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Tails was running around the house like a chicken with its head cut off preparing around the house for guests. Nobody was set to come until later in the day, when it was closer to sunset. However here the twin tailed fox was, bumbling around anxiously. It was still a little bit too early for Shadow to come over and help him make breakfast, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try and fix things around the house.
It’s not like he and Sonic lived in filth or anything. Normally the house was barely being lived in enough to get messy, and when Sonic was gone Shadow regularly came over to make sure he was alright and the house was comfortable to live in. Though, now Sonic was back and he hadn’t been allowed to go out much so the house looked a lot more, lived in. Not messy per say, but you could definitely tell multiple people were inside the house and actually using it. It definitely didn’t look like a hallmark commercial.
Tails also wasn’t trying to replicate the feeling of a brand new house either. He was really trying to make the house more comfortable if it was possible. Fluffing pillows, grabbing spare blankets, making sure the portable heating pad was charged, he was going to do everything in his power to make this day perfect. As he was fluffing up a pillow for the tenth time getting lost in his thoughts he got a notification on his phone. Immediately bringing him out of his head and leading him to check his phone quickly.
It was a text from Shadow, and all it said was “Here.” a common one sentence response.
He ran to the door and opened it as softly as he could trying his best to not wake up Sonic inside. The sight that greeted him was comforting, however if you asked him 10 months ago if he’d say the same he’d shake his head and call his future self crazy. But seeing Shadow with a goofy woven basket by his side nowadays was nearly enough to have him sighing in relief and crying. Nearly. Shadow gave him a nod and patted his head, it was the closest thing to a smile that he would get this early in the morning.
Tails moved slightly out of the doorway so Shadow could step inside and made sure to close the door just as silently as he opened it. As he walked in the house Shadow sat the basket on the kitchen island and quietly said “You made sure to preheat the oven?” Tails gave a nod in response and then Shadow started pulling everything out of his basket, it included a bag of flour, a ball of dough, a container of brown sugar, and a bag of icing. He then started washing his hands and motioned for Tails to do the same.
Once they both had clean and dry hands Shadow unwrapped the ball of dough and placed it on the counter. “Can you get the pan for me while I roll this out? Make sure to also spray it, we don’t want our hard work to be for nothing.” Tails furiously nodded and grabbed a pan out from under the stove, making sure to spray it like he was asked
.
By the time he was finished he could see Shadow rolled out the dough into an even rectangle and he asked “Is it ok if I do the next part?” Shadow looked at him with a raised eyebrow before stepping aside and giving him the container with the brown sugar.
“Just make sure to spread it evenly, it wouldn’t be great if we ended up some regular buns in the mix”
Tails smiled, grabbed a spatula, and stepped into the previously occupied spot, spreading the sugar substance all over the dough with as much care as he could possibly put into it. The sight was honestly adorable from an outsider's view. He was able to finish the task within about 10 minutes and then he stepped out of the way. Shadow stepped back into place and started rolling the dough, as Tails was about to set the container and spatula in the sink he got spooked by Shadow’s voice. “You can lick the spatula if you want, just don’t have a sugar rush or Sonic would have my head, fox.”
Tails’ eyes lit up and grew about ten times bigger when he heard that, quickly getting the cinnamon sugar off of the spatula without much trouble. By the time he was finished with his task Shadow had already rolled up the dough and cut it up into smaller circles. He started placing them in the pan as Tails put the dishes away. They both checked the time together and then Shadow set the pan in the oven. After all was said and done they both sat down on the kitchen floor staring at the oven.
“So who said they were able to make it today?”
Tails looked up at Shadow “Amy said she’d definitely come, Knuckles said he’ll try but he probably can’t stay the whole night, of course there’s you and me, and then there’s anybody you managed to get who could come over?”
“Rouge said she’d be coming and that she’d bring a gift, except I’m almost afraid she shouldn’t” Shadow sighed while Tails let out a giggle.
“Whatever it is, is sure to make someone laugh.”
Shadow shook his head, “That’s exactly what I’m worried about.”
While the two were chatting they were unaware of the sounds of a door opening, socks padding on the floor, and before they knew it a familiar Blue hedgehog was sleepily staring at them both. Tails smiled up at Sonic while Shadow scooted on the floor to give him room to sit down, grabbing his hand and easing him down. Sonic got down with a grunt and ruffled Tails’ head while Shadow set his arm around the blue blurs shoulders, also getting a quick peck on Sonic’s cheek while he was distracted.
Sonic laughed and stuck out his tongue. “Shadow, kids are watching!” His voice contained no real anger and was heavily laced with sleep.
Tails was able to sneak a poke in Sonic's ribs glaring “Kids are right here, and they say minor amounts of PDA is nothing to get so worked up over.”
“I think you should listen to him, he is a genius afterall.”
Sonic kicked his feet and groaned at the ceiling “I can’t believe you two are conspiring against me, I thought I could trust my boyfriend and my brother but here I am. Now I gotta become a lone wolf, it’s me against the worl- ACK '' Sonic fell backwards when Shadow sat up to check the cinnamon rolls, frazzled for only a moment before he was sniffing the air and staring between Tails and Shadow back and forth with wide eyes.
Shadow smiled at him “Would a traitor take time out of his day to make you a homemade breakfast, Faker?”
“Hmmm I dunno, I think I’ll have to try a few rolls out before determining that, just in case they’re poisoned. Gotta make sure Tails is safe to eat them and everything.”
Tails frowned and shook his head “I helped make those! I would know if he poisoned them.”
Sonic’s eyes widened and he looked at the wall.
“Wellllll that just means I have to eat more of them really! I’ve gotta support my little bro in his cooking endeavors.”
Tails lightly pushed Sonic away and started laughing, while Shadow grabbed oven mitts and pulled the cinnamon rolls out of the oven, setting them on the counter. Sonic got up from his spot on the floor, grabbing a fork, right as he was about to dig into a roll his hand got slapped away by Shadow. “You’ll burn your mouth if you eat them now, and they’re missing the icing I made.”
Sonic stuck his tongue out, holding the fork like it was a knife and aiming it at Shadow. “I can handle it, my mouth is stronger than you think. Not like that!” Shadow raised an eyebrow while Tails stood up and grabbed plates.
“And here I thought you were worried about kids being in the area, what will the media say? Sonic the Hedgehog, hypocrite and ungentlemanly.”
Sonic stared at Tails mouth agape, Shadow stood by him and gently closed it. “I doubt the press ever considered Sonic to be a gentleman.” Sonic grabbed the hand from his chin and shook his head.
“I am never ever buying you flowers again, you don’t deserve them anymore.” Shadow walked away, starting to put icing on the now cooling cinnamon rolls.
“That’s perfectly fine, me and tails can just eat all of this on our own and you can be stuck making your own breakfast.”
Sonic’s eyes bulged out of his skull for a moment before he put his hands up, waving them “Come on, no need to make hasty decisions like that. I promise I will take back all my previous words, I’ll give you every flower I can find. Even the really rare ones in Town Crossing, just don’t deprive me of your baking.” Tails laughed and gave Sonic a pat on the back.
“We did plan to make these for him so he wouldn’t have to cook breakfast, it would be useless to not give him any.”
Shadow’s ear twitched and he hummed, setting a hand on his chin thinking. “It wouldn’t be useless, we could still eat them, although I don’t think the two of us could finish them all, so I suppose he may have some. Only because it would be more of a burden if he didn’t.”
Sonic smiled and wrapped his arm around Shadow’s shoulder, squeezing lightly and giving him a half hug. “Awwe, Shad! I knew you cared.”
“Whatever, just make me some coffee, while I’m getting everyone plated.” he was given a joking salute by Sonic as he moved away from Shadow and went to start up the coffee maker. Tails just took this as his cue to get all the silverware at the small dining room table, and within minutes they were all sitting down and eating.
Sonic shifted at his seat and blew air through his nose. “You know I love seeing you as much as I can Shadow, but don’t you have work? How are you here right now?”
Shadow looked up from his mug and smiled lightly “I took the day off, and think before you ask why, because you of all people should be able to guess why I might take a day like today off.”
Sonic averted his gaze, staring at some chipped paint on the wall. “I mean yeah I know what today is and all, but I don’t see why you’d have to take a whole day off just for me, I can survive a night alone with the werehog.”
“Don’t talk about yourself like that, your werehog form is still you, and has been since the Dark Gaia incident that started it.” Tails pursed his lips and crossed his arms.
Shadow set his mug down and shrugged in Tails’ direction. “He’s not wrong, getting fluffy once, maybe twice a month, isn’t something to be ashamed about. It’s also not like you aren’t aware of yourself and your surroundings when it happens either. You’re still you when you transform.” By the time Shadow was done talking he had set his hand on top of Sonic's from across the table.
Sonic smiled and sighed “You guys can’t get this sappy on me this early. Save these necessary emotional conversations until after I’ve had my morning run?”
“We’ll wait on that one, Amy’s much better at those types of conversations than either of us are.” Tails had finished his plate and gotten up to set it into the sink. \
Sonic looked at him confused for a moment before he started eating again, having enough time for idle chatter between him and Shadow. Once he finished his plate he started working on dishes, Shadow sitting by him and drying the plates once they were done getting washed. After the dishes were dealt with, tinfoil was set on top of the pan of cinnamon buns. Sonic tapped his fingers on top of a countertop and turned to Shadow. “Soooo after I go get ready you wanna take a quick run? Nothing too far because my speeds on a bit of a time limit, but I think we could end up going somewhere nice.”
Shadow nodded and smiled “I thought you’d never ask, mind if I take the lead this time though? I have an idea on where to go.”
“As long as you don’t lead me to the edge of a volcano!” Sonic gave a smirk.
Shadow sighed and shook his head “Now I need a new idea, I guess I can think while you go do whatever it is you do to get ready, now shoo or we might not make it.”
Sonic stuck his tongue out and ran towards the bathroom “Yes dearie whatever you say dearie!”
After he had left Shadow lightly chuckled underneath his breath, going on his phone after a few minutes and checking in the group chat to see if everyone was still good for the night's plans. He also sent off a quick text saying he and Sonic would be out of the house soon. By the time all was said and done sonic was walking out of the bathroom with freshly gelled quills and new fingerless gloves. Shadow took note of that and grabbed his hands. “I didn’t take you to be the type to be so open with your glove choices.”
Sonic raised an eyebrow and thumped his foot, pulling away the hand Shadow was holding. “Come on Shadow, you bought these for me. You know regular gloves can get uncomfortable when my nails get this long and cutting them won’t do anything.” Shadow grabbed his hand again and gave a small kiss to the back of it.
“You know I just like to tease. However you do look good in them. Now let’s get going, I already told Tails we were heading out don’t worry.” He pulled Sonic out of the house as they both laughed, and within seconds they were dashing out of sight.
Sonic did his best to follow Shadow after he had let go of his hand and he was doing a good job, until he was led into a forest. Within moments Shadow weaved in between the trees and Sonic lost sight of him. He ran throughout the forest looking between logs, weaving in and out of each trunk, and right as he was losing hope on finding Shadow he was tackled and fell into a leaf pile. He was going to fight back until familiar hands grabbed onto his wrists and he looked up to see Shadow. The blush on his face grew as he looked away and scoffed “You had to have used chaos control back there! That’s cheating.” Shadow set a hand on top of Sonic’s cheek and smiled.
“Nope, I just know how to be stealthy unlike a certain someone. Now let me claim my prize before we continue.”
Sonic tilted his head in confusion “Prize? We didn’t set up any prizes…” He was interrupted with a soft kiss. It was fast but it didn’t seem rushed, and by the time he opened his eyes again Shadow was already standing, smirking and about to start running again. Sonic laughed and got up as quickly as he could to keep chasing after Shadow. They both kept running and messing with each other for hours, before Shadow ended up sitting near the edge of a cliff, he patted the ground right next to him to signal sonic to sit down.
Sonic sat down without much struggle and grabbed onto Shadow’s hand, holding it in his grasp fingers clasped.
“We couldn’t be here at sunset for obvious reasons, but I think the view is beautiful despite that.” Shadow was looking at Sonic when he said this, but Sonic was more focused on the scene of waves lightly crashing into the sand, the grass nearby being fresh and green, and the sky being light blue unobstructed by any clouds. Sonic turned to Shadow and smiled.
“Yeah, I think so too. How’d you find this place?”
Shadow shrugged and turned his head to the town by the ocean. “It was one of the first places the resistance started helping out, so it’s one of the more normal places out there right now. Amy asked me to come by and help out one day and I did.”
Sonic smiled then stuck his tongue out blowing out a raspberry “Man I wonder when Amy will start asking for help from me, I feel like I’m being useless right now. I’m not even that hurt anymore and she still refuses to give me anything to do.”
“You’ve still got some healing to do, and I think she’s scared to let you go out there fighting again before all your bruises and cuts have healed, no matter how minor they are. I know I’m scared for you going back in the field. Not because you’re incapable or anything, far from it, because well.”
He took a deep breath in and Sonic grasped his hand tighter. “Because you're scared if I go out I might not come back?” Shadow nodded and pressed a kiss to the back of Sonic’s hand.
“You’re able to rival me equally, and I’m supposed to be the ultimate lifeform. You fought back against Eggman while nearly he had the world under his control and while you were injured from months of pain every single day. I never once would be able to doubt you, you could probably get more done in a day than half the resistance could complete in a week. Though the last time you were doing what was supposed to be a routine fight against Eggman I lost you for months, I don’t think I could handle that happening again, and I don’t think Rose could either.”
Sonic gave a sad smile and nodded “I get it, but I’m not gonna let the bald guy take over my life anymore, once I’ve gotten a fully clean check up from the doctor I’m going out there again, whether any of you like it or not people need me, and I need to move.”
Shadow nodded and moved to lay his back down on the grass. “I wouldn’t expect any less from you. Although you shouldn’t be surprised if I find a way to bug you wherever you’re at.”
Sonic laughed and moved to lay down on the grass as well, facing Shadow. “I guess you can be a little possessive over me after everything that happened, as a treat.” He poked Shadow’s nose with his free hand.
“I’m not being possessive. Hey wait up!” Before he could even finish speaking Sonic had stood up, brushed himself off, and started running back.
Sonic looked behind himself and yelled “We’ve got a time limit, remember? Now catch me if you can!”
Shadow just huffed and started running after him, and before they knew it they had made it back to Sonic and Tails’ house, panting slightly both arms wrapped around each other and smiling. It was getting incredibly close to sunset and as Shadow was about to open the door with his freehand Sonic stopped him and smelt the air.
“... It can’t be” he looked confused and stopped in his tracks. Shadow stared at him, eyebrows twisted and mouth slightly agape in confusion, and before he knew it Sonic busted the door open and pulled Shadow into the house. Within moments the look on Sonic’s face changed into a smile and Shadow’s hand was abandoned in favor of Sonic being able to pull Amy and Knuckles into a hug. Amy was laughing while Knuckles grumbled and set a hand on top of Sonic’s head. Tails peaked out of the kitchen smiling as Shadow closed the door and moved deeper into the house. “I take it you like the surprise?”
Sonic nodded his tail wagging as if he was already transformed. “Absolutely, though, are you guys sure you want to see this? It’s not exactly pretty.”
Amy patted Sonic’s arm and smiled “I’ve seen you as a werehog before silly! I may not have recognized you fully but I do remember you were fluffy and I cannot wait to see how soft your fur gets!”
Knuckles just scoffed and sat down on the couch, arms raised above his head, feet on the coffee table. “Whatever it is, it can’t look worse than your face currently. I think I’ll be fine.” Tails smacked Knuckles’ head with a rolled up newspaper before forcing Sonic to sit down next to him.
“Knuckles you can’t say much!’ He sighs and hands a protein bar over to Sonic “Try and eat this before it’s too late? You always get so picky after you transform and I’m not gonna take any chances on you not eating for the rest of the day.” He also threw one at the back of Shadows head. “You too, you get too stressed to have an appetite and you both were dorks for hours out there”
Shadow stared at him for a moment, mouth completely agape while Amy just sat there laughing. “Jeez Tails, you get full control freak over this stuff! Take a deep breath and untense your shoulders.”
“It’s kinda hard for him to not get like this around this time, control helps him feel levelheaded, I’ve accepted that I’m kind of a useless mess when the actual transformation happens.” Shadow sighed and bit into the protein bar thrown at his head.
Knuckles lifted and eyebrow “It can’t be that bad, you guys already said Sonic’s still, well he’s still Sonic when this stuff happens.”
“I am, it’s just not pretty.” Sonic swallowed down a bite. “It’s why I asked if you were sure you wanted to be here, I mean I could just go into my room for an hour and come back out once everythings done.”
Tails wedged a spot between Sonic and Knuckles and shook his head “No way! Anybody else could walk away if they have to but I’m certainly not leaving you alone, not after you’ve done this with nobody for months”
“I’m with the little guy, besides I didn’t get off Angel Island for nothing.”
“And I didn’t stay up last night so I could finish resistance work early today for you to go hide off in your room.”
“Would you look at that, the general consensus is that you aren’t being left alone. It’s almost like they care about you.” Shadow threw away his wrapper and sat down next to Sonic, putting a leg on his lap so he couldn’t get up. “Of course I don’t care about you, you know, got a blue hedgehog hating reputation to keep up, but I’ll be here for their emotional support.”
Amy flicked the back of Shadow’s head before sitting down on a recliner. “You’re not allowed to say that after you cried tears of joy and started smooching up on Sonic when he came back from the Death Egg.”
“It’s not like they were great at keeping it secret before then either” Tails shrugged.
Sonic just started laughing and within a few seconds he was hunched over wincing, Shadow hovered a hand over Sonic’s back and Tails shifted forward to grab the empty bowl on the coffee table. “What do you need?”
Sonic opened his eyes and took a few deep breaths in, his teeth had grown considerably and it was almost as if his eyes were glowing. He took a second before responding “... Gloves”
Shadow's mouth opened before he rubbed his brow and he sighed “You’re really worried about the gloves, right now, of all things?”
Sonic did his best attempt to smile “They had to have been expensive, I don’t want to break them when I transform.” Shadow sighed and did his best to move Sonic’s arms away from his sides gently and take the gloves off without making the pain much worse. While he was doing that it seemed like Tails whispered something to Knuckles as he sat up from the couch and grabbed something.
“You know I’d get you new gloves no matter what, I don’t mind if it means you’re comfortable” Sonic just smiled at him, winced, and then leaned deeper into the couch. He uncurled slightly when a heating pack was placed into his arms by Knuckles. They all sat there in uncomfortable silence broken by Sonic’s pained grunts, Amy grabbed pain killers but there was little they could do at this stage. So they sat there through it and waited. WIthin 30 minutes of groaning and surprisingly no throwing up despite the shifting organs the transformation was over, and a slightly delirious Sonic was sat staring at the ceiling.
He took a moment before he looked down to see Shadow, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles. He gave a warbly smile and stretched his arms out to get everybody within a hug. Amy and Knuckles were astonished while Tails gave a strained laugh. “I love you too, big guy, but this has gotta hurt.”
Sonic gave a raspy laugh “Yeah.. it hurts a whole lot” He let go of everyone “But I couldn’t help myself, dumb dog brain saw you guys and got happy I guess.”
Everyone in the room smiled or laughed and sat down into their respective spots, all being near or on the newly transformed werehog.
Amy pet an arm “You know you’re just as soft as I imagined you’d be. It’s kind of crazy considering how bad you are at taking care of yourself.”
“I’m just surprised how big his hands are, please tell me you can actually throw a punch like this?” Knuckles had his hand sat on top of Sonic’s, palm to palm comparing their size.
Tails and Shadow both just stared at each other before laughing. While Sonic looked away, face slightly flushed in embarrassment, however tail completely wagging with happiness. Tails shuffled as best he could to grab the remote. “I’d say we should grab a blanket, but I think we already have a good enough one, now what should we watch.”
Sonic stuck his tongue out “The blanket says we should watch Big Hero Six, it’s been a while.”
Shadow was able to snatch the remote from Tails without much hassle or movement and nodded. “I suppose the blanket can choose what we watch since he’s doing such a good job at it.”
Within minutes they had logged into Disney plus and had the movie rolling. Everybody was able to vote on the second movie and halfway through there was a ding on the doorbell. Knuckles was the one who could get up the easiest so he was chosen to open the door and once he did he immediately ran back into the living room. “You invited Rouge?”
Shadow shrugged and Sonic smiled half asleep “Let her in Knucks, besides if she stays over you can sleep safe knowing she isn’t stealing the Master Emerald.” Knuckles stomped his foot and walked to the front door, letting Rouge walk in.
When she made it to the living room she placed a small bag in Sonic’s hand. “I got you a small present Blue, though if I had known you were this big this time of the month I would’ve gotten a better size.”
Sonic raised an eyebrow and checked inside the bag before furiously grabbing the contents out, everyone in the room laughing, and outside the house he could be heard howling “YOU GOT ME A DOGBONE?”