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Sonic trudged up the three steps to Shadow's stoop, moon casting a soft glow over his dirtied and bust up form.
After the fight, the nearest hospital was six hours away. His house and Tails were about a whole day's worth of running at top speed away. The nearest place where he might be able to crash was Shadow's house, and as crazy as it may seem, Sonic brought himself to at least stand before the richly colored black birch door.
The azure hedgehog brought an arm that felt as though it weighed like a million bricks up to knock on the door before him.
There were a couple of completely still seconds until he heard footsteps beyond the threshold accompanied by a somewhat familiar hum to a tune nearly fifty-six years old. The padding stopped directly beyond the door, and Sonic assumed Shadow was looking through the peephole, although there wasn't really much to see. Well, unless you counted two black eyes, countless bruises and cuts, and a really bad bloody nose (he tried stopping it up with his glove but it just soaked the fine white cotton to the point of no return) something to behold.
The sound of a chainbolt, several locks, and a final deadbolt coming undone alerted Sonic that he was probably either being shooed away to go lick his wounds elsewhere or welcomed in for a patching up. Luckily, Shadow was feeling rather hospitable today.
As they met eyes, Sonic spoke up before Shadow could. "Hey, Shadster."
"What did you do this time, hedgehog?" Shadow asked, voice overflowing with genuine concern but at the same time sounding sarcastic and amused.
"Egghead almost got the best of me for once. But I'm really far from any hospital and my place so I, uh, figured...maybe you could help me out?" Sonic inquired, cracking a small, anxious smile.
Shadow just shook his head, quills bobbing gently with the action, and sighed. "Let me go get some tissues so you don't ruin the rug. Stay here."
The Ultimate Lifeform walked into the house and beyond Sonic's blurry line of sight. What he could see of Shadow's reclusive abode seemed very pleasant and comfortable. Of course Shadow wouldn't settle for less than the best, he deserved it!
After a moment or two, the striped 'hog returned with a box of tissues in hand and held them out to Sonic. The Blue Blur took them gladly, stuffing up the leak in his face as quick as he could. Shadow looked at his reddened glove and held his hand out for it.
Sonic quirked an eye-ridge, holding a few tissues to his muzzle.
Shadow sighed once again and gestured for him to step in, then closed and relocked the door behind them.
"Listen. You're dirty and I prefer to keep my house clean. Go upstairs and take a shower. Leave your stuff outside the door and I'll run a quick wash so you don't have to wear disgusting clothes after freshening up," he explains, pointing up the staircase at the mention of the shower. "It's at the end of the hall on the right. Take as long as you need and use whatever products you please, but use the auburn towel on the top left of the rack."
"Oh, gosh. Thanks, Shads! You really didn't have to. I'd hug you but...well, it's clear."
Shadow waved him off with a chuckle that was quickly followed by a streak of blue and a slam of the bathroom door.
The ebony and scarlet agent dropped the needle of his record player back where it had been a few minutes ago, returning to hum along to one of Maria's favorite songs. When he heard the door upstairs open and shut again and the sound of the water running, he went to retrieve the dirty articles laid out.
Upon picking them up and holding his breath, Shadow hurried down to his washing machine and swiftly tossed them into its belly with a small dosage of detergent. He let it run and continued his previous activities of sorting his records.
Upstairs, Sonic reveled in the feeling of hot water running through his fur. Shadow had so many different kind of shampoos and soaps that Sonic would think this was a girl's bathroom and definitely not Shad's.
He even had a special lineup of conditioners! What a clean freak. Sonic didn't even know what half of the words on some of these labels meant. Exfoliation treatment? Hydration specialty? Oh, I'm definitely getting on him for this!
The cobalt hedgie simply used the nearest bottle, not really caring about all the special specifications pertaining to it. It smelled like sweet pea and lavender, a wild combo, and soon the whole room was flower-scented.
He combed his bare hands through his dripping royal blue quills and haphazardly untangled the spines. He needed a good cleanup for his whole mop, but this would have to do for now.
Sonic didn't bother with conditioner or anything of the such despite his desperation for a complete do-up. He didn't want to use up all of Shadow's products even though he blatantly offered usage of whichever he wanted. He simply soaped up his skin with a regular cocoa butter bar and rinsed off. There was no need to be fancy, in his eyes.
After stepping out of the steamy chamber, he spotted the reddish-brown towel that Shadow had mentioned earlier and dried himself carefully just as his clothes were doing the same downstairs. He made sure to twist out every last drop of water from his fur, taking bundles of quills over the edge of the shower stall and squeezing them dry.
He wrapped the towel around his body as best he could, considering himself naked due to being gloveless and shoeless, and scampered down the stairs, still littered with an assortment of bruises and cuts.
Shadow turned the dryer off and extracted the warm, clean gloves and socks belonging to his counterpart and handed them over to said boy, who suited up in a matter of seconds.
"Thank you, man. But you know that now I have to tease you about all your weird shampoos and stuff, right?"
"You consider self-care 'weird'?" Shadow chuckled, kneeling down and putting another vinyl album back on the shelf.
"When you have so much stuff that out of context, I'd have thought it was a girl's room? Yeah!" Sonic shot back, hands on his hips.
Shadow shook his head playfully and stood back up, brushing his hands off one another. "Let's get you patched up."
"Oh. Right." Sonic blushed in slight embarrassment and laughed it off, plopping on the leather couch where Shadow points for him to sit, draping the towel that he had unwrapped from himself on the armrest. It wasn't really even damp, but Sonic made sure to be careful.
The genetic mutant retrieved a makeshift first aid kit consisting of products all gathered in his arms, instructing Sonic to stay as still as possible and let him tend to his injuries.
Shadow began with disinfecting a wide but not deep cut using both isopropyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide before promptly wrapping it in sturdy gauze that he snuck from the office at GUN.
After ten minutes of being disinfected, wrapped in gauze, and covered in bandages, the Blur became agitated and bored. "Can't you just heal me up with your fancy Chaos powers?"
"I don't have an Emerald at the moment, so it would drain me significantly. I have a big mission in a few days, so I'd prefer to keep myself in good shape," Shadow explained, applying some more disinfectant to a particularly nasty gash on Sonic's chest that looked like it almost slashed open the artery it ran by. The alien kept his worry to himself and bandaged the gap.
Sonic gritted his teeth and winced, but rode it out as best he could. He felt a bit awkward having Shadow, of all people, care for him post-battle. The worst part was how gentle he was. Blue had never expected the other to be so good at carefully tending to wounds, even with his experience practically being Maria's bodyguard. Shadow's hands moved articulately and with such great attention to all detail that Sonic felt almost uncomfortable. It was no lie that Shad was incredibly analytical, even to the point of it being considered psychotic by some. It didn't bother the Blur, however, it simply made him slightly wary.
After the fabric was secured, he groaned in dismay. He didn't realize until a few minutes ago how much everything hurt and it was getting annoying on his end. He hated being in pain, because then he'd have to waste time healing up and getting babied for the next week.
-But he wasn't with Tails or Amy. He was with Shadow, who treated him like an equal of sorts, not a child. Well, to an extent.
Much unlike Sonic, Shadow was rather enjoying himself. The lemony scent of the cleanser danced around him, a familiar and homely scent. He was already quite skilled at attending to injuries, especially those of people he cared about.
Wait. Sonic? Do I really consider him a close friend?
He brushed off the thought and continued his work, being gentle as to not hurt the aching hedgehog further. The brief idea of Sonic being one of those he cared deeply about still hovered at the back of his mind, though. It was still there.
Ignoring that, he affixed the last wrap of gauze upon the cobalt's knee. He had been sitting on the floor to properly pay mind to the other's legs, and it momentarily occurred to him that his position was slightly awkward with being seated between the other's thighs. He furrowed his brow and scooted back, bringing his head up to look at his rival.
Said 'hog had a tint of pink to his peachy cheeks and his gleaming emerald eyes looked like little stars in the soft, yellow lamplight.
Shadow's eyes halfheartedly trailed from his eyes to his lips, which were, for once in his life, not tugged into a big, cocky grin. They were neutral, and bruised as if somebody had punched the hero straight in his mouth.
The agent pushed himself to a half-standing, half-kneeling position off the other's thigh (a gesture he didn't realize was rather intimate) and met him at face level.
The soft pinkish tint that Sonic had a moment ago had transformed into a full face, ears included, blush. It wasn't that he was nervous, he just didn't know if Shadow meant what he was doing. Surely his arch-rival hadn't had any feelings begin that dark, loner facade, right?
Besides that, Shadow's reclusive and booksmart nature kept his own feelings out of his grasp in the sense that he didn't even get a chance to try and understand what was going on within him. He couldn't simply ask Rouge about something as fragile as his heart, and the hedgehog before him was so childish he probably didn't even know what love really was.
Even so, Sonic was so enticing to his touch-starved mirror image. The prospect of him even holding him as a friend after all the complete and utter bullshit he'd put the hero through was making him a tad lightheaded. The though of him loving him was a whole subject that made Shadow dizzy and electrified.
The bruised lips before him seemed to whisper for attention, and before Shadow could catch himself and avoid doing anything stupid, he was already leaning in.
Butterflies in his stomach, Sonic tentatively met him halfway. His arms instinctively wrapped around the other, who nearly fell into him with the sudden movement.
Both minds went wild with ideas of what this could mean for their friendship. But that didn't matter just then. All that mattered to Shadow was Sonic's hands in his quills and lips against his. Sonic was enraptured with the feeling of Shadow kissing him and leaning into his touch.
When they reluctantly pulled apart for air, Shadow was the first to speak for once. "I-I'm sorry. You probably hate me now or something, Chaos, I'm an idiot-"
Sonic didn't let the other think that for more than a second or two, though, and simply tugged him back in for another kiss.
The alien was quickly immersed in the now not-so-new sensation, lost in the idea that Sonic felt the same. He couldn't quite put his finger on it before, but now he was sure he was in love.
Again, air was on both minds, and they separated hesitantly once more.
"What makes you think I hate you, Shadster?" the hero asked, daring to break the softly heated silence.
"I...don't know."
"Why'd you do it anyways...?"
Shadow was quiet for a minute. It looked to Sonic that he was articulating his words, so he let him think. All the while, Shadow still was just barely balanced against the sofa and Sonic, who still had his arms wrapped around the all of a sudden acrobat.
Then, the mutant spoke. "Something between habit, tradition, and a spur of the moment thought that mayhaps you reciprocated the feeling."
Sonic nodded, but Shadow kept talking. It didn't bother the Blur.
"When I was in my early days, Maria was still a trickster and often got herself hurt. She was also rather sheltered and thought that love and hope could heal everything. Whenever she got bruises or cuts that might take a few days to completely heal, I always gave it a quick peck. Whether it was for good luck or perhaps a transfer of natural chaos that we both had within us, it became something we always did and...
"Well, your lips are all busted up. I don't know what came over me but...I'm glad it did, honestly."
Sonic snickered and pulled Shadow onto the couch, perhaps onto his lap, offsetting the balance and resulting in a toppling hedgehog tower like a failed game of Jenga.
The ebony agent landed atop the hero, who had fallen onto his back in the whole toppling process, and threw his arms around a now flustered Shadow.
They stayed like that for a good while, just enjoying each other's company and the feeling of being so close. Shadow closed his eyes, allowing himself to be vulnerable in the dreamlike event, calmed by the habit Sonic took to of running his hands through his quills.
After several minutes of peace and quiet, Sonic spoke up again. His voice was soft as he mumbled, "Shads?"
A hum of acknowledgment and the opening of one eye was the only reply, Shadow bringing his single ruby orb up to meet Sonic's emeralds.
"Could you kiss it better again?"