Chapter Text
The next time Sonic entered Shadow’ house, it was purely on a whim and Shadow didn't so much as blink as the blue hedgehog walked in.
“I almost forgot you had a key.” Shadow greeted, taking a slow step back and to the side just as Sonic quickly approached.
“Yep! I almost never lose keys, somehow.” Sonic tossed himself over the couch, spilling off it and tumbling to the ground, slightly pinned in an awkward position between the couch and coffee table with a yelp.
Shadow snorted a bit, tempted to take a picture of the ridiculous image of Sonic nearly folded directly in half with his head inches from his knees, but decided against it and reached down, grabbing his shoulders and beginning to lift. As he did, Sonic swiftly reached up, grabbing his upper arms to somewhat help himself back up. When they let go, Sonic let go of a breath he was forced to hold and laid his head on the back of the couch. The leather felt cool against his fur.
He felt Shadow's hands pull away from his shoulders and sourly missed the contact.
“Pfft, sorry about that.” He had been acting a bit different lately around him. A bit more carefree. A bit more lax. Hell, just a second ago, Shadow almost laughed.
“If anything, I would be the one apologising.”
“Why?” Sonic opened his eyes, flinching at how close the other was, then squinted. Something was off about Shadow. “What's wrong with you?”
Shadow stood up and ran his hand along his side, then pulled his fist away and opened it, letting loose a clump of black fur to float to the floor. He wasn't wearing gloves.
“You're shedding?”
“Unfortunately.” he gestured to the coffee table Sonic had rudely introduced himself to, where a few wire brushes sat, each clogged with black, grey, and red fur. There was a trash bin sat next to it that looked as if it had recently been emptied seconds before the other arrived.
“Weird, you shed as much as Tails.”
Shadow shrugged, vaulting over the back of the couch to plop down next to Sonic. Seeing him do something unnecessary-- just for fun , was something he still had to get used to. “I have somewhat the same amount of fur as him. At least, I have two layers of fur. According to others I am ‘very soft to hug’.”
Just as that sentence ended, Sonic wrapped his arms around Shadow's torso and hugged him tightly. He was so warm and… solid . Shadow was a big hunk of hedgehog, and gently, he pressed a bit closer. He was still a bit soft to the touch, though… but, something else was bothering him. “Yeah, I'd say that checks out.”
A quiet huff and a pat on the head was all he earned for the action, which in itself was fine, but the concern he had was still there. Sonic picked up one of the more full brushes and pulled loose fur from it, holding the chunk of it with an indescribable emotion.
“That's… uncomfortable to see.”
“What?” Sonic tossed the fur out, “Me holding your fur? Sorry, I'm just kinda confused. I thought it wasn't healthy to brush your fur out, and that you're supposed to shed naturally.”
Shadow opened his mouth, mid stroke of yanking dead fur from his chest fluff, then sighed. “I have a feeling Tails very much dislikes you around this time.”
“Yeah, he does! How'd you know?”
Shadow chuckled airly, shaking his head. “Call it a wild guess. How do you deal with all the fur, then?”
“I kinda don't.” He shrugged with a large stretch, where Shadow frowned at the blue fur just flying off him and onto his couch. He was just glad he had hardwood flood and leather couches. If Sonic had shed blue fur across every inch of his house, he would have a fit. “I go about every day I would normally, just stopping to scratch my back or something.”
Sonic turned to him with his newly cleaned brush, eying Shadow's back. The fur between the quills on his back was always a terrible spot for him, so it would be just as awful on Shadow, right? Just as he started brushing Shadow's back, the wires just barely making contact with his shoulder, Sonic pulled the brush back and hummed. “Have you ever had help brushing your fur out? And, uh… can I help you brush out your fur?”
Shadow waved, short answer for yes, then shook his head in reference to the first question. He pat his chest fluff flat before brushing it again, this time in the opposite direction. “No. Rouge doesn't like sweeping up any missed fur, and I’ve clogged plenty of vacuums to know that won’t work.”
A pause. Sonic started brushing his back without asking, but Shadow took the action in stride. “I mean… Maria? Has she ever helped you?”
Shadow hummed. He didn't seem sad, and didn't even flinch when recalling the memory. He merely stopped, looking up at the ceiling for a second. “No, again. She tried once or twice, but I was the only creature on ARK that could possibly be leaving so much black fur, so I was always put through this,” he held his hands in front of him, trying to mime. “The best way to describe it is ‘carwash, but for hedgehogs’. I was put into a rough showering system with high powered hoses and was told to scrub myself with these rubber gloves to get all traces of shed fur off.”
“Ow!” Sonic had stopped, staring him down in disbelief while Shadow not picked the fur from his brush again. How many welts did he get from just the hoses alone? And wouldn't the rubber rip out more fur than just dead fur? “Why was that the only option??”
“Dandruff. In case Maria's system couldn't handle any pet dandruff or if she accidentally inhaled my shed fur, or if any got in her eyes… anything, really. I sometimes didn't understand why I was created with fur if my fur would be the main issue for her.” Shadow immediately dismissed any thought of what he would look like without fur in favour of speaking again. “Aren't you shedding, though?”
Sonic shrugged. He simply finished the side of Shadow closest to him, plucked the fur from the brush, then turned the brush on himself and pulled it away. It was loaded with blue strands. “Oh, guess I am, pffft.” he shook his head and shivered. “Still feels… odd.”
Instead of asking ‘how can you not know that you're shedding,’ to a hedgehog who sometimes forgot to eat in the morning before heading out, Shadow just pointed the brush to him. “I’ve mostly finished brushing myself, let me return the favour.”
“As much as I don’t mind you helping me out with anything, I've never been brushed before except once with Tails, and both of us hated it. Hard pass.”
Shadow didn't say anything. He pulled the brush he was holding out back, staring down at it silently for no longer than a second before setting it down and patting his sides and legs. He was fine with being turned down, Sonic just wasn't interested in being brushed, that was fine.
“...You-- You can uh, brush me if you like? I'm sorry for being harsh back there.” Sonic spoke, voice barely above a whisper. Shadow looked up with a small frown out of concern, shaking his hand of the trash bin ao any loose strands would fall into it. He was pretty clean, then.
“Why would I do something you're uncomfortable with?”
“I dunno… I just… didn't want you upset with me for saying no when I just brushed you?” his voice only got quieter with each pause, until Shadow sat up straighter, setting his hand on Sonic's upper arm.
“I'm not upset.” He closed his eyes. “Now, I've ordered chinese take out. Get the door for me?”
“No one knoc--.” Just as he spoke, there was a gentle rapping at the door and Sonic glared playfully at him before getting up to answer.
After a short greeting and ‘thank you’, Sonic swiped the brushes and loose fur from the table and set the bag down. “Why'd you order out? Can't cook?”
“I can very much cook, and even love doing so. I just don't cook or handle food during the four days I shed so I don't ingest my own fur or make others do the same.” He grabbed a container from the bag, glad he ordered enough for leftovers before hand. The way Sonic was hungrily eyeing the bag just confirmed his thoughts on how much the other was going to eat. “Feel free.”
“Didn't know you could cook!” his face was stuffed with food well before the words even came out his mouth.
“Most don't, other than Rouge and Cream.”
Sonic didn't say anything for a bit, and so neither did Shadow. They simply sat in comfortable semi-silence, the only sound being the quiet television in the background. Until now, it hadn't been heard once. It was playing a rerun of a movie about a white dog. His mind went back to what he said earlier, and Sonic found himself chewing on his fork.
“It's really okay, Sonic.” Shadow spoke up. “I wouldn't do anything that would make you uncomfortable. If you do not wish to be brushed, I will not brush you. I told you before that I wished to be warned or asked before I'm touched, and you respected that and you're going great. I'll respect your wish to not be brushed, and I will not brush you.”
Sonic let out a shaky breath. “H… ha, thank… thank you. Um.” he glanced at his scarred plastic fork, pushing around a few bits of orange chicken. “We're really getting comfortable around each other, right?”
Shadow nodded, picking up something else from the bag of food. He tossed Sonic a fortune cookie as he cracked his own open, eating the cookie and dismissing whatever the slip said. “Is that a bad thing?”
Sonic opened his cookie, nibbling on the wafer as he read his fortune. ‘Embrace greatness as it awaits you, do not let it slip away again’. “Nah. What's your fortune say?”
“Oh,” Shadow lifted the slip again, squinting at it for a second. Sonic would have snorted had his mouth not been full of food, knowing full well that Shadow could perfectly read that slip without squinting. “It says ‘Love comes in all sizes, learn how exercise your own’.”