Work Text:
In an abandoned brick warehouse in an isolated part of the world, Shadow lay tossing and turning in his bed. His phone was in his hands, the bags under his eyes hung over his red, red cheeks. Anyone coming into the room would miss him, he was so buried in his tornado of blankets, nested in anything that could bring him comfort. A million little notepads lay about him, with pages crumpled, torn out or redacted with black ink. The hedgehog himself was pored over his phone, writing and rewriting a single draft of a message.
3 months.
It had been 3 months since he last had contact with Sonic. That damn hedgehog had been permeating his dreams and interrupting his every waking moment. The other day he’d even mistaken a passerby for his rival. He’d skulked away before the ambulance got there though.
Being holed up in his house, and more recently just his room, had been an even worse decision, it seemed, because he was seeing images of the blue blur in his home. The worst part was he felt relief every time he saw these figments. “Finally! You’ve decided to show yourself…”, “Sonic! Your madness ends here!”, and “You’re a fool to come here like this, I’ll show you what you’re messing with!” were some of the last words various blue tinted furnishings heard before their demise.
To avoid further destruction in his home, he’d nested away in his stark white bedsheets with one goal in mind.
“If he won’t show himself to me,” he rationalized, “then I’ll remind him what he’s missing!”
That was around eighty hours ago. Since then, countless drafts were written and discarded, some met their death within his scant DM with Sonic. Then when Shadow realized this would take far too long, he moved to a throwaway chat with Big the Cat to save face. Even if the cat saw him typing for hours, he doubted anything major would come of it.
But what to write?
He’d started off simple enough. His first draft was simple, to the point and perfect just like him. “It’s been a while. Come show me what you’ve got!”
But his thumb stopped just above the send button. “This is too needy. It’s not like I’ve been counting the months on my knuckles and toes…”
After a quick edit, the message read, “Sonic, come show me what you’ve got!” And one reread later Shadow was still dissatisfied. “If he received this out of nowhere, he’ll know I've been thinking about him.”
Like this, his little tweaks and adjustments took the better part of an hour, then two hours, then four- until he decided to move his writing experiment to Big's chat. Luckily Sonic was offline the entire time or that would never have lived him down.
“Beloathed Sonic,
I have a score to settle with you. Meet me tomorrow in Mystic Ruins,
Yours,
Shadow”
Bah! If only he’d paid attention in English class aboard the Ark. Though texting was far different than writing letters.
Thinking more about modern technology, he decided the internet was the next best place to look. “HOW TO SUMMON YOUR RIVAL” he demanded from his browser. After a few frustrating iterations on his query, he got the result he wanted.
“How to reestablish contact with someone: Have you been missing someone in your life that you've fallen out of contact with? Here's three easy steps to write your first message in a while.” Pathetic but it would have to do.
“Step one: Establish why you're contacting them.”
That was easy! Shadow quickly fetched a notepad and pen, proudly scrawling down: “Step One: I want Sonic to miss me too.”
Shadow smiled at himself with satisfaction. Perfect. He read on.
“This will help you form the rest of your message. Since you are the one reaching out, it's best to establish intent first and foremost. Example: ‘I miss Veronica so I want to reach out and see how she's doing.’”
Hm. He scratched out the previous sentence. What did he want to do to Sonic.
“I can't stand Sonic so I want to reach out and see if I can cave his face in.”
Excellent. This was all coming together now.
“Step Two. Now write your greeting, followed by your intent.” A little backwards, but whatever. For the greeting, Shadow decided that a simple “Sonic,” would do.
“Step Three. Tell the person how much they mean to you! This will remind them how much you mean to them too.”
Tch. Shadow hated being forthcoming. This was more information than he wanted to share, but he managed to scribble down something. “Don't disappoint me now.” Not that he'd ever been disappointed by him before. A smile creeped up on his muzzle, a flush of adrenaline ran through him as he remembered their past encounters. Shadow was so ready to send this message now…!
But what's this? The article wasn't done rambling. Shadow groaned in frustration but kept scrolling. “Remember to apologize to them if need be. Distance can spawn for many reasons, whether from neglect or from a fight. Apologizing first opens the door for your friend to be vulnerable too, and even apologize back. But if you don't get a response back, it's okay! Don't waste your precious time double texting them. Life moves on, and so should you.”
Something shattered within Shadow. “Life moves on, and so should you” was a line he was sure he'd heard Sonic say before. If not in person then in his dreams. In rage he threw down the notebook.
After so many hours of work and suffering, if there was even a single chance that hedgehog would ignore his message, then there was no point sending it!
Shadow tried sleeping after that, cruelly reminded why he was so desperate for communication in the first place. He awoke screaming when he dreamt of two gloved hands gently choking him, a distant, grating, handsome laugh echoing in his ears, surely laughing at him.
He bristled as he lay sweat caked in his cocoon. How long had it even been…?
Upset he turned to his phone again. Why would he even need to apologize… when the last person who had sent a message was him!
Sonic had left him on read!
Shadow looked more carefully before realizing he was wrong. The message before read “I'm here, show yourself.” Shadow remembered the sharp punch to his face he received as soon as he'd sent that text from the top of the green hill Loop-de-loop.
Even still, their message history made Shadow look desperate, like he was the only one reaching out. That damn faker didn't have the decency to message him back!
Fine then he wouldn't talk either!
Another nightmare later he was back staring at his phone again, scrolling further and further back trying to decipher some hidden code within their messages only he could see. One message from Sonic, two from him, four from Sonic, one from him, two from Sonic, three from him, one from Sonic, one from him, end of conversation. Shadow calculated rhythms and beats from their messages to see how soon he could expect a reply, like a crazed conspiracy theorist.
He cringed at their previous conversations too. That damn hedgehog had a way of getting him to talk… He resolved to use as few words as he could.
Back to Big's chat he went. “Hey hedgehog, come over NOW.” “Hello Sonic, long time no see. Let's fight.” “Sonic, are you there? I need to confirm your whereabouts.” “Sonic, save me. You're a demon in my head who won't let me sleep.” “Selfish hedgehog, how dare you avoid me? I demand your presence, NOW!” “Sonic, I'm only messaging to ask: do I plague you too?” “Sonic, you're the only one I'm craving to see. You're like a curse on me. I can't even dream of my beloved Maria when you're on my mind. Please exorcise yourself from me.”
On and on he typed and deleted and typed and deleted and typed, til he decided he was too good for this nonsense and went to bed. His waking nightmare turned into a real one, from which he would shudder awake and begin the cycle anew.
On the eightieth hour of this madness, Shadow was close to sobbing. He couldn't do this anymore. He just wanted rest. He just wanted the responsibility for their strange relationship to disappear. He hated how hard it was to be apart, and the high he felt after they parted. “Does that fool feel a fraction of the anguish I do?”, he thought, immediately recoiling at his own words. Pathetic. If there was one person on earth that could make him loathe himself like this it was this accursed blue devil.
Shadow wrote one last, desperate plea into his phone. Whose chat? Was it even a chat, or was it the search bar again? Was it his notes app? Did he send the message? All moot points now. Shadow typed out his final message before planting his face into his blankets and sobbing.
“Dear Sonic, Please just text me first. Yours forever, Shadow.”
A few minutes later, his phone pinged.
His heart leapt up into his throat, then settled back down in his ribcage uncomfortably, thumping away at his sternum. Was it him!? It must be him! Finally, his prayers were answered, his imaginary penance was over!
When he finally managed to get his face ID to work, he was sorely disappointed. His face dropped. His legs, which he hadn't noticed were swinging in the air, fell back down on his bed.
The text was a simple one liner. “Hi there! Saw you typing and thought you'd want to join me fishing, friend 🎣- Big”
Shadow flopped over onto his back and slowly rubbed his hands over his tired face. What the hell. Sure.