Chapter Text
It had been a busy day, to say the least. Their group of friends had decided to throw Blaze a surprise birthday party only a couple days earlier, and Amy had been unofficially put in charge. Although almost everything was ready, she'd been sending people on various last-minute errands—picking up the cake, new decorations, plates, and much more. She had been planning for too long and was in a rush to finish before Silver brought Blaze over in the afternoon.
She'd sent Sonic on the most errands, given his speed, but after the first trip, when he came back with ten extra decorations that were completely off-theme, Amy decided Shadow should accompany him to "keep him on track."
While Shadow was still his serious, old self, he'd been different around Sonic lately. He laughed openly at his jokes and let his carefree side show more often. Sonic mounted it up to simply picking up on his personality, but there was no doubt that he had a great time with Shadow, too.
This was the last errand they had to go on—Amy wanted to give out party favors, but they were having some trouble.
"We don't know what 'noisemakers' are," Shadow said over the phone to Amy, frowning at a shelf of picked-over knickknacks, listening to her response as he glanced over at the basket Sonic was carrying. "I don't think they have them," he answered.
Sonic grinned, watching Shadow. "Ask her if we can get these," he whispered, pointing to a package of multiple fake glasses with a nose and mustache attached.
Shadow shook his head, looking back at the shelves. "Why didn't you say that then?" he said to Amy, a tiny amount of frustration in his voice. "I haven't—" he started, sighing inaudibly when he was interrupted. "Okay. We're almost done." He paused to listen again. "Right. See you soon," he finished, hanging up and shaking his head.
"You're cute when you get all serious," Sonic suddenly said, without thinking. Shadow blinked and looked over at him, and Sonic raised his brow at him. "I— Uh," he immediately tried to correct.
Shadow cut him off. "She seems stressed. We should get back," he said, looking back at the shelf and grabbing a few packages of party blowers, throwing them into the basket.
Sonic automatically held the basket out for him, blinking. "Shadow, I—"
"Come on," he said, pausing, grabbing a pack of the silly glasses and tossing them in, too, and giving Sonic a small smile before leading him out of the aisle.
Sonic relaxed, smiling again and moving to follow, looking down at the basket as they headed to the checkout.
-
The party turned out great, apart from Blaze almost burning down Amy's house, and everyone ended up having a great time. It had gone well into the evening, and Sonic wore the glasses for the first two hours, convincing Tails and Silver to do the same. The place had been covered in confetti, streamers, banners, and balloons, and almost everyone stayed to help clean up.
Sonic and Shadow were the last two there, as Sonic helped himself to the last of the snacks.
After a few minutes, they said goodbye to Amy and left.
Sonic glanced over at Shadow as they headed down the steps to the street. “So, you heading home?" he asked, smiling.
Shadow nodded. "Yes," he said, as they moved to walk down the sidewalk.
"Me too," Sonic replied, looking over at him as they walked. "Today was fun," he said with a gentle yawn.
Shadow nodded again. "It was."
The two of them walked quietly together for a minute, neither making the decision to part ways.
"Shadow?"
"Hm?"
Sonic stopped, looking over at him again. "I'm sorry about earlier. At the store."
Shadow stopped, too, looking back at him, smiling faintly and giving him a curious look. "Why?" he asked, lighthearted.
"I guess... because it was awkward?" he asked with a small laugh and shrug.
"It wasn't," Shadow said.
Sonic gave him a surprised look, waiting for him to elaborate, but instead, Shadow paused. The two looked at each other for a moment, each thinking about the other, before Shadow finally leaned forward and pressed their lips together. Part of Sonic was caught off guard, but another part of him had been expecting it, so he closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss. He slid his hands to Shadow's hips, and Shadow slid one of his own to Sonic's, the other going up to cup his cheek.
They kissed there in the street, as the sun was making its final descent behind the distant skyline.
A second after they deepened it, made it wetter and more passionate, more desperate, Shadow's brow furrowed and he broke the kiss.
"I'm sorry," he whispered immediately, eyes still closed, speaking into the tiny area separating their lips. "Are you sure you—"
Sonic smiled and tilted his head to close the gap between their mouths, cutting off his question. He knew what it was, and he was sure, so he wrapped his arms around Shadow further, just to pull him closer.
Shadow relaxed in his arms, parting his lips ever so slightly as they kissed under the yellow streetlights.