Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Rouge…” Shadow said, gritting his teeth, “what is this? ”

Shadow had been enjoying a nice evening to himself. Rouge was working at the bar, and Omega was out on a mission of his own. So, for once, Shadow had the place to himself.

That was until his phone started to buzz on the countertop in the kitchen.

He immediately shot a glare in its direction. Who would be ringing him at this time? He groaned,  knowing it would be nothing but trouble. Thus he decided to ignore it. The sound eventually subsided, and Shadow let out a sigh of relief at the silence that had returned.

Unfortunately, this was not long lived. The phone then erupted with a series of chimes, rapidly coming in one after the other.

“ Ugh ,” Shadow grimaced, cursing under his breath. Who fucking was it? He rose from the sofa and angrily snatched his phone to send a psychic attack to whoever was so insistent on ruining his peace. 1 missed call and 14 unread texts from Rouge. Of course. He glanced over the messages. They started off relatively normal, ‘ Call me back? x ’, but the apparent necessity that he called her back allegedly escalated to a life-or-death situation if he went by her last text, ‘ SOS SHADOW WE NEED YOU’ . He rolled his eyes. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help out Rouge in her time of need, but this wasn’t his first rodeo. Last time she’d used ‘ SOS ’ in a text to Shadow, the ‘emergency’ in question was a beach day with the others, one that he had already said he didn’t want to attend.

But he knew he would probably feel somewhat guilty if it did turn out to be real and he’d ignored her. Reluctantly, he pressed the button to call her back, the phone only ringing for two beeps before she picked up.

“Shadow!” Rouge declared dramatically on the other end of the line, “We need you! Please help u-”

“Cut it out, Rouge,” Shadow snapped, tiring of the call just as it began. “What do you want?”

“Awh, prickly as ever, handsome,” she drawled out in response, and Shadow knew by her tone that she was smirking. “Well, I’m sorry to interrupt your alone time ,” Shadow really did not like the way she said that, “but there is an actual emergency. Of sorts. I could really do with your help down here.” She sounded somewhat sincere, which surprised Shadow, who expected it to be total nonsense. But he was still slightly suspicious.

“Help with what?” he questioned.

“There’s a… customer who needs to leave,” she replied, seeming to choose her words carefully, “but I’ve got my hands full right now and can’t leave the bar alone.”

“What, so you just need me to kick someone out?” Honestly, a pretty easy task as far as he was concerned.

“Yes. Could you do that for me, Shadow?”

“Sure.” He could be her club bouncer for ten minutes if it meant she’d leave him alone after that. “I’ll leave now.” The sooner he could return to his quiet evening the better.

“That’s perfect. Well, see you soon,” she replied, sounding grateful, but there was a hint of something else in her voice. She hung up before he could get any more details.

Shadow would’ve chaos controlled there to save time, but he’d lost his stupid emerald during a recent battle with Eggman and hadn’t gotten around to retrieving it yet. So, he slipped on his skates, and made his way over to the bar on foot. He heard it before he saw it, music blaring in the distance. He skidded to a halt and made his way into the bar.

The place was loud and way too fucking hot. There were people everywhere, some dancing embarrassingly while others yelled over the music as they toasted their beers. He spotted Rouge handing out drinks behind the bar, and started making his way towards her.

Perceptive as always, she spotted him before he reached her, smirking and waving him across. ”Shadow!” she called, “Over here!” She stood where both sides of the bar met to form a corner. He joined her there, fist clenched at his side as he tried to deal with how irritatingly overstimulating everything was here. “Glad you made it.”

“Where is the customer?” Shadow demanded.

Rouge chuckled, crossing her arms as she said, “Not in the mood for small talk tonight, are we? Very well,” she started to walk down the right side of the bar, “follow me.”

He trailed after her on the opposite side of the counter, looking out for whoever needed to be manhandled out of the club. Then, at the end of the bar, he saw him .

His head immediately swerved in Rouge’s direction. “What is this?”

She grinned, then tried to feign innocence. “It’s what I called you about.”

That was one way of putting it. Fast asleep, with his head and arms curled on the countertop, drooling , was Sonic . There were several empty cups scattered around him.

Shadow was angry in ways he couldn’t fathom. “You know this is not what I expected.”

“Look, Shadow, he’s in a bit of a state, and just needs someone to help him get home right now.”

Groaning, Shadow glared at her once again. “But why me ?”

“You’re the best for the job, Shadow. Knuckles is on Angel Island and wouldn’t get here on time, and how can I make Tails, his poor baby brother, pick him up like this?” Her explanation may have made sense to someone else, but Shadow recognised a classic Rouge meddling scheme when he saw one. She definitely had ulterior motives here. The look on his face evidently gave away his suspicion to Rouge, who raised her arms up in defence. “ Okay , Shadow, the who and why don’t really matter. You’re here now, and he needs to go home. Do me a favour?” She clasped her hands together and started fluttering her eyelashes. He rolled his eyes in response.

“Quit it, I’m not Knuckles,” he shot, before glancing back at Sonic. He wheezed softly in his sleep, looking weirdly peaceful for someone who clearly couldn’t hold their drinks and managed to fall asleep in a club. Rouge was right, if he was that bad, he did need someone to take him home. And maybe the options were somewhat limited. Fuck. He couldn't believe he was about to do this.

“ Fine ,” he gritted out, turning back to look at her, “I’ll take him back. But this is the only time. Cut him off earlier if he shows up next week,”

“Oo, how protective,” she cooed, laughing as Shadow’s glare hardened. Her eyes flicked down towards Sonic, and then back to Shadow, as she waved a hand and said, “Well, I’ll leave him to you now. Try to get him home in one piece.”

Shadow merely grumbled in response, as he watched him out of the corner of his eye. Where did he even start? Should he wake him up? His gaze fell on the array of glasses littered next to him.

…maybe he didn’t want to deal with conscious Sonic. Given how much he’d apparently drank, Shadow worried about what an already overly energetic and annoying hedgehog would be like when combined with alcohol. But then again, if he didn’t wake Sonic, would there be any warning if he was about to vomit. Which, considering he’d passed out before it had even struck midnight, made it a risk that Shadow would not ruminate any further. If Sonic dared to barf on Shadow’s shoes there would be hell to pay.

So, he resigned himself to waking him up. Easy enough. He stood, unmoving as he looked at Sonic. Huh. He hadn’t really thought about how he’d actually do that. Reluctantly, he got slightly closer, and started to shake Sonic’s arm, just below his shoulder. He didn’t respond. Fuck sake. Okay, maybe he needed to do a little more.

“Uh, Sonic,” he started, sounding a bit awkward, before clearing his throat and stating with a harsher conviction, “Sonic, wake up. It’s time to go.”

Sonic actually responded to this. Lazily, he shifted his head slightly, to glance up at Shadow from the counter. His tired eyes came to life a little more, as he recognised it was Shadow waking him from his impromptu nap.

“Oh, it is you Shadow, hey!” he greeted, grinning stupidly. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Hey, Sonic,” Shadow replied. Small talk done. Now to get to the point. “We’re leaving. Let’s go.”

Sonic gave him a confused look, eyebrows shifting as he tried to catch up. “What d’you mean?”

“We’re leaving, “ he repeated, the concept was simple enough. “As in, you stand up and go home.”

Sonic, as drunk as he was, still had the nerve to roll his eyes. “Yeah, I got that, Mr Ultimate Lifeform, I meant why do I have to leave?”

“Rouge says so,” Shadow grew tired of their back and forth, starting to pull up Sonic by the arm, “so time to leave.”

“Aw, Shadow,” Sonic whined, letting himself get pulled up like a ragdoll, “the night has barely started, it’s too early to leave now.” Shadow watched as Sonic stumbled around, even as he had an iron grip on his arm. “Why is Rouge making me go?”

“You’re too drunk,” Shadow replied, making it as simple as possible.

“Am not,” Sonic retorted.

“What time is it?” Shadow shot.

Sonic looked caught. “Uh… 8?”

“It’s 11:04. We’re leaving.” He started to drag the hedgehog, who was still complaining and insistent that he was ‘totally fine’ and just lost track of time because he was ‘living in the moment’, out of the Rouge’s club. After Sonic began to clumsily try to wrestle out of Shadow’s grip, Shadow grew fed up with his drunken antics.

“ Enough! ” he finally snapped, stopping in his tracks. Before Sonic had any opportunity to guess his next move, Shadow grabbed him by the waist and roughly flung him over his shoulder.

Sonic yelped. “Shadow! Hey!” He tried thrashing his way out, which would’ve normally worked, but his diminished coordination wasn’t getting him anywhere. It wasn’t long before he gave up, his muscles untensing as he grumbled from behind him, “Fine, fine , you win Shadow.”

“As expected,” Shadow gloated, immediately turning to head towards the door. He made the unfortunate mistake of glancing towards Rouge as he left, who looked all too entertained by the scene unfolding in front of her.

“Good work, Shadow,” she practically purred, as she waved them goodbye, “Bye Blue. I know Grumpy here will get you home safe.”

“Thanks, Rouge,” Sonic sarcastically drawled, but seemed to perk up as he added, “for real though, until I got kicked out, I had a fun night. Thanks!” Shadow couldn’t see his expression, but he assumed Sonic was giving her a cheeky grin.

“No worries, hun, I enjoy your company. You’re always welcome.” She sent a wink his way.

“Time to go,” Shadow interrupted, “see you back at the flat, Rouge.”

Rouge grinned. “Bye boys!”

And with that, Shadow (and in tow, Sonic) left the building. He internally rejoiced that he was finally out of that noisy hellhole, and quickened his pace into a skate. It was cold outside, not that he minded. His rash decision to just grab Sonic like a sack of potatoes and leave had been good in theory but mildly embarrassing and too tactile in practice, so he appreciated the nice breeze that cooled down his somewhat warm cheeks.

Sonic apparently seemed to echo some of these sentiments. “Hey, uh, Shads,” he mumbled, sounding less confident than usual, almost self-conscious, “I can walk, y’know.”

Shadow briefly considered his proposal. “Where are you planning on walking to?” He did not want to risk Sonic running off somewhere random the minute he let go.

“Home! Obviously!” He started swatting at Shadow’s back, squirming in his hold. Shadow pinched his side to get him to stop, eliciting an, “ Ow !”

“You’ll live,” he said, as he continued skating. He heard Sonic grumble a little in response, but seemingly distracted himself quickly.

“How do you get your quills like that?” Sonic abruptly asked, as Shadow could feel him moving further down his back, presumably to get a better look.

“Like what?” Shadow replied, struggling to right his balance with Sonic’s constant moving throwing him off kilter.

“They’re so neat,” Sonic said.

“I just have basic hygiene, unlike certain other hedgehogs,” he shot back. He’d heard Amy nag Sonic to brush his quills a hundred times before.

“They’re really pretty.”

Huh ? Shadow felt his breath hitch. Silence fell between them, as though neither knew to respond to that claim, even Sonic himself. But he then began busying himself, reaching down to touch the black and red fur of his quills, “Wow, they’re really soft too,” Sonic murmured, an airy quality to his voice. The sensation of Sonic’s gloves against him, his compliments- Shadow could feel a million alarms going off in his mind. Sonic was never normally like this. He was more willing to dish out praise than Shadow was, that went without saying, but normally any comments on appearance would be limited to some jibe about whether he dyed his fur or not. Not this . Shadow felt him carding his hands through his fur, an absentminded, “Hm, it’s nice,” breathlessly leaving Sonic’s mouth. Shadow was going to implode if it went on any longer.

“Quit crawling all over me!” he snapped, doing his best to keep his voice as neutral as possible, jerking his shoulder slightly to jostle Sonic’s hands off him. By some miracle, the hedgehog who made it his life mission to be annoying actually heeded his words. Finally able to relax his tensed muscles and overactive heart, Shadow let out a sigh of relief.

Sonic’s lack of any response, however, did worry Shadow slightly. Why was he being so quiet? Tentatively, he asked, “Sonic, are you okay back there?”

“I think I’m gonna be sick.”

The instant the words registered in Shadow’s mind he came to a screeching stop and practically launched the other hedgehog off him, who landed in a heap on the grass below. “Fuck, Shads,” Sonic garbled, hunched over pathetically on his hands and knees, “maybe give a guy some warning if you’re gonna throw him . I already feel like I’m about to bar-”

He promptly started vomiting. Shadow actually couldn’t believe he was in such a dumbass situation right now. He was going to kill Rouge when he saw her later. As he lamented his idiocy to somehow get caught up in yet another Rouge-sponsored shitshow, Sonic continued to retch in the background. Shadow glanced down at him, still bent over and probably also regretting his life-choices (though for different reasons), if his mumbled, “ Fuck my life ,” and, “ actually never drinking again ,” were anything to go by.

While he watched, he noticed Sonic’s quills were drooping quite close to the ground, quite close where he was literally vomiting. And although he wanted nothing more to stay on his perfectly clean patch of grass, away from the contents of Sonic’s stomach, this current, rather pitiful, image of Sonic was getting a little too much. He figured he could do at least one thing to help him out.

He wandered over and gently lifted up Sonic’s quills, holding them out of the danger zone. This action seemed to make Sonic hit pause for a moment. He peeked back at Shadow, who stood behind with his quills in hand, seeming to silently assess what was going on. His eyes looked almost glossy, wet, as though they had been shedding tears.

Sonic appeared to get the answer to his question from his staring. “Thanks, Shadow.” His eyes darted to the side, awkwardly, as he quietly said, “Man, this is so embarrassing. I’m sorry, you shouldn’t be doing this right now, it’s-” A hand, one that absolutely could not have been Shadow’s, shouldn’t have been Shadow’s, reached out and covered Sonic’s own.

“It’s okay,” he told him, watching as the initial surprise that had taken Sonic, was replaced by a soft smile.

“Thanks, Shadow,” Sonic said, but this time it seemed less self-deprecating, instead it was a shy, but grateful response. It made Shadow feel more at ease. His eyes suddenly widened and Shadow took that as his cue to get his hand away from Sonic as quickly as possible, who promptly returned to being sick again. It went on for around another minute, but eventually Sonic’s heaving came to a stop. Shadow peeked his head around, trying to catch a glimpse of Sonic’s face.

“Are you done?” he asked. He fished out a bottle of water he’d nabbed from the bar earlier and shoved in his quills earlier, passing it over to Sonic, who shot him a grin and happily took it off him.

“For now, at least,” Sonic chuckled, more lighthearted about the whole ordeal. Shadow released his quills, as Sonic shifted into a sitting position, crossing his legs and exhaling. “That sucked, but I feel way better now,” he said, tipping his head backwards slightly and breathing in with his eyes shut. “I felt like total shit before.”

Shadow chuckled under his breath, taking a seat next to Sonic, although as far as conceivable from where the remains of Sonic’s night out lay. Normally, he’d just bulldoze his way through a type of situation like this and make Sonic leave immediately. But, as Sonic slowly inhaled and exhaled, occasionally opening his eyes to look up at the sky, an almost wistful look in his eye, Shadow found himself not caring about wasting time. Plus, Sonic's somewhat fragile state probably meant he needed a bit of time to recover anyway.

“Seriously though, man, thank you for helping me out here,” Sonic said, still gazing up at the sky, “I would’ve been screwed on my own. And the last thing I would’ve wanted to do was call Tails.” Hm, Shadow thought, guess Rouge was right about that. “Though he would’ve loved having the blackmail material,” he added, laughing to himself.

“I wouldn’t expect the fox to be like that,” Shadow mused, leaning back against his arms, outstretched behind him.

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe how sly he is when he wants to be,” Sonic deadpanned, but something about him sounded amused, like he didn’t really mind it. “If he finds out about this , I’ll never live it down. He’d mock me for weeks.”

“Really?” Shadow questioned, wondering what Sonic meant by that. Well, getting that drunk is a bit embarrassing. But Shadow didn’t think it would warrant that much shame. Especially not for Sonic of all people. With how he behaved normally, it wasn’t really all that surprising that now and again he’d not know his own limits when it came to drinking. “It’s not that bad.”

“Huh?! Me getting so drunk that I had Shadow, out of everyone, bringing me home, having to deal with me being sick-” Embarrassment seemed to set in again as he slapped his face with his hands. “-fuck, dude, it’s like fodder for the rest of them. No one would let me forget.”

“Fodder?” Shadow asked, suddenly becoming incredibly lost in their conversation. “Fodder for what?”

Sonic, as though suddenly realising he said something he shouldn’t have, snapped his head to look at Shadow with wide eyes. “Uh… nothing,” he said, but very clearly had something he was keeping to himself. Shadow, admittedly curious, considered pressing for more information, but Sonic’s look of panic put him off it, so he just nodded in response. This seemed to relieve Sonic, who was a terrible liar at the best of times, let alone after who knows how many drinks. Then, a thought seemed to cross his mind, a curious look across his face. “Wait, Shadow,” he said, a quizzical tone to his voice, “why are you taking me home? I didn’t see you at the bar earlier.”

“You wouldn’t remember even if you had,” he replied, earning a playful swipe from Sonic.

“Hey!”

Shadow let out a laugh, before answering Sonic’s question. “Rouge asked me to,” he explained. “Though, let’s just say, she employed her usual tricks to get me to the bar. I thought I was kicking out a rowdy customer.”

Sonic laughed a little, playing with the hem of his glove. “Yeah, I mean that’s not too far from the truth,” he joked, looking away for a moment. As though this answer didn’t quite satisfy him, as though there was something else he wanted to ask. Slowly, as if he was gathering the courage, he peeked back at Shadow again. “So, you didn’t realise it would be me there, huh?”

Shadow raised an eyebrow, saying, “No?”

“And you still helped me?”

His question caught Shadow off guard. He observed Sonic, who had pulled up his knees to his chest, glancing up at Shadow with a look in eyes that he couldn’t understand. It was confusing. Shadow remained silent for a moment. He didn’t really know why he’d helped in the first place, but as he thought that, the image of Sonic curled up, draped over the bar, sprung to mind. The worry Shadow felt when he saw him.

Maybe he did have a vague idea. Not that he wanted to dwell on it.

“Yeah,” he replied.

This seemed to be enough for Sonic, who smiled softly, before placing his hands on the ground and pushing himself up. “Okay, sorry for that detour , but I think I can actually get moving this time,” he said, grinning as stood up properly. “Let’s run back,” he suggested, starting to stretch his arms, but stumbling as he did so. Shadow huffed at this, and caught his arm in an attempt to steady him.

“I don’t think so,” he said, eyeing the balance-challenged hedgehog.

“C’mon, please ,” Sonic protested, “I’m not that bad. And I really don’t want to be carried like that again, the pressure on my stomach made me feel sick-.” His hand went to his mouth as he paled, looking queasy just from the thought. Okay, he may have had a point. But there was no way running was the solution.

Fuck, Shadow was being way too sympathetic towards him tonight. “Fine,” he said, turning around, bending his knees slightly and putting his arms behind him. “Get on,” he instructed.

“Eh?!” he heard Sonic blurt, making him dart his head back to look at Sonic.

“Hurry up.”

“Hold on, Shadow! I can just walk-”

“You’ll take all night in your state. Just get on.”

Sonic didn’t seem any less wary, but complied with Shadows demands, mumbling a “ Yeesh ,” as he trundled over and tentatively reached out towards Shadow’s shoulders. Shadow turned back to face the path ahead of him, as Sonic commented, “Wow. Never thought I would get a piggyback from the Ultimate Lifeform,” as he tried to get into the right position, “lucky me.”

“Shut up,” Shadow huffed, “and hold on.” Getting a hold of Sonic’s legs, he slowly began to rise up. He was fine on his end, but Sonic clearly hadn’t listened to his warning to actually hold on, and yelped in surprise as he flung backwards in the opposite direction. “Sonic!” he snapped, still gripping onto Sonic’s legs, trying to make sure they didn’t topple over. Sonic managed to regain his balance and landed back on Shadow. This time, rather than just perching his hands on Shadow’s shoulders, he more securely wrapped his arms around his neck. Shadow momentarily froze at the sudden contact, feeling himself start to heat up.

Quickly brushing off whatever that was , he started to walk them back. Things went a lot smoother this time. Sonic wasn’t wriggling around like he did during the previous attempt and seemed to settle in, idly chatting about whatever came to mind. And for once, Shadow kind of welcomed it. Especially after seeing him so down earlier, it was nice seeing him back to his usual, upbeat self. His musings slowly seemed to taper off, and Shadow eventually felt Sonic’s face fall onto his shoulder, accompanied by soft snoring. He walked in silence, left with only himself to try and distract from the sensation of Sonic’s gentle breaths against him, the feeling of his arms looped loosely around his neck.

Against all odds, after his long evening, Shadow spotted Sonic and Tails’ house in the distance. It was probably time to wake Sonic up again.

He shook him lightly. “Sonic, we’re almost here,” he called, hearing him start to stir behind him.

“Huh, uh,” he started mumbling, before lifting his head up and looking into the distance. “Hey, you’re right.” He leant his head back on Shadow’s shoulder, peering at his home. “Thanks, Shads. Sorry I fell asleep there. This night kinda took it out of me.”

Shadow smiled, just a little, replying, “I can imagine.”

Sonic’s arms shifted against him, as he adjusted, but he kept them around his neck. “Can’t complain about my ride back though. You’re really comfy, I’d give you a five-star review.”

“ Thanks , I was worried about that,” Shadow sarcastically replied.

“You’re crazy soft though,” Sonic said, and started to touch Shadow’s chest fur. Shadow felt like he was going to die on the spot. This evening was literal emotional torture.

“Enough of that,” he griped, hoping Sonic would listen for once. Luckily he did. They quickly reached Sonic’s door, at which point Sonic hopped off of Shadow, stumbling as he did so, but managing to remain upright.

“Home!” he cheered, raising his arms as though he had reached holy grounds. “I thought I’d never see you again!”

Shadow grinned at the display, while Sonic rummaged through his quills for his key. He found it, and exclaimed, “Thank Gaia, I don’t have to wake up Tails this time!” With or without a key, Shadow got the impression that Sonic would wind up accidentally waking up Tails anyway.

It was time for him to take his leave. “Well, you’re here now,” he started, catching Sonic’s attention, “bye, Sonic.” He started to leave, but stopped quickly to add, “Drink some water before you sleep. It’ll save you a headache in the morning.” Sonic nodded, and Shadow took that as his cue to go. But before he could, a hand was clutching his wrist. His footsteps slowed to a stop, as he glanced behind him.

“Thank you, for tonight, Shadow,” Sonic said. “You didn’t have to do all this- I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d left me there-”

“I couldn’t leave you,” Shadow replied without thinking. “I, uh…” He struggled to find an excuse that didn’t involve him admitting he cared, somewhat, for him. “It was nothing,” he settled on instead.

Every word he uttered, Sonic digested very slowly. Like he was searching for something in them. Something Shadow didn’t understand. Eventually, he smiled, saying, “Nah, I’ve been a pain in the ass. For real. I owe you one.”

This made Shadow grin, as he said in a low voice, “Be careful making promises like that, Hedgehog .”

Sonic’s mouth fell open. “That was kinda hot.”

Both took a moment to process what had just been said.

Huh!?

Sonic suddenly looked like a deer in the headlights. He tore his hand off Shadow, standing frozen on the spot. Sonic didn’t know what to do. Shadow sure as hell didn’t know what to do. Sonic then started nervously laughing, scratching his ear as he started backing away. As he went, he anxiously rambled, “ Well that was a fun night wasn’t it Shadow thank you for all the help get home safe please forget everything I said goodnight -”

And with that, the door slammed and Shadow was left standing alone outside Sonic’s house. He blinked several times, still not having moved a muscle.

What just happened?

The skate home, after he eventually snapped out of his trance, was significantly quicker than the last journey he made. But somehow he was just as distracted. His heart was going wild and his brain was scrambling to catch up. He was drunk, right? He just said it because he was drunk. And confused. Not thinking clearly. Nothing more to consider.

Yet Shadow found himself considering every single possibility on his way back.

When he finally reached his front door, he felt fucking exhausted . Both physically and mentally. He was unsure whether Rouge would be back yet, but if she was, he was undoubtedly going to unload his emotional turmoil in the form of a mega rant specifically concerning her penchant for meddling.

However, upon opening the door, he was met with someone unexpected.

“...Knuckles?”

He was loitering outside of the bathroom, arms crossed over his chest as he rested his bodyweight against the wall. “Oh hey, Shadow,” he greeted. “Just waiting for Rouge to finish up in there.”

Shadow, knowing he would regret asking, said, “I thought.. you were supposed to be at Angel Island?”

“Hm, me? Nah, not tonight. I’ve been hanging around town waiting for Rouge to close up shop.”

Unbe-fucking-lievable.

But, if he was being honest with himself, he didn’t even have the energy to murder Rouge anymore. He slipped off to bed, mind racing and unable to slow down. Influence of that damn hedgehog.

Though, despite all of his confusion from tonight, there was one thing he was absolutely certain of after this whole ordeal. He was never answering a phone call from Rouge again.

Chapter Text

Sonic had fucked up. Quite severely.

He’d made a total idiot of himself last night. But that part was normally par for the course. The issue was less the fact that he’d been a dumbass, it was more who he’d been a dumbass in front of.

The sun creeping in through his open curtains had been what initially stirred him from his sleep. Guess drunk him hadn’t considered privacy an essential, he figured, as he rolled over to try to block out the light. He still felt kinda ill from the night before. No way was he ready to wake up yet. Fuck, he’d done way too much last night. He remembered too many shots, too many drinks, and too much shame at his lame dancing. And then Shadow, out of everyone, had to escort him home-.

This memory had ruined any hope Sonic had of going back to sleep the minute he thought it.

From that point forward, he had been spending the rest of his morning pacing around his room and recalling every humiliating thing he’d done in all too much detail . For Gaia’s sake, he internally lamented, why couldn’t his brain have done the normal thing you do when you embarrass yourself drunk- forget !

Instead, he remembered every excruciating detail of his journey home last night. He’d managed to achieve a lot of damage in one go. His mind, against his will, was supplying him with a rerun of his Top 10 Worst Ways to Embarrass Yourself in Front of Your Rival from the night before. There were so many, where to start? Almost vomited on Shadow, did vomit on the ground next to him. Score! Exactly how he wanted to behave in front of his broody friend who has a zero tolerance policy for idiots. Totally cool and heroic and definitely not at all lame and pathetic.

Then decided to crawl all over him. Also a great decision. Definitely seems like something Shadow wouldn’t have an issue with.

And then…Sonic’s hand went up to his temple, as though recalling his final act of dumbassery was somehow making his headache worse.

He told Shadow that he was hot .

Sonic felt the colour drain from his face at the memory. He was such an idiot, why did he just blurt that out! Like yeah, maybe he had found it hot, but he didn’t need to verbalise that the moment he thought it! He remembered the panic he felt when he realised what he’d done. “Fucking idiot,” he lamented, hunching down, still gripping his head. He couldn’t forget Shadow’s expression. He actually looked shocked. He hadn’t hit him, hadn’t mocked him, just stood frozen. But Sonic knew he was in for it next time they crossed paths. No way Shadow would let all of this slide.

Fuck, was there any way out of this? Other than changing his name and leaving the country? Maybe that was a bit dramatic. Maybe. He accidentally knocked over his lamp, hitting it as he’d flung open his wardrobe just to check whether he still had his passport for no particular reason -

“Sonic! Are you okay up there?!” he heard Tails call.

Absolutely not . “All good here, buddy!” he yelled back.

Okay, okay , he needed to calm down. A shower could help? Yeah, he just needed to clean up. Refresh himself and his thoughts. He darted off to the bathroom, conveniently attached to his room so he wouldn’t have to face anyone yet. He frantically brushed his teeth and quickly hopped in the shower.

As he scrubbed his fur, a genius thought sprung to mind. What if it all had been a dream? A drunken, anxiety-inducing, dream? He felt all too much hope at the thought. But, as he left his bathroom, he suddenly noticed something that made it all undeniable. An empty bottle of water on the side. One he knew he’d been given by Shadow.

He leapt on his bed and let out a muffled yell into his pillow. He began restlessly rolling around as he fumbled over what to do. Maybe he could just avoid Shadow for the rest of time or hope that Shadow somehow had amnesia and-

He couldn’t be alone with his thoughts any longer. This was getting ridiculous. He needed to talk to someone. Tails?- no, definitely not, he could not tell his younger brother that he had thirsted over his rival in front of him. It was both TMI and definitely something Tails would use against him at every possibility. Knuckles was more age appropriate, but Sonic knew he may as well just confess everything to Rouge if he told Knuckles- Knuckles would spill the beans to her without even realising. And if Rouge knows, it’s only a matter of time before Shadow knows about Sonic’s freak out.

That left Sonic with his most viable option; Amy . And the more he thought about it, the better it sounded. She was kind, would probably mock him but at the same time give good advice.

Decision made. He threw on his shoes and shot Amy a text to say he was heading over, quickly stumbling his way downstairs as he headed for the door. Tails caught him before he left.

“You’re up earlier than I expected,” Tails commented, a mug of coffee in hand, “How are you doing?”

“Never drinking again,” Sonic deadpanned, scrambling around to find his keys. “Going to see Amy now.”

“You left them in the plant pot,” Tails said, pointing over to their monstera to the left of the door.

Sonic glanced down. His keys were there, covered in soil. “Ah! Thanks Tails!” He sent a grin Tails’ way, but doing so noticed the curious look on his brother’s face.

“Were you talking to someone last night, Sonic?” he asked, arms folded. Oops .

“Uh…why, did you hear something?” Damn it, his hesitance was definitely not giving the vibe of someone who had nothing to hide.

“I thought I heard you speaking to someone,” he said, studying Sonic’s demeanour, “before you came inside.”

“Uh,” Sonic fumbled for an excuse, “I don’t remember talking to anyone.” He sheepishly scratched his head. “Maybe I was just talking to myself, I was pretty drunk,” he tried, letting out an awkward laugh. The look on Tails’ face said he didn’t buy it. Knowing an interrogation was coming if he lingered any longer, he darted for the door, waving goodbye as he stammered out, “Well have a good day Tails see you later byeeee -”

Tails watched as the door slammed and Sonic escaped.

“He’s such a bad liar,” he chuckled, turning back around to finish the toast he’d let go cold in the kitchen.

*

Sonic hammered his fist against Amy’s front door.

She swung it open with an exasperated sigh. “You’re so impatient.”

“It’s a life or death situation, Ames.”

She rolled her eyes. “I highly doubt that. Come on in.”

He followed behind her, shutting the door as he did, into her kitchen. It was a cosy pink space that Amy had spent a lot of time perfecting. She wandered over to the stove, which Sonic could already hear a light sizzling sound coming from, and said, “I’m making pancakes. Want some?”

“More than anything,” Sonic drawled, dragging out a chair from the table and flopping himself on it. He propped his head in his hands, elbows rested against the table. It was already so worth coming to Amy’s. She laughed at the sight, before turning around again, spatula in hand, to tend to the food.

“No worries. So,” she glanced back at him, “what’s up with you, Sonic?”

Ergh. He really did need someone to trauma dump to, but it was a lot easier in theory than in practice. He figured he could start with the less distressing aspects.

“So, I went out last night,” he began, twiddling his hands as he spoke, “at Rouge’s.”

Amy nodded. “Yeah, I heard.”

He looked at her, confused. “How?” Oh , wait, he knew. “Ah! Blaze was there.” She glanced away, saying nothing, but it was obvious she’d been caught. “Well, don’t worry Ames, Blaze had a lot of good things to say about you-”

“Don’t try and distract me, Sonic ,” she huffed, though her cheeks appeared rosier than before, “stay on track! You went on a night out at Rouge’s, and…?” Damn it. That didn’t work well. But he did really want to spill the beans to Amy about what Blaze had said. Maybe another time. And not as a distraction tactic.

“Fine,” he grumbled, trying to think of where to go with his version of events next. “And, well, I got drunk.” Amy shot him a look that said she didn’t see what the problem was. It wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary. “Like too drunk . I fell asleep at the bar.”

Amy’s hand went up to her mouth as she giggled.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he said, embarrassed just at the thought. “And so Rouge realised I needed to go home, and, uh, called someone to pick me up.” He trailed off and started looking in any direction other than Amy. Out of the corner of his eye, he could make out a quizzical expression on her face, eyeing him as she scraped the spatula around the pan.

“Who picked you up?” she asked.

“Uhh,” he mumbled, staring out the window as though an answer that didn’t invite more questions would somehow materialise, “Shadow.”

He saw a pancake get flipped onto the back wall behind the stove. “Shadow?!” Amy yelped, scrambling to get the pancake back into the pan before she swivelled the top half her body to stare at Sonic. “How did that even happen?”

“Rouge told him there was some drunk guy who needed to get kicked out.”

“And you were the drunk guy?”

“I was the drunk guy,” he confirmed, resting his cheek on his palm.

Amy paused for a moment, seeming to ponder something. “So, you’re saying that Shadow didn’t know it was going to be you?”

“Yeah.”

“So, what happened next then?” she asked, flipping a pancake.

“Well, we left-”

“You left willingly?” Amy cut in, sounding suspicious. “It’s normally a nightmare getting you to leave.”

“He, uh, picked me up,” he replied. Amy’s stare was on him in an instant.

“What do you mean by that?”

Groaning, he tipped his head back as he scrambled for a non-weird way of putting it. “He physically picked me up. Like. Over his shoulder.” The look on Amy’s face told him this was definitely not going unnoticed.

“You’re kidding ,” she teased, holding a hand up to her mouth as she giggled into it. She started to stack some of the pancakes as she laughed to herself. “Well, Shadow is usually straight to the point. It makes sense.”

“Yeah, laugh it up, Ames,” he grumbled, leaning back on his chair, “Rouge did too.”

“Not surprised to hear that,” she chuckled. “So, what else? That’s surely not the only reason you had to come here this morning.”

Eugh . He was getting to the worst of it. “Well, I, uh, did some embarrassing stuff on the way back,” he started, catching her attention as she turned off the stove. “And I don’t really know what to do about it.”

“What kind of embarrassing stuff?” God , she was all about the questions today. Couldn’t she tell that was a subject he was trying to avoid ?

“Does what exactly happened really matter?” he tried, twiddling his thumbs again. She shot him a glare that told him the details absolutely did matter. He knew it too. But who could blame him for wanting to save what little dignity he had left! Regardless, she was right. “Okay. I literally climbed all over him on the way back and vomited everywhere,” he grimaced, remembering how stupid he felt at the time.

“Shadow had to deal with you being sick?” she said, breathing out a, “ Yikes .”

Sonic thought back to what happened. “To be honest, he was kinda nice about it. He did throw me off at him as soon as I said I was gonna vom. But-” The sensation of Shadow pulling his quills out of the way and rubbing circles into his hand replayed in Sonic’s mind. “He took care of me.” Amy didn’t say anything, but Sonic could see that she was thinking about something. He couldn’t make out what. So he pressed on. “I, er, was y’know, very drunk, and um, sorta kept saying everything that came to mind. I remember staying some things about his quills being nice, and uh-”

The shock on Shadow’s face sprung to mind once again. His turmoil must’ve shown on his face, if the inquisitive look on Amy’s was anything to go by.

You know what- fuck hangxiety, he decided. He didn’t need to confess to shit. Not that there was shit to confess too. That would imply something happened. Which nothing did.

Yeah, maybe the answer all along was straight up denial.

“Actually, Ames, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just forget about it-”

“Don’t even try it!” she warned, slamming his plate down in front of him. She crossed her arms. “You can’t bait me with a juicy story and not get to the end.”

“Yeah but Ames it’s so humiliating-” he protested, imploring for her mercy just this once.

“Even more reason to hear it,” she countered. “ Spill .”

She had a determined gleam in her eye that Sonic knew meant she was not going to mess around. Fuck my life , Sonic lamented. He was never drinking again.

He knew there was no hiding his shame, no retelling that would avoid putting all of his cards on the table. So raw honesty was his only viable route here. As much as he loathed the prospect.

“I told Shadow he was hot,” he blurted out. Amy stood, eyes bulging from their sockets.

“You what ?!” she exclaimed, almost sounding like she needed to hear it a second time to believe it. “I fucking knew it!” Here it comes. Sonic had expected this much. “How long have I been saying that you’re totally whipped for Shadow! How long?!” Yeah, Sonic had to admit that she had been right. Amy had been on his back for months about it, claiming it was ‘totally obvious’ and ‘only an idiot wouldn’t notice’. And Sonic had just thought that she was reading into things, but if last night made him realise anything, it was that he was an idiot for not noticing. And then immediately blurting it out to Shadow the minute he did. While Sonic had been reminiscing, Amy’s reaction had gone from straight up shock to incredulous laughter and boasting about how she’d known the whole time.

“Okay, fine, you were right, Ames! Let’s speedrun the gloating!” he conceded, as her giggling finally began to subside and she sat down in the seat opposite him. “So, what should I do?” He desperately needed her advice, he was at a complete loss. “How am I meant to face him again?”

Amy, still grinning, pondered this for a moment. “Well, how did he react?”

“ Shocked . He literally didn’t move. I ran away before he could say anything.”

“Well, Sonic,” she started, cutting up her pancakes, “I don’t think there’s much to worry about. Shadow obviously has feelings for you.”

Sonic couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. “Are you crazy, Ames?!” he exclaimed, only eliciting a glance from her in response. “How can you hear that story and think that?”

“Look, Sonic, it’s pretty simple,” she said, waving her fork around as she gestured. “He didn’t have to help you. He could’ve just told Rouge no , and left. But, he didn’t.” She took a bite of food in between speaking, Sonic hanging on every word she uttered. “He even looked after you when you were ill.”

“He held up my quills so I wouldn’t get barf on them,” Sonic blurted out.

“He-,” Amy spluttered, “he did what?!” She smacked her face with her free palm. “ How can I have such stupid friends ,” she muttered under her breath, clearly more of a rhetorical question rather than something for Sonic to respond to, before returning her stare to him. “ Sonic , he very obviously doesn’t hate you. He likes you. Whether he realises it or not.”

Sonic really did not know what to make of what she was telling him.

“Rouge clearly thinks so too, “ she added, her tone nonchalant as though he was somehow already supposed to know this.

“What makes you think that?”

“Well, her attempts to constantly rig it so that you and Shadow are on the same team every single board game night haven’t exactly been subtle,” she said, “and there’s the fact that she clearly orchestrated that whole situation last night in the first place. She wanted to mess with Shadow.”

Sonic blanked. “Wait, so that’s why we are always paired together for Monopoly?”

Looking exasperated, Amy deadpanned. “Monopoly isn’t a team game in the first place, Sonic. It was pretty obvious.”

“Ugh, I’m so confused right now,” he whined, placing his head in his hands for a moment before quickly springing it out again. “So what, you’re saying you think he already likes me? That’s not possible, Ames.” His arms were held out in front of him in confusion.

“What other reason would Rouge have to do this? If she thought Shadow didn’t care she’d have no incentive.” Huh. She did make a good point. That being said, it still had a fatal flaw.

“But he hates me.”

She rolled her eyes. “He doesn’t. Crazy suggestion- maybe he’s just as stupid as you and is only realising everything now? If I were to make my guess, I’d say that he probably doesn’t realise he likes you. Or he didn’t, until you basically spelled it out to him last night.”

Sonic stared in response. Not possible. There was no way he felt that way. Seeming to recognise that Sonic was unconvinced, Amy gave him another push. “Okay, so you’re telling me that Shadow ‘hates’ you but carried you home, held your quills back like drunk girls do in club toilets, and didn’t get mad when you made a pass at him?”

“I didn’t make a pass at him!” he protested.

“Close enough. Think about it, Sonic,” she challenged, “and also, forget about what’s going on with Shadow for a second. What do you want here?”

That was not a question Sonic had expected and was thus unprepared for. “What do I want?” he questioned, trying to understand what exactly Amy had meant by that.

“Do you want this whole embarrassing situation-”

“Geez, thanks Amy-”

“-To end up with you avoiding Shadow forever, and leaving the country-”

“How did you know about that?”

“Tails found your passport on the floor. He texted to check if you were really here.”

“Ugh,” Sonic whined.

“Anyway, do you want to run away from this, or confront whatever is going on with you guys?” She was direct, and straight to the point. As much as he found it difficult to deal with stuff like this, he appreciated her head on approach. It boiled everything down into one simple question.

That didn’t mean he necessarily had an answer to that question yet. “Confront it how exactly?”

“By speaking to Shadow,” she explained, tilting her head to the side with a look on her face that suggested this was obvious.

“Absolutely not,” he replied on instinct, feeling his stomach twist at the thought.

“Look Sonic,” she started, gesticulating with her fork in her hand again, “I know you don’t want to hear it, but the easiest way to get past this with Shadow is to actually communicate .” She pointed the fork at him in an accusatory manner. “Even though you loathe the idea.” Yeah, she might not be far off with that one. But still, surely this case was different?

She seemed to sense his hesitation. Softening her expression, she said, “I understand that talking to him about it sounds scary, but sometimes you need to be vulnerable to actually get somewhere.”

Sonic stayed silent, considering what she’d said. Nodding slowly, he sent a grin her way. “Thanks, Ames.”

“Now,” she said, smiling, “think about it, and eat your food.”

*

Sonic hugged Amy on her doorstep before he left. Although most of the time he hated how she was able to see through him, she really did give him the advice he needed. Whether he would take it was another matter.

It was early afternoon when he left, and he was finally feeling better from the night before. He figured he probably vomited half of his hangover away last night anyway. And his system was pretty quick to recover. But embarrassment still clung to him, and he hoped a run would help shake it out of his system.

As he started to dart his way through the meadows, Amy’s words were a constant chorus in his mind. Was she right to say that he needed to put himself out there?

His phone chimed. He came to a quick stop, and pulled it out of his quills, hoping it wasn’t a message from Tails about the passport fiasco. God, could it get anymore embarrassing-

It was a text from Rouge.

‘ Hi, blue. Mr Broody seems even more tightly wound than usual today. Think you could go see him? ’ Next to the message was a pin on a map, a guess as to where he might be. And a lips emoji.

Sonic stared at the messages, his heart speeding up wildly.

God , he really hoped Amy was right.

Taking in one final breath to calm his nerves, he set off.

Chapter Text

Shadow felt like shit. He felt like he was the one with the hangover. Rather than sleeping like a normal person would, he’d spent most of the night overthinking every single thing that had happened, everything Sonic had said or done, and it was driving him crazy. He wanted answers so badly . But he also wanted to stop being an obsessive idiot about it all. Regardless, he knew one way of releasing his frustrations. And that would be by taking them out on the meddling bat who arranged this whole ordeal in the first place.

“You set me up.”

Rouge’s gaze darted over to Shadow, arms crossed as he lurked in the kitchen.

“Good morning to you too, Shadow.” She tried to act normal. “Wake up even grouchier today?”

“You set me up,” he repeated.

“In what exactly? A trap or a date?” she teased, though her attempt at easing the tension didn’t sway Shadow even remotely.

“Rouge,” he growled, not in the mood to entertain her jokes. He had other business to handle. Namely getting her to explain last night's debacle.

She seemed to get the hint, but dismissively waved a hand as she conceded, “Okay, okay, maybe I did ‘set you up’. But it wasn’t anything that bad, now was it? Just a harmless lift home.” She paused. “Unless,” she gave him an inquisitive look, “something happened after I bid you farewell?”

Shadow stiffened. “Nothing happened.” Er. That didn’t feel convincing. And the grin on Rouge’s face told him it at the very least had not convinced her .

“Hm, are you sure about that, hun?” she pried, slinking into the stool below their kitchen counter, “ nothing happened?”

Sonic’s arms wrapped around his neck. Hands carding through his chest fur. Sonic’s parting words that had left Shadow reeling .

“Nothing of note,” was his eventual reply.

She raised an eyebrow. “I think you and I have different definitions of noteworthy.”

He huffed and turned to start preparing something to eat. He cracked some eggs into the frying pan and fished a spatula out of the drawer. He could see Rouge watching him out of the corner of his peripheral, as though attempting to decipher his every move.

“ What ,” he shot, giving her the nastiest side eye he could muster.

Grinning, she replied, “ Nothing ,” in a sing-song voice, not sounding even remotely innocent. “Just curious is all. For someone who says nothing happened, you sure seem a little wound up.”

Shadow felt his ear twitch. “I am not wound up.”

“Sure, hun. You haven’t turned on the gas by the way.”

He glanced down. Rouge was right. Nothing was cooking. Damn it . Ignoring her comment, he flicked the dial around and watched the fire light underneath the pan. 

“Maybe I am a bit distracted,” he muttered, clenching the spatula he’d grabbed earlier. He glanced over to her briefly and saw the unbridled glee that admission had brought her.

“Is that so?” she cooed, propping her elbows on the counter in front of her with intertwined hands. “What would be the cause of that, I wonder? A rendezvous with a certain blue hedgehog, perhaps?”

Shit. He was supposed to be the one grilling her . Not the other way around. He could feel himself falling into one of Rouge’s traps in real time. And despite being aware of it, he still felt like he couldn’t stop it. He saw the devious look in her eye. She was going to say something to make him bite. He could feel it.

She nodded, prompting him to respond to her question. He stayed still. He knew anything he said would betray him.

“Hm, okay,” she said, staring intently, as though deciding to take another route in her interrogation, “I’ll take your silence as a yes .” Not what he had intended. “So, care to tell me what went down?”

“ No .”

“I thought nothing happened?”

Fuck.

This inadvertent confession left Rouge practically glowing. She was teeming with energy.

“Hm, well,” she huffed, grinning as she teased, “I hope you didn’t pounce on him. I don’t think he was in any state for that-”

He was incredulous at her suggestion. “I pounced on no one!” he roared. He quickly tried to steel himself, knowing he was betraying way too much of his inner turmoil to Rouge. But it was too late. She’d already seen it.

She took a moment to process what he’d just said. He could see the cogs turning. A look appearing on her face, as though all the jigsaw pieces had finally clicked together.

“Did Sonic do anything he might regret?”

Shadow felt his life flash before his eyes. How could she have possibly guessed that. Was he that obvious? Shadow wanted to start hitting something, anything . Fuck, why did everything feel so complicated when it came to Sonic. Even when he wasn’t present, that idiot was somehow managing to give him grief. The incidents from last night had Shadow at boiling point.

A satisfied smirk settled on Rouge’s face. She knew she’d caught him.

Shadow decided to cut his losses. “I don’t want to talk about it.” His head jerked away from her.

Silence fell over them, but just for a moment, as Rouge seemed to determine her next move. Shadow felt as though he was being studied.

“I think you should talk about it,” she said.

He stopped (admittedly pretending) to cook and glared at her. “After last night I don’t want to talk to you about anythi-”

“Not with me ,” she cut in, letting out a huff as she did, quietly adding, “ though I am interested .” She sat up in her seat. “I meant with Sonic .”

Shadow’s jaw fell slack. “ No .”

Rouge rolled her eyes. “ Yes , Shadow, and I’m going to give you a reason that even you can’t refute.” She crossed her arms, although loosely so she could occasionally throw an accusing finger in his direction whenever she deemed fit. “ Clearly something happened. Enough to make you all ‘Mr Melodramatic’ this morning.” He scoffed, but she took no notice. “And it sounds like that ‘ something ’ had everything to do with Sonic . Who, if I were to make a guess, is probably feeling pretty embarrassed right now. And could do with reassurance. From you .”

Shadow listened but felt like he didn’t take anything in. “What?”

“He’s done something stupid, right? Let him know it’s okay.”

“But, I,” Shadow started, fumbling over what he was going to say, “it was-” He paused. “It was nothing. He was drunk- he didn’t mean anything by it.” God he was doing a bad job at keeping his cards to his chest right now.

But Rouge didn’t pry. She didn’t mock. Instead, she challenged .

“It meant something.” Her stare was intense. “I’ve seen him, Shadow. He wants your attention. He wants your respect. He wants-”

“He just wants to annoy me, that’s all,” he interjected.

“It’s more than that,” she stated. “Take a risk. Tell him how you feel. Whatever those feelings are. If he’s done something that’s put him on the line, he needs to know that he hasn't done anything wrong. And for you to take the same risk he did.”

He could feel his heart speeding up to a frankly stupid degree. Damn it, why did Rouge have to be so perceptive?

Her words left him feeling conflicted. He plated his food, which was bordering on burnt, in a desperate attempt to distract himself. It didn’t work. He rested his palms against the counter in front of him.

Sonic had been vulnerable last night. He had let his mask slip. Crying, vomiting and crawling all over someone didn’t exactly fit his whole ‘hero’ persona. And he could imagine that he was the last person Sonic would want to show that side to. So, if he did in fact remember something, yeah, he would probably be embarrassed. Rouge was likely right about that one.

And then there was the other implication of his behaviour that Shadow had to deal with. The side that left Shadow fuzzy and confused, a pang in his chest and a tremble in his hand. He felt nervous. What exactly made him nervous was beyond him. But he recognised the feeling clearly.

He didn’t know what to do. His instinct was to deny , to reject any idea that maybe his actions were an indication of something more . That it maybe had meant something. A drunken mistake that had let Sonic’s real feelings slip out into the open. Feelings that he would never confess to otherwise.

A part of him so desperately wanted that to be the case.

He knew what was making him so confused. So scared .

It was how much he longed for it to be real.

He stared down at his burnt food. “This is shit.”

Rouge chuckled, glancing down the hall, before saying, “I know a certain someone who will gladly take that off your hands, if needs be?”

In a considerably less harsh tone than one he had been taking up until this point, he responded, “Call him in,” with a hint of a grin.

“As you wish,” she said, a soft smile on her face, before calling, “Hey! Knuckles! You can come out now!”

Shadow heard some shuffling as Knuckles peeked around the corner. “Morning, Shadow.” He was wearing Rouge’s fluffy dressing gown and matching slippers.

“He went to hide when he heard us bickering earlier,” Rouge mocked, covering her mouth with her hand as she giggled.

“Just didn’t want to get involved in a roommate fight,” Knuckles huffed, crossing his arms in defiance.

“Good morning, Knuckles,” Shadow said, smirking. He turned around and grabbed the plate off the side. “Got some crappy food going, if you want?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” he replied instantaneously, glady scooping the plate from his hands.

Shadow grinned, before steeling himself and heading towards the door. As he started to put his skates on, Rouge questioned, “Not having anything to eat, hun? Where are you off to?”

He glanced back. “Lost my appetite. I’m going for a run.”

“Hm,” she hummed, “Well, hope you have a good one. Try to get some food down you later.”

He nodded, turning back to the door. But before he left, he glanced over his shoulder.

“Rouge.”

“Yes?”

“Thanks.”

She smiled back at him. “You’re welcome.”

And with that, he opened the door and darted off.

*

Sonic was nearing the place Rouge had suggested he went if he wanted to find Shadow. The run had provided some distraction, but not enough.  His heart beat out of control and he had managed to take a wrong turn twice already. He felt nervous. Like, really nervous.

He had no idea what he was going to do when he got there. No clue what he was supposed to say.

What scared him most was that he didn’t know what he was walking into. Would Shadow be mad at him? Upset? Or, maybe worst of all, just neutral? Like he didn’t even care?

He smacked the sides of his cheeks as he ran. No, no . He needed to stop thinking like that. He wouldn’t actually be able to find out if he freaked himself out and chickened out of seeing Shadow. He had to at least try . Try to do what exactly? He didn’t know.

Or maybe he did know. He needed to be honest with him. He needed to be- the idea was vomit inducing- vulnerable , as Amy suggested. If this didn’t work out, he was never going to let her live it down. When he had to go into hiding she would sure as hell be going with him .

Oh fuck . He checked his phone and saw that he was basically there. No no no no - he needed more time to prepare for all the ways it could go wrong!-

And that’s when Sonic saw him. Sat up on a tree branch of an oak, one leg perched atop it, while the other loosely dangled below him. Shadow. Sonic felt his anxiety spike.

And, staring at him, Sonic realised that Rouge’s text may not have been a complete lie for once.

He looked dazed. His gaze was directed towards somewhere in the distance, but was unfocussed, as though it was not something material, but something internal, that had his full attention. It was… odd, seeing Shadow like that. Sonic dared to think that he appeared… distracted.

He channeled every ounce of bravery he could muster.

“Shadow?” he called, nervously approaching the tree.

Shadow startled the instant he heard his name and fell out of the tree with a surprised grunt.

“Shadow!” Sonic yelped, darting over to help him. But Shadow had already sprung to his feet before he got there.

“It’s fine, Hedgehog,” he said, dusting himself off, “I didn’t expect it. That’s all.” He quickly returned to his usual, cagey self. Sonic wasn’t sure whether he felt relieved or not. He didn’t get the opportunity to pry further, as Shadow soon raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why are you here?”

“Geez, nice to see you too, Shadow,” Sonic drawled in a sarcastic manner. He weighed up whether it was better to just tell him the truth or to lie and pretend they just met by coincidence. No- he came here to be honest, sort of , so he could at least not start with a lie. “Rouge told me you’d be here,” he confessed, scratching his head awkwardly.

Shadow’s eyes widened for a moment. It seemed that had caught him by surprise. Gaia, Sonic hoped it wasn’t a bad surprise - “Oh. Is that so.” It was more of a statement rather than a question. And a rather robotic sounding one at that. Like he was trying to hide something. Keep something locked away.

“Yeah, she did,” Sonic confirmed, twiddling his hands behind his back as he swayed uncomfortably. Ugh , his nervousness had him teeming with energy and nowhere to unload it. “I, uh-” this was so fucking embarrassing -, “was kinda hoping I could speak to you. I guess.” He peeled his eyes away from the ground to glance at Shadow. “If that’s okay with you?”

Shadow didn’t say anything. In fact, he didn’t do anything. Just remained perfectly still. Suddenly, he whirred to life, as though finally finding his voice. “That’s, er- fine, I suppose,” he stammered, seeming weird and rigid and about a billion emotions that Sonic didn’t recognise on Shadow.

Sonic let out a breath, kinda relieved that he hadn’t been rejected from the get go, and flung himself down into a sitting position. He peeked up and saw Shadow, arms crossed, giving him a confused look. Sonic patted the ground next to him.

Shadow huffed and unfurled his arms. “ Fine ,” he grumbled, settling down next to Sonic, though still maintaining his usual distance. He could feel Shadow’s stare on him. “ Well ?” he questioned, prompting Sonic to remember why he had come here in the first place, “What did you want to speak about?” Even though Sonic had come here of his own volition, had willingly chosen to speak to Shadow, he felt overwhelming as though all of this was happening against his will. He was panicking. Just a tad. In an incredibly manly and not at all lame way.

Pulling his legs close to his chest, he let out an awkward chuckle. “Uh…” Okay, he needed to say something. Like now . But he didn’t want to just launch in with ‘ Hey, Shadow, I got so drunk last night that I accidentally told you I find you attractive and was wondering how you feel about that -’ Yeah. That wouldn’t do. He needed something less incriminating to start. Not something that felt like an admission.

“I’m, uh, sorry about you having to deal with me last night,” he started, staring intently at the ground. “I know I can be, hah, a lot to handle.” He dared to steal a look at Shadow, surprised to see his gaze fixed on him. He still held himself in the same rigid way as usual, but there was something in his eye that caught Sonic’s attention- a curiosity that he had not seen in Shadow before. Sonic tried to swallow down the nervousness that swelled in him at the sight. “Thanks. And sorry, again.”

Shadow remained silent. As much as Sonic was accustomed to the whole silent and broody thing Shadow had going for himself, he really would’ve appreciated any kind of input right now. But looking at Shadow, something told him that his silence was different from usual. He wasn’t ignoring, deeming the conversation unnecessary, he was processing. Trying to uncover something.

He did eventually reply. “You were no more annoying than usual, Hedgehog,” he said, resting his arms on top of his knees. “Don’t overthink it.”

Well, that was not the response he’d anticipated. It did contain the usual insult or two he had come to expect from Shadow, but there was something else to it. It was almost… reassuring?

“Oh, uh, really?” he mumbled. He fiddled with the hem of his glove as he spoke.

“If anything, it seemed kind of tame. I would have expected you to be more… energetic, I suppose.”

Eh? This was not what Sonic had expected. “Wait, are you being serious ?”

Shadow nodded. “You slept for most of the journey. You’re more irritating sober”

Sonic let out a chuckle. “You didn’t see me earlier in the night. I was all over the place.” He looked over at Shadow again. “Tails uses this, uh, analogy to describe me drinking. He says it’s like a firework. So, y’know, you have the bit where the firework goes off, and it’s all crazy,” he started to mimic a firework exploding with his hands, “but then, after that, the firework is over, and kind of floats to the ground,” his hands swayed downwards. “So you, my friend, were dealing with me post-firework, I guess.”

Shadow actually chuckled at that. Sonic felt his heart skip a beat.

“The fox knows you well,” he said.

“You know, next time you could always show up earlier and see the bit before-”

“ Pass ,” Shadow interjected, and although his tone was still as determined and unwavering as always, there was a playfulness to it.

“Your loss,” Sonic lamented, but with a smile.

Uh, this was going well. Like, surprisingly well. Shadow hadn’t got angry, and had even laughed at something Sonic had said. He could not believe his luck. Maybe he didn’t even need to bring up the whole ‘ I called you hot ’ thing- psh , who even cared? That was, like, a whole twelve hours ago or something. This was the new Sonic and Shadow- where they actually got along and didn’t have to address the elephant in the room-

“Uh, Sonic,” Shadow said, tearing Sonic away from the utopian scenario he had been conjuring and back to reality , “there was something I wanted to talk to you about. To do with yesterday.”

No no no no . He thought they’d gotten past this (not true). C’mon, Shadow! Who needed to be honest?! It never got people anywhere (also not true).

Shadow continued. “You, uh, said something-” Sonic was internally screaming. There was no punishment that could possibly be worse than this situation. He would take being caged by Eggman for the rest of eternity over this- “And I was just wondering, what you meant-” Sonic couldn’t take anymore.

“I’m sorry!” he interrupted, not willing to hear where Shadow was going with this. He knew it would be nowhere good. “I’m really sorry Shadow I-” He was panicking. To a stupid degree. “I didn’t mean to be such an idiot last night, I was drunk and had no filter and just-” God, why had he decided to open the floodgates! “-I dunno, I was stupid. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. You were so nice to me and I just had to go and be a complete dumbass and-”

“It was cute.”

Sonic’s word vomiting came to an abrupt halt. He glimpsed up at Shadow.

“You were, uh,” he stumbled over his words, “you were cute.”

Sonic couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What?”

Sonic’s total and utter shock seemed to scare Shadow, who said, “That’s all. I’m going,” as he started to move away. Sonic grabbed a hold of his arm before he could.

“Are you being serious?” Sonic said, the words falling from his mouth in awe. Shadow looked as though he had a thousand impulses running through his mind.

He muttered, “If you were,” staring down at Sonic, “last night.” If he was serious? About what- oh .

“I was,” he said in a quiet voice, still gripping Shadow’s arm as he awkwardly looked away. “I didn’t mean to say it. But I meant it.” He unclenched his hand and let it fall to the ground, releasing Shadow.

He heard a thump as Shadow sat back down beside him. “Good,” he mumbled, staring off ahead.

Sonic looked over. This seemed to be as hard on Shadow as it was on him. Maybe they did have something in common. Unfortunately it was their severe inability to communicate, but hey, it was something. And that was a trait they could work on. Like Amy told him.

“I was embarrassed,” Sonic said, “about yesterday. I kind of let everything slip.”

“Everything?” He glanced over. “What do you mean by that?”

“Stuff I didn’t want to admit,” he confessed, “even to myself, to be honest.” He stared at his hands again. Be brave be brave be brave , he chanted internally, trying to remember Amy’s advice. “Stuff to do with, um,” he chanced a look at Shadow’s face, “ you . I guess.”

Shadow blinked. “Hm,” he said, though this was far from a casual ‘hm’. Shadow looked nervous. Pensive. “What sort of ‘stuff’?”

Sonic’s heart was absolutely manic. His hands dug into the ground beside him. He could feel the tension between them, the nervous energy, the fear of saying or doing the wrong thing and messing it all up. He had to tell him the truth.

But he was scared. If he took a gamble, and told Shadow, he could potentially fuck up everything. This was the last thing he wanted. How was he supposed to anticipate how he’d react? It wasn’t possible. It was hard enough to read Shadow at the best of times; Sonic doubted he’d be able to guess what sandwich Shadow would choose off a menu, let alone how he’d respond to his annoying rival confessing.

“Uh, sorry,” Shadow said, seeming awkward, “I didn’t mean to keep asking questions.” It was as though Sonic’s hesitance had taken the wind out of his sails; stopped him from pressing further. Sonic watched as Shadow looked away. He seemed almost dejected…disappointed.

Sonic needed to take a risk.

Shadow added, “Forget what I was talking about earlier-”

“I like you,” Sonic blurted out. Shadow’s head instantly flipped back around.

“What?” he gaped.

“I like you,” Sonic repeated. He was doing everything he could to not wimp out. Not that his anxiousness was well hidden, if his nervous shaking was anything to go by. “I’m uh- I dunno if you wanted to hear that or if I’ve gone and made everything weird-”

“I like you too,” Shadow said, an intense and consuming look in his eyes, “Sonic.”

Sonic heard himself squeak at this. He clenched the grass below even harder. “You do?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I do.”

“Even after last night?”

“Yeah.”

“But I acted like an idiot.”

“Nothing out of the ordinary.”

Sonic sucked in a breath, trying to steady himself. They both sat staring at one another. Like neither of them knew what to do next. Like neither could really believe what was happening.

Sonic dared to inch his hand slightly closer to Shadow’s. “So, uh…” God he had no game. He prayed that Shadow did.

Shadow’s hand moved over by a millimeter. “Uh, yeah…” Gaia , he had none either.

Something had to give. So Sonic, trying his best to be brave, shuffled his hand over directly next to Shadow’s. They were at least touching now. It wasn’t exactly hand holding, but it was close enough. He stared at Shadow. Your turn .

His touch seemed to reassure Shadow in a way, telling him that he was doing the right thing; not misinterpreting anything. Shadow put his hand under Sonic’s, and clasped it in a light hold.

Sonic was sent into a frenzy yet again . Why did the stupidest stuff feel so overwhelming and all consuming when it was with someone you actually liked? Maybe this was why he’d run away this whole time. To avoid something real. Something challenging. Something that scared him.

But honestly, his fear of intimacy be damned, he was glad he was at this point. And even though he had spent the whole conversation freaking about everything, as he stared at Shadow, he realised he wanted more . And Shadow, whose intense gaze was transfixed on him, seemed to feel the same way. Shadow leaned in.

“Hey, Sonic,” he started, as their foreheads slowly brushed together, “Can I-”

“Yes.”

Shadow chuckled a little at Sonic’s interjection before his free hand clasped the side of Sonic’s face, and pulled him in.

Sonic shut his eyes as he felt Shadow’s lips brush against his own. It was soft, tentative, as though Shadow was unsure of how far to push. He peeked at Shadow, who looked at him, hovering close. Sonic raised his hand, and held onto the one that Shadow had cupped around his face.

This seemed to be enough of a confirmation for him. Shadow leant back in and kissed him again, although this time firmer, more deliberate. Sonic felt their hands, intertwined on the ground, untangle, and that hand instead perch itself on the small of his back, pulling him in. Sonic’s cheeks flushed furiously at the gesture. He let himself be guided by it, pressing flush against him, revelling in how brazen Shadow was. Their lips moved against one another, slowly and softly, and soon Sonic felt too needy to care about how desperate it looked and wrapped his arms around Shadow’s neck, bringing them closer together. Shadow gripped his waist tighter, and shifted the angle, as though he craved more.

They parted for a moment, faces flushed and breathing unsteady. But, despite the embarrassment, they smiled softly at one another, a playful energy in the air.

“Heh, guess I should get stupid drunk more often,” Sonic teased, grinning as Shadow placed both hands on his waist and pulled him onto his lap.

“Don’t even think about it,” Shadow warned, though with little bite to it.

“Oh!” Sonic’s head snapped upwards. “Did you know Rouge was purposefully putting us together for game nights?”

Shadow’s incredulous expression told him he probably did in fact know this already. “You’re telling me you didn’t realise?”

“What?!” he shrieked, leaning backwards, keeping one hand around Shadow’s neck while the other waved around. “Did everyone know?!”

Shadow sighed and looked as though he would smack a hand to his head had they not been occupied. “I can’t believe I like such a dumbass ,” he lamented, his head falling backwards.

But, despite the insult, Sonic found himself laughing. “Don’t worry Shadow, there’s more where that came from- Hey! ” Shadow flung forward and Sonic landed on his back before he could finish his statement. Sonic smirked at him, as Shadow leaned over. “You are way more assertive than I thought you’d be.”

“And you’re just as chatty as I thought you’d be,” he retorted, grinning back. Though he took a moment to circle back to Sonic’s original statement. “Is it a problem?”

“Fuck no,“ Sonic said, pulling him down by the neck and capturing him in another kiss. And another one. It kind of derailed. But Sonic felt too giddy to care.

God , he was so glad he’d trusted Amy on this one.