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“Come on, Shadow! Please!”
The dark hedgehog grunted irritably, plopping down on the black couch in the living room. He returned his gaze to the T.V. in front of him, the two girls joining him after he opened the door for them.
He was currently watching the latest episode of Chaotic Things, a show about how four kids looked for a missing boy while helping a strange girl with unusual powers, in a sleepy town that hides a secret government conspiracy. In Shadow’s opinion, there was nothing better than watching these young teens struggle to find their best friend and talk shit about how complicated life really was.
Unfortunately, his binge-watching was interrupted by the two girls that stood there, a young rabbit and an older pink hedgehog. Cream and Amy had decided to disturb him on his only day off of the week and convince him to take them to their little concert thing.
“Just this one time!”
Crimson eyes quickly glanced at the two females, finally noticing their matching outfits which consisted of black ripped jeans and white shirts with the name, Dreamboat Express, in big rainbow letters. He rolled his eyes at the title, knowing perfectly well that that stupid boy band was the reason for the girls to be bothering him right now.
“Call Rouge.”
Amy let out a frustrated sigh, throwing her hands in the air while the young teenage rabbit patted her back.
“We told you! She can’t take us because she’s working late tonight!”
Without taking his eyes off the ongoing show, he scoffed and gestured to himself.
“Too bad, then. It’s my day off and I’m not going to spend it at some stupid concert.”
Crimson eyes watched as the scene progressed on the screen, but his field of vision was blocked by the rabbit. Shadow tried to move to the side and continue watching his show, but the young teen in front of him wasn’t letting him.
Crimson eyes glanced up, a frown set on his face already, and saw a pouting Cream, giving him the most tearful eyes he had ever seen. His heart faltered for a moment but he gathered his bearings, putting up a strong front. The dark hedgehog wasn’t going to let some brown eyes affect him…
Then a tear slipped down her cheek.
He was immune to most diseases, but apparently, he wasn’t when it came to crying rabbits. Why did he have to have a heart?
“Damn it! Fine, I’ll take you!”
Cheering came from the two females, both of them sitting to give him a bone-crushing hug. He only responded with a tired sigh and shoved them off, gently of course. Amy and Cream rushed out the door, heading outside the apartment to the car stationed outside in the street.
Mentally slapping himself for being so vulnerable when it came to Cream, he rose to his feet, grabbing the keys on his way to the door. He closed it behind him and headed towards the car. The hedgehog and rabbit were standing there, excitedly conversing between themselves.
God, he hated concerts, Shadow thought.
***
It had been a short ride to the concert venue, and to his surprise, it was taking place outdoors, his eyes widened at the large crowd. He was confused as to how all these people wanted to listen to some dumb boy band and their annoying songs, even though the dark hedgehog hadn’t ever listened to one.
But Shadow was sure they were annoying, no matter how much Amy said otherwise.
“Let’s go, hurry!”
The three were currently walking, although it seemed like the crimson striped hedgehog was being dragged by the girls, through the crowd, finding their way through all the other fans. Shadow had wanted to stay in the car to wait for them, but Cream wanted him to join them, reasoning that they might get lost and not find him after the concert ended.
Bullshit, he thought. He needed to do something about giving in to the girl’s tricks, but he knew he would never. She was a nice girl, always helping her mother and friends, and she was always studious, which surprised him how much she wanted to attend these sorts of events.
From Amy, he expected it, she gave him that vibe for some reason, but Cream…
Could it be that the young rabbit was being brainwashed by the music and convincing her to buy foolish merchandise with the group’s name plastered all over it?
Or the boy band could actually be pretty good…
Nah, he was sure it was brainwash.
“Ah! Look, they released the new lightsticks!”
Amy was pointing towards a nearby stand, where a bunch of other girls were standing around to buy what he assumed was this lightstick his pink friend was talking about. Shadow was about to continue walking forward, ignoring the item with a bored look, but his hand was yanked back.
In the blink of an eye, the striped hedgehog was standing in front of the stand, too. Cream and Amy fawning over the lightsticks, a round sphere with a glowing and sparkling rainbow inside. As he grabbed one from the stand, he saw the cursive letters D and E etched onto the white handle and a button on the side, causing the lightstick to alternate between different colors.
It was a lightstick, an obnoxious one though.
“We’ll take three!”
He snapped his attention back to Amy, who was paying for the items.
“Why three? I don’t want one.”
Jade eyes looked at him, and she pointed at the glowing stick in his hand.
“That’s for Rouge, silly.”
Shadow felt a small blush forming on his muzzle and looked back at the thing in his hand.
“Why would you waste your money on this garbage?”
Dark ears heard sharp gasps behind him, crimson eyes glancing back to see dirty looks thrown his way by another group of girls also wearing similar shirts to the one Amy and Cream wore.
“Let’s keep moving before you get kicked out…”
Shadow was dragged once more towards the stage, his shoulders brushing against others as they pushed forward. It was clear that his friends wanted a front-row seat to the show. How he wanted to stay in his car, listening to the usual rock songs he loved.
They had found some good seats, sitting down and waiting for the concert to start. The dark hedgehog scrolled through his phone, frowning when he noticed that his show didn’t want to load. The girls were talking about the lightsticks next to him, giggling at their jokes and banter about who was the best member of the boy group.
It was at that moment that Shadow realized that he didn’t even know who the band consisted of, but his thoughts were cut off by the lights dimming. Everyone around him rose to their feet and before anyone appeared on stage, the crowd began to chant with their lightsticks being waved in the air.
“Dreamboat Express! Dreamboat Express! Dreamboat Express!”
Shadow was sure he was going to have a headache now. He felt a pair of hands pull him up, Cream smiling at him. He rolled his eyes and let himself stay in his standing position. Four figures rose from the bottom of the stage, each had a different colored spotlight shining on them.
And the people went wild.
The striped hedgehog was pretty sure he lost his sense of hearing. Regretting his decision to stand, he was about to sit back down, but crimson eyes caught sight of the four members that made up Dreamboat Express.
A red echidna, wearing a white sleeveless vest and black fingerless gloves. Next to him stood a smaller mobian, a golden fox, wearing a black suit jacket and only one fingerless red glove. The last two members were hedgehogs, each had a different style of quills. The silver hedgehog’s quills were upturned like his and wore a lilac crop top, which fit him quite well surprisingly.
But of all the members, Shadow’s breath was taken away by the blue hedgehog with slicked-back quills. A red transparent dress shirt hung on the blue lithe body, and a black harness wrapped around the torso on top of the shirt.
Holy fuck that guy was hot, the black hedgehog thought, and oh god, was that a freaking choker!
Feeling a lot hotter than before, Shadow took a seat and tried to control his breathing, the crowd around him continued to cheer on. He placed a hand over his racing heart, frowning at its strange erratic rhythm of speed, and hoped that the darkness of the late night was able to hide his blushing face.
Once he knew he had his body under control again, Shadow returned to standing again but regretted it the moment he saw the opening act that the boy band was going to start with.
A catchy beat started them off, the boys moving towards the front of the stage, where crimson eyes only widened as they got closer, and seeing them up so close made him feel like he was dying. All the boys stepped into their positions, dancing the choreography without difficulty, legs moving and sliding here and there.
The echidna was at the front rapping his verse, the others dancing behind him, and then the attention was passed down to the silver hedgehog, who jumped to the front, singing instead of rapping. The song was not bad, in Shadow’s opinion, but he definitely felt hypnotized by the blue member out of all them.
The music was getting higher, suspecting a bass drop soon, and as it got closer, the blue hedgehog came to the front, his band members tagging behind him, and then the body rolls started. Right when the bass dropped, Shadow knew his heart exploded as his crimson eyes watched intensely as the blue hedgehog sang the main chorus.
Emerald eyes looked straight into his red ones, and a pink tongue poked outside peach lips. The dark hedgehog wanted to be swallowed up by the ground and never return. God, why did he had to come to this stupid concert!
As the song continued, every one of the boys took their turns to rap and sing, impressing the crowd with their suave moves which had many girls, even boys now that he noticed, screaming. Shadow realized that the blue hedgehog usually took more singing parts than the other two vocalists, but he didn’t care because he was sure the other savored the attention.
“Are you enjoying it, Shadow?”
Crimson eyes glanced to the person next to him, finding brown eyes looking at him. He slowly nodded and mumbled something about the group not being that bad, the take on pop and rock being a good blend. But really, it was the blue vocalist that had him melting into nothing but a mess, or as Rouge would put it, a disaster gay.
Thank god she wasn’t here to see him turn into that for some celebrity he barely knew today. That white bat would have surely teased him without end, Shadow thought.
As the night continued and the music didn’t stop, Dreamboat Express showered the audience with song after song, air-kiss after air-kiss, smile after smile, and hip thrust after hip thrust. After years of putting up a tough exterior, his usual outward impassiveness was becoming nothing but a brittle mask for what he really was feeling inside.
And all it took was one stupidly handsome hedgehog.
Shadow decided to push all that away for him to deal with when this all ended, and for now, his crimson eyes glued themselves to the singing hedgehog, who had made him feel more emotions in one night than in his entire life. The dark hedgehog secretly loving when emerald eyes decided to stay on him a little longer than deemed appropriate, maybe even getting a wink or a swipe of a tongue on peach lips.
***
Three hours of fucking torture for Shadow.
Three hours of him becoming a flustered fangirl that wanted to see her favorite boy band that happened to include her celebrity crush. Except he wasn’t that, he was Shadow the Hedgehog, pronounced king of being edgy and blunt, something else Rouge had said about him.
But there he was, walking alongside another pair of actual flustered fangirls that were slightly upset about the concert that ended a few minutes ago. Shadow was just glad that they were finally going home and leaving behind this night. The striped hedgehog was going to lock this memory away into the depths of his mind.
Maybe he might get a few drinks after he made sure to drop off the girls back home…
“Hey, Stripes!”
Then he heard it again. The familiar charming voice of the vocalist that had him shaking in his spot. Being stupid, Shadow turned around and glanced at the cobalt hedgehog, who was walking towards him. The venue was almost empty, except for security and staff, and apparently them too. He guessed it was the only disadvantage to getting a front-row seat; you would have to end up leaving last.
“Oh my god…”
“Is that…”
Dark ears heard his two friends quietly squealing about the blue member of Dreamboat Express that was now standing in front of him. Thank god he wasn’t that gone to do that, but fainting wasn’t leaving his mind also.
Up close, the vocalist was even more beautiful than he had thought, thinking that smile was nothing but gorgeous, and now that he saw that it was a choker that was worn around the blue neck.
“Yes?”
Damn, he was surprised that he could still manage to talk, his throat feeling very dry…
“Hm, it’s just I never seen you around at any other of our concerts…are you a traveler?”
Shadow gave the singer a confused look.
“No…I was forced to come here with some friends.”
He turned to the side and gestured to the pink hedgehog and rabbit, who were enthusiastically waving back and bright smiles on their faces. Although he was starting to wonder if they really were his friends if they dragged him along…
“But how would you even know if I had never been to any previous concerts? As far as I know, your fans make up a large group, and surely, you don’t remember all their faces…”
The blue hedgehog laughed and wiped an imaginary tear. The broody hedgehog momentarily was awestruck by the bubbling sound, almost thinking it was impossible for someone to even have a laugh like that.
“That’s because I only remember the cute ones!”
His heart started to pick up speed again that night, and he was sure a blush was blooming on his face. He narrowed his eyes on the hedgehog in front of him, thinking how dare this guy call him cute!
Before Shadow could voice out a comeback, nothing really came into mind though, the rest of Dreamboat Express made their way towards the blue hedgehog.
“Sonic, come on, the manager wants us back in the dressing rooms!”
The cobalt hedgehog turned to face the talking fox, baby blue eyes glancing at Shadow and then at the girls behind him. His narrowed gaze flitted to the golden fox, who seemed to take a liking to Cream, the girl was not being subtle either.
Shadow was about to stand in the fox’s sight of vision from Cream, but a blur of pink passed by him, sending him to stumble backward a little.
“Oh my god, can you sign this Silver?!”
The striped hedgehog watched as Amy Rose presented the band’s signature lightstick to the silver hedgehog, who took it and gladly signed it for the hyper fangirl. Shadow rolled his eyes, not noticing a rabbit skipping past him to ask the same of the golden fox.
It had to be fucking brain---
“Want me to sign yours?”
Shadow turned his attention back to the blue hedgehog and saw an outstretched peach hand reaching for the lightstick in his hand. Before the dark hedgehog could say anything, the singer was already writing his name on it. He gave it back to Shadow and crimson eyes saw in semi-eligible handwriting the name, Sonic.
“Do you always dot your i’s with a heart?”
Another lovely laugh left those peach lips.
“Only for the extra cute ones…”
Oh dear god, there was an extra now. The striped hedgehog felt like his heart would jump out of his chest at any second…
“Do you always say that to your fans?”
Emerald eyes blinked in surprise, opening his mouth to say something but was stopped by the red echidna, who answered for him.
“No, you're the first. Now, come on, we really need to go. Silver, Tails!”
Crimson eyes saw as the rapper motioned for the other two members to get moving, pulling the red sleeve of Sonic’s shirt to make him follow. The fox and silver hedgehog bid the girls goodbye, but Shadow’s attention was caught by a waving hand.
“See you next week!”
And with a wink, the hedgehog waved him goodbye one last time before the boy group turned the corner into whatever lay behind the stage.
“Next week?”
Amy bounced over to him while Cream walked over and nodded.
“Oh, yeah! They’re going to be performing here again next weekend, too.”
Shadow hummed, figuring that the blue vocalist thought he was going to come back. Back to this place, people squashed together into one spot, and the sound of screams and squeals hurting his ears, with blinding lights damaging his eyesight or the painful amount of time his legs needed to endure standing up…
Who was he kidding, Shadow was definitely going to come back, potentially with a teasing bat next time, but he could always fight back. After all, he knew how the white bat was crazy for the red echidna…
He sighed, leading the way back to the car, and dropped off the girls to their respective homes, not far from his apartment. He had walked in and saw the white bat sleeping on the black couch, his favorite show playing in the background.
Shadow went to the hall closet and grabbed a blanket. He gave his friend a small smile, draping the blanket over her, and turned off the T.V. before heading to his room. Once he took off his skates and his white gloves, he plopped onto his bed, crimson eyes closing for a bare moment.
He took a deep breath and revisited some good memories of the night, from since he first set eyes on the hedgehog to the moment their hands briefly brushed against each other when the lightstick was signed.
Talking about it, he reached for it, the stick sitting next to him, and looked at the name, again. Shadow had never experienced having a crush before, but now, he knew it was nothing easy. Cream and Amy had also suspected something since on the car ride home, they kept pointing out details about the night. Things like being called Stripes and not getting all defensive about it, or not giving the blue hedgehog a piece of his mind, given that he talked trash about the group.
But now, his mind wasn’t even able to think straight anymore. Not as long as that handsome singer stayed inside it, making Shadow’s heart beat faster even without the singer’s presence there.
He released another sigh, and then his eyes caught sight of something else. Right under the letters D and E, a number was written. Crimson eyes widened and he quickly sat up, realizing that Sonic had given him his number as well.
Now, Shadow was absolutely sure he couldn’t give the lightstick to Rouge, and with that, he plucked his phone from his quills, typing in the new contact. He hesitated for a moment, but he quickly pressed the heart emoji before he regretted it.
A small laugh left his lips as he barely registered that Sonic didn’t even know his name. And to think he was already calling me cute, Shadow happily thought.