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Both Sonic and Shadow knew something was wrong when their daughter Emmie, as she got back home, didn't greet them with her cheerful smile but instead slammed the door and went straight to her room.
They looked at each other, and when Shadow raised an eyebrow in question, Sonic shrugged.
"Should we talk to her?" The blue hedgehog asked, and his husband, instead of answering with words, stood up and waited for the other to do the same.
So they both went up to the door of their teenage daughter's room and sighed.
That day, Emmie had gone to Sally's house. Of course, she wasn't there to see Sally herself, but her daughter, Destiny, who was not only the princess' daughter but also Emmie's girlfriend. So, their teenage daughter just got back home from her girlfriend's house, clearly upset. Obviously something had happened.
Sonic was the one to knock on the door, and after a few seconds, Emmie opened and looked up at her parents through saddened eyes and lowered eyelids.
"Yeah?" She asked, as if it weren't obvious what they wanted to talk about.
"Heeey, bud." The older blue hedgehog said as he smiled softly. "How did it go with Destiny?"
The girl sighed. "It was fine."
Shadow put a hand on her shoulder. "Oye, what happened?"
Emmie looked up at them and sighed frustratedly as she closed her fists tight and went to sit on her bed, being followed by her parents.
"We fought." She finally revealed as she hugged her legs close to her chest and buried her chin on her knees. "It's just—" She groaned. "I was just saying that I would like to talk more to Spades and that she's really closed off, and Des just got really defensive and said I was 'taking being an extrovert for granted' or something." She then complained as she waved her hands around, clearly frustrated.
Both adults shared a look.
They knew Emmie probably skipped a few things in the conversation she was referring to. They both knew their daughter pretty well, and Emmie happened to be very impulsive and rash, much like Sonic also was at her age, and that, unfortunately, sometimes led her to speak without thinking too much about what she was saying or to whom she was saying it. And, even if they were just now getting to know Destiny, they had immediately noticed that she was quite shy and a true introvert; however, all of that shyness went away as soon as it came to fighting for her beliefs. So, with this information, they were able to connect the dots and get a bigger picture of the situation.
"Well, that just seems like a big misunderstanding." Sonic said as he shrugged. "I'm sure it's okay; you can talk it out and it'll all be better."
Emmie sighed as she looked down. "I guess…" She then shrugged. "It's just… We've never fought before."
"Well, of course, you only started dating recently." Shadow said as he crossed his arms. "All couples fight; it's okay." They then added, and that wasn't something they would've ever said when he and Sonic just started dating, but now, after years of marriage, he had full confidence in that statement. And he was one to trust on that topic; after all, he had quite a bit of experience.
"I've never seen you two fight." The girl said it as if it were a good argument.
Sonic snorted; however, before he could actually laugh, he got hit in the arm by his husband, who told him to stop. "You have no idea." Shadow said, and Emmie looked at him in disbelief.
"But you two seem like such a healthy couple and all that..."
"Oh, you flatter me too much, bud." Sonic said as he waved a hand nonchalantly.
"I'm confused."
"We used to fight all the time!" The older blue hedgehog exclaimed humorously. "That was like our thing, right, Shads?"
Shadow hummed in agreement.
"Oh, and he took it way too seriously, you know how your dad used to be real edgy and dark and broody, yeah, kiddo?" Sonic continued saying, then poked Emmie on the side with his elbow, who lightly nodded with her head. "Yeah! They used to be all like, 'Hedgehog, you're my eternal rival, and that's all we'll ever be', and stuff." Shadow rolled his eyes, and the young girl lightly chuckled.
Yeah, she knew about Shadow's extra-edgy years.
"But, like, have you ever fought since you started dating?" She then asked, still feeling insecure about her predicament.
"Hm, countless times." The dark hedgehog nodded with their head as they thought about it. "We still do." They then shrugged.
"Yeah, we're just not as loud about it anymore." Sonic added jokingly.
"What? What could you two even fight about?" Emmie asked in disbelief.
"Food, work, fights with Eggman, who has to take out the trash, social interaction…" Sonic started listing as he counted with his fingers.
"In fact, I remember one of our first fights." Shadow said.
"Was it a big fight?" The young girl asked.
"Every fight early in a relationship is a big fight." The dark hedgehog said this as he uncrossed his arms and smiled at his daughter. "Then you just laugh about it later in the relationship."
Emmie hummed in thought.
"Well, you can't leave us like this, Shads! You have to tell the story now!" Sonic exclaimed as he sat cross-legged on the bed, leaning forward, ready to hear the story.
"¿Qué?"
"Yeah! The idea of you two having a big fight seems so ridiculous!" Emmie also exclaimed.
Shadow looked both at his husband and his daughter, both looking at him with bright green eyes, both pleading with the exact same look on their faces. The hybrid could've laughed at how similar they looked.
"De tal palo tal astilla..." They muttered as they sighed. "Okay, I remember this happened a few months after we started dating... Three months, maybe?"
"Oh!" Sonic exclaimed in realization. "You're talking about the birthday thing; I remember that!"
With 'the birthday thing', Sonic was referring to Shadow's birthday, the first one they celebrated since both hedgehogs started dating.
Well, in fact, it was the first time Shadow's birthday was celebrated at all.
Two years after first meeting, that day would've been the hybrid's seventeenth birthday if they actually aged like normal mobians did, and, after Sonic had finally learned their birthday date after insisting a whole lot and later being elated by the fact that their birthdays were so close to each other, he had insisted on celebrating it.
Shadow had been doubtful at first, insisting that he didn't actually have a birthday since he technically wasn't actually born, like Sonic and everyone else was, but their boyfriend had got them to finally accept a celebration with the promise that it would be a special day all for them.
So, the morning of June 19th, Sonic was up early and knocking at his partner's door eagerly. However, the big smile he sported on his face fell ever so slightly when, instead of Shadow in all his splendor opening the door, it was Omega, who, even through his expressionless face, still managed to look angry at the blue hedgehog he was looking down at.
"INVADER DETECTED. INITIATING EXECUTION PROTOCOL." Omega spoke after a few seconds of silence, his bright red eyes lighting up brighter than usual.
"Wait, wait, wait, no! Omega! It's me, Sonic! I'm just here to see Shadow!" Sonic exclaimed nervously as he raised both hands, exposing a plastic container and a cup.
"RELAX, IT WAS A JOKE." The robot then said, making the hedgehog feel a little ridiculous.
The mobian lowered his hands slowly. "Ah, very funny." He smiled, nervous. After all, could you blame him for getting scared? He still wasn't sure whether Omega liked him or not, and he seemed quite aggressive with whatever wasn't to his liking.
"IT WAS. SEEING THE FEAR IN YOUR FACE ACTIVATED MY HUMOR PROGRAM."
"You have a humor program?"
"NO, IT WAS JUST ANOTHER JOKE."
"Oh-Haha."
"Omega, who's at the door?"
Ah, there it was. That voice that made Sonic's tail immediately wag subconsciously, just at the sound of it. Shadow just had that effect on him.
"YOUR ROMANTIC PARTNER." And as soon as Omega said that, Shadow appeared in between the robot's arm and the door frame, looking at the other hedgehog with a masked surprise on his face.
"Hedgehog." He muttered. "What are you doing here so early?" He then asked as he tried to push Omega away; however, the robot didn't even budge. "I'm surprised you're even up."
"Okay, come on, I can get up early too." Sonic rolled his eyes as he smiled. "And, uh, well... I brought you breakfast." He said this as he finally presented the cup and plastic container he was holding behind his back.
Shadow looked down at the items being handed to him, and as they accepted the offerings, their cheeks quickly turned a very noticeable shade of green—that exact tone that Sonic had grown to appreciate quite a bit after realizing what it actually was.
"DISGUSTING, I AM BEING SURROUNDED BY WEAK FEELINGS." Omega complained, and Shadow frowned up at him as they once again tried to push him away; the robot, this time, actually walked away, leaving the two hedgehogs to stand there awkwardly.
The hybrid looked down at the cup and the container and then up at their boyfriend, who was looking at him with a shy smile on his face and a light red tone on his cheeks.
"I asked if I could have just the beans, but they said no, so I just grabbed the next best option. I hope that's good enough for you." Sonic said after a second, pointing to the cup.
Shadow looked down at the object in question and, after a second, took a sip. It was plain black coffee, piping hot.
It was perfect.
"It'll suffice." They said as they squinted, making the other laugh.
"Happy birthday." Sonic said it with a surprising tenderness in his voice.
Both hedgehogs shared small smiles for a second. "Thank you." Shadow muttered before stepping aside and letting Sonic enter Team Dark's shared home.
Both young hedgehogs sat down in the kitchen, where Shadow finally opened the container and found a very pretty-looking tiramisu just waiting for him to dig in.
"So, you said you had plans?" The hybrid asked after a few seconds of silence, recalling the conversation they had the night prior via text, before taking a small portion of the dessert with a spoon, and after a short inspection, they finally tasted the gift their boyfriend got them. He couldn't hold back a small smile as the sweet and bitter flavors combined on his tongue.
"Dude, you know I do!" Sonic exclaimed excitedly. "It's your first time celebrating your birthday; of course I had to go all out."
Shadow hummed in thought before taking a sip of his drink. "And what are those plans?" The blue hedgehog chuckled.
"So first, skate rink, because you still owe me those skating lessons you promised." He said it half-jokingly, to which the other hedgehog simply hummed. "Then we can go have lunch wherever you like."
"I like that; I'll make sure you don't get chili dogs today."
Sonic gave him a playful, cold look through a forced frown. "Rude. On my birthday, I'll make sure the only thing you eat are chili dogs."
"Sound awful."
"Okay, now I don't want to tell you the rest of my plans." The blue hedgehog said this, still playing and poking his tongue out for his partner to see.
"No, tell me." Shadow said, and then they squinted their eyes. "Or else I'll find a way to get that information out of you, hedgehog."
Sonic laughed. "No need for that, babes." He said this as he raised both hands, palms facing out. Shadow, on the other hand, couldn't hold back a light blush. Sonic had just recently started using mostly dumb pet names, and they were still getting used to that.
"I was thinking..." The blue hedgehog spoke up again, taking his boyfriend out of his own head before he got too absorbed in his own thoughts.
"Qué sorpresa." Shadow muttered, making the other smirk and roll his eyes.
"We could go to the observatory later." Sonic continued, ignoring the other hedgehog's comment. "They do this guided visit, and then they let us look through the big telescope. I'm assuming you've never gone there?" The hybrid nodded his head. The blue hedgehog smiled in satisfaction. "Great! The first visit is always the best."
"Oh, hey, Blue." Rouge said as she walked into the kitchen, face free of makeup—which was an unusual sight if you didn't live with her like Omega and Shadow did—"You're here early."
"Hey, Rouge!" Sonic waved his hand excitedly. "Happy birthday!" He said this because he was part of the very small group of people who knew that Shadow and Rouge shared their birthday due to a 'slip up' on Omega's side.
"Thanks." The bat girl smiled as she made her way through the kitchen, behind Shadow, as she eyed the dessert laying on the counter. "But I'm assuming you're not here for me, are you?" She said, and the only reason Shadow didn't see her wink was because she was behind them.
"Can't a guy do something nice for his partner's birthday?" Sonic asked half-jokingly; however, Shadow noticed that the smile on his face lasted a bit too long, and when they turned around to see Rouge, they found her smiling as well, but she quickly turned around, ready to prepare herself breakfast.
Something was going on. Those smiles had something hidden, and Shadow could tell. However, before they had the time to think about it, they had finished their gifted breakfast and were now being dragged through the city towards the skating rink.
When they got there, it was fairly empty due to how early in the morning it was, so Shadow was pleased to know they had almost the entire place for just the both of them. And as they watched their boyfriend clumsily move around with the skates, they knew the space would be needed.
The hybrid spent some time genuinely trying to teach his boyfriend how to properly skate; however, when the blue hedgehog got the ability to move around without perpetually holding onto his partner, they immediately switched their treatment into a more teasing one, showing off various tricks they knew how to perform and challenging the other to copy them. Of course, the challenge combined with Sonic's stubbornness ended up with him falling to the floor more than once, making them both laugh.
They had a fun time, but, a few hours later, the increasing flow of people seemed to be their sign to leave for lunch, so, after they returned the skates, it became Shadow's turn to drag Sonic around until they stumbled upon a restaurant that caught his attention. Peruvian food, which Sonic had tried a bit of but Shadow was far more knowledgeable about. They both ordered individually; however, soon enough, both their plates became shared between the two of them.
The food was great, and, even though it took a while to admit it (and they still hadn't said it out loud), Shadow enjoyed hearing Sonic talk. He would talk about whatever came to mind and jump from topic to topic very quickly, sometimes leaving stories unfinished and ideas on the air; but still, it was entertaining. Shadow would sometimes weigh in, adding opinions or commentary, which Sonic would take to just continue talking until his partner spoke up again.
It was a good time, Shadow thought to himself. He was having a great day so far, but he wouldn't tell Sonic yet; he'll have to wait until the end of the day.
As the hybrid watched their boyfriend pay for their food and talk to the employee attending him, they also noticed how frequently he looked at his phone, quickly typing something to then shortly return to the task at hand.
When Sonic got back to his boyfriend and noticed him staring through squinted eyes, he asked, "What is it?"
Shadow decided to let it go when Sonic laced their fingers together. "Nothing." Surely he was simply imagining things.
And so they went to the observatory, where, upon arrival, they were met with a small group of people and a tour guide, who was just waiting until the group got big enough to start. And apparently, Sonic and Shadow were enough to suffice, because as soon as they joined, the guide decided to kick off the tour.
Their walk started at the bottom of the hill the building was sitting on, and as the guide talked about space, the origins of that specific observatory, and what they were hoping to see that night, the hedgehog pair stayed at the end of the line, looking around and holding hands as they only half listened to the explanation.
Once they were inside the observatory itself, they were shown some of the machinery and photos of the discoveries they had made there, and when it started getting dark outside, they finally approached the big telescope Sonic was so excited about.
After the guide finished setting up the telescope properly and explained what it was looking at, they asked who would like to try first, and immediately after, Shadow felt a small pull on their hand from Sonic, ushering them to look through the telescope. They didn't get to do it first, but their turn still came very soon, and when they found the stars looking back at him, he couldn't help but smile.
He had a certain fondness for space.
When Shadow parted ways with the telescope, he found himself excited to share it with his boyfriend; however, when he found him once again quickly typing something on his phone, that excitement was replaced with intrigue. And when Sonic quickly smiled up at them and hid his phone between his quills, Shadow decided that there was definitely something weird going on.
But how could he ask? He wondered as Sonic's turn to look through the telescope came and went, and as they both took one final walk around the building before stepping out, they found themselves in the middle of a warm, summer night, still holding hands.
"So-" Sonic spoke up as he stretched his arms behind his head, quickly making Shadow forget their train of thought because, even if they would never admit it, Sonic had that kind of effect on him. "How about a race back to your house?" He winked.
Shadow pretended to think about it. "Well, if you really want to get your ass kicked, then I guess we could race."
"Ha! As if. I'm totally going to be the one kicking your ass, Shads."
The hybrid smirked confidently. A sight that never failed to give Sonic a mini-heart attack.
"You'll have to catch me first." And those were the final words said between the two before the dark hedgehog ran off, giving their boyfriend only a few seconds to react.
Shadow looked back and found Sonic quite far behind due to the sudden start of the race, so he slowed down a bit to let the other catch up because it wasn't fun without the challenge.
Once they were head-to-head like they usually were, the blue hedgehog spoke up. "No fair, dude! You can't be all cute like that and just expect me to function normally!"
The hybrid rolled his eyes. "Quit whining, hedgehog!"
In the end, no one kicked anyone's ass, but, honestly, they both had forgotten about it during the race, getting too distracted by the feeling of the wind combing their quills back and the other's presence next to them. So maybe you could say they both won if their big smiles and warm feeling on their chests were considered a win.
After a few seconds of silence where they waited for the adrenaline to go down, Shadow turned to face Sonic, their red and green eyes immediately locking together as they shared smiles.
"I really enjoyed this day." The hybrid spoke softly. Emotions were still a difficult topic for them, but with their boyfriend, it really didn't feel like it was that complicated. It really was as if they could simply say, 'I enjoyed this', and the other could automatically understand every single emotion going through their head. It was nice not having to care about going into details about his feelings because his boyfriend just seemed to understand him anyway. Or, well, that's how they felt about it.
"I'm glad." Sonic spoke softly as he took a few steps closer to his partner.
Shadow hummed, subconsciously leaning closer to the other. "Thank you." Their words came out as a whisper; however, due to their proximity, Sonic had no trouble hearing him.
The blue hedgehog chuckled softly as he shrugged. "It's nothing." He smirked.
And then, almost as if rehearsed, both hedgehogs leaned forward, lips connecting into a sweet kiss as their arms almost automatically embraced each other as if they had been waiting way too long to do it.
They didn't kiss very often, but when they did, they were always surprised by how nice it was. The proximity, the soft touches, the intimacy. It always left their hearts feeling full, and after them, it was hard to erase the smile. Maybe that was why they didn't do it often, because then they were even more special. And maybe that was also why they decided to kiss at that moment, because it had been a special day.
Shadow sighed as they broke their kiss, looking at Sonic's face with a fondness that only a very few people had seen, and smiled.
That really had been a good day, the hybrid thought as his boyfriend smiled back.
"Goodnight, hedgehog." They said it softly.
"Goodnight, Shads." Sonic said back, and after leaving one last quick peck on the other's lips, he let go.
Shadow walked up to the front door, taking the keys out of his quills. The lights were out; however, that was normal in their house due to the fact that the three of them, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega, were weirdos and were very rarely bothered by the lack of light. So the hybrid didn't think much of it.
What they did notice was his boyfriend lingering behind him, feeling his eyes on the back of their head. However, maybe Sonic was just being dumb; that wouldn't be out of the ordinary.
But, when Shadow opened the door, and they decided that they would ask about Sonic's strange behavior another day, and the lights immediately turned on as a bunch of people he wasn't expecting to be there jumped up from their hiding spots, the hybrid decided that he was wrong and everything was out of the ordinary.
"Happy birthday, Shadow!" The group of people said as the mentioned hedgehog stood on the front door dumbfounded, keys still in hand, as a million thoughts ran through his head.
What snapped Shadow out of their thoughts was their boyfriend's laugh coming from behind him.
Of course, that was what Sonic had been acting weird over.
When Shadow saw Rouge among the group of people, he remembered those smiles she and Sonic had exchanged that morning, and when he saw other familiar faces, like Amy, Knuckles, or Tails, the image of the blue hedgehog anxiously typing on his phone to then quickly hide the device started to make sense.
Suddenly, Shadow felt Sonic's hand on their shoulder, and before he could say anything, the hybrid, out of panic, teleported away.
Everyone in the room fell silent as they stared at the blue hedgehog, who stood there frozen, his hand still in the air where his partner had previously been standing.
He saw his friends looking at him awkwardly and smiled nervously.
"Uuuh, I'll be right back." He said this before running off.
The problem with looking for someone with the ability to teleport was that they could've teleported anywhere; however, Sonic had a feeling he knew where the hybrid went. So he followed the path they had previously taken, but backwards this time, ending up back in the now-closed observatory. He looked around and eventually found his partner standing at the top of the hill, next to the building.
Sonic took a deep breath in preparation, but before he could approach the hybrid, his phone chimed in.
'Hey blue, do you need help looking for them? we're all worried here.' A message from Rouge. '
dw already found them'
'Ok good' She wrote back, 'Good luck'.
Unfortunately, Sonic knew what she was talking about.
Once his phone was put away between his quills, he finally walked up the hill, stopping a few feet behind the other.
The hybrid stood with crossed arms, moonlight shining on their dark quills, giving them a beautiful and almost magical-looking shine. Sonic sighed at the sight.
"Hey, Shads." He spoke up, and even if Shadow didn't even turn to look at him, his ears did. "What's wrong?"
The dark hedgehog's hold on his own arms tightened. They did not answer.
"You know you can tell me." Sonic said as he took a few steps forward, however, abruptly stopping as the other finally spoke up.
"Can I, actually?" Shadow spoke with a harsh tone of voice, still not turning around.
"What? Of course you can! What makes you ask that?" The blue hedgehog's hand fell on the other's shoulder.
The hybrid quickly turned around and took a step back, away from his boyfriend's touch.
Their frown was almost scary. It had been a while since Sonic had seen that expression directed at him. "Because I'm beginning to think you don't actually listen to me."
"What? Shadow, what's this about?" Sonic couldn't fight against the volume of his voice, which came out a bit higher than he would've wanted. But he couldn't help it! He didn't understand where those words were coming from, and they were confusing him. Why was Shadow mad? He was just saying what a nice day he had! And now he was mad?
"Of course you don't know." Shadow spat out, the venom in their voice sending a sharp pain to Sonic's chest.
"I don't understand you." The blue hedgehog complained.
The hybrid scoffed. "Sí caché." They muttered, and the Spanish being used meant that he was talking to himself, not to the other hedgehog standing right in front of him.
Sonic narrowed his eyes as he thought about what could've happened and softly gasped when an idea started to make sense. "Is this about the party?"
Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Is it?"
The hero groaned in frustration. They really had to make this more difficult, huh?
"Are you really mad because I tried to do something nice for you?" He asked as he placed his closed fists on his hips, and his foot rapidly tapped against the floor, giving away just how frustrated he was.
Shadow stepped forward, closing the space between the two of them and pointing to Sonic's chest with a finger, as if pointing the blame at him. "No. I'm mad that you did something nice, and then you ruined it."
"How did I ruin it? By making a nice gesture?!"
"What made you think a surprise party was a good idea?"
"Dude, I don't know! Everyone likes surprise parties!" The blue hedgehog shrugged as if it were nothing.
Shadow groaned as their frown deepened, their tightly closed fists falling to their sides. "You know I don't like parties, Sonic." Even though he wasn't yelling like the other had started to do not long ago, their words still carried heavy weight, and next to their fiery red gaze that seemed to darken with how mad they were, Sonic felt as if he had done the worst thing ever and his partner was the victim.
"Yeah, I know, but I thought you didn't like parties because there are always people you don't know, so I made sure to invite only your friends!"
"Those aren't my friends!" Well, now they were yelling. "Those are yours."
The blue hedgehog fell silent.
"You threw a surprise party because that's what you would've liked, and you invited your friends as if they were mine as well." Shadow said as he gestured with his hands frustratedly. "Tell me, when have you seen me talk to Knuckles in an even remotely friendly manner? Or what about the Chaotix, huh? I've talked to them like twice!"
Sonic's hands fell to his sides as he stood there, not saying a word. On the other hand, the hybrid didn't seem able to shut up now that they'd started talking and the other had gone quiet.
"You know I don't like parties or surprises, and you threw me a surprise party?" He threw his hands up in frustration. "After we had such a nice day..." He turned around again, ashamed to show the hurt on his face. "Or was I the only one who enjoyed it?"
Sonic sighed.
Okay, now he was beginning to understand what Shadow was so mad about, and with that, his previous frustration turned to shame.
He was only trying to do a nice gesture! And he fumbled it so badly that now Shadow thought he didn't enjoy their day together.
"Shads, no, of course I enjoyed it." He spoke softly as he slowly approached the other hedgehog. "I always like spending time with you." He admitted, a bit embarrassed.
Shadow didn't say anything; however, their posture seemed to soften. That only frustrated them more, because, did Sonic really have that much power over him? Did just a few words really work to calm him down? How could he get so weak?
"I'm sorry." Sonic spoke softly. "I was trying to do something nice, but I guess I just got distracted and started thinking about what I thought would be fun, and I forgot it was supposed to be for you." He looked down.
A few seconds of silence took over before the blue hedgehog spoke up again. "I do listen to you, by the way." Shadow could've cried. "And I like listening to you." Sonic then added, gaining a bit more confidence in his words when he noticed the other was listening closely. "I spent so long trying to find activities you would like for today! I chose the skating rink because I know you don't only like skating, but you would be clearly better at it than me, and you enjoy that." He chuckled. "Because you just have that kind of ego."
"And also, I chose that specific skating rink, even though there were one or two closer to us, because there was that Peruvian restaurant that I knew you would like." He continued, "And of course I paid for it, because you like those acts of chivalry, because you grew up with María and then Rouge, so there's no way you wouldn't like that."
"And the observatory, because I know you like looking at the stars and thought it would be nice to look at them a bit more up close." He once again sighed as he looked up at the sky.
The stars did look very pretty from there.
"But I was only thinking of that as a distraction and not the celebration itself." Sonic then spoke a bit more softly, a shameful smile on his face as he looked back down at his partner, who seemed to be looking at him from over his shoulder. "I'm glad you liked all that, and I'm sorry I ruined it."
After a few seconds of silence, Shadow sighed and turned around, now fully facing the other.
"I'm… Sorry as well." They said quietly, still finding it hard to admit failure, but, with Sonic pouring his heart out, it became a bit easier. "I may have reacted poorly."
The blue hedgehog chuckled. "Hey, it's fine." He shrugged. "I was the one to ruin your birthday; I understand why you're mad." He briefly looked away. "Still, if it makes you feel better, it's all forgiven."
"Same to you." Shadow said, and then looked down to find Sonic's hand reaching for theirs.
They interlaced their fingers together, and after the blue hedgehog gave a squeeze to his partner's hand, they squeezed back.
Shadow had apparently been wrong earlier, and Sonic couldn't actually read their mind. He found he wasn't bothered by that, because, with his boyfriend, it still was easier to talk about his feelings than with other people. So, if he needed to talk about his emotions, that was a sacrifice he was willing to make for their relationship.
"I can tell them to leave, if you'd like." Sonic whispered, and after just a couple of seconds of consideration, Shadow nodded with his head.
"Tell Amy to leave the cake, though. It looked good." The hero laughed at that.
"I will; don't worry."
As Shadow finished telling the story, Emmie, who had moved to be laying down on her bed, legs hanging off of the side, smiled up at him in a teasing manner, just like Sonic would.
"You guys are sooo cheesy." She said, jokingly, making the older hybrid roll their eyes.
"Nah, I think we're cute as heck." Sonic said as he hugged his knees close to his chest, interested in the story even if he was one of the main characters in it. But maybe that was why he was so interested in it.
"Whatever." Shadow waved a hand. "Talk to Destiny; I promise it's not that big of a deal." He said this as he accusingly pointed to the younger hedgehog.
Emmie groaned. "Yeah, yeah, I know! I will." She raised her hands as if to show innocence.
"Welp, nice talking to you, buddy." Sonic, he said as he stood up from the bed. "I hope you learned something from your pops here!" He then added as he pointed finger guns at his daughter and winked.
Shadow stood up as well and walked up to the door. "Come on, hedgehog, let your daughter fix her relationship problems in peace."
"Yeah! I don't want you guys looking!" Emmie said as she jokingly threw a pillow at the older blue hedgehog, who simply laughed as he picked it up and threw it right back at her, to then run out of the room and take his spouse with him on the way.
Emmie sighed once she was left alone in her room once again.
Her phone made a 'ding' noise, signaling a notification. She picked it up and was surprised to see it was a message from Destiny.
'hiii, I'm sorry about earlier, I think I overreacted:[' It read.
The hedgehog chuckled to herself as she typed an answer.
'hey, its ok!!!' She wrote back. 'i wasnt clear enough and got a bit defensive'.
'so we're good?'
'yeah, were good:)'
'yay!!! ily💕'
Emmie smiled at her screen.
'ily too<3'