Chapter Text
His ears twitched at the sound of movement originating from the front door. The young fox is curious, as no one but him should be awake at this hour. It's nearly 3:30 am! No one should definitely be awake.
With this confirmation in mind, tails stands from his workshop and makes his way towards his hallway.
While the fox made his way towards the hall, he had already made a few assumptions on who could be the one entering his home. Tails descends the hallway. As he reaches the middle point of the narrow path, he comes across the reason of the disturbance of his nightly routine.
"Would you look at that. Mr. Get-More-Sleep hasn't been following his own advice." Tails spoke to the person ahead.
But Shadow didn't respond, he only stared at the two-tailed fox. On nights similiar these, tails is taken back to the times with him. To when he caught him sneaking in. To when he actually came back.
"Were you up working on a new invention?" His voice cut through the silence.
The other's question snapped tails out of his train of thought.
"O-oh, yeah! Working on making new upgrades for your shoes!"
The hedgehog was taken aback from the response, but quickly recovers himself.
"That's very thoughtful of you, but your shoes are the bests shoes I have ever gotten the pleasure to wear."
Before the shorter male could counter back, Shadow has begun to take steps towards him. At that moment, tails took notice of the bag the ebony hedgehog had been holding the entire time.
"What's up with the bag?" Tails questioned the other.
The taller of the two doesn't give a response immediately afterwards, instead taking the time to glance around nervously. Truth be told, Shadow gets nervous showing kind acts of affection. After gathering his courage, he finally got the courage to look towards the fox.
"I got you a gift..." Tails couldn't help but be shocked. It's not that Shadow doesn't give him acts of affection. It's just that even after all this time it still catches him off guard. Who would've thought that the ultimate life form himself would have taken a liking towards him. (A freak.)
"Y-you did?! Why?"
"Well you see... I was out taking a walk around the city when I saw it in the corner of my eye. It reminded me of you so much, I couldn't help but get it for you." His voice laced with embarrassment and a bit of bashfulness.
As the conversation continued, Shadow began to move his hand towards the inside of the bag.
"But why so late at night?" The hedgehog tensed up before replying.
"I... I had to work up the courage to actually attempt to gift it to you."
Tails just let out a small laugh at the fact. Just a second later, Shadow pulled the gift out of the bag. The fox eventually caught sight of what the hedgehog was holding.
It was a pair of goggles. They had a gold rimming around the lenses making it glow in the night, it was made from a gorgeous brown leather, and most importantly it had 2 types of lenses. The main ones were red while the switchable ones were blue. (Memories of him flooded his mind.) The goggles were the definition of magnificent. Overwhelmed with these positive emotions, tail's body moved without thinking.
He wrapped his arms around shadow's waist and buried his face into the taller man's chest.
"I LOVE IT! OH! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" Tails couldn't help but yell over this kind gesture.
On the other hand, Shadow couldn't stop himself from smiling fondly at the fox. He hesitated for a moment before returning the hug. If the young fox had done this 3 years ago, Shadow would've been frozen in place due to terror. But times has passed, it's been 3 years with the fox, and he has grown. He's grown to love this contact. He's grown to care for someone again. Furthermore, he's grown to want to recover from the past.
Shadow has no shame in admitting that these past 3 years with tails has been the best time of his life.
Tails has begun to separate from the hug, which startled the hedgehog above.
"As much as I love this fantastic gift that my amazing buddy gave me. I don't think it's a good idea to be ruining your own sleep schedule over it." Tails just looked up towards Shadow, who was focused on just admiring the fox. Gosh, he reminds me so much of her.
That's when Shadow finally spoke, "If getting a gift for my borderline insomniac friend means I lose a bit of sleep, then it's absolutely worth it." Shadow smirked with pride.
Tails let out a giggle. After all this time with the older hedgehog, it still amuses the young fox of how shadow's attitude changed towards him. Shadow's response couldn't help but make tails see the similarities between him and...(Tails can't bring himself to say his name.)
"Just don't make it a habit"
"You know what, we shouldn't make a habitat? Your already dwindling sleep schedule."
"Hmph- Alright, only because of your awesome gift"
Shadow began to lead tails towards his bedroom. Both of them were surrounded by a comfortable silence. They approached door but before they entered, tails turned to shadow.
"H-hey, this might sound like a weird request, but..."
"But?" The older of the two questioned.
"Do you mind tucking me in?" Tails asked nervously, as he knows this was an odd request. He's 11 and asking to be tucked in. Gosh! Shadow must think I'm a loser.
"Of course."
The two-tailed fox turned his head towards his friend, eyes widen. Just as tails was about to tell the hedgehog that it was okay.
Shadow had already taken a hold of his hand and opened the bedroom door. He led tails towards the bed and gestured the fox to get in. It took tails a moment before realizing what Shadow was gesturing him to do. Tails hopped onto bed and laid down. The ebony hedgehog had started to tuck him in.
"Since I'm doing all this for you, I might as well just read you a bedtime story too"
"Har-har very funny. I'd much rather you just read me the dictionary" As tails finished talking, Shadow had also finish tucking him in.
The hedgehog stood up and was preparing to head out until he felt something grab his arm. He turned his body around and faced the person holding on to him.
The fox looked up towards his care taker. "Please... Please don't go..." Shadow couldn't help but notice how weak and vulnerable tails sounded. Looking into the younger one's eyes, all he could see was her eyes. How her eyes looked whenever she was scared. Especially how her eyes looked when he lost her.
"OK. I'll stay with you."
That's all that needed to be said. Shadow stayed by tail's side. After he left, tails couldn't help but have his fears of being abandoned grow. All the young fox could hope for with his ever-growing relationship with Shadow, is that he won't do what he did. Tail's mind began to drift. Before he succumbed to sleep, he left him a message.
"Thank you for being my big brother, Shadow"
Shadow was stunned. He felt his face heat up. Whenever the fox ever said such sweet things (like her.), Shadow can't help but get flustered. Even though it causes him to have these reactions, the hedgehog holds his words dear to his heart. He will always hold anything tails has ever said and done to him, close to his heart.
The so-called ultimate life form just kept looking at Tails even after he had already fallen asleep. He couldn't help but recall the times where he had to help Maria to bed. He had stayed with her till she slept, and he will do the same for his new-found brother. (Sadly, Shadow will forever be haunted by the fact he couldn't be there for when Maria slept for eternity.)
Time flew by before Shadow stood up and exited the room. Not before taking one last look at Tails.
Instead of heading towards his own room and calling it a night. Shadow had to confirm a suspicion first. So at that moment, he began heading towards tail's workshop.
Shadow slowly entered the workshop, being careful to not step on any tools left behind on the floor. The hedgehog slowly made its way towards his younger brother's desk. As he inched closer, he dreaded what he was about to discover. Shadow peaked over and came across with his answer.
His suspicion was confirmed. (He really wished it wasn't)
On the fox's desk was a note. All the hedgehog had to do was read the first line before he concluded what the note was about. That doesn't mean he couldn't help but tear up.
'Hey there, Sonic'
Thats all that needed to be read, Shadow swiped the note off that table. He turned around and quickly headed towards the front door. The paper crumpled in his hand as he kept tightening his fist around it. He wished just crumbling the note was enough, it wasn't. While walking down the hallway. He stopped at a desk. Shadow opened a drawer and searched around for a while. The hedgehog suddenly stopped as he found what he was looking for. A lighter.
The ebony creature finally reached the front door. As he walked outside, he was met with a cold breeze and a deep dark sky. His eyes searched the front of the house till it settled on a well. Shadow rushed towards the well. As he walked, all he could think was getting rid of it. Rid of the fear. Rid of the thing that could make me lose him. Rid of the chance of losing someone else.
Shadow had finally made it to the well. He held the paper on his left and the lighter on his right. Both arms held over the well. All on Shadow's mind was just having it gone.
He hesitated for a moment. As much as Shadow hated the fear that has invaded his mind, he also hated betraying his brother. Betraying his only family.
Shadow know tails cares deeply for these letters. He isn't stupid, he knows tails has been trying to reach out to sonic.
Trying to write to him.
Trying to find out why he left.
Trying to get his old brother back.
Shadow lit the note.