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It was a cold winters day, but you could feel the warmth in the air as it was Valentine's Day. Many couples were walking the streets hand in hand, their breaths forming clouds in the cold air and red noses from the cold touched as couples now and again shared a kiss on the corner of the streets.
Because of all the lovey dovey couples on the streets the day didn't feel as cold as it actually was, it only did for one snowy white hedgehog who was sitting on a park bench. He had his feet on the seat as he held his knees close to his chest. He now and again looked up at a couple passing by and seeing those smiling faces only made him miss his best friend even more.
It wasn't to long ago that his best friend came to die by an accident, leaving him behind in a different timeline, where he didn't know many people in this area. Only recently he started to get to know a few others around and got introduced in a group of friends. It did make him feel better to at least know a few people, but he felt like an intruder as this group was very close. But he was grateful for the dark hedgehog to include him in this group of friends, it did make him feel less alone.
He let out a big sigh and rested his head on his knees as he stared to the group as seeing all those couples only made him more upset. He didn't notice a pair of feet coming to a hold next to the bench.
"Hey," a voice said with a relieved smile, "good to see you here."
Silver's ear twitched as he heard the voice but didn't take in his words as he didn't think it was meant for him. The owner of the voice bend over to pop in Silver's eyesight, "Contact to Silver," he said with a sweet smile.
Silver froze surprised to see his new friend Shadow here and straightened up by seeing him. "Oh hey," he said a little startled.
Shadow smiled at him, "It's good to see you here," he repeated and took the seat next to him. He had his hands inside of the pockets of his jacket and looked at Silver and frowned a little. "Is everything okay?" He asked concerned as he could see something was up.
Silver shrugged his shoulders, "I just hate this day," he whispered.
"Oh," Shadow said as a response and looked up sad to Silver, "How come?"
He looked back at the ground and sighed, "I just miss Blaze so much and this holiday and all these people aren't exactly helping," he spoke frustrated.
"Oh," Shadow said a little up sad and frowned, "Were you to like..." he said uncomfortable by making a 'being together'- kind of gesture.
"Oh no no," Silver said quickly as he noticed what Shadow meant, "She was my best friend, we did everything together, I think of her like my big sis," he explained to him.
Shadow nodded understanding and looked at Silver who was looking at the ground again, looking very lonely and broken. It hurt him to see his new friend like this and felt like he wanted to cheer him up. "Do you maybe want to go somewhere else?"
Silver frowned and looked over at Shadow, "Don't you have other plans for the day?" he asked as he might have thought Shadow could be having a date or something, he was quite handsome so it wouldn't surprise him if there would be some girls trying to date him.
"Nope," Shadow said and excitedly stood up from the bench and smiled down at Silver, "come on, let me buy you a drink."
Silver looked surprised up at him. He held out his hand to help him off of the bench. Silver frowned and looked at Shadow's hand and back to his enthusiastic smile. "Oh uhm, yeah okay," he said with a blush as he noticed the handsome smile and took Shadow's hand a bit doubtful as it sort of felt weird to him, but it would be rude not to accept it. He took Shadow's hand and let him help himself to get off the bench and wiped his trousers for any dirt from the park bench.
As they walked next to each other both with their hands in the pockets of their jackets, Silver had his shoulders shrugged because of the cold and the scarf he wore around his neck covered his muzzle. His red nose from the cold stuck out from above the scarf.
"You really aren't used to these temperatures aren't you?" Shadow said with a chuckle who walked quite relaxed next to him. He watched him with a smile as he thought his friend looked quite cute all snuggled up in his oversized winter coat.
"I just can't believe you can walk around in a vest and not even doing the zipper," Silver said as he only felt even colder by seeing what Shadow was wearing today. "Why aren't you freezing?"
Shadow shrugged his shoulders casually, "I just never get cold."
"Never?"
"Never," he responded with a chuckle.
"Oef, I'm jealous," Silver said.
"Let's just quickly go inside to warm you up," Shadow said as he opened the door of the first café they passed, to let Silver enter first.
"Thank you," he said as he got inside and could feel it was already warmer inside here, it all looked pretty cozy and the café was packed with couples sharing a hot chocolate or feeding each other a piece of pie.
Shadow had a look around and spotted a free table near the fire place. He led Silver to the table and pulled back a chair to offer it to Silver, who didn't understand what Shadow meant and pulled back the other chair to sit across from him.
He took off his thick coat and moved a little closer to the fire, to remove his fingerless gloves and rubbed them together, his fingers were freezing, even his fingernails were looking a little purple from the cold. "Here let me help you," Shadow said who has taken the seat across from him and took Silver's hands which Silver didn't expect him to do. He moved his hands closer to his mouth. Silver blushed brightly by this action and gulped as he looked at Shadow who blew on him fingers and rubbed them together. As Silver felt his hot breath on his hands a warm feeling spread through him body.
Silver held in his breath as he looked startled to Shadow because of his action, his eyes moved to Silver's which made him gulp. "Better?" he asked as he let go of his hands which were all warmth up.
"I-I uhm yeah, thanks," he replied and suddenly felt nervous as he took back his hands. He felt relieve when a waitress came to their table to ask what they wanted to drink.
"A black coffee for me, please and.. " Shadow said and looked at Silver in a way to ask what he would want.
"A mint tea with honey," Silver said as he smiled at the waitress
"...and two pieces of chocolate cake," Shadow added and gave Silver a quick wink and smiled to the waitress. Silver smiled by hearing him order chocolate cake for the both of them
"Coming up," she said and wrote down their order on a small notepad to walk back to the bar to get their order.
Shadow leaned his head in his hands and looked at Silver who was wearing a thick knitted dark green sweater. He looked him up and down and had a smile on his face. "What?" Silver asked as he saw the way Shadow was looking at him.
"Isn't it nice to just sit here warm, next to the fire?" Shadow asked and Silver could see the flickering light of the fire reflect in Shadow's eyes
He looked a little confused at Shadow as he felt like he was acting different compared to the other times they meet up with his friends. "Yes it is," he answered shortly and turned his head to the fire as the way Shadow was looking at him made him nervous. As he looked at the crackling fire he could still see Shadow looking at him from the corner of his eyes. He breathed a little nervous, he felt his heart pounding but didn't understand why, was it only the way Shadow looked at him that made him so nervous?
"Here you go, a black coffee, mint tea and two chocolate cakes," the waitress said as she placed the dishes at the table. The both thanked her.
"Wow that cake looks good," Silver said as he poured the honey from a small dish into his tea and stirred it while taking in the scent of the fresh mint.
"Yeah I know, I love the cakes from this place," Shadow said with a chuckled and took a bite from his own and sighed, "hmmm so good."
"Oh really?" Silver said surprised, "So you come here more often?" he also took a bite from his piece and was blown away by the flavour, the chocolate just melted on his tongue and his whole body just relaxed because of it.
"Every Sunday morning," Shadow said and took a sip from his coffee. "I always like to come here after a busy week. It's nice to see people walking the streets while enjoying a good cup of coffee."
"That sure does sound nice to be honest," Silver said as he thought about it and could indeed imagine sitting here for hours, nice, warm and cozy, looking through the window watching the people walking the streets. He looked around the place where all the customers were talking excited and lovingly to their partners. Silver looked at a couple who were holding each others hands, on top of the table and moved a little closer as they looked at each other. Silver blushed bright when he saw how the two started to kiss each other passionately. He quickly looked away as he felt embarrassed to look at it.
Shadow also looked at the same couple, "You ever had anything like that?" Shadow asked as he made a gesture towards the kissing couple.
"Me? Hahaha," Silver chuckled, "no, no, no definitely not," he said quickly as he shook his head by the idea it self. Shadow raised an eyebrow by Silver's response, "I don't feel like I will ever be ready for something like that," he laughed.
"Ah okay," Shadow said and kept looking to the couple.
Silver frowned as he looked at Shadow as he felt like something changed in his expression but didn't understand what it was. "Did you ever..." Silver asked a made a gesture to the couple to let him know what he meant and took a sip from his tea.
"Yes," Shadow said, "with Rouge, you remember the bat in our group?"
Silver almost spit out his tea by surprise and coughed. "Ho ho, wait a minute, you and Rouge?" Silver said surprised, "wow," he said impressed, "that will be some handsome babies," he said with a chuckle.
Shadow laughed and shook his head, "Well we aren't together anymore."
Silver raised his eyes brows, "Oh I'm sorry to hear that. Why did you break up?"
"Well we were together for a long time, I found out I sort of was looking for something else. I think we mostly just grew apart but we are still good friends."
"Well good to know you separated in such a good way."
Shadow nodded, "yeah it is, I feel like we even go along better now we are just friends. We both were just looking for something different."
"What is it you are looking for then?" Silver asked interested and took another bite of his cake, he felt more comfortable now that they were talking and enjoying the cake and hot beverages.
"Well I like my life to be a bit more quieter. Rouge always wanted to go out and to parties in the weekends. But I just want to stay at home now and again, just a quiet and relaxing day, you know."
Silver nodded understanding and chuckled, "Yeah I could understand that, I love to stay all weekend nice and cozy in my pyjamas and play video games."
"For example," he said and agreed with Silver even though he would rather just read a book.
Silver looked at the couple again who had stopped kissing and just looked lovingly into each others eyes, "But don't you maybe miss it?"
"Well yeah a bit. It's just a nice feeling to come home from work and have someone to spend the night with. To know there is someone in your life you can trust completely, share your joys and sorrow with." Silver frowned a little and thought back to what Blaze had meant to him.
"Maybe you should start dating again then, if you miss it," Silver suggested.
Shadow frowned and looked confused at Silver, "Well I sort of am.
Silver raised his eyebrows, "Oh yes you are?"
"Sort of I think."
"Do I know her?" Silver asked curious
Shadow cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. "Well uhm, you know 'him'," he said uncomfortable and looked Silver up and down.
"Oh my God," Silver said surprised, "I-I didn't know you were interested in men."
"Not men, only him," Shadow said shortly.
"Wow he must be special then," Silver said as he felt blown away by this information, "wait it isn't Sonic, is it?" He said surprised.
"HELL NO!" Shadow snapped as he felt disgusted by the idea alone and his face obviously showed his thoughts of the blue speedster.
"Okay okay," Silver said and moved his hands in a way to apologise and calm Shadow down, "But I know him? And he likes you back?" Silver asked.
"Uhm well, I thought he maybe did, but the more I think about it, I get the feeling it's all just a big misunderstanding."
"Oh," Silver said and looked up sad to Shadow, "I'm sorry to hear that," he said while feeling bad for his friend.
Shadow waved his words away, "It's okay," he said but he look disappointed towards the fire place as he leaned back in his chair.
Silver sipped his tea quietly as he didn't know what to say and looked at the fire place as well, he sighed, "I'm sure you will find the right person one day," he said and gave him an endearing smile. "I think there will be a tons of people who want to be with someone as nice and good looking as you," he said to try and cheer him up a bit.
Shadow's cheeks turned a bit brighter as he heard Silver's words and looked at him, "I don't need tons of people," he said and looked into Silver's eyes, "I only need this one special person."
Silver smiled endearing to him and look into his eyes, "I'm sure you will find the right one," he assured him and softly tapped Shadow's hand, who looked down at their hands and felt conflicted by the mixed signals. Silver took his cup and took another sip.
They both said quiet for a while, it started to feel a bit awkward as they didn't know anything to talk about after this big reveal. Silver looked at Shadow now and again as he couldn't believe someone like him would fall for a guy. He couldn't imagine how it would feel like to be in love with someone and maybe get rejected. That must feel terrible. Silver gave a soft smile as their eyes met for a moment, he turned to look at the people on the streets and sipped his tea.
"It's indeed quite nice to just sit here and watch these people," Silver said a he now understood what Shadow meant earlier.
He chuckled, "Yeah it is. I always like to make up stories in my head about everyone and think what they are talking about."
"Oh really?" Silver asked interested and sat a bit more up straight and looked out of the window to see a male and a pregnant female talking to each other while walking through the streets, "So what's that guy saying?" he asked and pointed to the couple.
"Oh darling," Shadow said with a funny voice as he looked at the man, "I so can't wait till the baby is here," he said and the man was actually stroking her tummy and she smile endearing at him.
"Oh yes me too," Silver said with a girly voice, which made Shadow chuckle, "it will be so wonderful, but I've to confess something. This baby isn't yours it's from your best friend," Silver said and took a sip from his tea.
"I don't mind," Shadow said as the man started talking again, "I had sex with him too." Silver spit out his drink by hearing Shadow's response and laughed loudly and Shadow did so with him as he passed Silver a napkin.
"Hahaha I'm sorry," Silver said and cleaned his sweater while still laughing and wiped away his laughing tears, "but I didn't expect that," he said as he tried to catch his breath.
"Hehe, yeah sorry about that," Shadow apologised and smiled at Silver as he liked the way he reacted to this kind of humour.
"Oh no no," Silver said, who was still chuckling, "that was just pretty funny."
The rest of the afternoon they spend their time creating conversations for the people passing by the window of the café. They laughed a lot and liked creating this small stories together. After a few more drink it was starting to get darker outside, some thick snowflakes fell from the sky as it started to snow which made sure that the street became less crowded as people went back inside to warmup, so their time of storytelling came to an end.
Shadow took the menu which laid on their table and browsed through it, "do you want something to eat?"
"Oh no, that's okay," Silver said as he looked at the time, "I still have pizza in the freezer and I promised an online friend to livestream in about an hour," he said and stood up from his chair.
"Oh yeah I forgot," Shadow said disappointed.
Silver frowned, "What do you mean, I never told you that."
"Oh yeah," Shadow said startled and a blush appeared on his face, "I just sometimes watch your livestream."
Silver raised his eyebrows, "no way, you watch my livestream?" he said surprised with a bright smile.
"Sometimes."
"That's so cool!" Silver said enthusiastic, "what's your username?"
"Oh you probably don't remember it," Shadow said as he waved away Silver's question.
"Well I do have a good memory," Silver said, "What is your username?" he asked again.
Shadow sighed and cleared his throat, "RedStripes01," he said with an awkward smile.
"NO WAY!!! You're literally there all the time!" Silver said enthusiastic, "Oh my God this is awesome! Maybe you can play with me next time!"
Shadow blush darkened and cleared his throat and smiled awkwardly, "I would love to," he said.
Silver wrapped the scarf around his neck and took his wallet from his coat to pay for his share, but Shadow held up his hand and pushed the money away, "It's okay, it's my treat," he said and smiled at Silver.
"Are you sure?" Silver asked as he offered the money again.
"Of course I am."
Silver smiled at Shadow, "Thank you," he said with a little blush, "for everything. You made my day much better."
"You're welcome I liked spending the day with you."
"Me too," Silver said, "aren't you leaving as well?" Silver asked as Shadow kept sitting in the chair and he himself was all ready to go back outside.
"I've planned to stay here for dinner today," Shadow said.
"Oh," Silver said and frowned a little, "All by yourself?" he asked as he felt bad to leave Shadow alone like this.
"Yeah," Shadow said even though that wasn't fully the plan when he started the day.
"Oh okay," silver said and felt guilty to leave him here, but he promised his friend to do the livestream again. "I'm sorry but I really need to go now," he said as he looked at the time.
"It's okay, I will see you again some other time."
Silver nodded, "See you soon," he said and turned around to go to the exit but moved back to the table as he thought of something, "Shall I meet you here again Sunday morning?" Silver asked, "So we can do some more storytelling together? My treat?" he asked.
Shadow chuckled, "I would love to," he said.
Silver smiled and nodded, "Okay I will see you then," he turned around and actually left the café. Shadow watched through the window as he saw Silver moving through the snow which had formed a thin white layer on the pavement, leaving a track behind him.
After a short walk back home he felt conflicted to leave Shadow alone like this, but he had his other appointment, but he promised to do a special valentine's day stream where they would make fun of those Anime Romance Games. Silver shook his head as he tried to get Shadow out of his head so he could focus on the game later.
When he opened the door he picked up the mail his stepped over this morning when he left the house. He placed the bundle of paper next to his computer to look at it later, he started up the computer and went to the kitchen to heat up the oven and take the pizza out of the freezer. As he logged in it didn't take long before he got an incoming call from his friend GameDemonlisher04.
"Whatsup!" Silver said as he answered the call and a screen popped up showing his friend, "You can already start the stream, my dinner is almost ready and then we can get started."
"Joh Silv, of course," Silver stood up and took the pizza out of the oven and flopped down on the chair and put the plate with his pizza on his desk. Taking his headphones he put them on and saw the red light appear on his screen which meant the livestream had started.
"Joh joh! Everybody!" he said and waved to the camera to their viewers and saw already usernames popping up because of their viewers tuned into their stream. "Welcome to our Valentine's day streaming special," he said and took a bite from his pizza.
"Today we will be playing the Anime Romance Games," his friend said with a chuckle and Silver rolled his eyes, "and it will be extra fun as our boy TheSilverKnight hates those games," he added with a chuckle.
"Let me add to that," Silver said as he interrupted his friend, "I only am going to play this because I lost a bet," he said, "I would never ever ever ever ever! Play this for fun," he took another bite of his pizza and looked at the comments to see people agreeing with him, his heart suddenly skipped a beat when he noticed Shadow's username popping up, which made him smile.
"And I've an extra surprise for you my dear friend," GameDemonlisher04 said, Silver looked confused up by hearing that, his friend chuckled and pressed a button on his keyboard to make a filter with pounding hearts appear on Silver's cam.
Silver facepalmed, "That's just terrible," he breathed and rolled his eyes.
"Oh but you look so cute like this," he said and chuckled.
Silver looked irritated to his webcam, "I hate you so much."
"Daw thank you, I hate you too," his friend said and they both laughed. "Oh look at that, our viewers think you're cute like this," he said. Silver rolled his eyes again by seeing all the comments popping up.
"Just start this hellish game already, I will be relieved when this day it over," Silver leaned back in his desk chair and took the mail from his desk to flip through it as he couldn't care less about this game. Most of the mail were just some advertising leaflets which were all valentine themed. Which he soon dumped into the garbage next to his desk. Meanwhile his friend was starting the game and explained to the viewers and Silver, who wasn't listening, what this particular game was about.
Silver flipped through the news paper while eating his pizza until suddenly and red envelop dropped out of the papers onto his lap. He frowned confused and sat up in his chair. He laid the paper back on the desk and sat up straight as he looked at the envelop and turned it around where was written, 'For Silver.'
"So are you ready to get started?" his friend said enthusiastic through his head phones. Silver didn't respond as he looked confused at the envelop and opened it, "Earth to Knight! Are you ready?"
"Yeah in a bit, just wait a minute," he said and took a hand written letter out of the envelop.
"Oeeeeeh, what you got there? A looooove letter?" his friend said as he noticed Silver opening the envelop. "what does it say, oh Silver you're so handsome and sweet, my strong knight please be mine," he said in a teasing girly voice.
"Just shut up for a minute," he said as he tried to concentrate on the content of the letter. His cheeks turned a little brighter as he read.
'Dear Silver,
This might come as a shock to you,
but ever since the moment I met you
I don't feel like myself anymore.
At first I didn't understand what was going on,
but just recently I realised that you mean a lot to me.
More then I ever thought someone could mean to me.
It's weird as I never thought I could fall for another man,
but every time I'm not with you I'm going crazy.
I thought I could suppress my feeling for you,
but it's getting harder by the day.
I'm crazy about you Silver,
I wish for you to be my lover.
I'm sorry if this comes unexpected and if it startles you,
but I just wanted you to know.
If you are interested to be with me as well,
I would like to meet you at the central park
this afternoon at 2pm.
I would like to spend the day with you
and take you out for dinner.
If you aren't interested, please don't talk about this
I feel pretty embarrassing about opening up to you.
Hopefully I meet you this afternoon,
if not, I hope we can still be friends.
Shadow'
Silver's heart was pounding as he read the letter quickly. His jaw dropped and his cheeks turned bright red when he read Shadow's name. As this information sank in he heard his friend talking through his head phones but he didn't take in his words. Silver quickly reread the letter and could hit himself to the head for not checking his mail this morning. Now he understood why Shadow now and again acted a little weird, different than normally. His pizza had dropped to the floor as he felt completely blown away.
"So who is the desperate girl?" GameDemonlisher04 asked with a chuckle. Silver looked confused at the screen and saw Shadow's username between the viewers, it made him even feel worse that he left Shadow at the café after finding out about this. "So who is it?"
"I-I've got to go," Silver said and stood up from the desk chair.
"Hey you can't just leave! You will meet your doom!" GameDemonlisher04 chuckled.
"Sorry later, I have to go." His heart was pounding and he pulled off his head phones. His friend was still talking but he couldn't hear what he was saying. He put the letter in his mouth and clumsily jumped through his room to quickly put on his shoes again while clumsily hopping to the door.
He quickly took his keys and slammed the door.
"What the hell is this all about?" GameDemonlisher04 said to the viewers as he was blown away by Silver leaving everything behind so fast and not even turning off his computer.
"Please still be there," Silver mumbled as he ran through the snow, making sure not to slip on the slippery pavement. "Please be there, please be there," he whispered. His heart was pounding and he held the letter tight as he ran back to the café, "I'm so stupid! I was supposed to be a date!" he shouted to himself, it was cold outside especially now that it was snowing and in the rush Silver forgot to take his coat but as he was running and his blood was rushing through his veins he wasn't bothered by the cold.
"Please," Silver whispered as he turned the corner to see the café and stopped at side of the road to let traffic pass by. He panted heavily and could see Shadow sitting at the table by himself. He had his phone standing against his drink as he frowned and looked at the screen. "SHADOW!" Silver shouted but of course he couldn't hear him. As soon as he saw a gap through the traffic he took his chance and ran across the street. He opened the door of the café, "Shadow!" he said and looked at him, he pressed the letter against his chest and he panted from the run.
Shadow looked up from his phone screen and had a blush on his cheeks. He looked at Silver full of anticipation as he feared his reaction.
A small smile appeared on Silver's face as he looked breath taken to Shadow and slightly nodded with a bright blush on his cheeks.
Shadow suppressed a smile as he felt a weight drop from his chest as the smile he looked at was the smile he was hoping for, the smile that would change his life and the smile that will fill his heart with love till the end of his days.