Chapter Text
With less than an hour left before the end of the workday, Shadow was now in his patrol car, patrolling. The last few days have been generally peaceful, both at work, where his vacation ended only two days ago, and at home. After considering his options, Tails was enrolled in the same school as Cream, whose administration was very comprehensive about all the situation. Vanilla has also been a great help, picking him up from school or babysitting when he can't, and his friendship with Cream has helped Tails feel more confident around others.
Overall, the adjustment is going well, but Shadow is still putting off introductions, he hasn't told anyone about the boy other than Vanilla, Cream, Rouge, and Knuckles. Not that he thinks it's important to publicize his personal life, but it's socially advisable to tell people close to you about events like becoming a father. At first, Shadow just put it off, but now it seemed the opportunity had passed. How do you casually approach someone and tell them you have a son and forgot to tell them earlier? A headache arose every time the thought surfaced, but before it could escalate, a voice came over the patrol car radio.
“Officer Shadow, are you listening?”
He turned on the radio.
“I’m here, is there a problem?”
"Actually, we just intercepted an attempted robbery at Rose's Bakery. Some idiot playing hero fought back and exchanged blows with the robber."
"Right, and this has something to do with me because..."
"Well, it turns out it was your idiot."
Oh. Sigh.
"Right, thanks for the heads-up, I'm on my way."
He sighed again and turned on the siren, another headache was coming.
Arriving there, there was a small commotion in front of the small family-owned bakery. The robber was already handcuffed inside the patrol car. Shadow waved to the other officers and looked for the familiar blue figure.
“Hey, Shads!”
And there he was, waving happily as he sat alone on the sidewalk next to his bike.
"Getting into trouble again, Sonic?"
The blue hedgehog smiled, a bruise forming on his left cheek, likely from the exchange of punches.
"Oh, that was nothing, you should have seen the other guy."
Shadow sighed again, the teenager always acted like this, reckless.
"We've already talked about this, you can't keep playing vigilante."
"It wasn't even on purpose this time, I swear! I was minding my own business, just going to work, when I passed by here, and well, you know the rest, I couldn't just walk by and do nothing!"
The officer raised his eyebrow and looked directly into the other hedgehog's eyes. The hedgehog struggled to remain calm at first, but eventually looked away.
“Sonic?”
The blue hedgehog huffed in frustration, even though a born troublemaker, lying was never his strong point.
"Okay, I might have seen this strange guy two, maybe three blocks ago, acting obviously suspicious, so I followed him here. But I swear it wasn't planned, I was actually on my way to work!"
The older hedgehog touched his temples. It wasn't the first time they'd experienced this, and he knew it wouldn't be the last. He sat down on the sidewalk next to the younger one.
"I believe you. It seems like you attract these situations. But I worry about you, seriously, you could end up getting really hurt."
"Aw, look who's being all sentimental."
"You're insufferable, you know that?"
"You're the grumpy old man."
"Brat..."
"Don't worry, I'll be careful, at least until I can do this officially."
"What do you mean?"
The teenager froze.
"Oh, shit."
"Sonic, what are you talking about?"
"Ugh, it was supposed to be a surprise."
Sonic put his hands over his face in regret.
"You know what, damn it, you know I've never been good with secrets."
Shadow looked at him suspiciously, unsure of what to expect.
"Spit it out, what have you got into?"
“Well...”
Sonic fiddled with his fingers nervously, taking a deep breath before letting it out.
"...Guess who took the Green Hills Police Department test?"
Now it was Shadow's turn to freeze, it took him more than a few seconds to process what had been thrown at him.
"You did what?!"
"Surprise!"
Sonic gestured with his hands again, smiling sheepishly.
"But you never said anything, and the test, wasn't that last week?"
"Uh, yeah, it was. Like I said, it was supposed to be a surprise. I was going to tell you after I passed, but well, it just came out."
"Wait, Knuckles knows? He didn't tell me anything either."
"Actually, I didn't tell him. I asked for some time off to study, but I didn't say the reason. I didn't want to accidentally tell him because he might spill the beans to you."
"So you were avoiding me too? Is that why I haven't seen you in almost a month?"
Sonic still sent short messages sporadically, but the last time Shadow saw him in person was at the beginning of his vacation, before Tails.
"Oh, yeah, sorry. But not only that, I also didn't want to think about it. Every time I remember that I still have to wait for the results, my head feels like it's going to explode! So I tried to distract myself and I might have gotten a little lost."
Sonic has always been anxious, and to keep it to himself for so long...
"Are you nervous about the results?"
"What? No! Me, nervous? Of course not, that was a piece of cake. I just wanted the answer right away, but of course I'm confident, please, nervous, me? Haha. I'm the calmest person in the entire world."
It was obviously a lie. The teenager was anything but calm; his legs were shaking, his fingers were trembling, he avoided eye contact, and his smile was visibly strained. Shadow placed his hand on the other's shoulder.
"I know you can do it, you tried hard."
The younger man looked up in shock.
“Shadow...”
"But I'm surprised you took a test of your own free will. Did you actually study?"
"What? Of course I studied. I'm top of the class!"
He lightly pushed the other's hand away, feigning indignation.
"I see. Speaking of school, isn't there still a year after this one?"
"Oh, yes, but I talked to the principal. We made a deal: if I pass, I just need to take a few tests and she'll pull some strings."
"Wow, that's great."
"Right? I told you, I'm the best student, everyone loves me!"
The hedgehog struck a dramatic pose and spoke excitedly. Shadow smiled slightly, he preferred this Sonic to the anxious Sonic.
"Now, back then, police, why now?"
Sonic cringed a little, looking embarrassed, but still proud.
"Oh, you know, I'm already 19, and like I said years ago, I can't spend my whole life working for Knuckles. And this seemed like a good option, helping people, just like you..."
Shadow listened intently, also starting to feel embarrassed.
"Besides, the pay isn't bad at all."
The teenager winked provocatively.
"Of course you'd pay attention to that."
"Unfortunately, they made up the accounts, it's not my fault."
The hedgehog shrugged with a laugh.
"Well, enough about me, what about you? Did you enjoy your vacation? Or was it completely boring?"
These were casual questions, but Shadow felt his back was against the wall.
"I don't think boring is a good word for the recent events..."
Sonic perked up his ears, listening to the mysterious tone of the conversation.
"Actually, I confess I also have something I should have told you before."
"What? Did you happen to have a problem?"
"Sort of."
The blue hedgehog stared at him, impatiently awaiting an explanation.
"Sonic, are you free tonight?"
"Huh? Well, I guess I might be, but why all of a sudden?"
Shadow took a deep breath, old memories of the blue hedgehog bringing both nostalgia and shock at how things were turning out.
"I want you to meet someone."