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Shadow came out of another brief chunk of sleep. Of course he did. Sleeping for more than an hour without any breaks would be ridiculous! He groaned and turned over to his pillow to no avail."
Being the ultimate lifeform came with more side effects than it should've. Sure, his body could go without a few days of rest, but his mind suffered. He'd learned that lesson the hard way.
Despite the massive amount of stuffed animals he'd acquired through the years (all of them being gifts from Rouge), and despite the benadryl he wasn't using for its intended purpose, he could never sleep like anyone else could. Checking the time on his phone, it read 5:31 AM. Maybe he could get a headstart on his morning routine.
He got out of bed and slipped his gloves and shoes on to go for a run. Maybe if he exhausted himself well enough, he'd finally be able to sleep. He knew this wasn't possible, but he'd been lectured to be optimistic far too many times to count.
Dragging his feet across the air and propelling himself forward, Shadow made his way across the city. All he could really do was sight-see. It was a nice way of keeping his thoughts at bay.
He saw the moon, Club Rouge, the store he got his coffee beans from, a mall, and a familiar-looking blue hedgehog sitting on a bench. He skidded to a halt. "Sonic?" He questioned.
The hero turned his head towards the noise. "Oh, hi Shads."
Shadow rolled his eyes. "Why are you up so late?"
"Why are you?"
"I couldn't sleep."
"Neither could I."
Shadow let out a soft 'hm'. It made sense, he supposed. Sonic had a bunch of leftover energy and thus couldn't get a good night's rest. He sat down next to Sonic and looked at the sky that the speedster was gazing at. It was just stars at this point. He didn't care much for stars.
Sonic laid his head down on his shoulder, and he nearly leapt away. "What are you doing?" He asked, more fear in his voice than he wanted there to be. Sonic shrugged in response and whispered out, "Seemed like the thing to do."
Shadow rolled his eyes, turning his gaze away. Shadow didn't need to be reminded of one of the reasons his nights lacked any real sleep, but Sonic apparently had other things in mind.
He nuzzled into the hybrid's arm and Shadow instinctively pulled away. "What on Mobius are you doing?!"
Sonic snickered into his palm. "Why are you being so jumpy today?" he asked through a sea of small giggles. Shadow glared at him. He was nothing if not observant, and the signs he found led only to one thing.
"Quit trying to pursue me. I'm not interested." The agent huffed.
"What?" The hero asked through giggles.
"You heard me. I'm not interested. So whatever you're doing, cut it out."
"Shads, I-"
"That's not my name."
"Shadow. I'm not interested either!"
"Oh." Shadow had misread the situation. He was observant... just not when it came to social cues. Why he thought that fact would be different this time, he didn't know. His blue rival snickered. "Wow. You are tired."
Shadow averted his gaze to look at the rising sun. It was nice, but not enough to get his thoughts to shut up. Sometimes- no, a lot of the time- he wished there was an off switch so they'd stop overwhelming him so damn much. Thoughts of him being broken shot out immediately, and he had to manually tear apart each one.
Aroace, Rouge had called it. It was weird, having a label for these things. He was so used to just calling himself too busy for love that he didn't realize there could be labels for these things.
Shadow was immediately pulled out of his thoughts when Sonic's fingers intertwined with his.
"Enjoying the sunrise?"
Shadow mumbled out a technically-not-lie. "It's very pretty." Was he enjoying it? No.
"Like you."
Shadow looked at Sonic for a moment, then back away. "Thanks?"
"You are so anxious today! What is up with you?"
Shadow had to fight the urge to punch the hedgehog for his stupidity. "You're being weird."
"What? Shads, I'm just trying to show you some love-"
Shadow pulled his hand away at that. "And I'm not interested!"
"Shadow, you're not listening to me!"
"Oh, my apologies. Would you like me to listen to the man who's trying to harass me?!"
Sonic sighed. "Platonic love, Shadow. That's what I meant. I'm not even interested in, well, anyone."
Aroace, Rouge would've called it. Shadow was taken aback by the cobalt hedgehog's words. "Oh. Hm. Me neither."
Sonic smirked. "So, Shads, do you love me?"
Shadow scoffed. "No. You're too stupid to love."
Sonic snickered. "So if I became intelligenter would you love me?"
That got a small laugh out of Shadow. "Intelligenter? That's not even a word. Couldn't you use smarter instead?"
Sonic grinned. "Nope. I'm just so smart, I made up my own word!"
Shadow rolled his eyes playfully at the hedgehog he definitely wasn't friends with.
Sonic stood up from the bench. "Race you to the loop-de-loop?" And Shadow offered a nod in response.