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The best holidays are the ones where the firework shops are open almost a week beforehand. The best of the two has to be New Year’s. New Year’s extends the Christmas spirit all the way to the first days of January. It’s one of the largest celebrations of the year.
New Year’s Eve in New York was a big deal: it was unbelievably packed. Everyone noticed the influx of tourists within the city, but no one really minded it, except for someone. After the events before Christmas Eve, Shadow grew nervous. He spent every day wondering if he had made the right choice telling Sonic how he felt, and if Sonic would ever tell him that he felt the same. It had been almost a week since they had last spoken, and they haven’t even seen each other since then. Shadow was growing worried.
Rouge had told him about Tails’s New Year’s Eve party and tried to convince him to go: “He could tell you that night. He won’t want to carry feelings like that into the new year; he’d want to let them out before then,” Rouge says, “plus, he could be your New Year’s kiss,” she adds teasingly. “Kiss? No way. I don’t think he’s ready for that,” Shadow blushes and responds nervously. Rouge giggles: “You never know, Shadow. Just go and see what happens.”
Shadow goes on a walk to sort out his thoughts. He watches people walk around with brightly colored clothes, decorations, 2025 glasses, and boxes of sparklers and other firework items. He overhears conversations about people’s New Year’s resolutions or how they’re planning on changing the next year. Shadow didn’t understand why this was so important; wasn’t tomorrow just another day?
Shadow spends most of his afternoon in his apartment while Rouge finishes up food for the party in Shadow’s kitchen. Shadow runs through every possible scenario in his head of what could go wrong and what could go right. It was almost as if he was excited but scared at the exact same time. He was so ready to see Sonic and be able to express his emotions to him the way he’s always wanted, but he didn’t know if that’s what Sonic wants or if Sonic keeps his own feelings bottled up and Shadow can’t do anything about it. There was so much for him to worry about, and so much that could go wrong tonight.
“Shadow, you’ve been breathing so loudly for the past thirty minutes. Come over here and help me put the pizza in the oven,” Rouge says after noticing Shadow’s disarray. He snaps out of his fear and walks over towards Rouge. He assists her in fishing the cookies and puts them in the oven for her. Rouge turns on ABC to wait for the New Year’s Eve show to start, but for then they were stuck watching college football.
“So, do you need any more enlightening on how to celebrate this evening?” Rouge asks as the TV roars in front of them. “I think I’ve got it covered, but I am by no means ready for those fireworks,” Shadow responds. “Oh don’t be silly, fireworks are only done close to and at midnight. Before then there’s so many other things that we do. Knuckles is bringing games, Amy is going light a fire on the balcony, we’ll make smores when it gets closer to midnight, and then Sonic bought some confetti poppers and other small firecrackers for us to use!” Rouge lists. “Sounds…fine,” Shadow dismisses. He really doesn’t care about anything else other than seeing Sonic, and with all of these activities being lined up for the party, Shadow knew that it would be ever more difficult for him to see any alone time with Sonic fitting into the mix. Shadow couldn’t focus on anything other than him.
Rouge boxed up the pizzas and the two of them began to make their way to the subway. Shadow’s heart began to race while they sped towards their stop. “Don’t worry too much now. Everything will be okay, just focus on having fun and understanding the holiday. This is your first time doing this,” Rouge comforted him. He couldn’t even imagine himself walking into Tails’s house at the moment. But the more he dwelled, the faster time passed. He found himself behind Rouge as she knocked on his apartment door.
“Hey! Glad you guys could make it! Here, I can take your food. Come on in, we’re watching the New Year’s performances right now!” Tails greets the two of them and leads them inside. Shadow spots Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles all sitting on the couch watching the show. “Do you know any of these people?” Sonic asks Amy. “Yeah, you don’t remember? They used to play this stuff all the time when we were younger,” Amy says. “I don’t recall. I wasn’t much of a music person back then,” Sonic responds. Knuckles is jamming out even though he doesn’t know any of the lyrics or know any of the songs.
Shadow smiles at the sight of Sonic. He looked as handsome as ever at that very moment. Sonic looked so different from how he did when they used to fight; he still looked overconfident as hell, but there was so much more Shadow was able to notice. More that he was able to like.
Sonic turns to notice Shadow, and he instantly becomes red. Shadow chuckles at Sonic’s response, but finds himself too scared to walk up and say hi. Neither of them were prepared to see each other this early on during the party. Shadow followed closely behind Rouge to the kitchen to help Tails with putting the food out. Shadow keeps his outside expression neutral, but on the inside he was burning up.
Shadow slowly walked over to the couch, and the only spot for him was either next to Knuckles or next to Sonic. Before he could even choose, Rouge sat next to Knuckles as they began to catch up about what had happened in their lives since Christmas. Shadow focused his vision on the sunset: he was doing anything and everything to avoid talking to Sonic, and it seemed that Sonic was doing the same but with the opposite window. Shadow swore that they stayed in that spot for almost twenty minutes, but Tails interrupted before Shadow even noticed that the sun went down.
“Hey Sonic, can you help me set up the fire outside?” Tails asked. Sonic snapped out of his daze and turned to Tails: “Yeah, yeah, of course. I’m coming right out,” Sonic shoots up from his spots and speedwalks over to the balcony door. Shadow watches the whole interaction, and part of him feels defeated that Sonic up and left before he could even get the courage to talk to him. Shadow watches the two of them start the fire and run in and out to get different materials. Amy soon gets up to help them bring out the smores and firecrackers. Shadow awkwardly sits with Knuckles and Rouge as the two of them giggle, sit uncomfortably close to each other, and playfully fight with each other as if Shadow wasn’t right there. He rolls his eyes at the sight: how could Rouge be so inconsiderate?
Shadow angrily walks to the kitchen and searches through the drink assortment. He eyes the champagne bottle before realizing there’s a note: “Save for midnight! Do not drink - Amy,” it reads. The only drinks left are a few sodas and then a lemonade. Shadow settles on the lemonade. He felt his stomach couldn’t handle any soda tonight. He pours it into a clear cup as he hears the balcony door open. He hears fast movements towards him, and as he gets ready to return to the living room, he sees Sonic speed past him into the cupboards to find something. He can barely process the situation that he didn’t even know was happening at first.
Tails walks up to him as Shadow unknowingly stares at Sonic as he banters with Rouge. “Hey, we’re about to go outside to make smores and sit by the fire,” Tails says rather reluctantly. There’s a large part of him that still fears Shadow. “I’ll be out soon, just give me a second,” Shadow responds with so many things on his mind. He barely even remembered what he said to Tails: he was too focused on watching the way Sonic teases others. His voice was provocative in nature, his eyes were attractive and desirable, and the blue on his fur was striking. Shadow had to hold back walking over to him just to touch him.
Shadow walks out keeping his head down low being ashamed of his own thoughts. He saw everyone circling around the fire laughing and telling stories of how stupid they were when they were young. Shadow walked out to him facing Sonic’s direction: he was sitting right in the center of the circle. His heart dropped at the sight of him letting himself loose. He watched the tears fall from his entrancing green eyes. Shadow wishes that it was him that was making Sonic laugh that way. Shadow wishes that it was just the two of them in that moment making eachother laugh. Shadow starts to feel himself become jealous of all the attention Sonic was getting. He wanted to be the one sitting next to him shoulder to shoulder staring directly into each other's eyes.
Shadow had finally had enough of the watching, the thinking, and the avoiding. He walks around the others and stands behind Sonic. He softly taps him on the shoulder and slightly shivers at the tiny amount of contact: “Hey, can we talk for a bit?” Shadow asks nervously. Rouge was definitely staring at him, shaking her head out of disappointment. Shadow was doing the very thing he wasn’t supposed to, but he just couldn’t wait any longer. “Yeah, sure,” Sonic responds without an ounce of fear or worry in his voice, and that doesn’t help Shadow feel any better at all.
Sonic leads him into the house and they silently make their way to an extra room. Sonic opens the door: “You can sit anywhere, make yourself at home,” Sonic says. Shadow took in the room for a few seconds. This was supposed to be an extra room or guest bedroom, but there was stuff all around it, rather messily placed, that all pointed to it being Sonic’s room. There was nowhere to sit but the floor or the bed, so Shadow decided to stand. Sonic lay on his bed and stretched his legs and arms out: “What’s up, Shadow?” Shadow looked at him with wide eyes. He was standing at the edge of the bed looking directly into Sonic’s eyes. He opens his mouth to speak multiple times but never lets anything out. Sonic’s expression becomes increasingly confused each time it happens, but finally, Shadow speaks with his eyes closed.
“Do you think things have changed between us?” Shadow asks. Sonic is silent for a few seconds: “I mean…maybe. You’ve been awfully quiet this whole evening,” Sonic confronts him head on. “I know that, but what about you? You haven’t come up to me at all so you can make some snide comment about my presence or my appearance. You didn’t regard me by that stupid nickname you came up for me when we came in here,” Shadow claps back. He’s offended that Sonic would try to pin this whole thing on him. Sonic responds softer and apologetic: “You’re right. I know I’m being distant. There’s just…a lot on my mind. It’s a lot to unpack right now and I don’t know if tonight’s the night to do it,” Sonic says sitting up on his bed. His voice begins to speed up as his hand scratches the back of his neck. “Sonic, I’ll listen if you want to tell me something. I don’t like it when you dance around things like this,” Shadow responds with a hint of impatience. “I-It’s just not something I want to talk about. I don’t think I can do this right now,” Sonic gets up and reaches for the door. “Sonic, please. Don’t avoid me like this, you're only making the problem worse. If this continues, we might not even connect the same way we do now,” Sonic stops and drops his head. Shadow continues after a long pause and a deep breath, “I know that what I told you before Christmas was a handful, and I know that’s what’s affecting you right now.” Shadow knows how Sonic feels, but he wants Sonic to be able to admit it to him.
“Shadow, you can’t tell anyone else what I’m about to tell you right now,” Sonic faces Shadow and his voice drops. Shadow nods and his heart rate intensifies. “I’m not good with feelings, and I think you can tell from this interaction. I don’t know how to confront people about how I feel or how I should express it to them. I get afraid of revealing myself to others: I don’t want them to think less of me or see me any different. I want to stay the same confident, cool, and sometimes sassy hedgehog that I’ve always been,” Sonic reveals. He sits down on the side of his bed with his arms crossed. Shadow frowns, he didn’t know how much Sonic was keeping from him and everyone else. “There’s a lot that I want to tell people. Sometimes I confide in Tails for things, but there’s still stuff that I can’t even tell him,” Sonic adds. Shadow inches towards Sonic as he watches him become more and more uncomfortable. Shadow makes next to Sonic before he adds more: “I didn’t know what to say at your apartment before Christmas. When you told me how you felt, my heart was racing. I was more nervous than I had ever been before. I didn’t know how to…I didn’t know how to tell you how I felt. I responded the way I did because I was so scared, so I went to the default answer I use whenever someone confides in me. Every day since then, I’ve felt terrible for not telling you the truth, and that’s why I’ve been so afraid of talking to you today,” Sonic reveals.
Shadow sits down next to him while Sonic’s head still hangs low. There is a few seconds of silence before Shadow answers: “Well, how do you feel?” Sonic breathes in and out before meeting his eyes with Sonic’s: “I like being with you. It’s fun spending time with you and getting to joke with you. And I know it’s weird, but I always enjoyed those moments where you sat too close or where I could feel your breath close to my face. The closest I have ever been to you was when we would fight during the war, and even then I remember when you would push me against a tree, pin me to the ground, or when I did, I always got this feeling. I started to wish that I could be close to you, but not in those situations of us fighting. I wanted to be close to you because I wanted to get to know you. I wanted to spend time with you and have different experiences with you, and I’m so lucky that I get to do that now. Though, I never knew how to tell you about it, and I didn’t even know if you felt the same. When you told me that you liked me, I was overjoyed when I walked home thinking about it, but I just had no idea how to confront you on how I felt about it. I hope you understand and I hope that makes sense. I’m so sorry, Shadow.”
Shadow’s smile quivered as he watched Sonic’s eyes tear up. For the first time in probably a while, Sonic had opened up freely. It was hard, and it was painful, but he did it to the person that he never would’ve thought he would end up trusting. The two of them looked at each other’s eyes for almost a minute before Shadow slipped his hand closer to Sonic’s. Shadow’s face inched closer after he made the softest contact with Sonic’s hands. Sonic swallowed and moved closer to Shadow: both of them wanted the same thing. Their lips met cautiously. Sonic moved his hands to rest on Shadow’s face. Shadow was afraid Sonic would realize he had never been kissed before, but from the way Sonic moved closer, pushed and pinned Shadow to where he lay on the bed, he didn’t think that Sonic cared that much if he was inexperienced. Shadow ran his fingers through Sonic’s quills as Sonic kissed his cheeks and placed his hands on Shadow’s chest. Shadow became lost in the moment and forgot how happy he was. Sonic was the same, he let his own repressed passion take over.
Twelve minutes of making out had passed unknowingly before the balcony door swung open. The two hedgehogs pulled away from each other instantaneously. They hear a voice from the kitchen: “We need to prepare the drinks. I hope Sonic and Shadow are back in time for the countdown,” they both recognized Amy’s voice. “We should head back,” Sonic said both frantically and disappointedly. “What if they suspect something?” Shadow responds worrying about Sonic. “Let them, I was planning on kissing you at midnight anyways,” Sonic responds confidently while opening the door. Both hedgehogs walk out and meet with everyone in the kitchen.
“Hey there you guys are!” Knuckles exclaims. Rouge looks at Shadow and winks. Shadow returns with a small smirk. “Here you guys go, don’t drink it until after we do cheers,” Amy hands them both glasses of champagne. They all go back outside to the fire as Tails carries his Miles Electric, which is showing the exact time down to the second: it is currently 11:59:12. Everyone forms a standing circle around the fire giggling and anticipating the moment. Sonic and Shadow stand next to each other smiling. Sonic speaks: “I’m glad I got to know you this year, Shadow. And I’m especially happy with how it’s about to end,” he confesses. Shadow blushes at his comment: “I feel the same way, Sonic. I’m excited to see what this new year brings for the both of us,” Shadow responds, reaching for Sonic’s hand with his empty one. The hedgehogs smile at each other before they hear the chants from everyone else: “10,9,8…!” Sonic and Shadow join in happily: “5,4,3..2…1…happy New Year!” Everyone shouts as they hear the sounds of fireworks coming from Times Square.
Shadow turns to give Sonic a kiss before everyone clinks their glasses together: “I’m excited to experience 2025 with you, hedgehog,” Shadow says. “Me too,” Sonic’s smile is filled with joy and contentness.
Everyone exclaimed “Cheers!” with each other before heading back inside to prepare to leave. Though two stayed outside, Sonic and Shadow, because Sonic didn’t want Shadow to leave without seeing him light the cheap firecrackers he bought.