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It’s been a week since Sonic royally screwed himself.
7 days since he committed the worst sin of his life.
168 hours since he accidentally kissed Shadow on the cheek.
The hero of Mobius didn’t know when he started seeing his dark rival as handsome and, dare he say, attractive, but it’s definitely been the loudest thing ringing in his mind whenever he’s near Shadow.
All Sonic knew was that, at some point, he was no longer just seeking the challenge that Shadow brought to their races, but also just being able to be near the guy more. Given how little the guy interacts outside of his missions, it made Sonic all the more giddy whenever he decided to stick around and watch the stars come out. And like the lovestruck fool he was, Sonic always found himself more fascinated by observing Shadow’s face than any star in the sky.
God, maybe it's because of that stupid haze Sonic got in whenever he was around him, or maybe the adrenaline from after a fight that made him do it… I mean, honestly, the day started off well enough.
Sonic, Tails, and Amy were taking down hordes of Eggman's bots (the doctor claimed he was running out of room in his warehouse, so this was his ‘spring cleaning’, seriously, it was so easy to forget that this guy was supposedly some kind of genius sometimes…) and since Rouge and Shadow happened to be in the area, they decided to lend a hand.
Well, more like Rouge dragged a begrudged Shadow into it because, quote, “Shadow needs to meet his monthly ‘social interaction’ quota.” Anyways, with their help, the five breezed through the rest of the bots in record time, of course, Shadow and Sonic making a competition of how many each of them could bash. (Somehow, Amy ended up winning?)
Anyways, everyone was kinda doing their own thing afterwards. Tails was fishing for scraps from some of the more salvageable bots, Rouge and Amy were helping clean up the streets so others could come out again, and Sonic was currently on the ground after getting hit into a wall (totally not because he was distracted with teasing Shadow…).
Rubbing his head, the cobalt hedgehog heard heavy, familiar footsteps heading towards him, and like some kind of romcom, there Shadow was. His hand extended towards Sonic to pull him out of the rubble, and a look on his face that seemed mixed between irritation and something softer that made Sonic think he had been hit harder than he realized.
Sonic’s brain was moving on autopilot as he took the other's hand and felt himself being hauled up, then everything besides the two of them seemed to stop. He saw that Shadow’s mouth was moving and a muffled noise similar to talking was echoing in his ears, but Sonic was way more captivated by how the sun currently seemed to perfectly illuminate Shadow's features.
And before he knew it, Sonic had leaned close to the other and kissed him on the cheek. It was light yet filled with years of yearning, and over just as soon as it happened.
You should note that it wasn’t the action itself that sobered Sonic, nor even the comical gasps from Amy and Tails. No, it was the look he received from Shadow that made him realize the gravity of what he had just done.
He wasn’t given a look of pure anger; it was a look that held confusion, irritation, and almost something close to… guilt? And all Sonic could do was stare in wide-eyed terror as Shadow used Chaos Control to get away. Honestly, Sonic didn’t even know what he would’ve said to the guy anyway.
Yeah, to say Sonic messed up would be underselling it… Only this hedgehog could be so blinded by highschool-esq lovesickness that he’d ruin the already fragile relationship he had with Shadow.
Sonic doesn’t even remember what he muttered under his breath to the others before bolting. All he knew was that every fiber of his being told him he needed to get out of there, away from eyes that saw, and especially away from the spot he had messed up one of the best things he had going for himself.
His feet carried him to a secluded field, who knew where, he could’ve been countries away, and it still wouldn’t be far enough to stop the shame and embarrassment creeping up on him. Alas, Sonic couldn’t find the energy anymore to do anything besides flop down into the grass and scream into the sky.
When did Sonic get so sentimental? When did he let something as silly as a crush affect every aspect of his mind… It’s not like Shadow would’ve ever accepted Sonic’s feelings; it was only a matter of time until something like this happened. Still, as the hero of Mobius sat there, he stared up at the stars that were beginning to dot the sky. In an alternate timeline, maybe he’d be seeing it with Shadow… Sonic felt a lump in his throat, unfamiliar grief for something that never was pricking his eyes, yet he couldn’t close them for fear he’d see the look Shadow gave him again.
—
SO you may be asking yourself, what has Sonic been doing for the past week? Well, he’d called it “throwing himself into his work”, but when your work is literally just beating up a guy every now and then, a more accurate description of his behavior would be “aggressively avoiding Shadow.”
Not like it was that hard, mind you, I mean, the guy rarely showed his face anyway. But now Sonic would literally swerve away from a conversation at the sheer mention of the guy’s name. Sonic wasn’t dense… He knew he was being difficult, and he knew his friends were tired of this high school drama. But chaos, what was he supposed to do? Tell Shadow he was in a lovesick (and maybe minor concussive) haze that made his rivals' cheeks extra kissable?!
All Sonic needed was more time to let the embarrassment die down, and come up with some kind of excuse on why he did… y’know. And if that means being a difficult bastard, so be it.
It was to the point that Sonic was declining hangouts that had even the POSSIBILITY of Shadow showing up. Sonic! Declining hangouts!
What Sonic’s days have looked like for the past week is waking up, running around to solve literally any small issue he could, locking himself in his room to doomscroll, coming out to eat, falling asleep, rinse and repeat.
Currently, we’re on the ‘doomscrolling’ part of the day. The blue hedgehog furrowing his brow at the texts he’s ignored. Some from Amy asking him to come over, a few from Rouge that sounded like vague threats, and even something from Knuckles! And yet, nothing from Shadow… Sonic didn’t know whether or not to be happy or not that the other didn’t really seem to care…
Sonic tossed the phone onto the ground and groaned into his hands. This was becoming increasingly embarrassing by the day. Even when he was LITERALLY alone, Sonic found himself fantasizing about Shadow’s stupidly handsome face. This kind of lovesickness is exactly what got him into this mess. Why couldn’t he just destroy it like some kind of badnik?!
“ARGGGH, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!”
Sonic grabbed his pillow and screamed into it with frustration. A nervous knock on his door made him pull his head out and do a walk of shame towards the door. Opening it to find a worried Tails looking Sonic up and down.
“Sonic! I heard you yelling and- Are… Are you okay?”
The blue blur, without missing a beat, ruffled his brother's fur and gave him a reassuring smirk.
“Yeah, totally dude! Sorry, I- er… was playing a game. Stupid boss wouldn’t go down, y’know how it is.”
Flawless cover, Sonic. Tails raised a brow at the guy, but shrugged it off… Thank Chaos, Sonic really didn’t want to have to lie to him more than he had to… (The things Sonic was doing to avoid embarrassment… Olympic-like gymnastics.) The fox kit awkwardly looked off to the side for a moment as if debating something in his head, before pulling out the Miles Electric and saying.
“Well then, if you aren’t busy, can you run over to this place a few miles out… There's some reports of Badniks being active over there… I’ll send the coordinates to your communicator.”
Sonic immediately perked up at the thought of blasting through some robot bastards; he had some steam he needed to blow off anyway. Totally not related to a certain black hedgehog, no. Don’t get it twisted, this was a mission, not Sonic avoiding the consequences of his actions still.
“Now that’s something I can do, bud.”
Sonic got ready to blast off, but his brother quickly grabbed his arm to stop him.
“Wait, before you go- Just… Don’t be an idiot, Sonic.”
The hedgehog was confused by Tails’ words, but judging by the stern look he had, the fox was being dead serious. Sonic gave him a thumbs up and a wink,
“Don’t worry, man, I got this!”
Tails' expression seemed to soften a bit as he released Sonic's arm, the blue blur zooming off into the horizon towards the location.
What was he so worried about?
—
It took Sonic longer than he thought to reach the coordinates Tails sent him… Seems like while getting lost in his thoughts, Sonics’ feet decided they wanted to do the same. Anyways, long story short, by the time Sonic arrived, the sun was starting to head towards the horizon line.
But honestly, taking a quick look around, the place sure didn’t look like the kind of place Robotnik would invade… I mean, an uninhabited flower field with a nice overlook of the sunset didn’t really fit the whole Eggman aesthetic. But hey, who’s Sonic to judge the guy for trying something new after all these years…
Tapping a confused hand on his chin, Sonic tried to listen for any mechanical noises approaching. But unfortunately, all his ears picked up were the sounds of rapid footsteps heading towards him. Wait… footsteps? Before Sonic could whip his head around and prepare to fight, he felt something hit his back hard. Sending his face straight into the dirt.
He could barely blink before hands grabbed his shoulders and flipped him around harshly, a strong arm pressing his throat to the ground so he couldn’t escape easily. Coughing up some dirt, Sonic had to blink a few times to get the stars out of his vision. Before quickly wishing he hadn’t, as he saw familiar, angry (and frankly gorgeous) eyes glaring daggers at him. The blue hedgehog felt his breath hitch before quickly coughing up some more dirt, hacking out as coolly as he could.
“Hey Shadow-... Didn’t we talk about how *cough* attacking is not a form of greeting?”
Real smooth, Sonic.
“Silence Hedgehog, you kissed me on the cheek. And I want to know why.”
Sonic’s grin faltered slightly, internally cringing at the thought, what he wouldn’t give to have Shadow’s teleportation ability… I mean, why did he get to escape awkward situations and Sonic couldn’t?! This is unjust! Sonic was brought out of his thoughts as he felt the arm on his throat pushing down harder, making the blue blur hack up some more dirt.
“I won’t ask again, faker.”
“Dude- I- *gasp* need air to- talk”
Shadow’s scowl deepened, gritting his teeth, he did reluctantly let Sonic catch his breath. But not for nearly enough time, moving his hand to instead push Sonic’s head deeper into the dirt, clearly wanting some kind of answer. An answer the blue blur was still trying to come up with, his mouth taking the wheel while his brain was still trying to catch up.
“Long time no see, Shads, are you tired? You look tired, and y’know sleep is super important for… health… reasons. So we should totally pick this up after you’ve had a na-”
Sonic felt his head being forcefully bashed into the ground.
“Alright, alright, fine! We’ll do this your way.”
Sucking in a deep breath, Sonic forced the words out so he wouldn’t have time to second-guess his choice.
“I kissed you because I like you, Shadow. I have for a while. I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to mess up what we had, but clearly I’ve crossed that line, and I get it if you’re going to beat the crap out of me n–”
Sonic was abruptly interrupted by lips crashing into his. His eyes widened as he felt like his brain was even more scrambled now. The other pulled back slowly, and the only thing Sonic could muster out in his confused daze.
“Wha-”
“You missed before.”
That snapped Sonic out of his stupor, everything hitting him at once as he sat up to look at the other with a confused look.
“Wait- you mean-”
Shadow let out a long sigh, rolling his eyes, but a fond smile on his lips.
“Yes, I like you too, idiot.”
This guy, acting like this isn’t the biggest, most unexpected outcome to Sonic. But at the same time, this hero had never felt more relieved and elated than ever before in his life. God, he was on a high that he only felt when he’d beat up dozens of bots, but this was way better because he wasn’t all sweaty and tired.
But something still wasn’t adding up in his mind, crossing his arms and raising a brow at Shadow.
“Wait- so if you liked me, why did you get all grouchy and teleport away when I kissed you?!”
Now it was Shadow’s turn to be caught off guard, his muzzle turning a bit pink as he looked awkwardly off to the side with a scoff.
“Well, it was really out of the blue- I didn’t expect it…”
Not feeling like that was the only reason, Sonic continued to look at Shadow with an expectant look.
“...And… I was kinda pissed you only kissed my cheek…”
Sonic blinked a few times before starting to giggle, and then full-on laughing. He felt Shadow punch his shoulder, but eventually laughed with him. And god, Shadow’s laugh sounded so beautiful… He wanted to hear that laugh so much more… He wanted to see these other sides of Shadow… He wanted to give Shadow as much happiness as Shadow gave him…
Gently caressing the other's face, and slowly leaning forward, giving the other a chance to back out before going back into a kiss. This time, being able to fully appreciate it without being embarrassed about it, or being too surprised. And chaos, did Sonic savor every moment.
Feeling the other’s warmth and wanting to absorb it all, Sonic wrapped his arms around the other’s neck and pulled him impossibly close. After years of yearning glances and daydreams, any space between them was far too much. And clearly, Shadow felt the same way, his hands going around Sonic’s waist and gripping him tightly.
Sonic didn’t know how much time had passed, but he knew it was not nearly long enough when they had to pull away for breath. The two were panting as they just gazed into each other's eyes. Neither said a word, but both understood how much they both needed this.
The blue hedgehog was about to go back in, but he suddenly felt Shadow sag and basically crumple into Sonic’s chest. Confused, Sonic tilted his head, noticing the heavy eye bags under his rival's eyes.
“Dude… have you not been sleeping…?”
“It’s been… a very long week for me…”
Letting out a light laugh, Sonic’s hands found their way into Shadow’s quills. Soothingly brushing through them, as he felt the other’s breathing becoming slower. They’d finish what they started later… But Sonic had already felt so happy and content just by knowing that the other loved him as much as he loved him…
He placed a light kiss on the other’s cheek, this time completely on purpose…
Guess it wasn’t that big of a deal after all.