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This was fucking stupid.
Shadow hissed as the pain in his leg burned.
Damned Mercenaries.
They had managed to actually get a few good hits on him, enough to temporarily slow him down, but he still managed to outrun them, and now he needed to find shelter quickly.
If only he had his Emerald with him…
Just by his luck, a familiar house was in the distance. With the grace of a horse in a dance recital, he slammed his shoulder against the front door, knocking the lock loose and causing it to swing open. The noise was so loud that it startled the inhabitant that had been passed out on the couch.
Sonic shot up right with a loud snork, tangled in his blankets as the book he had been holding was thrown across the room somewhere.
The blue hedgehog squinted into the darkness, seeing a somewhat familiar silhouette standing in the corner of his living room, the light of the moon giving an almost ethereal appearance to the intruder. “Shads?” The blue hedgehog grunted, still half asleep and not comprehending the fact that Shadow had BROKEN INTO HIS HOUSE.
“Wh…What are you doing in my house at…” he blinked and glanced at his clock. “3AM?”
Sonic seemed to wake up a bit more, with realisation finally setting in. “Wait- what are you doing in my house?!”
Shadow grimaced at the disgruntled shout from his somewhat sleep-deprived rival. Shadow narrowed his crimson eyes and took a step closer to Sonic, his voice cold and indifferent. "I didn't 'break' into your house, Sonic. I entered without an invitation because I require your assistance."
It was not breaking and entering.
He paused briefly before his gaze softened ever so slightly, his quills drooping in embarrassment and discomfort. "I was…" He glared down at the floor. He couldn't believe he was doing this, but he had no other choice.
It could be worse; he could've had to go to some stranger's house, he supposed.
Gathering his thoughts, he continued. "Ambushed in the nearby forest. They were after me, after what I possess. I sustained injuries and wounds that require attention. I had no other choice but to seek refuge here." putting emphasis on the fact that he had no other choice.
Sonic blinked.
Shadow, his longtime rival, entered his house, uninvited, just to have his wounds treated?
The hero sighed and sat up, the blankets sliding off his chest. “You’re not usually one to ask for help, 'specially not me… Guess it must be serious then, huh?”
Usually, he'd love the excuse to tease Shadow, getting to hear tge agent say that he needed his assistance; anything that he could hold over his rival's head was a win in his book. But it was late, and Shadow clearly needed help.
“‘Kay follow me, hotsauce.” He grunted, the nickname referring to the ebony hedgehogs red stripes, as he stood up and led the way to his bathroom.
Shadow's face turned into a look of utter confusion. "Hotsauce?" He repeated, slightly dumbfounded by the chosen nickname, observing the blue blur's movements with careful eyes, but followed him to the bathroom regardless. His footsteps were silent on the floor as he took in the environment of the hedgehog's home.
It was better than he expected.
Once inside the bathroom, Shadow stood by the door and turned to face Sonic. The tension in the room was almost palpable as he waited for Sonic to proceed. He was unused to seeking help, but at this moment of vulnerability, he had no other option but to rely on his… 'Acquaintance'.
Sonic vaguely gestured for Shadow to take a seat on his closed toilet before crouching down by his sink, rustling through the various items—soaps, toilet paper, feminine hygiene products (Hey, he had to be ready for ANY guest!), deodorant…
After a moment, he pulled out a medical kit with a hum of success; it was full of various medical equipment—more advanced than the normal household kit—though Sonic was a hero, a reckless one at that—he probably needed more than just a few bandages. Especially when he would rather be caught dead than stuck in a hospital recovering.
He paused for a moment before also grabbing a washcloth. “Where’s th’ worst of it?”
Shadow seated himself on the closed toilet as instructed, his eyes following Sonic's movements as he retrieved the medical kit. He was… impressed by Sonic's preparedness, to say the least. Shadow's expression softened imperceptibly as he saw the care and concern behind the blue hedgehog's actions.
Meeting Sonic's emerald gaze, Shadow finally spoke, his voice low and serious: "They targeted my leg. The wounds are deep. It hampers my ability to move swiftly. It requires immediate attention," he admitted, finally acknowledging the severity of his injuries to someone other than himself. The way he spoke was like a solider giving a report; it was blunt and to the point.
Sonic internally winced. “Mh, a leg, huh? A bad place for you or me.” Their legs were one of their greatest assets—more so for him than Shadow—but that was beside the point.
Sonic stood up and let the water run until it was warm, soaking the cloth in the water before getting on the floor to better examine the injury, and began to wipe the area clean, parting the quills to better access the wound.
It was deep, to say the least; the cut was at least the length of his hand from wrist to fingertips; it was oozing green blood, almost resembling hemolymph from insects. “You might need stitches, Shads,” he mumbled.
“Who’d ya piss off this time anyway?” He asked, using his thumb and index finger to hold the black quills away from the wound, before using his free hand to hold a small packet containing an antiseptic rag to his his teeth to tear it open.
Sonic nearly forgot he wasn't wearing gloves. It was a good thing Shadow was practically knowledgeless about Mobian customs, or this would be a hell of a lot awkwarder.
Shadow sat still and allowed Sonic to clean the wound, feeling a strange sense of comfort in the way Sonic handled the task with such care and expertise. The sting of the antiseptic rag against his skin made him wince slightly, but he remained still, knowing it was necessary to prevent infection.
The way the other hedgehog's thumb brushed away his ebony quills to expose the wound made Shadow clenched his fists lightly and focus on breathing evenly through the discomfort. The warmth of Sonic's touch against his fur sparked a strange sensation within him, one he chose to ignore for the time being.
“You look like you fought a bear.”
“I was joking, by the way; please don't go fight any bears." He said, giving Shadow a look before smirking.
At Sonic's joke, Shadow's lips quirked slightly in a rare moment of amusement, appreciating the attempt to lighten the mood and watching as he began lathering some sort of healing cream onto the now-clean wound.
He was always good at that, wasn't he?
"I crossed paths with a dangerous group of mercenaries in the forest. They were after… classified information…" He replied, his tone serious once more, the icy mask back in place.
With his leg wound cleaned and disinfected, Shadow braced himself for what would undoubtedly be a painful process of stitching the wound. He wasn't sure if he fully trusted Sonic's skills, but he had no choice, so he allowed himself to lean on the hedgehog for support in this vulnerable moment.
“Classified… You mean, like… after you as a whole, 'cause you’re… you? Or like… After your technology, your roller skate shoe things, and inhibitors, whatchamacallits?” He asked, his slang, mishmash of words, and horrible attempt at recalling Shadow’s equipment were somewhat hilarious and annoying.
Sonic's bumbling attempt at recalling Shadow's equipment drew a small smirk from the ebony hedgehog. Despite the mangling of technical terms, Shadow managed to understand what Sonic meant.
“They were after me, Sonic. My very being. They seek to exploit my powers for their own gain,” Shadow explained, his voice quiet yet resolute.
Sonic pulled out a suture needle, curved and sharp, along with skin-safe thread. With uncanny persuasion and accuracy, he started stitching the wound up. He seemed to have needed to do this many times before.
As Sonic began stitching the wound with practiced hands, Shadow couldn't help but feel a strange sense of gratitude towards the blue hedgehog. The familiar sting of the needle piercing his skin made him twitch slightly, but he bore the pain in silence, trusting Sonic to complete the task with precision.
Through the discomfort, a brief moment of vulnerability washed over Shadow. It had been a long time since he had allowed someone to care for him in this manner, and despite his facade of indifference, he couldn't deny the faint warmth that bloomed in his chest at the speedsters actions.
“Pshh… you know, Mobians-“ Sonic paused. “People… people like us are always gonna be tracked down.” He says with a scoff.
Shadow's eyes widened for a moment at the fact that Sonic knew he wasn't truly a Mobian but still considered him a person-
“Tails for his mutation, Knuckles for his species rarity, Amy for her strength…” he rambled, distracting Shadow. “Hell, me for my speed! I think I was once tracked down to try and act like those hamsters they put in wheels to power a generator.” He said with a smirk.
He cut the string with his quills and lathered on some other ointment over the wound before beginning to bandage the injury. His work was near doctoral levels of effort.
“By the way, pretty sick, your blood is green; it’s just like the sci-fi movies I watch.”
Shadow found himself oddly comforted by Sonic's words, despite the grim truth they carried. The realisation that they were all targets in their own rights hit him with sobering clarity. Sonic's casual rambling brought a rare smile to his lips, appreciating the bond they shared as beings who existed on the outskirts of society.
At the mention of his green blood, Shadow's smile turned into a smirk. "It's a side effect of being… different, as you put it," he replied with a hint of pride. "Glad to see my blood colour is up to your 'sci-fi' standards."
Deep down, beneath the layers of cynicism and isolation, Shadow felt a strange sense of connection with Sonic in this moment of vulnerability. Even though they were rivals, there was an unspoken understanding between them that went beyond words—a bond forged through trials and shared experiences.
Sonic grinned at Shadow, quickly wiping down and bandaging some of the less intense wounds once he finished up on his leg, chuckling at his comment.
Then there was silence.
Sonic stared at Shadow.
"…Y'know. It's… pretty late, y'know. If you wanna, you could…" Sonic hesistated. "Y'could uh… stay the night… I have a spare bedroom for when Tails stays here…"
"Plus, no one would really look for you here of all places, and, well, it's pretty out of the way, and you're hurt," Sonic started rambling, unable to really stop himself.
Shadow's crimson eyes met Sonic's expectant gaze, his normally stoic expression softening slightly at the offer. In that moment, with the tension of their rivalry momentarily set aside, he saw a different side of Sonic—a side that sought to offer comfort and aid to a friend in need.
For a rare moment, Shadow allowed a small inclination of gratitude to flicker in his gaze as he interrupted Sonic's rambling with a simple, "I'll stay."
The room filled with a brief silence, broken only by the sound of Sonic's heartbeat as he gazed back at Shadow. The air seemed to hang heavy with unspoken words and unexplored depths in that moment of vulnerability and connection between rivals turned allies.