Chapter Text
Sonic
Why was Sonic even doing this? Why was he moving in with Shadow of all people? Why not crash on Angel Island with Knuckles or at Tails's place like he usually did? Or even at Amy's place?
All those questions each had a simple answer. Knuckles wasn't gonna let anyone near the Master Emerald after just having to put it back together again for the third time during the last Eggman attack, including Sonic. Ouch, but fair enough. Tails had been working late into the night and the noise from the shop had kept Sonic up the entire night before. And Amy... would practically smother him. Even if she didn't make it weird with her obvious feelings for him, she still had a way of mothering anyone in her house, which was sweet, but overwhelming.
Shadow had been volunteered for it and begrudgingly accepted. Plus, he wasn't home very often. With the missions from G.U.N., he was kept quite busy. Which would give Sonic plenty of freedom to do as he pleased without having to deal with Mr. Surly hardly at all. Heck, Shadow would probably just ignore him anyway, even if he was home—he still didn't like him much. And hopefully it wouldn't be too long. Just until he found someplace else—probably an apartment in the city or something.
Sonic approached Shadow's front door, smirking when Shadow opened it with a glare. He looked at the backpack Sonic held and frowned. "Don't you have more than that?" he asked, bewildered.
"Nope," Sonic said. "All the rest of my stuff got destroyed by Egghead's giant laser. This was all I could find in the wreckage."
Shadow grunted and stepped aside, letting Sonic in. "First rule. Do not touch my guns," he said as Sonic walked in, taking stock of the living room. There was a large couch in the middle of the room that Sonic was probably gonna be sleeping on, which was positioned in front of a large television mounted on the wall over a small cabinet, which Sonic assumed held various movies or video games, though he didn't see a gaming system anywhere.
Sonic turned back to Shadow. "What guns?" he asked.
Shadow pointed to a safe in the corner of the living room. "That one—" he pointed to another safe in the small kitchen that adjoined the living room "—and that one. For starters."
"Got it," Sonic said. "I don't even like guns."
"Good. Second, stay out of my room."
Sonic nodded.
"Lastly, do not ask me about whatever mission I may or may not be on at any given time. That information is classified, and you simply don't need to know. Understood?"
Again, Sonic nodded. "Crystal clear. Any rules for the TV?"
Shadow huffed a little, then rolled his eyes and turned away. "Have at it. I don't have time to watch anything anyway. Just don't lose the remote."
"Got it, Faker."
Shadow scoffed at the old moniker as he headed down the hallway and into a room at the end of the hall, shutting the door. Really, the house was pretty small. It was more like an apartment than a house. Maybe Shadow hadn't wanted to pay for more space than he needed. Either way, Sonic hated it already. He went out the front door and ran off, trying to shake off the crushing feeling of the small space.
A little while later, Sonic came back to the small house to find it empty, Shadow likely gone on another assignment. That suited him just fine. It meant he could chill out without having to hear Shadow making disapproving noises every ten seconds. Honestly, he didn't hate Shadow. But his ego and his "I'm the ultimate life form, pathetic animal" attitude were super annoying. Plus, he just had a way of bringing the mood down no matter what, which wasn't super helpful normally and definitely wasn't now.
That laser blast had destroyed almost everything Sonic had. All he'd been able to save were a pair of shoes, a pillow and blanket, and a framed picture of him and all of his friends. Shadow had been included in the photo, but of course, he was looking away from the camera, as if he thought the whole thing was stupid. Figures.
Sonic had roughed it for a long time, even going years sometimes without coming home. But that was different. Eggman had been steadily leading him further and further from home. He rarely got the opportunity to go back, and was never able to stay too long. But at least he had a home to go back to. Now he was stuck in a cramped space with a guy who wasn't very fond of him–which Sonic didn't get; everyone loved him–and never even smiled.
Yeah, he'd definitely have to figure out something soon. Before they both drove each other crazy.
Just then, the front door opened, and Shadow stood in the doorway. He stepped in without a word and headed straight to his room, hardly even glancing at Sonic. A moment later he re-emerged with a huge bag that looked like it contained a weapon of some kind. Sonic stared at him for a second, bewildered, but looked away when Shadow aimed a glare at him.
"How long are you gonna be gone?" Sonic asked as Shadow walked past him.
The black hedgehog shrugged in response. "Could be until tonight or a few days from now. There's food in the fridge. Don't break anything or blow up the place."
"Geez, Shadow," laughed Sonic. "I'm not. I just wanted to know how long the freedom would last."
Shadow just huffed and walked out, shutting the door behind him with a note of finality. Sonic flopped on the couch with a sigh. Welp, he thought. Guess I'd better get comfortable.
Sonic was woken in the middle of the night by the front door being slammed open. He jumped over the couch, ready to fight, but it was only Shadow, though he didn't look anywhere near good. He was hunched over, covered in blood oozing from a deep wound in his rib cage. His face was contorted in a nasty grimace.
"What the–?" Sonic floundered, rushing over to help support Shadow, who flinched and hissed with pain. " What happened to you?"
"I'm... fine..." Shadow growled, weakly trying to push Sonic away.
"No, you're not! We need to get you to–”
"No!"
Shadow glared at Sonic, the blood and the pain in his expression making it much more effective than his usual glares. "I said... I'm f-fine," he forced out. "Just hurts like hell. But this isn't nearly enough to kill me. Just... let me go, now."
Sonic shook his head. "No way," he insisted. "If I let go, you're just gonna fall." He looked around the room, then started leading Shadow to the couch, easing him down gently. He felt sick as he got a closer look at the wound, his stomach dropping as he briefly saw something white show through. But he could see it steadily beginning to close, the bleeding slowing down.
"You got hydrogen peroxide?" Sonic asked.
Shadow just glared at him again. "Don't even think about it," he growled, his teeth clenched. "I've seen much worse than this, hedgehog. I'm–"
"The ultimate life form, yeah, yeah, I know," Sonic said, rolling his eyes. "Well, an infection is still gonna ruin your day, ultimate life form or not."
Shadow didn't say anything else, and Sonic's first thought was that he was just being stubborn. But when he looked back over, the black hedgehog had passed out from the pain. Aww, great, Sonic thought. Now what?
He hurriedly raided all the cupboards in the house, finding a first aid kit in one that was fully stocked. He rushed back to Shadow, silently begging he didn't wake up as he poured some hydrogen peroxide onto the wound, resisting the urge to gag when something suddenly fell out of the now-fizzing wound. A steel bullet covered in blood thudded onto the carpet near Sonic's feet, and he swore.
The wound in Shadow's side was still closing steadily as Sonic wiped away the fizz, but it was still bleeding, so he grabbed the bandages from the first aid kit and did his best to cover it up securely. He got blood all over his gloves in the process, but at least the wound was protected now.
He took a step back, looking Shadow up and down for anything else. Other than the bloody bullet on the floor, there was nothing else that was weird—at least, weird for Shadow anyway.
Sonic picked up the bullet, staring at it, a strange tingling sensation making its way up his arm. It didn't look like the kind of bullet Eggman would have used in his robots. Normally the doctor went for shiny bronze bullets, just for the fancy factor, Sonic figured. This steel was a dull gray. It could have been an assassin employed by Eggman, maybe, but it wasn't Eggman himself.
He heard a groan and turned to see Shadow's eyes fluttering open. His hands went to his side, and he winced in pain as he touched his bandaged wound. He twisted to look at it, a confused expression on his face. Then he looked at Sonic, and all at once understanding and annoyance dawned across his features. "I told you—"
"Save it, Faker," said Sonic. He held up the bullet. "The way I see it you're pretty lucky."
Shadow's eyes widened in surprise. "I thought it was a... knife wound."
"Nope," Sonic said. "This thing fell out of you while I was patching you up, which was really weird by the way. Your healing factor is kinda creepy. But then again, you'd probably be dead without it, so..." Sonic shrugged and looked at the bullet again. "Wanna keep this? It's your blood on it."
Shadow huffed and tried to sit up, but immediately ended up flopping back down on the couch like a rag doll. "Damn it," he swore, panting from the effort. "I used... too much energy."
"Dude, just rest," Sonic said, laying down on the floor. "You can get your revenge or whatever when you're recovered."
Shadow scoffed and didn't say anything else. Of course he didn't. Shadow and his stupid ego would never say anything even close to a thank you. Sonic turned around, rolling his eyes as he lay down on the floor, tiredness washing over him like an ocean wave.
It wasn't very comfortable, but he could at least get maybe a few more hours of sleep. He planned on going house-hunting tomorrow, and he didn't intend to zombie his way through the whole day.
Just as he closed his eyes, he heard a quiet voice, though he wasn't sure if he imagined it or not. "You idiot," said Shadow, but there was no venom in the insult. Before Sonic could think about it anymore he was fast asleep.
Sonic woke the next morning with a crick in his neck and gloves sticky with dried blood. He'd forgotten to take them off after bandaging Shadow, and he groaned inwardly as he stared at the brown-stained white fabric. "Gross," he muttered as he finally took them off, looking in the bag he'd brought with him for another pair. He looked at the couch, noticing his blanket and pillow were gone along with Shadow.
Sonic narrowed his eyes, silently cursing the black hedgehog as he grabbed another pair of gloves and went towards the bathroom to wash his hands. But the bathroom was occupied, so he stood outside, tapping his foot impatiently and grumbling with annoyance. First, he goes and gets shot and I get blood everywhere and then he steals my stuff. What next, is the person who shot him gonna come after both of us?
Sonic dismissed the idea, shaking his head. Even if he weren't joking, Shadow was smarter than to let himself be followed home. Besides, he probably just chaos controlled his way home last night, meaning he couldn't be followed. And on top of that, who knew who had shot him?
The more he thought about the more his curiosity grew, and it drove him nuts because of the no-asking-about-missions rule. It was a stupid rule anyway. But considering he wasn't gonna be around for very long, he decided to leave it alone.
A few minutes later, Shadow emerged from the bathroom, wisps of steam following him as he stepped out. He gave Sonic a look of annoyance when he saw him. "What?" he asked, his teeth clenched.
Sonic rolled his eyes and held up his bloody hands, and Shadow's look softened just slightly. He moved towards the kitchen without another word, and Sonic stared after him. What the heck is his problem? he wondered.
Sonic went into the bathroom and threw the old pair of gloves into the trash, washing the rest of the blood off his hands and out from under his fingernails. The water turned brown as it went down the drain, and even after it was all gone, his hands still felt dirty, as if some of the blood still lingered. Pulling on the new gloves helped though, and he stepped out of the bathroom and walked to the kitchen.
Shadow had a handful of coffee beans in his hand, and he kept a few of them while he dumped the rest into his coffee grinder, tossing the ones left behind in his mouth. Sonic stared at him. He didn't even like coffee without generous helpings of milk and sugar. How could anyone like plain coffee beans?!
Shadow's gaze shifted over to where Sonic stood, mouth gaping. "I like the beans, so what," he said flatly. "Besides, the bitterness wakes you up faster than the caffeine."
"I'm good," Sonic said. "What happened to my stuff?"
"Laundry."
That was a relief. At least he hadn't stolen them. Then Sonic felt a stab of guilt for thinking he'd steal his things in the first place. Shadow was many things, but he didn't think a thief was one of them.
They ate their breakfasts in silence, Sonic wolfing down a bowl of cereal and Shadow taking the time to cook a couple of eggs, both of which he ate by himself. After that, Sonic left the house without a goodbye to search for a new home.