Chapter Text
“Are you actually stupid?” Shadow asked Sonic. Every time Shadow asked him something, Sonic would just say perchance. For example, Shadow would ask Sonic for his favorite color, only to find out that it was ‘perchance’.
“Perchance” Sonic could barely start speaking before Shadow lunged at him “I didn’t know one word could piss you off this bad, Shadow.” Shadow stared.
“I’m going to beat your fucking face in, you stupid stinky poo poo head.” Shadow stared at Sonic, fist clenched. Sonic stared back. He burst out laughing.
“Don’t ever call me that again.” Sonic, who was still laughing, said before jumping up to fight Shadow. They stared at each other.
“What? I thought I was supposed to lightly insult you. Is that not something people call others?” Shadow was extremely confused.
“Buddy… Who told you that was an insult?” Sonic hadn’t stopped laughing. Shadow learned that insult from Maria, but he wasn’t going to admit that. Sonic didn’t even know about Maria.
Shadow lunged at Sonic again, ready to punch him. However, his fist stops. He doesn’t know why, but instead of punching Sonic, he just runs away.
>
“Amy, what does it feel like to tolerate someone?” Shadow asked Amy. He ran to her house in a panicked state.
“Um, I guess when you don’t want to punch them?” Amy answered, surprised by the sudden visit. “Why?”
Shadow’s hands started shaking. “I…” He stammered. “I tolerate him…?” He ran out of Amy’s house in panic.
“There’s no way I tolerate him! I know what to do.” Shadow came up with a plan. He was going to make Sonic hate him in order for him to feel the same way. You can’t tolerate someone who hates you, right?
Shadow ran up to where Sonic was and punched him. Before Sonic could question him, Shadow left.
>
A few hours later, Sonic spotted Shadow sitting on a beach outside, looking at the stars. Sonic decided to ask Shadow why he brutally punched him out of nowhere. “Uh, hey Shadow.” Shadow jumped at the voice he wasn’t prepared to hear for the rest of the day. “Why’d you punch me? Did you hate hearing the word perchance that much? I can totally stop.” Sonic’s offer was cut off by Shadow, who looked tense.
“Uh,” Shadow started to get visibly embarrassed. “because I, uh, hate you.” He tried to insult Sonic more, to really sell the bit. “Uh. You stink like uh… socks? Perchance?” Shadow started using Sonic’s language. He barely managed to make out a full sentence before making a run for it. Sonic was left there, stunned.
“But I don’t hate you.” Sonic sat next to the spot Shadow was sitting. The words shouldn’t have hurt as much as they did. Why did he think Shadow didn’t hate him? What else could Shadow have felt towards him? It became clear that the idea of something nicer than hatred seemed to never exist. It didn’t mean that he wouldn’t give up though.
After running away for 10 minutes, Shadow wondered if tolerating someone was really so bad. However, every time he thought about not hating someone, he remembered Maria. Sonic treated Shadow just like Maria did. He realized couldn’t bear to lose someone he held so close to his heart again. He couldn’t let it happen again. He wouldn’t let it happen again. In a sudden burst of confidence, Shadow ran back to where he made a fool of himself by telling Sonic he smelled like socks.
Sonic was drawing circles in the sand when he saw Shadow fall on his face. Shadow’s adrenaline was so high that it made his running skills worse. Sonic tried not to laugh at him.
After staying face first on the ground for an embarrassing amount of time, Shadow got up and sat next to Sonic.
“You came back, why?” Sonic genuinely wondered why Shadow would come back after declaring hatred.
Shadow hesitated. “It’s just… you remind me of someone in so many ways.”
“Who? Your worst enemy?”
“My closest friend.” Sonic’s eyes widened as Shadow looked at him. There was a moment of silence as they looked at each other, until Shadow went on about Maria. “She was awesome. She was one of the only people I tolerated.” Shadow paused.
“Was? What happened?” Sonic looked at Shadow again, genuinely interested. However, Shadow didn’t say anything. He just looked at the ground beneath himself.
“Some… stuff happened. She died. I held her in my arms as she died.” Shadow shuddered while looking at his hands. “I saw the life leave her eyes.” He started to tear up. “I could have… should have protected her.”
Before Shadow could spiral more, Sonic got up. He stuck his hand out to him. “Hey. You did all that you could.” Sonic assured him. Shadow took his hand. Sonic decided that even if he couldn’t comfort Shadow, he’d make Shadow feel comforted. However, he didn’t think about what he was going to do. As Shadow got up, Sonic started doing a slow dance whilst grabbing Shadow’s other hand.
Shadow seemed to get very flustered. “What are you doing?” Shadow awkwardly asked, noticing Sonic looked just as flustered.
“Uh, um.” Sonic actually processed what he was doing. “I, uh, didn’t think this through. Uh, this, um, never happened.” Sonic thought out loud before running off like he awkwardly danced with his crush in the middle of the night after said crush told him about his trauma.
>
“Amy, why did I do that?!” Sonic screamed, head buried into his hands. Sonic also ran to Amy’s house in sheer panic. He had explained everything that happened to her.
“I don’t know, do you, like, have a crush on him, or something?” Amy was genuinely invested in this.
“What?! I…” Sonic stared at the floor, genuinely confused. “Well, I don’t know…” Sonic paused when suddenly, a flustered Shadow ran in.
“AMY! IS THERE A FEELING WORTH MORE THAN TOLERANCE THAT I’M NOT AWARE OF?!” Shadow yelled to Amy. After blurting that sentence out, he noticed a blue hedgehog. He slowly turned to him.
“Well, yes. There’s appreciate, respect, like, love, and so much more!” Amy answered Shadow’s question.
Shadow stared Sonic down, which only made them both more embarrassed. “…Thank you, Amy.” Shadow thanked Amy before running off again. Sonic and Amy looked at each other.
“Do you know now?” Amy interrogated Sonic. He avoided her gaze. Amy smiled in a condescending way. “Okay then. I’m just saying, I’ve gotten a surprise visit from Shadow talking about feelings towards people.” Sonic got visibly embarrassed and left.
>
“Say… If someone danced with you randomly and you liked it, would you say you like the person?” Shadow asked. Tails looked at him.
“…What?” Tails had no idea how to answer Shadow’s question. “I mean, it’s more about perspective? I would ask myself if I liked dancing, or liked dancing with the person. Did that happen to you?”
Shadow sighed before walking away from Tails’s workshop. Shadow decided Tails had no idea what he was talking about. He is eight years old after all. Shadow didn’t even know why he went to Tails.
As Shadow walked away, a familiar face flew by. It was Rouge. They both stopped to talk to each other. “Why are you coming from Tails’s workshop?” Rouge questioned if Shadow was okay in the head. Shadow looked away from her piercing stare.
“…I think I like Sonic.” Shadow paused. He stood there, just looking at Rouge. Her eyes widened. Shadow didn’t mean to say that. He didn’t even know why he said that. He thought over everything, and realized he liked Sonic within that entire interaction.
After a good ten seconds, Shadow fully comprehended his own words and realized that Rouge would hold this over him forever. He decided not to say anything. Trying to defend himself would only make the situation worse. “Oh. My Gosh. Platonic or, like, romantic?” Rouge was extremely desperate to know more. They stared at each other. Rouge, waiting desperately for a reply, and Shadow, thinking about how he feels.
“I don’t know. The only person I’ve ever liked in the past was Maria. She was my friend.”
“Well, do you like Sonic like you liked Maria? A friend?” Rouge was getting more impatient by the second.
“I, uh. Give me a day to answer that.” Shadow finally answered decently. Rouge was about ready to strangle herself if she didn’t take that as an answer on its own.
“Hey, to make you feel better about this, I have a crush on Knuckles.”
Shadow stared at her with a lack of surprise. “…You two’ve been dating for three years.” Shadow walked away from that entire conversation. He wondered about everything.
>
The night after, it was a rainy night. Shadow walked into Rouge’s house.
“You’ve got your answer?” Rouge slowly turned to look at Shadow.
An hour earlier, Shadow thought again. He thought about every word spoken to Sonic, every moment shared, as well as every cherished memory with Maria. Did he really like Sonic in a different way than Maria? He realized it was different, but didn’t know how.
An hour later, he stood in front of Rouge as she asks for his answer.
“How would you describe romantic feelings?” Shadow still had no answer.
“When you like someone in a more emotional way than others. You also enjoy every aspect of their feelings. Do you have your answer now?” Rouge was ecstatic to hear his answer, and was already preparing how she was going to talk about it to Knuckles.
Shadow thought for a bit. Rouge was actively vibrating in her chair out of excitement. “Liking Maria felt different from Sonic. How I like Sonic fits the description you just gave me, Rouge.” Shadow finally answered the big question. Rouge gasped dramatically.
“OH MY GOSH!” Rouge practically screamed. “Are you going to try and date him?”
“I won’t unless he says something. I don’t want to lose him.” Shadow had already decided. Rouge sighed.
>
“I know what I’m going to do!” Sonic yelled. “I’m going to ask him out!” Tails sighed. He, of course, found out that Sonic was the one to dance with Shadow. He knows that they will get together. He’s tired of being caught in the crossfire.
“I think he’s going to say yes! Just you wait!” Tails tried to be enthusiastic. “You know, a little flicky told me he likes you too.”
“You might want to get that checked by a doctor or something. Last time I checked, flickies can’t talk.” Sonic sounded completely serious.
“…Are you being serious…?” Tails could not believe Sonic could be that dense.
Sonic got up. “Well, I gotta leave. I’m gonna confess now before I lose the motivation! Wish me luck!” He ran off as Tails wished him luck.
Before actually confessing, he decided to get 3 things. He got a bouquet, coffee beans, as well as an ‘I love you’ balloon. He also had to talk to Rouge to find out where Shadow lived.
Sonic walked up to the door. What he was about to do finally processed in his mind. He wouldn’t have quit either way though. He lifted up his hand to knock. Knock one: no answer. Knock two: still no answer. Knock three however, an exhausted Shadow opened the door. He immediately noticed the balloon, and was visibly taken aback.
“What…?” Shadow got more flustered by the second. Sonic looked up at the balloon.
“Um… I, uh, don’t know if you can tell by, like, the balloon or something, but, I like you. Like, uh, romantically.” Sonic awkwardly stood there, trying to hand Shadow the bouquet and coffee beans. Shadow grabbed them.
“I also romantically like you. How’d you get my address?” Shadow opened the coffee beans and stuck his hand in them.
“Rouge gave it to me. It’s crazy how a talking flicky was right.”
“What?” Shadow looked amused. He took one of the flowers off of the bouquet and handed it to Sonic. The two talked for about 30 minutes before saying goodbye.
When Sonic went home, he put the flower in a vase, and just stared at it. Shadow did the same.