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Eggman was always the most inopportune man ever, so an attack in the middle of the night shouldn't have surprised anyone, truly. And maybe that was his strategy, catching everyone by surprise, and forcing poor Nikki to crawl out of bed to go deal with the evil doctor.
Sonic knew he was so lucky that Shadow had made an appearance, because if it weren't for them and their always alert senses, he was sure this fight would’ve ended really differently. See, it was who knew how late, and a hero such as himself needed his beauty sleep (while Shadow, on the other hand, seemed to be beautiful without the need of sleep), so without it, he ended up being a bit sloppy.
Shadow made it more than clear as they dragged the other hedgehog away from the aftermath of the battle, Sonic limping as he tried to keep his eyes open.
There was a sharp pain that shot right up his knee, he knew his nose was bleeding and his right cheek felt numb. The dark hedgehog seemed to notice how much he was struggling to walk, because in just a blink, they were in Nikki’s room.
Sonic sighed in relief.
“Sit down.” Shadow commanded in a whisper, and the blue hedgehog wordlessly obeyed. As he sat down, he realized he was now wearing his glasses, and as he opened his eyes, he saw Shadow was wearing their disguise. Huh, Sonic hadn't even noticed when that happened.
Moon looked down at him, as they brought a hand up to their quills and took out the green Chaos Emerald, then sitting down in front of the other and mumbling. “Stay still.” And Nikki didn't really find it in him to move at all. He wouldn't have even if Moon hadn't told them to.
The only thing that seemed to bring Sonic out of that dazed state was Shadow’s hand on his cheek. He opened his eyes as the feeling of Chaos Energy healing his wounds vibrated through his body, and yet, the only thing he could focus on was the look on the dark hedgehog's face, visible thanks to the soft, green light the Emerald produced. Furrowed eyebrows and a slight pout, so cute…
And the warmth of their hand over his wound, the sound of their rhythmic breath, the light buzz of the Chaos Energy… It all made Sonic feel fuzzy inside, and warm, and weird . Shadow looked so beautiful, they always did, both as the Ultimate Lifeform and regular old Moon, they just had this specific charm to them, but now? There was something new, and Shadow looked more beautiful than ever. Maybe it was their closeness, the intimacy of the situation. The blue hedgehog furiously blushed when he realized their Chaos Energies were mixing together in order to allow Moon to heal him.
“Moon…” He mumbled, bringing his own hand up to cup the other's. They looked up at him in slight surprise. Their eyes interlocked, and both hedgehogs seemed to subconsciously lean towards each other, a secret magnetism pulling them together effortlessly since neither of them put any resistance, more than willing to grow closer and closer, now their breaths also mixing together, next to their energy, which felt warmer than ever.
The blue hedgehog was already closing his eyes and taking a quick inhale of air when the door to his room suddenly swung open, revealing his mom standing there with a hand on her face in surprise.
“Nikki!” She exclaimed.
“Mom!” He exclaimed back.
Moon quickly jumped back and hid the gem between their quills as Nikki stood up, bringing his hands up in innocence as his mom approached him.
“What are you doing?! Who is this?!” Brenda asked before loudly gasping and looking at Moon with wide eyes, to then turn back to her son, crossing her arms. “Is this your girlfriend ?”
The young hedgehog clearly tensed up at the question. They weren't really his girlfriend, but he couldn't tell his mom that, could he?
“Yes.” He sighed as he looked down at his feet.
“And you bring her to your room in the middle of the night?!” The older mobian asked, closed fists finding their place at her hips as she firmly eyed her son.
The dark hedgehog was about to correct her on their pronouns when Nikki's dad, Paulie, walked in, clearly annoyed by this whole ordeal. “What's going on here?” He asked, voice raspy and eyes still not fully open due to his very recent awakening.
“Dear, Nikki sneaked his girlfriend into his room and I caught them smooching up a storm!” Brenda exclaimed, and Sonic seemed to almost choke on his own spit.
“Mom, we weren't-!”
“Don't try to lie to me, young man, I wasn't born yesterday!” His mother crossed her arms and looked away, offended and angry.
“So this is the famous girlfriend.” Paulie spoke up once again as he walked into the room, and Moon felt like teleporting away as the older mobian seemed to analyze them from head to toe. They let out a quiet sigh when Paulie finally looked away, back to his son. “I would’ve expected a nicer introduction, boy!”
Nikki's whole face was a bright shade of red as he tried to explain himself. “I really didn't mean to-!”
“Hold on.” The older mobian brought a hand up, effectively making his son shut up. “Let’s talk downstairs, we don't want to scare our guest away.” He gave a quick nod towards the dark hedgehog, who was still sitting on the bed, quiet and wide eyed.
Nikki, seemingly having given up, simply sighed and nodded with his head. “I’ll be back, okay? Just wait a second.” He told Moon, who silently nodded as they watched the three hedgehogs leave the room.
And Shadow let out a deep sigh. Oh, that had been so nerve wracking. Had they really been silent the whole time? What would Sonic's parents think of them? Ugh, who care s? They weren't really dating! Sonic's parents could hate them after this, it shouldn't matter.
But what if Sonic hated them after this? After all, it was their fault they were caught. They could’ve healed the blue hedgehog outside, there was no real necessity to get to his room. They just thought it would be more comfortable, not thinking once about Nikki’s parents, sleeping just in the next room.
Was this all their fault? Had they really miscalculated this badly? It wasn't usual for the Ultimate Lifeform to make such reckless decisions just guided by their feelings- Scratch that, this had never happened before. What a disappointment! How could this happen? How could they let it happen? Just because they saw Sonic hurt they didn't even stop to think about the logistics of their actions as they dragged him to his room. This was unacceptable-!
Their rapid thoughts were interrupted by a rather small silhouette standing by the door. After a second, the young hedgehog approached them, hands behind her back, as she quietly looked up at them. Moon did nothing other than look back. The young hedgehog was small, with soft yellow-brown quills and big, dark eyes, facial features very similar to Brenda’s, and also Nikki’s.
She gave a small smile. “Are you Moon?” She asked, and the older hedgehog nodded with their head. The girl hummed. “I thought so, Nikki talks a lot about you.” She said with a small nod of her own. “He described you perfectly.”
Moon tried to ignore the furious blush on their face.
“Well, I could guess you're Tania.” They said back, and that seemed to pleasantly surprise the child.
“Yup!” She said as she crossed her arms on top of the mattress.
Moon hummed. “Nikki also talks a lot about you.”
Tania giggled fondly, seemingly flattered by the knowledge that her older brother had talked about her with his girlfriend.
“Tania, go to sleep.” Came Nikki's stern voice from the door, his face red and fists closed tight as his little sister giggled even more.
She wordlessly walked up to the doorway, and once she was there, she smiled up to Nikki, a teasing smile on her face. “She's pretty.” Her older brother quickly shushed her out as she giggled away before softly closing the door, but not all the way, leaving a small open space, most likely something his parents had instructed him to do.
Then he gave a deep sigh as he rubbed his hands in his face, under his glasses. “I’m grounded now.” He said, and Moon tensed up as they looked down at the floor.
“Sorry.” They quickly said, their fingers fidgeting under their long sleeves.
“Oh, no, no, no. I wasn't- It's not-” Nikki sat down next to the other, looking at their face, trying to catch their eye. “It's not your fault, I much prefer to be grounded rather than having to heal those wounds on my own.”
Moon simply hummed.
They stayed in silence for a few seconds before Shadow stood up. “I should leave.” They said, and Sonic quickly followed suit.
“Uh- Actually, my parents said it's late, and they wanted you to spend the night here.” He said, placing a hand on Moon’s arm, however, quickly pulling it away when they looked at him. “They said it'd be dangerous for you to be out at night, and that I should be… A good boyfriend, and, you know, let you sleep here.”
“Oh.” Was all the darker hedgehog thought to say. It took them a few seconds to speak up again. “Where do I sleep, then?”
Nikki gulped down a knot in his throat. “... With me?” He said, almost in a whisper. “U-Unless you'd prefer it if I slept on the couch-!”
“It's fine, you can sleep here.”
“With you?”
Both hedgehogs' faces were furiously blushing at this point.
“I suppose, yes, if you don't have an issue with that…”
“I-I don't! Let's do that, yeah-”
And so with red faces and trembling hands, they got ready to sleep, softly whispering to each other as to not keep bothering the family trying to sleep.
Nikki discarded his shoes by the door, and later did the same with Moon’s shoes. He couldn't help but blush at the sight, such a simple but obvious sign that they were sharing a room that night.
Sonic wore an old sports t-shirt, while Moon borrowed his signature red hoodie, which while it was already oversized on Nikki, it was even more so on the slightly shorter hedgehog.
Both red faced hedgehog got in bed, bodies stiff as to not touch each other, face to face. After a couple of seconds of looking at each other, Nikki nervously smiled.
“Well, uh- Goodnight.” He said quietly.
Moon gave a short nod with their head. “Good night.”
Shadow didn't sleep at all, but looking over at Sonic's calm sleeping face brought a familiar comfort that made the night not so bad after all.
But they always felt like that with Sonic.