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It was a peaceful night, and Shadow’s whole body ached.
Scarcely did he ever feel truly, bonedeep exhausted, but the world hadn’t been kind to him for the… frankly, for his whole life, but the last week in particular had been exceptionally busy.
Perhaps blaming the whole world would be too drastic, though. His exhaustion was mainly, as it often seemed to be with everything, Eggman’s fault.
The Doctor must’ve been feeling especially inspired (or, more likely, Sonic had pissed him off even more than usual) for Shadow struggled to recall the last time he wasn’t running to fix up another mess of his making under G.U.N orders. Sleep? That was such a distant memory now that it almost seemed like fiction.
Days like this Shadow almost respected Sonic for managing to deal with the scientist his whole life without snapping or going insane, but then again, he doesn’t think that would hold true if the blue hedgehog had to deal with paperwork after every single encounter.
Or maybe it would hold true even then. Sonic was a particular creature of impressive patience, despite his antics.
… Well, of impressive patience and impressive yapping. Only one of which he respected, and it was not the one he was being subjected to at the moment.
Once again Robotnik had decided to terrorize a village for chaos knows what reason- to kidnap people? To strike fear? To distract the heroes? To drive out the folk to build a base? Shadow doesn’t know, he lost the plot about four days ago, and lost any critical thinking skills about 32 hours ago- but differently than every other time Shadow had to deal with the robot minions causing havoc, Sonic the Hedgehog was present on the scene. He was around the area, apparently.
Shadow- or his drowsiness, more accurately- would have been more than happy to push all the heavy lifting onto the cobalt blue hedgehog, maybe give his body the nap it so desperately craved for the few minutes it would take for Sonic to finish, but Shadow was not a quitter nor so irresponsible. Plus… Sonic would not let that go, for at least as long as he lived; and he probably would assign Silver to make fun of Shadow on the regular even after his lifetime. And Shadow desperately did not want to give the hedgehog any bragging rights of any sort, so.
Ultimately, it was the shortest battle Shadow had in a while. Sonic and his competitive nature may or may not have helped speed up the process.
Which brings them to now , where Shadow has to pay the price of having gotten help by dealing with a walking, talking chatterbox of a Mobian.
Truthfully, they’re not doing much walking, but Shadow still wishes he had a spare chaos emerald so he could chaos control away. Or chaos control Sonic away, so he could enjoy the night breeze and the green scenery of Green Hill in silence—
“Y’know, I half expected you to leave by now, Shads. You’re usually running away from me if you’re not running with me.”
—which is something that’s simply not achievable in the presence of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Shadow is twenty-something noncommittal grunts into the “conversation”, and yet for all his supposed perceptiveness, Sonic just does not take the fucking hint to shut the fuck up. Or disappear. Or spontaneously combust on the spot. Shadow is fine with anything that will get him to shut his mouth, really.
Because after the adrenaline runs out in the peace after the egg-shaped storm passes, lack of sleep hits Shadow harder than any Robotnik robot could. He’s in that head space where the words themselves register, but not their meaning; and it’s annoying , because Shadow has to be on top of condition. Letting his guard down for any reason for any amount of time is unacceptable . It’s something Shadow understands- normally.
But Shadow is… sleepy. Which is not his “normal” state of being. And Sonic’s voice-
“Not that there's anything wrong with that! Seeing you stick around is just… different. A nice different. Definitely not complaining."
-doesn’t help.
Shadow is half annoyed at him for using so many words in this ungodly hour- what was it, 8 pm? 9 ? Chaos help him- and half annoyed at himself for refusing to understand the words coming out of the idiot's mouth. But those were halves of a micrometer part of his brain, the rest of the pink sponge was immensely enjoying Sonic's voice. And annoyed that he was enjoying it.
So sue him, the damn hedgehog had a nice voice. Shadow was not so petty he wouldn't admit that.
(He'd only maybe admit it at gunpoint, but still.)
“It's nice having you around, y’know? You should hang out with us more often, bring Rouge and Omega too! Gaia knows Tails would love to geek out with Omega again.”
It doesn't hurt that the night is particularly pleasant today. The sky is spectacular, as it always is Green Hill; half clear tonight, enough for the stars to be visible. Significantly away from any huge light source, they shine brightly in between the space of the clouds.
And the air is cool, the wind is slow; it's just strong enough to ruffle his fur nicely, rustle the grass so it makes a nice background noise for Sonic’s rambling. The hero lets out a chuckle mixed in with the words, and though Shadow doesn't know what was just said, he finds an involuntary smile of his own creeping up his face too. Annoying as it is, Sonic really does have a nice voice. And laugh.
And thighs.
“Though, I guess you don't really like crowds, huh. Nothing wrong with that! Still, I'd like to- I mean, if you want to, maybe we could… I dunno, hang out together? Just us?”
The only real downside to the whole situation is (other than the fact that he's still awake) that he has to crane his neck up to look at the sky, and it already feels like a job of its own to keep it from plummeting to the ground when just standing still— and Sonic's thighs look very inviting.
Here's the thought process, if such a thing existed in this forsaken moment; Sonic and his friends do casual touches all the time. Bumping shoulders, hugging, fist fighting, all the mushy stuff. In his mind, laying your head on another's thighs seems very casual, too.
But the truth is, he just doesn't think about it. Doesn't think at all.
The only thought in his mind is “ Sonic's thighs are really soft. ” If he could leave a review, Shadow would leave a five star.
It’s so comfortable, in fact, that he notices Sonic stopped talking a little too late.
Shadow opens his eyes- when did he close them? Was he about to fall asleep on his rival? He’s… not as disturbed by that thought as he probably should be- to find Sonic staring at him with… an expression. It certainly is an expression he’s wearing, alright. Just nothing Shadow recognizes.
Emerald eyes wide, mouth a little slack open, a charming red colouring his face. It doesn’t look like Sonic is in any pain, like Shadow accidentally stabbed his legs with his quills, or like he’s in great discomfort, so Shadow doesn’t get up.
Instead, he asks; “Why’d you stop? Keep talking.” His voice is a little rougher than he intends for it to come out.
It gets Sonic to react. His mouth closes, throat bobs as he swallows, and he leans down-
There’s no thought process this time. Just the feeling of lips pressed against his own, and fleeting thought of “ Sonic’s lips are so soft. ”
Then Shadow is kissing back, hand flying to grasp the back of the hedgehog’s head so the idiot won’t run away from the decision he’s made. His glove might’ve gotten stuck at a stray quill and got torn. He doesn’t know, and most certainly doesn’t care; he’s too busy making sure they won’t separate for the next eternity, at the very least.
Despite his best efforts, they do part- breathing is suddenly at the very top of his list of annoyances- but Shadow takes that break to maneuver himself into straddling Sonic. The hedgehog doesn’t seem to mind, if the hands on his waist and leg are anything to go by, and deciding they’ve both had enough oxygen, Shadow crashes his lips on the other’s. Or maybe Sonic does? Maybe they meet in the middle, but the means does not particularly matter; end result, they’re kissing.
It’s desperate. And the desperation is stemming from Shadow’s end; sobering up like this is waking up a part of him that’s beginning to panic about all of this, but there’s a larger, currently-kissing-Sonic part of him that doesn’t want this to end. He’s scared of what will happen after they both have enough oxygen in their heads to think. He doesn’t want to find out.
But Sonic grasps his hand placed on the peach cheek keeping the hedgehog close, and slowly urges it away, and Shadow is aware enough to take the sign as it is. They part only in word. Sonic nuzzles his shoulder right after the kiss ends, panting there, and the sensation is nice enough that the panic doesn’t rise as quickly as it otherwise would’ve. Shadow even finds it in himself to nuzzle Sonic back.
He tries not to think. About how natural it felt to do this, about how he wants to do it more often, about how long he might’ve been waiting for this- how long Sonic might’ve been waiting. He doesn’t think about what this means for them both now, if it’s a fleeting thing, about why that hurts to consider. He doesn’t want to think, but his brain is suddenly feeling more functional than it did minutes ago.
He tries to focus on Sonic’s heartbeat under his hand, then his own heartbeat, then their hands still grasped together. The panic just about claws its way into his heart when Sonic speaks.
“I’m guessing it’s a yes?”
Shadow blinks at the quiet question, taking a note of the happy-nervous edge to it. What is he talking about?
“What are you talking about?”
His voice is rougher than he expected. He doesn’t clear his throat to fix it. Sonic leans back, smiling at him- and it’s really stupid, the way that alone eases something in his chest.
“Y’know, me asking you out earlier? I’m guessing the answer’s yes.”
Shadow blinks, again. His heartbeat speed feels like it doubled.
“You asked me out on a date?”
He meant it more as “ That’s what you were talking about while I was fantasizing about how nice your voice sounded? ” but Sonic seems to have interpreted it as “ That was your attempt at asking me out? Pathetic. ” because he huffs, smiling but embarrassed. Shadow has never seen that look on him. Something in his chest squeezes.
He looks beautiful.
“C’mon, it wasn’t that bad! At least I got the words out.”
He doesn’t know what to say to that, and he’s wishing he at least paid a little more attention, just to understand how disastrous the date asking went, but he didn’t need context to know that sounded like a lie. Thankfully, the hedgehog apparently talks himself into corners without anyone having to say anything, so Shadow simply raises an eyebrow.
Exactly under zero pressure, Sonic squirms.
“Oooo-kay, maybe I didn’t use the word ‘date’- but still!”
Shadow huffs out a laugh, shaking his head, feeling impossibly fond. Of course he didn't. He probably asked to race the hybrid, or something, and would’ve devised unnecessary and complicated plans into asking him out properly.
Thankfully for both of their and possibly their friends’ sanity, Shadow is the kind of idiot that is sleep-deprived enough to lay on Sonic’s thighs, and Sonic is the kind of idiot that would kiss him for it, so that didn't happen.
Still.
The idea of a date is nice.
“Yes.”
“Hm?” Sonic blinks, not comprehending for a second. He’s always been fast at everything that mattered, though, and Shadow can see the lines of understanding appear before he even continues.
“The answer. It’s yes, obviously.”
Shadow still has a lot of worries about the whole situation, (and still needs to sleep for at least three days) but they don’t seem so significant at the sight of Sonic’s smile.