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Sonic needed the yellow chaos emerald.
The issue with this need, however- is that Shadow has it.
And he had no idea where Shadow was. Not in this distorted time. He was running across miles of pure white for a while now, sometimes finding lands of places he’s forgotten about.
At the very least, it seems like time wasn’t moving. But.. At the same time, that meant he had no idea how much time he had left before everything became obsolete.
So he had to hurry.
He keeps running, until he sees something new in the distance.
A large ball floating in the sky, and it looked.. Were those eyeballs? That…
Wait.
He skids to a stop, staring up at it from afar.
Well if that wasn’t one of the creepiest things he’s seen. Yet also familiar. What was familiar about it….
Sonic’s eyebrow’s furrow and he taps his foot in place, before letting out a huff and shaking his head. Nope. He needs a closer look.
He dashes towards it, only stopping when one of those giant eyeballs snaps open and immediately looks at him.
Oh god. That was unsettling.
He tilts his head, putting a hand on his hip and squinting.
What has he faced in the past that looked like….
…
Something was flying towards him in the shape of a star, it also had an eyeball in the mid- oh holy crap that was Black Doom.
His eyes widen and he has to take a few steps backwards in disbelief. Okay. So maybe time distortion wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine adventures with his past self.
Sonic lets out an embarrassing ‘eep’ when he quickly dodges the flying eye, looking around rapidly once steady again.
Where did he-
“Sonic the hedgehog.”
His voice makes his quills go up defensively and he immediately turns around.
“Well you’re still as ugly as you’ve ever been.” Sonic remarks cooly, his hands clenching into fists. “I don’t think I have time to talk with you, though. As much as I’d love to insult ya some more!”
“I don’t have time for you either. Your purpose is worthless in the bigger picture of everything.” It gets closer, making Sonic tense up. “Although, you could have.. Some use to me.”
Whatever that means.
He’d rather not find out.
Sonic jumps up with his fist in the air,
If Black Doom was here. That meant Shadow was very likely here too.
And Black Doom already tried to ruin Shadow’s life once.
Forget the yellow chaos emerald for now.
He punches the ugly alien in his ugly face, a smirk on his face as he does. But that smirk is quickly wiped away by a look of surprise as the alien disappears and reappears behind him.
Oh shoot.
He yelps when he’s slammed into the ground, bouncing up and falling again when he gets hit again.
Okay. Ouch. Not cool.
Sonic puts a hand underneath himself to get up, “You suck.”
He almost gets his head smashed, one of the tentacles hitting his ear instead.
Oh holy crap that hurt.
Jeez, Black Doom hit hard- he thinks his ear feels a bit uh..
Ow ow ow ow-
He dodges another hit, no time to think about his definitely broken ear now.
He’s not sure if he can manage the alien on his own, and it’s not like he was protecting anyone from it right now. But if he ran away, what if he accidentally led Black Doom to someone?
He decides to start running circles around it in an attempt to throw it off, spin dashing out of his looping right into the eyeball as soon as it looked confused.
…Instead of landing right back on the ground afterwards, he’s suspended in the air by his scruff.
What the hell.
He lets out a growl when he’s held up in front of a fully formed Black Doom instead of just the weird starfish eyeball, glaring at him as he struggles in his grip.
There’s a claw under his chin, forcing his head up to look at his now even uglier mug.
“I don’t intend to kill you yet.” His voice grates on his ears, “I’ll savor that later. For the time being, you will play the role as bait.”
As.. Bait..?
Wait.
Ohhh Shadow was going to be so mad at him for coming here. He should’ve focused on his own past, huh?
His quills sticking into Black Doom do nothing to get him to let go, and he feels helpless as he teleports away with the alien.
He ends up pinned against the ground by one of Black Doom’s many alien soldiers in a group of the damn things.
He’s not sure where they are. It looks like the inside of a temple, he thinks.
Not that he can see too much with his face squished against the ground.
He felt like a bug about to be crushed.
This wasn’t great, huh?
Sonic lets out a sound similar to a yip when claws sink into his head, well- no dignity left then. Or something like that.
Damn his ear hurts.
Sonic’s good ear perks up when he hears sounds of a struggle from afar.
Annnd it’s followed by the sound of a gun.
How lovely, his cavalry has arrived.
What did Black Doom say? He’s bait? Well. He’s pretty sure Shadow would’ve come here regardless to beat these guys asses. But sure. He can sit looking pretty as an addition to that.
Though he’s not sure if he’s actually looking 'pretty' right now.
His thoughts are cut off by the claws digging deeper into his head, and he lets out a whine.
Blood goes down his face, that can’t be good.
More noises of aliens getting their faces punched in, until Sonic can finally hear the fire power of Shadow’s skates.
Those skates come to a halt, and it’s followed by a confused breath of air.
“....Sonic.” Shadow’s voice has his tail wagging despite the situation he was in.
“Sha-” Sonic chokes on what he’s saying when he’s lifted into the air by his neck.
He can see Shadow now that his face isn’t on the floor, and boy does he look pissed.
The other hedgehog is looking him over, and Sonic can see a moment where something clicks in his brain- he’s not sure what, but his eyes widen and he’s teleporting out of his sight.
He knows what Shadow did when he abruptly drops to the ground with an ‘oomf’, no longer in the claws of the alien.
Well, some bait he was, huh? What was the point of it?
While the alien gets its ass kicked, he pushes himself up off the ground and stands up on shaky legs.
Alright. So. A broken ear and some scratches. No issue. He can help Shad-
Ohhh Shadow is ripping that alien into pieces.
Sonic gets a good look around, all the other aliens are gone- probably dead- and the temple was cleared out. And yet…
Okay, seriously- what was Black Doom’s plan supposed to be?
He can’t see any traps. The point of bait is usually to use it in a trap- right? Maybe Black Doom was just testing Shadow then?
..No, that actually adds up. Black Doom had that weird obsession with making Shadow his own and testing his strength. He can’t remember exactly why, but he definitely remembers that obsession.
“What-” Oh, hello Shadow The Hedgehog suddenly all up in my personal space- “-are you doing here?” He hisses out, grabbing Sonic by his chest fur.
“Nice to see you too, Shadow.” Sonic laughs somewhat nervously, raising his hands in the air. “I was looking for you. But y’know, I also found some aliens and uh.. Well! I was apparently supposed to be bait for you!”
Shadow’s eye twitches and he lets Sonic go, “Bait?”
“That’s what Mr. ‘Doom’ said. Doesn’t seem like anything happened, though. Aside from me getting some scratches and a broken ear.” Sonic huffs out with a shrug.
“Hmph.” Shadow looks Sonic over, head tilting. “He was likely testing me…” That’s what he was thinking! “But it doesn’t matter. You need to go back to wherever you came from. Leave this to me, I can handle Black Doom.”
“Oh, I know you can.” Sonic waves him off, “I actually needed the yellow chaos emerald from you.. But it can wait until you’re done here. I’ve wasted enough time being pinned down by the uglies here.”
Shadow looks at him with a bit of surprise, as if he didn’t expect for Sonic to give in so easily.
“Anyways, let’s split-” Sonic moves to step forward and lets out a yelp when his leg completely betrays him- giving him the worst pain in the world.
Okay! His leg was also broken.
Shadow ends up catching him, grumbling under his breath.
“...Oopsie.” Sonic laughs, but then whines when he moves wrongly on the bad leg.
Shadow’s grip on him tightens, “..I’m taking you to the Professor.”
“Professor? Who- Woah,” He blinks as he’s suddenly in a bridal carry, “I could’ve-”
“No. No you couldn’t have.” Shadow deadpans, “Let’s not waste any more time debating on it.”
Sonic pouts, but wraps his arms around Shadow’s neck just in time as he takes off skating.
.....
Sonic does not expect to see the one and only Maria.
It.. Gives him a very funny feeling in his chest when he sees her as Shadow skates towards her and- yeah. That was definitely Gerald Robotnik.
Time distortion, huh? He didn’t think about how…
Shadow’s past….
A part of him hopes this’ll offer more closure for Shadow.
“Shadow?” Maria’s voice makes Sonic’s ear twitch in an attempt to pay close attention to what she says- knowing that he will never get this moment again. “Who is this?”
Gerald is staring at him in fascination, but Sonic can’t pull his eyes away from Maria- so he doesn’t see.
“He’s-” Shadow starts,
“I’m Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog!” Sonic interrupts with a bright grin and a wagging tail.
Shadow rolls his eyes, “I was going to say my biggest nuisance. But that works too.”
“Psht, don’t listen to him. He loves me.” Sonic says, earning a huff from the other.
Maria covers her mouth in a little laugh, “Well it’s good to meet you! I’m Maria, this is my Grandfather-” She gestures to Gerald, whom Sonic finally looks at.
Wow. He can see the relation between him and Eggman.
…His tail stops wagging.
Gerald tilts his head down, “Gerald Robotnik.” He introduces, putting his hands behind his back. “Any reason for you holding Sonic, Shadow?” He inquires curiously.
“His leg is broken. Can you help him?” Shadow questions, shifting his position as to hold Sonic more out towards the professor.
Sonic tenses and his grip on the other tightens, it makes Shadow look at him oddly.
“I see…” Gerald is looking at his leg now, “I’d have to get a closer look, and I’d need something to bind it.. But I can do what I can while I’m here. I must ask, however..” He shifts his gaze back to Shadow, “Any reason you couldn’t bind it yourself? If I recall correctly, we had you learn first aid for Maria’s sake. Am I correct?”
Shadow grimaces, “Yes. But…”
“Shadow, did you just wanna drop him off with us and run off again?” Maria questions this time, startling Sonic’s attention back onto her. She has a hand on her hip, and she’s pointing at Shadow in an accusatory manner. “He doesn’t know us like that! You should be here for your friend. Plus, it wouldn’t even take you that long to help him out.”
Sonic has a look of fondness on his face for seeing a side of Maria he never heard about and Shadow looks… Well. Lectured.
Gerald smiles in amusement, “She’s not wrong. Your friend doesn’t seem very enthusiastic to accept my help, anyhow.”
Sonic’s expression turns sheepish at being called out. “It’s not you…” He mumbles, ear twitching again-
“Wait- Is his ear okay??” Maria steps forward, raising a hand up. She looks to Sonic’s face first, as if asking for permission- and Sonic doesn’t even hesitate to nod. She runs her hand over his head with care, a frown deep on her face as she does. “Blood…” She murmurs, “I just.. Noticed his ear was flopped when his other one moved… Though maybe it could’ve been normal. It is cute but there’s blood here too.”
“It’s totally broken,” Sonic confirms with a lighthearted grin, “I got hit by a pretty nasty guy, but now that I know that Shads here is a trained professional- I bet he’ll help me get to one hundred percent in no time!” He gives Maria a thumbs up, making her smile back.
“Exactly!” She says back, and looks to Shadow just as Sonic does.
Shadow’s eye twitches, but he lets out a long sigh and plops himself down onto the ground with Sonic in his lap.
Couldn’t handle the pressure of two pairs of wide, hopeful eyes staring at him then.
“I was going to come back.” Shadow says quietly, “I had to check on something… But Maria is right.”
Sonic looks a tad guilty, “If it’s important, Shads, don’t let me keep you from goin’.”
“It’s not.” Shadow insists, “Anyways. You were just convincing me to stay- don’t try to get me to leave so quickly.” He says with an amused look, “I’ll set your ears and leg, then heal what I can with the chaos emerald. No binding needed.”
“Oh! Right, the chaos emerald.” Sonic perks up, “I was a little scared I was gonna have to go running on one leg for a while!”
“...Idiot.” Shadow scoffs, ignoring Sonic’s ‘hey!’ in favor of looking up to Maria and Gerald. “Do either of you have bandages?”
“Obviously.” Maria says with a laugh, turning towards the professor and reaching into one of his lab pockets. He looks used to it, not saying anything as she pulls out a roll of bandages.
“Thank you.” Shadow says gratefully, taking them and setting them aside for now.
“No healing me entirely then with the emerald, huh?” Sonic says lightly, not at all upset about it- just curious.
“Hm. Only your major injuries. Your leg will still feel weak afterwards too.” He puts his hand on Sonic’s broken leg and Sonic lets out a pained breath of air. “The emeralds have their limits on healing until you get all seven, you’ll be fine later.”
“The chaos emeralds can heal…” Gerald sounds curious, “How does that work?”
Shadow’s ear twitches, “They don’t necessarily heal. It’s more like…” He tilts his head in thought as he runs his hand over Sonic’s leg as gently as he can. “Reversing the injury. I.. Don’t know how to properly describe it. But it can’t heal something like an illness, not with one emerald- anyways. All Seven can help burn a sickness out, but you’ll still feel weak afterwards.”
Sonic can’t look at his leg getting set. So he does something entirely reasonable- which is shoving his face into Shadow’s shoulder.
Shadow ignores it, because he found exactly where he needed to set the leg and does it without any warning.
This pulls a hurt yelp out of Sonic, Maria immediately putting her hand back onto his head and petting at his quills gently- making sure to pet down instead of up to avoid the quills that were going up and down in a defensive way from the pain.
“Reverse the injury…” Gerald mumbles, bringing a hand to his chin in contemplation. “Then why set the leg first?”
“Not.. Maybe not reversing,” Shadow coaxes Sonic’s face away from his shoulder, inspecting the scratches on his head first with care. “It’s..” He lets out a sigh, “Complicated.”
Sonic has stopped processing the conversation at this point, rather taking the time to just breath in and out.
Maria pulls her hands away from his quills when Shadow gestures for her to, and she rests a hand on his back instead.
..Shadow then takes his broken ear into both of his hands.
It takes everything to not react to that.
“..You don't think it'd be possible to use the emeralds to-”
Sonic interrupts Gerald with a cry, his ear getting set but..
“It's still floppy..” Maria says worryingly as she rubs Sonic’s back.
“It is. Just hold on.” Shadow takes out the yellow chaos emerald he has, “and to answer your question, Professor. No. Not with the emeralds alone.”
Sonic leans heavily against Shadow with a frown on his face, appreciating the help but hating that he needed it. Mostly for the pain part of it.
Shadow shuts his eyes and focuses the power from the emerald into Sonic’s leg and ear. Sonic feels the warmth spread throughout him, and- yeah, that felt much better. He relaxes, untensing and ignoring the weird feeling of his leg’s bone healing without the pain accompanying it.
“Thanks, Shadow.” Sonic says in genuine appreciation when the other pulls the emerald away and puts it back into his own quills.
“Sure.” Shadow doesn't push him away quite yet for some reason, “Can you stand?”
Oh. That's the reason.
“...Wait.” Maria raises a hand back up to Sonic’s ear again. She gently pokes it, “..still floppy. Does it hurt?”
Sonic blinks, “No, it feels fine. Maybe a little sore?”
“Damn it.” Shadow curses under his breath, “Hold on. I set it right, but…” He messes with Sonic’s ear, applying pressure in different places and feeling around.
It takes all Sonic’s power to not start purring now that it didn't hurt.
His face flushes lightly in embarrassment.
“Hmph.” Shadow sounds very displeased. “I'll bandage it in the right position… I need to cover your scratches anyways. Hopefully when you eventually go super, it'll heal completely.” He says, grabbing the bandages he put to the side.
As Shadow wraps the bandages around his head and ear, Sonic stares at Shadow’s face of concentration.
Shadow was easy to look at.
He doesn’t know how else to say it, he liked looking at the other hedgehog.
He looks away from Shadow’s face when he realizes he was lingering too long on the other’s eyes, and he sees Maria’s smug smile instead.
…..
He squints at her, and she squints back.
“Alright.” Shadow hums, finishing tying the bandages. “Try to stand now.”
Sonic snaps his gaze away from Maria’s knowing look and gives Shadow a thumbs up. “Okie dokie!”
And he shifts a bit to get his feet underneath him properly, before carefully standing with Maria’s hand still on his back.
Shadow puts a hand on his stomach when he stumbles a little bit forward.
“Remarkable.” Gerald comments when Sonic finds his footing and gives Shadow a reassuring pat on the hand to indicate he was okay. “A broken leg so easily healed…”
“Yeah, well. Shadow is pretty remarkable.” Sonic comments with ease, winking the hedgehog’s way. Maria laughs while Shadow scowls.
“He is!” Maria agrees, turning Shadow’s scowl into something softer.
“Anyways, now that I’m back on my feet,” Sonic crouches down, starting to stretch out both of his legs. “I got more chaos emeralds to collect and friends to get out of that time distortion!” When he stops stretching, he does a little hop to make sure his legs wouldn’t collapse underneath him and he faces Maria with a bright grin. “It was great to meet you, Maria!”
“And it was good to see that Shadow has friends in the future!” Maria says with utter delight, “Do me a favor and look after him, kay? And you look after yourself, too. Rest up when you can!”
Shadow huffs when Sonic nods his head. “Absolutely! I promise I will. And you make sure he doesn’t do anything reckless while he’s here.”
“Hypocrite-” Shadow mutters while Maria nods her head seriously.
“Oh!, and before you go,” Maria gestures for Sonic to get closer, and when he does she whispers into his ear.
Shadow squints at them, his ear flicking in confusion when Sonic’s face turns red and he backs up to stare at Maria in bafflement.
“You are so much bolder than I thought you’d be.” Sonic says, crossing his arms and tapping his foot against the ground. “But fine. Just for you, Maria.”
Sonic turns to Shadow, Shadow tenses.
“Thank you again, Shads.” Sonic says warmly, a smile on his face. This makes Shadow untense, “And..” He gets closer to Shadow, making sure to get close enough so he can whisper and Maria wouldn’t hear. “Don’t leave anything unsaid, yeah?” He says quietly, his smile turning bittersweet.
Shadow looks across Sonic’s face, maybe searching for something else- before he looks over at Maria for a moment.
She’s smiling at him.
He tears his gaze back to Sonic, and he nods his head. “I won’t.” He promises.
“Good.” Sonic leans a bit forward, and Shadow tilts his head in confusion. They stare into each other’s eyes, searching once again- Shadow sees hesitation- but also something utterly soft. The other was asking permission to do something, and he wasn’t sure what.
Shadow contemplates, knowing that Sonic wouldn’t be asking for something that would ultimately hurt him.
Was this what Maria wanted from Sonic? Or was it something Sonic wanted too?
..Yet, Sonic wouldn’t do something he didn’t want to.
Shadow lets out a sigh, and his face softens into acceptance.
Sonic’s ear perks up, and he gives Shadow a gentle kiss on his cheek.
Shadow’s eyes widen, staring dumbfounded at the other when he pulls back and winks. Sonic’s tail is wagging again, and he shifts away from Shadow to get into a running stance.
“See ya later, Shadow!” And he’s off, the wind from him taking off blowing into all three of them.
“Woah!” Maria laughs out, “He’s fast.”
“..Hm.” Gerald, after being silent for a bit, shakes his head. “He was… Energetic.”
Shadow is still sorting through his thoughts, and he’s oblivious to his own tail wagging- though it’s certainly slower than how Sonic’s was.
“You okay, Shadow?” Maria questions, snapping him out of his thinking. He looks at her, staying silent for a moment.
“I’ll be fine.” He says simply, “I need to go. But I’ll be back.” Shadow takes out the yellow chaos emerald again and teleports away.
Gerald is staring where he just was, “You don’t think I made Sonic too uncomfortable, do you?” He questions Maria.
Maria shakes her head, “Oh. I couldn’t be sure. I guess he didn’t say bye to you, but you do look quite silly.” She says teasingly.
“Ohohoho, perhaps I do. Though, I think you’re just far easier to trust over an old man like me.” He nods his head, “I couldn’t imagine having both of them on the ark, however. Not with you there too.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Maria questions, eyebrow raised.
“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing. But you and Shadow got into enough trouble.” He hums, “Two hedgehogs wrapped around your finger? We’d have a lot more to worry about than simply knocking over some pastries.”
“Pssht.” Maria giggles, “Maybe you’re right. I don’t think it would’ve been so bad to have someone Shadow could relate to, though..”
“Perhaps.” Gerald looks contemplative, “Though it seems like the timeline is already set in stone. They met at some point, maybe they’ll find one another soon.”
“I like that thought.” She hums, sounding hopeful. “It doesn’t seem like Shadow introduces me to him though. I guess he might be embarrassed. I don’t see why he should be! Sonic is so sweet.”
Gerald is quiet in response to that, before he clears his throat. “Well, I suppose we’ll have to wait and find out what happens from here.”
“Mhm!”
…..
On the other side of the white expanse, Sonic is still running.
He’s deep in thought, so he’s caught off-guard when Shadow teleports next to him- skating alongside him.
“Eh? Shads? What are you-” Sonic yelps when Shadow tackles him to the ground, sending them both tumbling across the ground. “Shad-!” Sonic blinks up at Shadow, being underneath the other hedgehog.
Shadow is staring down at him with such an unreadable look.
Sonic stares back, his head tilting.
Then Shadow leans down and kisses him on the forehead.
He can’t even say anything in response to it, because Shadow teleports away and leaves him on the ground with his tail wagging.
Sonic slowly gets back up and has to convince himself to not lay there for any longer. He had let enough time pass as is.
What a birthday, huh?
….
His ear is still flopped even after going super, he can move it but.. It just.. Flops over instead of staying upright.
Oh well.
He tells anyone if they ask that he broke it, but then doesn’t explain much further than that in a Sonic-Avoidant-Fashioned way.
And when the world is no longer in a weird, time-distorted state and he’s right back at his birthday party with all his friends- he feels relieved.
Though he can’t get Shadow out of his mind.
He finds himself staring off to the side when his friends talk around him, looking like a hopeful fool that the hedgehog would show up.
He eventually gives up and settles down, talking to Tails about what he saw while running across the past when prompted to.
He leaves out the part about seeing Maria. Just for now.
“I’m surprised more of a time paradox didn’t happen.” Tails says thoughtfully, passing Sonic yet another chilli dog for him to devour. “I mean, maybe the timeline knew how to fix itself once all the pieces were available? So a paradox really wasn’t possible to begin with? But then why do we still have our memories of everything? Why can’t I remember the events from little me’s eyes if he was there in the past.. Or.. Oh geez, do you think we made an alternate timeline??”
“Tails, sweetheart, maybe we shouldn’t think about it too hard.” Rouge winks at him, “After all, you had a lovely chance to see everything in the past again and it all worked out in the end. I doubt we have too much to worry about.”
“I… Maybe…” Tails frowns, tapping at the table in front of him.
“If it’s any reassurance, I visit you guys plenty and my future doesn’t change as long as nothing major happens.” Silver pipes up, “I come here, talk with you guys, and go back- and everything is fine. Although… It is a little scary how easily the future can change when those major things happen.”
“..Would this not count as something major?” Tails questions, eyebrows furrowed.
Silver stares blankly, “I guess I’ll have to go to the future later and let you know. But I don’t think this would’ve changed anything.” He shrugs, “We took care of it, after all.”
“Silver, you stay here more than you do your own future. Why not stay?” Amy asks, tilting her head at him.
“Well- I.” Silver huffs, “I can’t just leave my future completely. And besides, if I have the power to see how things end up- I think I should use it. I can know when things are coming in advance and…” He crosses his arms, “I care about you guys. I don’t want to leave you to face anything alone.”
“Awwww, Silver!” Amy steps over to him to give him a tight hug, in which he blushes red in embarrassment at.
Sonic snorts, but then steps over and joins in on the hug. “Oh yeah, this is great. I love my friends. You all should come over and help us hug this guy.”
“Guys..” Silver whines, letting out a groan when everyone else completely surrounds him. He lets them have just a minute of trapping him before he uses his powers to float them up and away from himself. “Alright Alright! This isn’t my birthday party. It’s this guys.” Silver let’s everyone down except for Sonic, in which he starts to twirl the other hedgehog in the air.
It has Sonic laughing, his tail wagging as he’s spun.
“You’re lucky you can’t get motion sickness.” Blaze comments in amusement.
He’s put back onto the ground after a minute of spinning, and he’s laughing giddily on the ground unable to stand yet.
A hand is held out to him to help him up.
Sonic takes it after wiping a tear from his eye,
Then his eyes widen when he realizes just who was helping him.
“Shadow!” He chirps out, eagerly standing up and standing in front of him with a wide grin.
“Sonic.” Shadow huffs out, sounding… Fond. “Happy birthday.”
Sonic beams at him.
Shadow rolls his eyes.
The others try not to stare, distracting themselves with their own conversation. Tails looks at the two of them curiously, but talks with Knuckles when the other comes up to him.
Sonic’s ear twitches as he glances towards the rest- and when he deems them distracted enough he looks back to Shadow.
“I-”
“Your ear is still down.” Shadow interrupts immediately, a deep frown on his face as he stares at Sonic’s ear.
“Oh. Oh! Yeah, it is.” Sonic shrugs, “I don’t really care though. It doesn’t hurt, so.”
“It shouldn’t have been broken in the first place.” Shadow grumbles, “Regardless, it shouldn’t be flopped like that either. Maybe you need to-”
Sonic startles when Shadow’s hand brushes his flopped ear,
“-work on keeping it up when you can. You can still move it, can’t you?”
“Uh-” Sonic blinks slowly, “Yeah. I can.” Said ear twitches in Shadow’s hand. “You’re saying I need to rebuild strength in it?”
Shadow nods his head, “Otherwise it may never go back up.” Shadow rubs his thumb into Sonic’s ear, probably feeling if there was still anything wrong with it.
Sonic supposes Shadow’s ‘medic’ mode involves no sense of personal space.
Or maybe this is just something he hasn’t seen from Shadow before.
..Sonic thinks back to getting tackled and kissed.
Then to..
He stares at Shadow, now uncaring if anyone was looking as he leans forward and leans his forehead against his.
Shadow lowers his hand away from Sonic’s ear, and stares into Sonic’s eyes with a question in his own.
“Did you say everything you needed to…?” Sonic asks softly, raising his hands to cup Shadow’s face.
“Hm.” Shadow shuts his eyes, leaning more into Sonic. “I did.” He whispers.
Sonic nuzzles Shadow’s face, then pulls away. Shadow opens his eyes and stares at Sonic curiously.
“Let’s race.” He says eagerly, looking at Shadow with a hyped pose.
“Hmph. Leaving your own party?” Shadow crosses his arms, and despite his comment he looks amused.
“Nah, we’ll come back! But come on, a little birthday race. We can loop around Green Hills and come back here.” Sonic looks pleadingly.
“Go ahead and give blue a good race, Shadow.” Rouge says with a laugh, approaching the both of them. “You’re legally obligated to say yes to the birthday boy.” She grins, putting a hand on her hip.
Shadow scoffs, “Fine. But don’t expect me to go easy on you just because it’s your birthday.”
“It wouldn’t be fun any other way!” Sonic gives him a thumbs up, “We’ll be back!” Sonic calls out to the rest, “I have to go kick Shadow’s butt in a race real quick!”
“You better come back, Sonic! I still have a present I haven’t given you yet!” Amy calls back in a serious tone.
“You also better win! It’d be embarrassing to lose on your own birthday!” Knuckles calls in a teasing manner, earning a smack on his forehead from Amy.
“I don’t intend to-!” Sonic yelps when Shadow suddenly takes off skating. “Wh- HEY!” Sonic runs after him.
The others stare in the direction they went.
…
…
“...They were really close, weren’t they? I wasn’t the only one who saw that?” Amy questions aloud, her head tilted in curiosity.
“It is rather odd.” Espio speaks up, “But I don’t think it’s wrong to also note that they’ve been getting closer for a while now.”
“I guess they have, now that I think about it.” Tails says thoughtfully, “They definitely haven’t fought in a while.”
“Mr. Sonic and Mr. Shadow race a lot!” Cream perks up happily, “But I haven’t seen them be mean to each other.”
Cheese makes happy noises in agreement.
“Well if they’re not enemies any more…” Charmy says as he flies near Espio, “Then what are they??”
“I mean. I don’t think they’ve been enemies for a long time now, more like rivals-” Silver starts,
But then Vector interrupts with, “I got it! They’re totally in love with one another!”
“WHAT-”
In the middle of the race between Sonic and Shadow, halfway across Green Hills- they’re very close.
They’re neck and neck, having no trouble keeping up to one another.
But then, the moment Shadow looks away and goes to look back- Sonic isn’t where he was. It makes Shadow glance around in surprise.
Because of this surprise, he’s caught off guard by Sonic tackling him from behind and sending them both tumbling across the ground.
Deja vu.
This time Sonic is above Shadow, and Shadow is looking up at Sonic with an exasperatedly fond look.
“This doesn’t seem like racing, hedgehog.” Shadow deadpans.
“Well, let’s just call it a detour.” Sonic says with a laugh, staring down at Shadow with warmth.
Then, he leans down and kisses Shadow.
Shadow immediately returns the gesture, kissing Sonic back earnestly.
When they eventually pull away from one another, Shadow is staring at Sonic with an intense amount of fondness that makes Sonic laugh lightheartedly.
“..What did she say?” Shadow questions softly, making Sonic’s ear perk up.
His other ear sort of just flops forward.
“What do you-” Sonic pauses, “Oh! Haha, she told me I needed to just kiss you if I was going to be as obvious as I was being.” He lets himself fall onto Shadow then, Shadow wrapping his arms around him in response. “She was very bold, wasn’t she?”
Shadow huffs out a laugh, “She was innocent. But that didn’t stop her from pulling pranks or bringing me into her schemes.”
“Pranks, huh?” Sonic brushes his hand over Shadow’s chest fur, “I would’ve loved to talk with her for longer.”
Shadow’s grip on him tightens.
“She would’ve liked that too.” He breathes out slowly, “I’m.. Glad you met her.”
“Me too.” Sonic smiles up at him, “I’m also glad to have met you, y’know.”
Shadow’s breath hitches.
…
“Yeah.” He responds slowly, “I’m glad I met you, too.”