Chapter Text
Weaving through the crowds of people has always been easy for Sonic; he could move at supersonic speed which made the world a blur. Although he did have to be careful this time, he had a few objects that he didn’t want to fly out of the fragile paper brown bag his arms wrapped around. So, he clung to it with all of his might and simply hoped that it wouldn't fly out of his arms. In his defense, he wanted to get home in time in order not to be late for his and Shadow’s little date night. Listen, he had to get a few extra items for the night… it was the essentials! And then he might have gotten distracted at all of the different soaps… and then got distracted at the hotdog line… but hey! He was the fastest thing alive, he could make it to their date night in time.
Sonic getting through the crowd consisted of jumping on lampposts to avoid people's heads, and the few occasional stands that were out. Whenever he had to go on the ground, he simply swerved through crowds of people, which was the norm for him. He often compared crowds of people to forests. Only that they could move, trip, and yell at him. Oh well. As long as he got to his date night in time, he- more specifically Shadow- would be happy.
Shadow was a punctual person. If you asked him to be somewhere at a specific time, he would be there the moment it turned said time. Not a minute before, not a minute less. Sonic on the other hand… well, he at least got there. Perhaps it wouldn’t be on time, but he would at least show up. Shadow wouldn’t even show up half the time! The only reason he had been coming to the parties that Amy was throwing was because Sonic had made him. Before that was Rouge, but after a certain point she gave up. Unfortunately for Shadow, Sonic's spirit took a lot to be broken, especially when it meant that he could bother Shadow until he would come.
The crowd slowly started to even out as he got further out of the city, and he suddenly stopped once his vision caught sight of… the flower shop… Hm. It was small, nestled between two taller buildings that the city had to offer. In the windows, different arrays of flowers hung in colorful patterns, each hanging from a basket. Sonic stood in front of the flower shop, just for a moment.. How romantic would it be if Sonic showed up with flowers as well? Despite Shadows constant grumbling, Sonic knew that the ebony hedgehog enjoyed the little gifts that Sonic had offered him. Sonic didn’t know the exact time that it was, and the closest thing to a clock was his phone… but that was tucked away in his quills and he did have something in his hand, so perhaps he would have an excuse for losing track of time… Sonic smirked and pushed open the door to the flower shop. He had actually been in here a few times before, the shop owner always asking-
“Found a special someone yet?” The kind old frog asked as she looked at Sonic through beady black eyes. Sonic just gave her a half smile like always.
“Lavender does smell good!” Sonic cheerfully said, making his way over to the counter, putting the paper bag on the floor, and leaning on the counter with his hands. The old frog- Miriam- chuckled at Sonic's words.
“You always say that, dear boy, someday you will find your other half,” Miriam said, as she started to busy herself with making a flower arrangement. A strained smile appeared on Sonic's face when Miriam turned away. He had already found his other half. His boo, his Shadow… but of course… Miriam spun around, meeting Sonic’s eye once more “Although, I suppose for now that I will just get you your regular?”
“Yep! Sounds good!... Oh oh! Can you also add some Zinnias? I wanna spice it up a bit!” Sonic suddenly added, giving her a confident smile.
“Oooo good choice my dear! That’ll be an extra 5 rings though.” Miriam said, eyeing the hedgehog. Sonic placed his hands on his hips, still a smile on his face.
“Pft, when have I ever not paid you? Don’t worry, you’ll get your money,” Sonic replied, giving her a thumbs up. Miriam seemed pleased and went back to packing the flowers into a neat little arrangement. Sonic wanted to learn how she did it so perfectly every time, perhaps he could ask her one day… although definitely not today since he was most definitely running late at this point. Sonic’s leg jumped up and down, his thoughts running a million miles per minute as he watched Mariam carefully put together the flower arrangement. After what seemed like an eternity, the frog finally managed to sort everything out and handed Sonic the bouquet of flowers.
“Here you go dearie, I hope whoever you’re trying to impress is flattered.” She said with a wink. Sonic smirked at the comment.
“The only thing I need to impress is myself! Thanks, Miriam!” Sonic said, picking up the brown paper bag and balancing that with the flowers.
He was most definitely late now.
Sonic now sped through the streets at one of his more top speeds, trying to reach he and Shadow’s shared apartment in time. Oh he was definitely late, oh Shadow was most definitely going to be mad at him, oh the chilidog from earlier was most definitely a mistake. The streets began to have less and less people and cars on them, the sun had set just a few hours ago and the cool night chill seemed to finally catch up with the world. He finally made it to the quiet part of town where he and Shadow had their apartment. At the front door, He fumbled for his keys, almost dropped them, had a sequence of trying to catch said keys, and finally unlocked the door to the apartment complex. It was small and away from most of the bustle of the main city. After all, he was still known as a her,o and people finding out where he lived was a big mistake. However, the worst mistake that he could make was People knowing that he and Shadow lived together.
Oh yeah.
While they had come out to their main circle of friends that they were indeed dating and together (ignoring how Rouge, Tails and Amy all figured it out within 3 months of them starting to date) the world was still yet to know that the famous rivals, the Blue Blur and The Ultimate Lifeform were infact madly inlove with each other, and they both planned to keep it that way. Well, Shadow was definitely more private about his relationship with Sonic, but that hedgehog had much more baggage then most people see so Sonic didn’t blame him. Speaking of Shadow, Sonic got another pulse of anxiety about him being late… Shadow was going to kill him.
Well, it wasn’t all bad! He probably still has time to write his will and probably save the world one more time!... he was so done for.
Sonic ran up the stairs anyway, trying not to drop any of his goods in the meantime. Which proved to be a challenge. The grip he had on both could most definitely be improved but he didn’t really have time to ponder on that fact. So he just kept running!
The apartment was on the top floor, so by the time Sonic had gotten up all of those stairs, he was practically out of breath. Huffing and puffing against the wall, Sonic adjusted his grip on the bag and flowers and went over to the door-
Only for it to open, and there he was, the Ultimate Lifeform, standing in his way.
“You’re late.”