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Valentine’s decor painted city block after city block in the frigid midnight glow. Decorative hearts had been placed behind every shop’s window, accenting the many commercial candies, cards, flowers, and jewelry on sale.
Shadow quietly emerged from a pitch black alleyway at the witching hour, shivering alone in the February cold. His ears twitched at the sound of two human girls laughing. His body tensed. There were civilians nearby!
“I think I saw a black cat!” One with long brown hair and salmon tips said merrily, twirling the other girl in her arms as she dragged her along. “Meow! Pspsps! Here, kitty kitty!”
She looked around, but the creature that caught her eye was nowhere to be seen.
Her red haired friend in feathery white gave a light giggle. “Um, Sara? I think it’s gone.”
“Aww, I hope it's not too lonely…”
Sara's friend gave her a reassuring kiss on the cheek and squeezed her hand. “There's plenty of cats out here, I'm sure one of them will keep it company…if not, I'll pray for it.”
Sara closed her eyes and leaned into her companion's touch. “You're the sweetest Valentine I ever had, Elise!”
Shadow peered out from under his blanket once they were far enough away. The girls were embracing and kissing right in the moonlight. Shadow sighed, gripping his blanket tighter.
It had been too long since he felt the loving touch of someone's hand. He was afraid that someday, he might forget what it felt like.
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⠀
⠀
Just like every other morning, Sonic was the first Wachowski up by several hours. He darted from his bed to an oversized bag of candy downstairs and all the way back just to nudge Tails’ face with it.
“C'mon, get up!” Sonic whispered. “All this candy isn't going to pass itself out!”
Tails yawned and slowly opened his eyes.
“Besides, I think someone already snuck a little something into your box.”
Sonic placed Tails’ heart covered shoebox onto his nightstand.
“Wha…?” Tails slowly opened its lid. “Aw, thin mints? Sonic, you shouldn’t have!”
Tails sprung out of bed into Sonic's arms, wrapping him in a tight hug.
“Happy Free Candy Day!” Sonic said, hugging him back.
They were both suddenly crushed in Knuckles’ arms.
“I am ready for the February candy ritual!”
When presented with the traditional grade school Valentine’s box materials the previous day, Knuckles opted for a simple Halloween decor goblet instead. He awkwardly picked it up in his mitten, swirled it around like a wine glass, and poured his candy onto the living room table. “Your Valentine offerings will not be in vain!” He reached for some sparkling grape juice and popped it open easily, but accidentally splashed some on his fur.
Tails laughed to himself from the other side of the table. He was in the midst of meticulously sorting all the candy from his box. “Any Valentine's plans, Sonic?”
Sonic eagerly spilled the contents of his Valentine's shoebox all over the living room table. “Eat chocolate, run off that chocolate, rinse, repeat, BOOM! That’s all I need for a perfect Valentine's! No date required!”
Tom couldn’t help but chuckle after a sip of his mocha. “Don't say that so fast, now. If you meet just the right person, Valentine's will be a lot more about them than it is about you. Isn't that right, Maddie?”
“Looks like you spoke too fast,” she commented in the middle of helping Knuckles scrub the grape juice out of his fur.
Sonic was already gone. So was a chunk of his candy. Wind blew through the open window.
Tom laughed to himself: “Sugar high.”
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⠀
Sonic cleared forest after forest, running only on the chocolates he was shoving into his mouth. The wind blowing his fur was ice cold, but his lightning fast feet burning up against the ground kept him perfectly comfortable. He passed tree after tree until suddenly- he ran into something!
“OOF! Hey, do you mi-”
Sonic gasped. His chocolate fell against the ground. Running never made him winded, but his breath was gone. His already racing heart flooded his senses.
Shadow's wide, red eyes were gazing into his. He was still and shivering subtly, but he still look just as perfect as he did when he was freshly dry in Tokyo.
“It's you…” Shadow said quietly.
“You’re…ALIVE?!” Sonic grabbed Shadow's hand and squeezed his thumb between Shadow’s inhibitor ring and his wrist. There was a genuine pulse almost as fast as his. Sonic smiled shakily. “YOU'RE ALIVE!”
Sonic eagerly squeezed Shadow in a tight hug. He had done this in so many dreams since the previous December and it still didn't feel true no matter how warm Shadow's fur was.
Shadow’s quills spiked up, then slowly fell against his fur. He melted into the hug like freshly warm butter.
“Ooh, I never thought I'd see you again!” Sonic pulled away, but kept his hands in Shadow's firm grip. “Your highlights still look FIRE, man!”
“Oh, um, thank you?”
“DUDE, we have SO MUCH to catch up on! Where have you been, what have you been doing, HOW DID YOU SURVIVE THE EXPLOSION? Oh wait, you're the ultimate teleporting life form, duh! But what about the first two?”
Shadow looked side-to-side past Sonic. “I’ve been hiding away, you’re actually the first person I’ve spoken to since...”
“Aw man, well what are we waiting for?!” Sonic scooped up the wrapped up chocolate that he dropped and placed them into Shadow’s hands. “It’s Valentine’s Day, let’s go do some hanging out!”
Shadow glanced aside, shifting the chocolates to one hand. “...Sure. Come on.”
Sonic felt a tug in his hand, but he immediately pulled Shadow back. “Wait, hang on, I gotta go get the fam! …You know, Tails, Knuckles, and-”
Shadow shook his head. “I’m…not ready to see them again, not yet.“ Shadow squeezed Sonic’s hand ever so slightly tighter. “But we can walk our own path if you’d like, somewhere no one else can bother us?”
A mourning dove cooed nearby. Sonic loosely held Shadow’s fingers in his hand as he silently considered his vague idea. There were just two problems: he was confused by what exactly Shadow had in mind and his sugarushed brain had a very specific idea of hanging out on it.
“Orrr I can show you the greatest mall on Earth now that you’re back from the dead!”
Shadow’s eyes squinted. He dropped Sonic’s hand.
Sonic awkwardly laughed. “Come on, it’ll be fun! There’s this new Chao plush that just came out and- OOH, they have a Hot Topic! Come ooonnn, you HAVE to see the Hot Topic!”
Shadow took a deep breath. “Do you promise that it’s just going to be us and no attention will be on us?”
Sonic smiled, taking one of Shadow’s hands back into his and linking his pinky with the other. “Pinky promise, hedgehog to hedgehog! Come on, let’s GO-”
Shadow distanced himself, but kept his fingers brushing against Sonic’s as long as he could as he backed away. “I’ll meet you after sundown, just tell me where it is.”
⠀
⠀
Just as the sky turned violet, Sonic arrived at his beloved mall with a chocolate rose in hand. Shadow was nowhere to be seen, but there was a 3’3” black blanket covered creature gesturing vaguely towards a shaded part of the exterior. Sonic cracked a chuckle and dashed to his side.
“Hey man, your Batman cosplay’s gonna need some work.”
Shadow tightened the blanket around himself. “I’m keeping a low profile.”
Sonic laughed harder. “Oh, I brought this!”
He passed Shadow the chocolate rose. Shadow held it close to his covered face, only giving Sonic a glimpse of his confused eyes.
“It’s…a fake rose?”
“An EDIBLE fake rose! I don’t know, our Aunt Rachel sends us these every year. I figured I shouldn’t show up empty handed.”
“I didn’t bring you anything…”
“Nonsense!”
Sonic flipped up the bottom of the blanket and joined Shadow under it, throwing an arm around him. “You brought a real cozy hiding spot!”
Shadow nuzzled close to Sonic, but kept squinting. “I don’t see how this is funny.”
“Come on!” Sonic held Shadow’s hand. “Let’s get you a more fashionable disguise!”
My Chemical Romance was a hit with the Hot Topic couples. A line of goth girls encompassing many different subcultures talked and kissed as they waited for the single dressing room to open. On the opposite side of the dressing room door, Sonic tapped his foot and fidgeted with his glove cuffs idly.
“You almost done in there, Shadow?”
“Ngh, don’t say my name so loudly!”
“It’s okay, you have fans here! Let those spiky walls down! Come on, strut, give us a show!”
There was a moment of silence. Then the door began to unlock. The girls paused their romantic activities with baited breath.
At the chorus of Helena, the door flew open. Shadow stepped out, completely obscured under layers of accessories and an oversized MCR Lovers hoodie; a tassel beanie with conveniently triangular ears covered Shadow’s head beneath the hood, a red and black studded belt loosely hung around the middle of the baggy hoodie, an absurd amount of bracelets squeezed the cuffs, black spike sunglasses covered the half of his eyes not covered by his lids, a black scarf wrapped around the neck covered his muzzle, and massive red and black striped leg warmers covered his ankles. The line of girls collectively cheered and “aww”d at him. Sonic couldn’t help but crack up; as cool as Shadow’s outfit was, it made him look like a small child crammed into his father’s coat.
Shadow thanked the girls with a subtle bow. “Sonic, are you sure you can afford all this?”
“Huh? Oh, psh, yeah, don’t worry about price! On special days like these, Tom uses THIS magic little money card!” Sonic fished a plastic card from behind his ear.
“Don’t tell me that’s your father’s credit card.”
“Pft, relax! I’ll, like, TOTALLY pay him back when I’m legally allowed to work!”
With Shadow sufficiently covered in trendy goth attire, it was Sonic’s turn to try on an outfit of his own. It took him a mere minute to find all the clothes and accessories and less than that to throw them on in the fitting room.
Sonic emerged to no fanfare except his own, but his enthusiasm more than made for it. His outfit, however, was not worth the hype. His atrocious outfit featured a silver sequin fringe jacket over a red Fortnite “PARTY!” Brat t-shirt, a Coca-Cola seatbelt belt, pixel sunglasses that haven’t been cool since 2016, all topped with a trio of buttons: one with a Athens warrior mouse on top of a hot dog reading “GLIZZY GLADIATOR,” one starring “MOZZARELLA STICKS,” and one featuring a weenie dog in a hot dog bun and sunglasses captioned “GLIZZY WITH THE RIZZY.”
“So,” Sonic lowered his sunglasses, “what do you think?”
“Throw the whole outfit away,” Shadow said bluntly.
“Aww…”
Once every accessory in Sonic’s outfit was back on the shelf and out of their collective cringe misery, it was time for Sonic to drag Shadow to Build-a-Bear. The new Chao Garden collaboration displayed in the window caught their eyes.
“Now I know this MIGHT not be up your alley,” Sonic began, “but trust me! This is REALLY fun once you-”
Sonic turned to look at Shadow, but he was already out of sight.
“...Shadow?”
He was already in the store carefully examining the skin of a dark chao plush. Shadow’s hands gently soaked in the soft texture of the flat plush. His eyes were fixated on the chao’s demonic little embroidered smile.
Sonic was quick to join Shadow’s side with a skin of the iconic blue chao in his hands. “You like this one?”
It was so subtle that no human mallgoer would have picked up on it, but Sonic noticed the slight twitch to Shadow’s scarf-covered muzzle; somewhere under all that fabric, he was smiling.
There was an absurdly long line of couples stretching outside of the store that the hedgehogs had to wait in. In the meantime, Sonic needed to stimulate their hangout with some conversation.
“So…” he began, tapping his foot to a distant, generic mall song. “Did, uh, did you and Maria do anything for Valentine’s?”
Shadow nodded, holding the flat dark chao closer to him. “We had one Valentine’s day together. She emptied two tissue boxes, passed me some red markers, and covered hers in little hearts. I was confused at first, but I trusted her enough to write my name on it without question.“
Sonic’s foot tapping slowed. His ears perked up. “And the next day, you got free candy, right?”
“Some of the gifts she gave me were candy, but the main gift was a stuffed hedgehog with a hand drawn card attached to its neck. I wasn’t sure what to give her, so I just plucked some lavender outside and stuffed it in her box. I felt like my gift was inferior, but she hugged me and said ‘Shadow, getting to spend your first Valentine’s Day with you is all I wanted. You’re the best little Valentine a girl could ask for.’”
“Aw, that must have been nice!”
“Yeah, it was.”
From there, the conversation drifted to Sonic’s various Valentine’s experiences on Earth. He detailed how when he was a hoglet, he spent every Valentine’s hiding away from civilization as usual, only being able to watch as the Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady went to some sort of cheesecake factory and back annually. He finally got to participate when Donut Lord introduced Sonic to the fun kids’ Valentine traditions shortly after moving in. That led to this very year and Sonic getting to keep those traditions going with his built up family.
“But, like, this is the first Valentine’s Day I spent alone with someone!” Sonic mused. “Isn’t that cool-”
Shadow gripped Sonic’s hand. “It’s our turn.”
A smiling employee was beckoning them over.
“Right on!” Sonic cheered.
Shadow gently nudged Sonic in the back to stuff his chao before him, but the employee was quick to reassure him.
“It’s okay, you can make them together.”
Soon, Sonic and Shadow were each giving their chaos’ little hearts a kiss and a wish. Sonic just wished for Shadow to have a good Valentine’s, but he was far more interested in what Shadow was thinking as he so thoughtfully held onto the delicate little fabric heart in his hand.
“Come on, you can tell me what you wished for!” Sonic put the finishing brush on his chao’s fabric. “Just, like, whisper it to me really quietly! I’ll cover my chao’s ears just in case it has any!”
Shadow shook his head. “Maria never let me say my wishes out loud. ‘Then they’ll never come true,’ she said.”
“Alright, man, whatever you say.”
“Even if I knew Maria’s wish, that’s between her and Beans now.”
“Beans?”
Shadow made his chao’s nubby little hand wave at Sonic. “That’s their name: ‘Beans,’ as in coffee beans.”
“Ooh! Cute!” Sonic made his chao wave back at Beans. “I’m calling mine Turbo! Turbo says ‘What’s up?’”
Shadow playfully batted Turbo with Beans’ face.
“Dude! …Was that a headbutt or a kiss?”
“That’s between Beans and I.”
The next order of business for Beans and Turbo was picking outfits for them. Sonic tried many different looks on his chao, but Shadow shook his head at each of them.
“Oh come on, you haven’t even tried anything on him yet!”
“Beans is already perfect.” Shadow showed off his little chao with one of the spiked bracelets from his arm repurposed into a miniature spiked collar.
“Hey, that looks cool!”
Shadow plucked another bracelet from his hand. “If Turbo doesn’t bother Beans, he can get one too.”
Sonic gasped. “Really?! Turbo says ‘Thanks!’”
Admittingly, the spiked collar looked a little ridiculous on the baby blue chao. Regardless, Turbo was perfectly radical in Sonic’s eyes.
Just as they were about to finish their little visit with some birth certificates, Sonic nudged Shadow as he pointed to a matching pair of shirts. Beans left the store held tightly in Shadow’s arms wearing a shirt captioned “Love you!” and a few hearts. In Sonic’s arm, Turbo’s shirt said “Love you more!” in a similar fashion.
Sonic reached for Beans. “You know, I can hold him if you don’t want to-”
Shadow’s grip tightened. “I’ll carry him.”
“That’s cool! Aw man, what a great start! There’s so much more we can do like, uh, we can get those boba teas that Tails really likes, we can hit up the candy store and take advantage of the free samples, or OOH, there’s a small theme park somewhere in this mall, we can so go on the ferris wheel and-”
“ATTENTION SHOPPERS, EMPIRE CITY MALL WILL BE CLOSING IN 5 MINUTES!”
“OH COME ON!” Sonic yelled at the ceiling. “That theme park looked SO cool too!”
Shadow tightened the strings on his new hoodie to further hide himself as Sonic hooked his arm around Shadow’s and rushed themselves outside. An ice cold shower rained all over the mall’s exterior.
“Ugh, who decided to put the LOVE holiday in FEBRUARY?” Sonic shivered. He was stumbling clumsily over every step, almost slipping a few times.
Shadow caught Sonic in his free hoodie sleeve. “What’s wrong with you?”
Sonic clung closely to Shadow, soaking in any body heat he could get. “These…are the consequences of running without eating. Are you hungry too?”
“I don’t…get hungry.”
“Lucky! Welp, you got any preferences?”
Shadow shrugged. “You can get yourself something, I’ll just-”
“WAIT! I know just the place!” Sonic took Shadow’s hand. “If I start falling over again, just carry me!”
Shadow gripped Beans tightly in his arm. “Mhm.”
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The closest Cheesecake Factory to Green Hills was as unreasonably aesthetically beautiful as the rest in the United States. Unfortunately, like on any widespread special occasion, it was also a MADHOUSE.
There wasn’t an inch in the waiting area NOT taken by somebody. The waiting crowd spilled well into the parking lot, filling it with the loud ambience of impatient humans.
Being the short hedgehogs they were, Sonic didn’t see the crowd of humans on its own as a challenge, but Shadow was already intimidated. He grimaced with the agony of someone on the verge of vomiting.
“I’ll go get us a table!” Sonic exclaimed.
Shadow recoiled into his thick hoodie. “I’m staying outside. Just get a table for yourself.”
“Aw, but this place is so fancy! You'll love it!”
“Not with all that…brightness and those…people.” Shadow shuddered.
“I’m telling you, the cheesecake is so worth it! It's just the waiting that'll suck, but it can't be THAT bad if Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady do this every year!”
Shadow remained quiet. He was eyeing the other side of the parking lot. Two dark trees stood alone in the darkness.
“Fine, I'll get us takeout, how's that?” Sonic asked.
“Do you see that lone bench all the way over there?” Shadow pointed to a bench between the two distant trees. “I will be there. Meet me with the food.”
“In this rain?!”
“When you've been submerged for 50 years, the rain feels like nothing. Besides, anything is better than this madhouse you brought me to.”
Sonic rolled his eyes. He squeezed through the dense crowd all the way to the hostess. She was frantically going over the tables on her map, shaking as if she could crack at any minute.
“Hey!”
“GAH!”
She looked from her left to her right back to her left, holding her hand to her heart. Sonic gave her a little visual nudge by jumping up and waving his hands. She sighed.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you there. Um, how many?”
“I'm just taking some food to-go!”
“Uhuh…yeah, that’s going to be about a uhh…three hour wait just to order.”
Sonic’s eyes burst open. Three hours of waiting was horrible enough, but three hours hungry was downright torture.
“Um, uh, ahah, uh, actually…! I um, can’t, nevermind!”
“Oh thank god…”
“Hm?”
“Nothing! Have a good Valentine’s day!”
Sonic started pushing his way back through the crowd, but was caught off guard by the passive aggressive voice of the Donut Lord.
“Sonic Maurice Wachowski?”
Sonic’s fur stood as stiff as his spines. “Ack, not the full name-!”
Sonic forced a smile and slowly walked towards his parents. Tom and Maddie were sitting against the wall. Tom already had his hand outstretched.
“Have I ever mentioned how amazing you two look?” Sonic yapped. “You are so ready for a Valentine’s date!”
“Sonic,” Tom flicked his wrist up for a second, “I couldn’t help but notice an empty slot in my wallet and a few unexpected charges.”
Sonic’s ears drooped. Ah, so this was how his perfect plan ended. He reached behind his ear and handed the credit card back to its rightful owner. Tom wasted no time getting it back into his wallet.
“Tomorrow, we can have our little talk about financial responsibility and credit card fraud, but you know, Tails and Knuckles haven’t seen you all day. Is there someone, maybe someone special that you’re with?”
Sonic bit his cheek. He glanced in Shadow’s vague direction to the wide open doors. “There…may or may not be an old…kinda goth friend with me.”
Tom put $20 into Sonic’s hand. “Have fun on your date, just remember your curfew.”
Sonic blushed. “W-What?! No, I’m not on a date, it’s just a boys’ night!”
“Sonic. You can tell us all about it tomorrow when we inevitably ground you. Go have fun.”
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“WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S $28.30?!”
The Subway employee shrugged. “2 sandwiches, 2 drinks, and 2 cookies: 28.30. Will that be cash or card, little man?”
“I can’t believe it…” Sonic fell to his knees, “the $5 footlong was a LIE!”
“Just take off my food,” Shadow said quietly. “I’ll be fine. Like I said, I don’t get hungry.”
Sonic shook his head and left the Subway empty handed and empty stomached. “No! Donut Lord gave me this money specifically to have a good night out with you.”
“Tom said have a fun night…with me? You…” Shadow hugged Beans close as he turned away from Sonic, “you told him about me.”
“What? No, Shadow!”
Shadow backed away from the lit, sheltered Subway entrance and into the rainy night. He threw his blanket over his head with Beans held protectively against his chest. Sonic rushed to his side.
“Shadow, I didn’t say you specifically!” Sonic “Come on, the night’s still young, there’s plenty more I want to show you!”
“Look, it’s been a fun night…” Shadow picked up the pace of his walk, “but that’s enough.” Shadow tightly gripped the blanket over his eyes and ears. “I think I had enough of the world today.”
There was a cold beat of silence and rainfall. Sonic fidgeted with Turbo’s collar. He wanted so badly to reach out and grab Shadow, but Shadow appeared to be recoiling from everything around him in his turtle shell of a blanket. It was a behaviour that he was used to seeing in Tails’ most panicked moments.
Sonic inhaled and exhaled deeply. “You’re overstimulated, aren’t you?”
Shadow nodded. “Goodnight and goodbye, Sonic. Thank you for everything: Beans, the clothes, the rose, and…trying to make this fun.”
“Hey, wait, I just want to say one thing to you before you go.”
Shadow’s step paused. There was another cold, silent moment only filled by the sound and icy touch of rain.
Sonic chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. “I should have asked you this before, but…is there anything you wanted to do today?”
Shadow turned his face back to Sonic, opening his eyes back up. “There’s one place.”
Sonic closed the gap between them, offering the palm of his hand. “Lead the way. The day was mine, the night’s all yours.”
A gust of wind brushed away the opening of Shadow’s blanket and his scarf, unveiling his smile.
Shadow gripped Sonic’s hand tightly. There was a sudden rush of wind and a surge of chaos energy. They reappeared in some kind of hole-in-the-wall local sandwich shop.
“You…wanted to show me a better sandwich place? You know what? I’ll take it.”
Shadow shook his head. “This isn’t the place, but you should eat first, we might stay there for a while. And look…” Shadow pointed Sonic’s eyes to the menu written on the humble walls in chalk. “We can actually afford these superior sandwiches.”
The delightful scent of cheesesteaks filled the air. Sonic soaked it into his nose, letting the aroma of fresh meat and cheese welcome him with warm arms.
“Shadow, have you ever had a cheesesteak?” Sonic asked.
“Um, no…” Shadow glanced aside. “Most food is unappetizing to me.”
“Then what food do you like?”
“...I liked the chocolate you gave me.”
“Aw!”
Shadow blushed. “As for here, I, um…I’m not sure.”
“How about we spend all our money on some small samples and see what you like? It’ll be like a sandwich tour!”
“I don’t know…you shouldn’t waste your money on anything we wouldn’t like.”
“Dude! Everything here is meat, cheese, onions, all my all-star favorites! If there’s anything you don’t like, I’ll eat it no questions asked and LOVE it!”
Shadow nodded. “Then let’s do it.”
⠀
⠀
“Can I open them yet, Shadow?!”
“No! Keep them shut!”
Sonic groaned, but kept running blind under Shadow’s lead. He hadn’t been allowed to see since he finished his half of the sandwiches back at the shop (Shadow turned out to be quite fond of the spicier half of their sample platter) and the suspense was strangling him.
“Dude, if I knew you were going to go this far, I would have just given you a ring or- hey, wait, can’t you teleport?!”
“Open your eyes.”
Sonic finally got his grand reveal. When his vision came into focus, all he could see were lavenders for a mile. Behind them was the old GUN base that Shadow originated from. It smelled like floral heaven. With the rain far behind them, it was just Sonic, Shadow back in his natural outfit, Beans, Turbo, the waning gibbous moon, a luscious sea of lavenders, and a luminous ocean of stars.
“Lavenders? In February!? It’s…so beautiful!”
Shadow was already sitting. He patted the ground next to him with his free hand. Sonic fell to his knees and leaned into Shadow’s shoulder.
“These were once ordinary Earth lavenders, but some curious scientists used my DNA to make them forever in bloom. They called it the ultimate lifeform gene, Maria called it my miracle of life. I’ve been coming back here every night since December, but it’s not the same without someone to stargaze with.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Sonic gripped Shadow’s hand and pulled him into laying down beside him. “Let’s have a little adventure with our eyes!”
They both used their chao as pillows as they gazed at the stars above. Shadow pointed out each constellation. Sonic didn’t know nearly as much astronomy, but he eagerly pointed to the faint glimmer of his distant home planet.
Shadow leaned into Sonic’s arm, finally comfortable.
“You know, funny thing, Donut Lord called this hangout a date! Can you believe it?”
Shadow recoiled and jolted upwards. “Is this…not a date?”
A fiery blush rocketed through Sonic. “I…I mean, I just thought…” Sonic scratched the back of his neck. “You know, we’re two guys just hanging out! …one on one…on Valentine’s day…” Sonic’s knees drew into his chest. “C-Come on, man, I didn’t know you swung that way!”
Shadow cocked his head at Sonic. “Swinging? What are you talking about?”
Sonic quietly gasped for breath. The fresh lavender wind could only relax his rapid heartbeat so much. “Look, Shadow, um…did you want this to be a date?”
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
The wind breezed through Sonic’s burning fur. He was no longer just in the lavender field, he was suddenly at a fork in the road! His eyes focused on the distant moon. The ARK laid suspended right beside it.
On one hand, Sonic never considered himself the romantic type. Heck, the idea of marriage scared him more than any horror movie! To bind himself to one person for the rest of his life, but in a non-familial way where things could just…fall apart at any time? No thank you!
On the other hand, there was no denying from Sonic that he felt something in his heart for Shadow. The last month had been littered with too many insomniac nights in the Wachowski attic where all he could think of was the many things he’d do with Shadow if they could meet again: the words he never got to say, the hugs he never got to give, and the appreciation from the bottom of his heart that he never got to show.
Sonic had his brothers, but Shadow and him had such a deep one-on-one harmony that he felt incomplete without.
Oh, darn, that’s what LOVE is!
After fanning the red from his cheeks, Sonic took Shadow’s hand in his and drew their eye level back against the ground. “I don’t know a whole lot about love, but I…” Sonic smiled. He felt like such an idiot losing his train of thought like this in front of someone so cool. “I…you’re the best Valentine any hedgehog could ask for.”
Shadow planted a gentle kiss on Sonic’s nose. The spark sent Sonic giggling.
“Dude! You call THAT a Valentine’s kiss?”
Shadow hid his red face beneath some lavender stems. Sonic rolled right onto Shadow’s chest and gripped his hands.
“Okay, so I have like NO idea what I’m doing, but-”
Shadow pulled him in closer. “Don’t waste our time with words! Hold me and show me how you really feel.”
Cold February winds blew a gentle gust through the lavender field. Quiet whispers flurried through the flowers. Like clockwork, a swirl of wind sent the lavenders coating Sonic and Shadow to blanket them the moment Sonic and Shadow’s lips met. Their arms gently gripped the base of each other's back spines.
“If this is how love is, then I’ll love you for as long as my heart beats,” Sonic whispered.
Shadow nuzzled against Sonic’s cheek. “You should use my heart; it’ll never stop beating, all thanks to you.”
Had the moon stayed in the sky that night forever, they would have never let go.