the mere deadpan managed to pull a few chuckles from the blue hedgehog.

Someone seemed to be in a good mood; it’s a shame that it wasn’t Shadow.

The sound of Sonic’s name being called from the counter could be heard then, and everyone at the table turned to look at the counter, realizing that Sonic seemed to have a plan of his own as he had bought a packaged meal.

“Sweet! Time to go meet up with Knuckles and the Chaotix! We promised to hang out today and all.” Sonic explained without any prompting, batting his eyelashes at Shadow while the black hedgehog scowled at the exaggerated action.

“I didn’t ask.” Shadow retorted.

Sonic, being the quickest being on Earth he was, came up with a retort just as quick, unnecessarily wrapping an arm around Shadow and pulling him close so their muzzles brushed, causing the hybrid to be unable to look at Sonic’s whole face.

Instead, all Shadow could focus on was the glint he had grown all too familiar with in the green eyes of his rival.

“Yeah, but you never really bother to ask , don’t you? Always preferring to run away with whatever ideas you have in your head instead of sharing them with anyone. Oh, speaking of ideas…”

Sonic used his hand that was around Shadow’s shoulders to reach for something, and it unfortunately took the hybrid a second longer to realize that Sonic was reaching for his notebook.

Quickly stepping away from the table while flipping through the book, Shadow pretty much lunged for the notebook - only to realize his effort was futile judging from the calculating yet intrigued look on Sonic’s face as the black hedgehog managed to grab his notebook back.

Shadow hated to admit it, but Sonic definitely managed to go through the whole thin notebook.

Damn.

“Thanks for the things to think about while I make my way to the hangout, Shads! Also, thank god yours truly can read that chicken scratch you call handwriting; would’ve been a shame if no one ever found out your love for space .” Sonic said cheerily, tone knowing and amused as he annoyingly pushed the glasses on the hybrid up his nose when it was falling off.

Waving at Amy, Rouge, and Tails who had been silently watching throughout the whole ordeal, Sonic greeted each of them a cheerful ‘goodbye!’ before turning to Shadow and giving him an odd smile - something that was happening way too frequently these days.

Like a blur, he left and was no longer standing in front of the four of them.

Expectedly, Amy was immediately talking, her voice full of disbelief as she accidentally slammed her hands onto the table. On the bright side, though, her voice was fortunately not too loud for other customers to eavesdrop on compared to the loud smack of the table.

“ Did Sonic the Hedgehog just pull you into a half hug?! ”

Damn Sonic.

“It wasn’t a half hug.” Shadow protested, uncharacteristically weakly.

Tails took that as his cue to whisper-shout in disbelief, too.

“ Are you dating my brother?! ”

“No, I am not , fox . We had not exchanged a single form of affection the past few minutes since he had decided to ruin my day - how is it that’s the conclusion you’ve come to?” Shadow refuted, feeling an incoming headache as he took off his glasses and decided that he’d have to put the task on hold for the next day as he had felt too drained to continue.

“I wouldn’t put it past Sonic to be casual with whoever he chose as his partner. Knowing how he’s always so carefree and always doing as he pleases , he wouldn’t be pressured to follow according to the norms of romance that society is used to. Plus, knowing how well you keep up with him, he wouldn’t be against forming such a bond with you.” Tails oh-so intelligently yapped, causing Shadow’s brain to short-circuit multiple times at different points of his unprompted yapping session about his brother’s type.

‘ Always doing as he pleases ’, the fox had said - it was one point that Shadow’s mind instantly latched on.

There’s a scandalized gasp coming from Amy, and then the pink hedgehog started interrogating Tails about ‘if the fox made love analysis for potential partners for his brother often’, with a follow-up question of ‘what’s Sonic’s and her compatibility rate’.

As much as the topic was mind-boggling to the hybrid, he found himself thankful at least that those two were no longer firing their barrages of questions at him.

The only other person who had been silent throughout the conversation took that lull in conversation to fire her thoughts at Shadow; her voice purposefully less intense than Amy’s and less interrogative than Tails.

“I didn’t realize you and big blue have grown so close to each other. My bad for not checking up on you often these days, hun.” 

Rouge was… unexpectedly not teasing.

It was making Shadow the slightest bit nervous.

“It’s not a big deal. And you don’t have to feel bad for not checking up on me as often as you used to. I’m not a child , and I’ve been… faring off well enough.” Shadow found himself reassuring the bat, disliking the notion of the bat feeling guilty for something so trivial.

Even though Sonic was more like Maria than Rouge was, Shadow had always preferred the company of the bat in terms of leisure and advice; he himself wasn’t even sure why he preferred it that way.

(Perhaps he had always been subconsciously keeping his rival at an arm’s length; close enough to observe and step in when necessary but far enough so he would be able to untangle himself from the hero at a moment’s notice.

Still - could anyone ever escape the fastest thing alive? )

Rouge hummed at the reassurance, and eventually, the disguised guilt in her eyes was replaced with her typical teasing look.

Shadow wasn’t sure which look was worse than the other. (Probably the former - definitely .)

“So; what do the two of you do on your dates? Talk about ‘space’?

And what’s this about ‘unrealistic concerns’ of yours? I would be quite heartbroken if I came to be the last one to catch wind of this concern of yours.” Rouge questioned, wings flapping a little from curiosity and interest.

Way to guilt trip Shadow, Rouge.

“...It’s nothing major. I prefer it if everyone just forgot I ever said anything. I especially prefer if all of you just forget whatever that has happened just moments ago.” Shadow said as a leeway of a reply, packing his belongings and wincing when three collective voices said at the same time.

“So this concern of yours is supposed to be something only between you and big blue? How exclusive. ”

“ No way I’m going to forget Sonic being so physically comfortable with you, Shadow. Sorry! ”

“Wow - you guys are actually very serious about this . I can’t believe my big bro didn’t bother to come to me for consultation or advice. I may be a bit on the young side - but romance is not all about feelings ! It also involves smart decisions - I’m good at those! ”

Shadow took this nonsense of a talk as his sign to take his leave.

“I’ll be taking my leave,” Shadow announced to the three people with varying levels of surprise on their faces, standing up and almost successfully ignoring the three people who immediately told them to wait.

Rouge was giving him a reprimanding look - which didn’t make sense because there was nothing to reprimand him about!

“As much as I would like to interrogate you more, at least let me say something before you leave,” Rouge spoke up, sitting so that she could face Shadow who was already standing.

When the bat was sure that the hedgehog wouldn’t bolt, she continued speaking.

“Sonic was right at least in one thing: you’re too comfortable with carrying things by yourself when certain things could be too heavy and too much of a burden to be carried alone.

If sharing those thoughts with me would make it less taxing, I’m always here to lend an ear, hun.”

(He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he was truly grateful to have the bat on his side. )

As much as Rouge’s words had some truth in them, Shadow went through his shelf of ‘Sonic’s philosophy’ in his brain: of the blue hedgehog turning his back on everyone, of the hero being a puppet to boredom and adrenaline, of their friend casting them aside to feel something and anything that’s not boredom , and of the sheer power Sonic had in his hands that had the whole world in the palm of his hand.

It didn’t take much negotiation in his head to decide that these thoughts of his were best left to him and only him.

He’ll figure it out.

( Or was what Rouge said prior true and that the black hedgehog wanted this to be something just for him and the blue hedgehog? )

“Thank you for the offer, Rouge.” Shadow chose to say, giving the three people a short ‘goodbye’ nod before turning on his heels, not bothering to pay another glance as the three greeted ‘goodbye’ right back with varying emotions laced in their words.

Upon exiting the coffee shop, the heat outside immediately could be felt, and Shadow thought back to how Tails stated matter-of-factly that Sonic was doing things as he pleased - and had been doing so ever since the fox first met the blue hedgehog.

Doing things as he pleases; how could Sonic be doing things as he pleases when he’s not even aware of the power he’s capable of?

Returning to his apartment, Shadow found himself staring at a package of his favorite brand of tea at his doorstep, a sticky note with words that seemed to be written in a rush seeming to be hastily and haphazardly stuck onto the package.

‘ I’ll be sure to find more of those notebooks; I wouldn't have known you liked this brand of tea if I hadn’t gone through that notebook of yours! ’ were the words written, at the corner of the sticky note was drawn a smiling face winking.

…it just so happened that Shadow’s tea was running out.

( Perhaps Shadow’s concern of the blue blur ever turning against everyone was pointless after all…? )

Chapter Text

Shadow was late .

During his last bump-in with Sonic; the blue hedgehog had stolen the hybrid’s chaos emerald out of nowhere, and left with it.

Shadow was fuming .

So as he caught wind of yet another fight between Eggman and Sonic, the black hedgehog decided to make his way there, determined to drill it into the blue hedgehog that the chaos emerald was essential to him and that it should always be with Shadow for safekeeping.

That way, at least if Eggman was to start collecting chaos emeralds again, he would have to go through Shadow first to obtain one.

Team Sonic has always been somewhat careless whenever they’re holding onto the chaos emeralds.

Upon reaching the empty area where there were only trees and an abandoned house that had been ruined, torn apart from the inside out from perhaps being collateral damage due to Sonic’s and Eggman’s fight, the anger Shadow felt consuming him slowly dissipated, turning into confusion when he realized no sign of golden quills nor blue quills could be seen standing.

Heart doing a 180 and thumping out of confusion and undeniable worry instead, Shadow started looking around, and what he found leaning against a sizable piece of rubble caused his heart to drop.

Sonic was unusually wounded; cuts and bruises littering all over him.

An odd sight to behold.

“You’re terribly wounded,” Shadow said to make his presence known, ignoring the way his heart thumped unhappily in his chest at the glazed look in Sonic’s eyes, green pupils immediately meeting red ones as the blue hedgehog took notice of Shadow’s presence.

Shadow flinched when Sonic’s dazed smile turned much more sober, stretching a cut at the corner of his lip and not hissing from the pain - or perhaps the pain had become numb to the hero.

“ Shadow! You’re late! It’s terrible etiquette to leave your dance partner hanging, you know?” the blue hedgehog exclaimed cheekily, not making any moves to stand while Shadow stopped to stand once he was in front of the seated hero.

“I did not promise you a dance,” Shadow stated matter-of-factly.

Sonic rolled his eyes, fond .

“No, but you promised you would try to keep up with me. ”

‘Try’, he said.

“I don’t have to try; I can keep up with you,” Shadow murmured to retort, crouching down beside Sonic and assessing the injuries and dried blood adorning the usually blue and unscathed quills.

Through it all, Sonic kept his gaze solely on Shadow.

“ Like how the Moon keeps up with the Earth, you mean? ’ the blue hedgehog drawled, obviously referencing what he had read in Shadow’s notebook.

Bastard.

“Keep your eyes off things that aren’t meant for them.” Shadow curtly said in reply, deciding that no injuries were lethal and that he would only have to drop the hero off at Amy’s house for her to fix him up. (Or maybe he should drop off the hero at Tails’ house; Amy may cause a fuss if she saw Sonic so badly injured and would start chiding Shadow for absolutely no reason.

She’s kind and caring, truly, but it could be quite overbearing.)

“Oh but who else could those words be if not for me, Shads?” Sonic questioned, an unusually eerie smile on his lips stopping Shadow from retorting right away.

“...I just need to organize my thoughts.”

“And you’re doing that for me , aren’t you?”

Shadow didn’t bother to provide an answer to the question, deciding that it would be better if he just got this whole thing over with so he wouldn’t need to deal with the hedgehog any longer.

“Why didn’t you call for backup?” Shadow asked - if only to fill the silence - and was about to help the hero back on his feet when the said hero’s next words rendered him frozen.

“ I was bored. ”

The hybrid forced himself to look right into green eyes - even though his brain was screaming at him to stay alert and not act rashly.

“Come again?” Shadow asked, voice barely above a whisper - like he had forced himself to talk with great difficulty, throat clogged by something unsettling he couldn’t quite place a name to. (A feeling he decidedly didn’t dare to admit.)

The smile on Sonic’s lips stayed the same.

“I was bored , Shads.

Remember how you said I didn’t need your help? You said especially because my super form was so strong, I didn’t need any other help to take down Eggman?

Well, I was bored , and I decided to test your theory out!

Lo and behold; I won .

Should I be flattered that you have so much trust in my capability? ”

Mixed emotions swirled in the black hedgehog’s heart, and the hybrid wasn’t sure what to feel when he realized the strongest of them all was worry .

Had he gone careless and attached himself to someone he was bound to lose yet again?

Angered, at himself for his own carelessness and at Sonic for being so careless with his mortality, Shadow retracted his hands and leveled the other hedgehog with a hard and disapproving look.

“You could’ve gotten yourself killed . Are you not afraid of death? ” Shadow scolded uncharacteristically before he could stop himself, not bothering to feel embarrassed for his outburst and instead making sure that Sonic really understood where the hybrid’s concern was coming from.

His concern seemed to go right over the blue hedgehog’s head.

“What’s there to be afraid of?

If I got bored, wouldn’t it be better for me to let death embrace me instead of turning the world upside down so that I could feel something?

Isn’t that what unsettled you? The fact that I may one day let boredom be the one to make decisions for me and let adrenaline consume me whole?

Wouldn’t death be the world’s mercy?

You said that the world is at my mercy; so shouldn’t my free will to choose how and when I die be under my control too? ”

Correct; it was a plausible solution.

One that Shadow found himself against.

( But is he even a player in a game Sonic’s playing in? Do his opinions even matter to the eyes of someone who had everything and everyone at his mercy? )

“For all those words you said; have you even seen the world enough to be dying this very second?

Have you lived enough, Sonic? ”

Shadow didn’t bother to wait for a response, having already been able to guess what Sonic would say as a reply. Instead, Shadow taunted the other by grabbing onto a nearby chaos emerald, forming a chaos spear and pointing the sharp end of it right under the blue hedgehog’s muzzle, gaze never faltering.

“Have you seen enough, faker?” Shadow rephrased his question, searching for any sort of acknowledgment in green eyes that he found himself drowning more and more in.

The entertained glint Shadow found instead was borderline sickening - nauseating .

“Not yet , apparently.” Sonic hummed, not at all bothered by the tip of the spear that was pressing onto his throat as his eyes remained looking right into Shadow’s.

…

Shadow retracted his chaos spear and stood up, looking down at Sonic with furrowed and untrusting eyes while the blue hedgehog looked up at him in intrigue and devotion.

(What earth would devote itself to a moon ?)

“...live according to whatever you believe in; regardless if it’s for the people you hold dear or for the thrill of danger.

However, if it’s death you’re seeking for - it’ll be by my hands.

What kind of hero would you be if you were to die in the hands of a no-name?

I will be the one to give you a taste of dread of the unknown after death.” 

Whatever it was that’s written on Shadow’s face - Sonic was positively beaming at it.

Deciding that he had spent too much talking, Shadow finally offered a hand to Sonic - who eagerly grabbed it before the blue hedgehog draped his arm around Shadow’s shoulders so the black hedgehog could help carry some of the hero’s weight.

“That’s a great speech, Shads!” Sonic beamed cheekily - like they weren’t talking about how Shadow was offering to kill the other at a moment’s notice.

“Don’t be reckless. Handling your idiotic self is already a hassle; being a reckless idiot would cause trouble for everyone.” Shadow deflected, not bothering to deny how he didn’t give a speech. (He wasn't giving a speech, was he?)

“I’ll do as I please, Shads. Now; are you going to chaos control us out of here? I’m parched and starving. Going super sure takes a toll on the body!” Sonic blatantly ignored Shadow’s words, smiling all too pleased and giddily.

He was becoming more and more incomprehensible the more Shadow spent his time with the hero.

Shadow adjusted his grip on the chaos emerald in his hand, feeling less out of place with the familiar weight in his hand as he kept his hold on his rival firm to avoid the said rival from falling off.

“Sonic.”

The hero tilted his head.

“The world is yours .” ( It wouldn’t be the world Shadow was familiar with if Sonic was gone; the blue blur had been there as far as Shadow could remember, after all.

It was an absurd thought - for an immortal to have such a mindset. He’ll have to think it over once he has the leisure time to do so. )

Sonic merely smiled at such a cryptic sentence.

“I know.” he simply replied.

Before Shadow could say ‘chaos control’, Sonic added:

“You know; if the Moon were to crash onto the Earth, both would start accelerating towards each other, promising total destruction to all life on Earth.

Perhaps the world is bound to fall at some point, after all. ”

Shadow paused.

“I am not the Moon.” was all Shadow could say as a reply.

Sonic didn’t bother to elaborate his words too, seeing that all he did in response was a knowing hum as he purposely leaned more of his weight onto Shadow, snickering when the black hedgehog grunted in disdain at the unwelcome action.

“ But I know you will be able to get the job done. ”

( Do they really know? )

With an affirmative grunt, Shadow shouted ‘chaos control’ and a moment later he found himself standing in the middle of Tails’ living room, surprising the fox who was watching television comfortably before the hedgehogs pretty much materialized in front of him.

Immediately upon noticing Sonic’s cuts and bruises, Tails started berating Sonic for not calling for backup, quickly dragging his brother figure onto the nearest chair and forcing him to sit on it before running towards another part of the house that probably had a first aid kit somewhere, still chiding Sonic loud enough for both hedgehogs to be able to hear through it all.

Only when Tails had opened the first aid kit and started cleaning the cuts did the fox finally pause in his scolding, whipping his head around to look at Shadow and profusely thanking the black hedgehog for bringing the blue hedgehog back in one piece.

Having used up far too many words in his conversation with Sonic prior, Shadow settled for an acknowledging nod.

“ Relax , Tails. Don’t be a worrywart! See: Shadow was there to get me here so you could patch me up! No permanent injuries left behind!” Sonic eventually cut into Tails continued scolding once the fox started to wrap things up, looking far too relaxed for someone who was bleeding just a few minutes ago.

Tails seemed like he wanted to refute, but then the blue hedgehog raised a hand to tell the fox to pause in his words, and his eyes turned to look at Shadow knowingly.

“Besides; Shadow revolves around me. He’ll be around whenever something like this happens again, for sure.” the hero said placatingly, ignoring how Tails were looking back and forth between him and Shadow in barely disguised confusion and curiosity.

Shadow didn’t bother to agree or disagree with the other’s words.

“I’ll be taking my leave.” Shadow opted to say instead, looking away from Sonic and watching as Tails blinked a few times before he forced out a couple of awkward chuckles.

“Oh! Um. Yeah, sure! Be careful on your way home- Oh. You’re just- going to ‘chaos control’. So, um. Have a nice day, Shadow!” the fox stammered out, grinning awkwardly while Shadow looked at him with a deadpan look.

Regarding the fox with a nod, Shadow was about to leave when Sonic suddenly made a noise, capturing both Tails’ and Shadow’s attention.

“Aren’t you going to kiss the pain away or something before you leave, darling ?”

That again with the ‘batting eyelashes’ thing.

(Shadow was not embarrassed; he was merely flushing from second-hand embarrassment at how shameless his rival was acting in front of his little brother.)

“I’m leaving.” Shadow re-stated - more firmly and with finality this time around.

Unsure of why he did the next thing he did, Shadow turned to Tails and said a bit too seriously.

“Look after your brother for me.”

Pretty much all three of them froze at the words that left the black hedgehog’s mouth.

Deciding that he was mortified, Shadow instantly chaos control out of Tails’ house, barely deciphering both Sonic and Tails’ reply.

“ Aww, Shads! You do care! Love you too, sweetie-! ”

“Will- will do, Shadow! ”

(Shadow spent the next few days cooped up in his apartment to avoid bumping into anyone he knew - who would definitely bombard him with questions regarding what had taken place.

Sonic is quite the loudmouth, after all.)

Chapter Text

Knuckles and the Chaotix were loitering around the Master Emerald when Shadow bumped into them in one of his runs.

Shadow hadn’t planned to go there; he was just too caught up in his thoughts at one point and ended up letting his feet take the lead to where he ran.

Out of the bunch, it was Espio who noticed the hedgehog’s presence first, nodding at Shadow as a greeting when their eyes met as the hedgehog skidded to a stop despite being unsure why he had instinctively stopped running.

Espio took that as his cue to alert everyone of Shadow’s presence.

“Woah! Didn’t expect to see you here, Shadow!” Knuckles exclaimed, surprisingly friendly as he gave Shadow a few amicable pats on the back like they were old friends meeting up for the first time in a while.

A bit perplexed at the echidna’s friendly demeanor, Shadow decided to give his attention to the purple chameleon mentioned and his two fellow friends and detectives instead.

“How did your latest detective work go? I’ve heard from Espio that it was a tough one.” Shadow asked, recalling how in one of their last run-ins, Espio was in the middle of gathering intel and had approached the black hedgehog to confirm a few things.

The hybrid wasn’t that close with the chameleon nor the chaotix in general, but Espio was one of the few people he met whose company he didn’t mind; hence why they’re on such good terms. (It’s hard to find things to dislike about the ninja when he’s so calm and collected, not-at-all like the other people Shadow had met who were always so fond of talking and, well, noises .)

“It went well, fortunately. We decided to stop by here to see Knuckles since he had helped with the gathering of intel too. I was planning to ask to meet up with you tomorrow; how convenient that you’re here now.” Espio answered, nodding at his own words and looking somewhat proud and pleased.

Charmy joined in and twirled in the air, exaggeratedly and enthusiastically nodding as he made a thumbs up at Shadow’s direction, startling the hedgehog by the slightest bit at the sudden motion. (No one seemed to notice Shadow being startled, fortunately.)

“Yeah! Pfft- it’s not even that hard! Your intel helped a ton!” Charmy cheerily exclaimed, grinning cheekily and wiggling his thumb.

Vector, perhaps getting tired of seeing the bee move around so much, grabbed the said bee so that he stayed flying in one place, looking like an exhausted mother as he shook his head from side to side.

“It’s not hard for you because I was doing all the work!” Vector pointed out, narrowing his eyes at the bee unimpressed when Charmy merely laughed at the tired look on the crocodile’s face.

Hearing Vector’s words, the pleased expression on Espio's face was immediately gone, and he turned his attention to his two bickering friends before pointing out he, too, managed to achieve a lot of things during their latest detective work - which led to the three of them bickering over who had contributed the most in their latest mission.

While peaceful moments with Espio came quite easily to both the chameleon and the hybrid, Shadow had figured that peaceful moments like those would only be able to come if they were by themselves.

Still; seeing Espio bickered and dropping his serious and cool demeanor to bicker about something so trivial was quite amusing.

“ Man ; aren’t they a mess?” Knuckles quipped from beside Shadow, looking at the bantering trio along with Shadow.

Shadow hummed in agreement, and had thought their conversation would end there.

Instead, Knuckles cleared his throat, prompting Shadow to look at him.

“Shadow, I know we’re not exactly buddy-buddy or close, but, I just wanna say that if your crazy theory about Sonic going insane is true, I’ll be right beside you to snap him out of it.”

Ah.

So it’s about that.

“Why can’t all of you just forget about that ‘crazy theory’ already…” Shadow muttered under his breath, less phrased as a question and more of the hedgehog’s way of complaining.

It pulled a string of laughter from the red echidna, though.

“It's not our fault that it’s so hilarious!” Knuckles unhelpfully said between chuckles, grinning at Shadow who scowled even further at the echidna’s words.

Looking away from the echidna, Shadow let his eyes settle on Master Emerald near them, and Knuckles followed the black hedgehog’s line of sight before he hummed thoughtfully.

“Shadow. You’re… immortal, aren’t you?” Knuckles asked out of the blue.

“Yes - as far as I know, at least.”

Turning to look at Shadow, Knuckles brought a hand to Shadow’s shoulder and rested his hand on it, causing the black hedgehog to look the most befuddled he had since he had approached the group of four.

“If anything is to happen to me, take care of the Master Emerald for me, okay?”

It was an absurd request.

“Why me? Rouge would’ve done a better job at hiding it than me.”

The echidna, amusingly, made a complicated face at the mention of the bat the two of them have grown familiar with; one as a close and trustworthy friend and the other as an occasional ally and foe if the bat was in the mood of stealing the Master Emerald.

“Probably.” Knuckles admitted reluctantly - but then quickly followed it up with his next words:

“But she’s not exactly immortal , is she?

Seeing that you’re pretty much gonna live forever, guarding the Master Emerald probably would be easy work for you, wouldn’t it?”

‘Immortal’.

Yes, immortality would mean Shadow would live forever.

That’s… a long time.

“It wouldn’t be the hardest job, yes it wouldn’t.”

After the conversation with Knuckles, Shadow decided it was time to leave, and he quickly bid farewell to Knuckles and the Chaotix before he started running away, mind somehow restless as he thought about what comes with immortality.

A never-ending lifetime.

So much time to look forward to; what was Shadow supposed to be doing through it all?

While pondering, Shadow found himself standing in the middle of a clearing, stopping his jog in favor of looking up at the clouds gradually forming and covering the blue sky.

Was it going to rain?

For some reason, Shadow didn’t bother to run home faster, eyes zoning into a nearby unoccupied hut before making his way there leisurely.

( Does immortality allow him to take things slow? )

As soon as Shadow entered the hut and made himself comfortable by sitting on the doorstep, the rain started pouring.

( No, immortality doesn’t let him take things slow. Immortality merely gives him more time to discover and see the world - every inch of it.

Immortality gives him the chance to see changes and transformations happening firsthand.

Would he be living long enough to see the world’s fall? )

Shadow thought of the people around him - of a future where they’re no longer around and unfamiliar faces would be seen running around and walking down the street instead.

Was he going to have to be the only constant forever?

“Don’t be silly, Shads; aren’t I always running around in your head? ”

Shadow instantly looked to his right, eyes widening upon realizing that a familiar blue hedgehog had taken the vacant spot beside him, the two of them sitting close to each other that their sides were brushing - as if subconsciously seeking warmth on such a rainy day.

How come Shadow never noticed it whenever Sonic approached him?

“Sonic…” was what Shadow found himself breathing out, staring at Sonic who merely grinned at the mention of his name.

“Yup; that’s my name!” Sonic chirped, smiling.

“...since when did you get here?” Shadow asked when a couple of seconds passed by in silence, observing how despite just getting there with no umbrella in sight, the blue hedgehog was not-at-all wet from the rain.

“A second ago.” Sonic quipped, seeming to be purposely pretending like he didn’t know what Shadow meant by his question was how did the hero get here completely dry.

The black hedgehog hummed in acknowledgment, thought back to what had transpired in the last few seconds, before speaking up again.

“Had I asked the question out loud?”

“What question?”

Turning to look at Sonic to make it a point that he was serious, all words died in his throat as he looked at his friend’s unusually empty smile, eyes uncannily wide and not blinking as a blank smile was on his lips.

Something felt wrong .

Growing restless and anxious, Shadow tore his eyes away from the blue hedgehog, goosebumps littering all over his body and heart beating erratically uneasy in his chest as he could feel the other hedgehog’s gaze on his side profile.

‘ It’s just Sonic’ , Shadow chanted repetitively in his head, deducing that perhaps he had hallucinated such an unknown expression on his rival’s face.

“You have the most time in the world to figure me out, Shadow.”

Sonic’s voice felt distant despite how they were sitting so close that their quills were brushing against each other.

Swallowing a lump down his throat, Shadow spared a hesitant glance at his rival’s way, shuddering when he realized the blue hedgehog had not moved even once since the last time the black hedgehog had seen him.

“...because I’m immortal.” the words were meant to be said as a question, but the hybrid’s voice wavered when his eyes met with Sonic’s unusually dimmed green eyes.

The hero gave Shadow an eye smile.

“Also because we’re similar.” the hero provided, beaming - and yet he seemed to not be glowing as he usually would.

The sound of heavy rain hitting the ground became background noise, and Shadow found himself focusing on the sound of his blood rushing through his veins, unsettled by the odd way Sonic was acting yet unable to take his eyes off the other.

Was it fear or curiosity that had rendered him frozen?

“What are you thinking about?”

Shadow snapped out of his thoughts, zeroing in on Sonic and feeling light-headed from the sudden shift of focus. (But was there even a shift in focus when the blue hedgehog had been the center of his attention this whole time?)

“What?” Shadow asked, albeit a little dumbly with a choked, whispered voice.

Instead of repeating his question that Shadow actually did hear, Sonic chose to stay silent and stared at him in complete silence.

Unnerved and hesitant, Shadow blurted.

“Wonder when the rain’s gonna stop.”

The two hedgehogs stared at each other in complete silence at the hybrid’s obvious attempt at… conversation .

Sonic’s stare stayed unblinking, and Shadow couldn’t help but hold his breath, somehow believing that an exhale would cause him to be sucked into a never-ending space.

Like a black hole .

Just when Shadow felt like he was about to fall off the edge of a cliff he’s unaware of, the blue hedgehog burst into laughter, and only then did Shadow realize how tense he was, his body immediately relaxing at the familiar sound as his eyes frantically looked all over his friend , feeling increasingly relieved that it seemed that the Sonic he knew was finally there with him.

“Pfft- Shads- What’s with the random question?! Heck; you didn’t even bother to phrase it as a question!” The blue hedgehog said in between laughter gleefully, looking absolutely unaware of the turmoil of emotions Shadow was put through the past minutes. (It felt like an eternity had passed.)

Shadow couldn’t stop the relief leaking from his voice as he spoke, an equally relieved smile gracing his lips.

“I could say the same to you, faker.”

Gradually, Sonic’s laughter came to a stop, and the only sound that could be heard once again was the sound of the pouring rain.

“Shadow.”

Shadow turned to look at his rival who was already looking at him. 

(There’s warmth in his eyes and voice this time. 

The hybrid wished he could be soaked in it after the eternity of cold, unsettling, and blank look ‘Sonic’ had been giving him minutes prior. )

“I just… man, you’re immortal . Heck; you’ll probably or definitely would live longer than me. That’s a lot of time to do a lot of things. You can just… relax and enjoy.” The blue hedgehog said in wonder, hands making gestures that Shadow didn’t bother to put much thought in.

“I guess…” was Shadow’s reply, unsure as he was reminded of what it was that he was thinking about before Sonic decided to scare him with his… empty and blank look. ( Was that for the hero’s entertainment, or was that something that Shadow should be afraid of and guarded against? )

At the lack of reply, Sonic filled the silence with a hum, but then quickly added more words.

“Guess what? You have all the time to figure me out, you know?

I just hope I get to see your conclusion. Ohhh I wish I could see you running around like a trapped mouse trying to make sense of me - would’ve been so fun to see that horrified yet brave look on your face as you tried to understand me again and again, only to fail numerous times like an experiment in the laboratory.

You would know all about ‘experiments’, won’t you? ”

It took Shadow a moment to realize that Sonic was… mocking him.

Was he?

Angered and offended, Shadow frowned, turned to look at the other, but stopped when he realized that Sonic was… smiling like he usually would.

Shadow had been at the receiving end of countless of the hero’s mocking smiles - and yet the smile that adorned the hero’s lips at the moment was nothing but amicable and peaceful .

Did Shadow misheard him?

All too abruptly, Sonic yawned and stretched his arms upwards, snapping the hybrid out of his confusion and prompting the black hedgehog to stare at him, utterly perplexed and lost.

The rain was still not letting up - and yet the blue hedgehog started standing up as if to leave.

“Well; that’s an interesting conversation! Seriously, not a dull moment with you, handsome.

As much as I want to stay and see you minutely react to every little thing I do with widened eyes and a couple of flinches, I’m afraid I have other things to do at the moment.”

In the blink of an eye, Sonic’s face was suddenly in front of Shadow’s, and the black hedgehog froze as the hero pressed a hand onto the hybrid’s chest right on top of his heart, their breaths mingling from how close their faces were to each other.

Letting a few seconds pass as Sonic looked into Shadow’s eyes, the blue hedgehog whispered only when the black hedgehog backed away by the slightest bit, a triumphant smirk on his lips as if he had won a prize.

“Thanks; for not making things too mundane for me.

Stay as you are, Ultimate Lifeform .”

A blink - and now Shadow was sitting there at the hut’s doorstep all by himself, instantly noticing how the rain had stopped and the sun was shining brightly, the sky cleared of clouds as the sound of birds chirping could be heard.

The only signs to show that it had rained were the wet grass in the clearing and the droplets of rainwater occasionally dripping from the roof of the hut he was in, creating small puddles around the hut in the process.

Shadow went to stand and looked around, trying to find signs of a blue hedgehog having left, yet to his distaste and growing discomfort, none could be seen.

Was he hallucinating?

The hedgehog could still feel the ghost of an exhale against his muzzle - and yet the cause of such disorientation was nowhere to be found.

Was he truly talking to Sonic?

‘Ultimate Lifeform’, the blue hedgehog had called him.

The hybrid’s heart in his chest stuttered in its beat, and he found himself stomping down on these unwanted feelings relentlessly, chanting to himself:

‘Get a grip, Shadow the Hedgehog.’

( But could Shadow really get a grip if the world doesn’t want him to? )

Shadow the Hedgehog has never gone down without a fight; this was no different.

He’ll just have to keep up.