Chapter Text
The sun peaked high in the sky, bright with zero clouds to block its rays. Seagulls flew overhead, as the waves lapped against the metal shipping yard somewhere a bit away.
Only met with a soft, mild breeze drifting in from the nearby ocean, leaving a salty brine smell in the air.
Sonic and Shadow were tasked by GUN this week to search for a shipping container that had been imported with Eggman's weapons.
Being the two fastest beings alive, it made sense that it was only them instead of dragging a whole team out. The task could be done in a couple of days.
And while Sonic had no problem with the assignment itself, it was blatantly obvious how little excited Shadow was to be here paired up with him.
The walk was currently silent, their feet thudding against the metal ground as Sonic's brain itched to make any conversation with the worst talking partner in the world or maybe even the universe.
Every little thing Sonic said was met with either a grunt, a tch, or a single word answer. It was driving him crazy.
He was a talkative hedgehog. He loved conversations. He loved making people laugh. He loved hearing stories, learning random facts, and turning even the most boring situations into something entertaining.
It was his thing.
It brought warmth to his heart.
But with Shadow, it was little different.
Not to say there had been no progress in their friendship at all.
Working in the beginning with him was rough. Very rough. There were disagreements, arguments, even fights. The two couldn't be in a room together for more then five minutes without some bad commotion.
But then slowly things began to taper down. Shadow seemed to have lightened up a bit more and instead choosing to actively ignore Sonic, growl, or just give an eye roll than cause a fight.
And while any normal person would have seen this behavior and immediately backed off, Sonic had other plans.
So there was progress. Just very slow progress. But progress nonetheless, and that made Sonic more than eager to continue trying to build something up with the dark hedgehog.
Sonic knew GUN always needed help with something and doing more missions meant more communication, so he happily offered his services up to GUN in hopes of being paired with Shadow, and boy, did it work.
Because then Shadow had been forced to deal with him, which—once again, very slowly—Sonic saw him quietly shift into being more open.
Earning him more responses, with less anger, and even sometimes a full sentence if he was lucky.
It was painstakingly slow, but it made Sonic oddly happy inside.
He liked when Shadow actually talked to him. It was nice to hear his warm voice in a calm tone rather than pure irritation all the time.
Sonic saw the way Shadow interacted with Rouge—granted, that was his best friend—and the way he talked to everyone else he came around, so Sonic knew it was possible to reach that level of communication.
He just had to work harder.
It had become a personal mission to get Shadow to smile, or maybe even laugh. Because the more Sonic thought about it, the more he realized he had never seen Shadow's teeth. Never seen his lips pulled back into a grin, or heard that voice come out in any form of a chuckle.
Shadow wasn't a robot. Sonic knew something had to make him laugh, and he wasn't about to give up without trying everything.
It would be the greatest reward in the world.
“So,” Sonic spoke, breaking the silence after only thirty seconds from his last words,
what do you think is in all of these shipping containers?”
His eyes glancing between the different colored boxes in front of him—greens, blues, yellows, and reds.
“I don't know,” Shadow said flatly.
“Oh, come on, dude,” Sonic let out an amused huff. “Can’t use that big ultimate brain of yours to think of anything?”
Shadow’s eyes narrowed as he snapped a look over at Sonic.
“Why would I waste my time thinking about what’s in these when we’re here on a mission?” Shadow deadpanned.
Sonic nodded and hummed thoughtfully. “You know our mission is to find Eggman’s stuff in these containers, so therefore we kinda do have to think about what's inside them.”
“I don't care what’s in the others. I’m only interested in his,” Shadow said, shifting his gaze back forward.
Sonic snorted. “Has it occurred to you that if you had just answered my question, then we wouldn’t have had to have this whole back-around conversation just for me to once again ask what I originally did?”
Shadow didn’t say anything as they continued walking.
Three seconds of silence filled the space before Sonic spoke up again.
“So what do you think is in the containers?”
Shadow stopped in his step. A deep exhale escaping him before he turned to look at Sonic.
“Do you ever shut up?”
“Nope,” Sonic said with a grin and an enunciated pop of the p.
“So then, is it just your personal mission to annoy me every single time we work together?” Shadow now glared.
Those words kinda did make Sonic’s smile falter. He knew he could be annoying. It came with the high energy and talkative personality, but obviously it wasn’t his goal to annoy the one person he was actively trying to make smile.
That was the exact opposite of what he was trying to do.
“Um... no, dude. I just wanna talk, is all,” Sonic frowned slightly. “Doesn’t the silence bother you?”
“No. I enjoy it,” Shadow said, continuing his step and walking past Sonic.
Sonic’s eyes lingered for a brief moment before he exhaled and jogged a bit to catch up to Shadow.
“Man, I’m not trying to annoy you. Just... I don’t know. We’ve been working together for a while now, and I’ve never even seen you smile once,” Sonic said.
“Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I don't smile?” Shadow said.
Sonic couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped. “That’s impossible. Everyone smiles.”
“I think you smile enough for the both of us,” Shadow frowned.
“No—no, my smile is my own. I wanna see yours.” He quickened his pace a little and stopped in front of Shadow.
“See, like this. Just copy me,” Sonic teased, pulling his teeth back into a large grin, his fangs glistening in the sunlight.
Shadow’s eyes lingered over Sonic’s face—maybe longer than the hedgehog should have, but Sonic didn’t notice—before Shadow gave a tch and walked around him.
“Oh, come on, Shads,” Sonic groaned dramatically as he followed after the hedgehog.
“Just shut up, and maybe your silence will make me smile,” Shadow said.
“Oh? Bet!” Sonic grinned, clamping his mouth shut.
Shadow looked over at him, his face unreadable, before looking forward again.
It maybe hadn’t even been ten seconds before Sonic spoke up again.
“How long do I have to be quiet for?” Sonic asked.
Shadow exhaled as he shook his head.
“More than a few seconds, that’s for sure,” Shadow said.
“Well, I mean—”
“Stop,” Shadow said, stopping in his step.
Sonic furrowed his brow as he turned, now walking backwards to look at Shadow.
“But I—”
Shadow grabbed Sonic by the wrist and pulled him back toward him, placing a hand over Sonic’s mouth.
Sonic’s body oddly tensed at the contact. His skin felt on fire from the touch and close proximity. Shadow’s hand pressing firmly against his mouth, the smell of his leather gloves seeping into his nose as red eyes glared into him.
“Stop talking for just one damn minute and look at your surroundings,” Shadow said, his voice now low and hushed.
Sonic nodded, his movement slightly restricted by the hand as he answered with a muffled voice.
“Okay.”
Shadow let go of him entirely and took a step back, creating distance before pointing a finger and raising a brow.
Sonic turned to see a black drone flying overhead, circling above a shipping container.
The drone hovered at each corner for a moment before continuing its laps around the red metal box. Sonic’s eyes drifting down and noticing a black X painted on the bottom corner.
“You think that’s the one?” Sonic asked, looking back at Shadow.
“It matches the description,” Shadow answered, his arms now crossed over his chest, “and the drone is kinda a dead giveaway.”
Sonic pursed his lips. “Okay... so how do we get in?”
Shadow’s eyes drifted back up to the drone for a few moments before meeting Sonic’s gaze again.
“We have to time it exactly, or Eggman will see us.”
Sonic let out an amused scoff and rolled his eyes. “Well, it’s a good thing we’re literally blurs. He won’t see us.”
Shadow glared. “The drone will if you're not careful, dumbass.”
Sonic grinned, settling his hands on his hips. “Then I'll be careful, duh?”
Shadow just blinked before exhaling.
“Just tell me when, dude.”
The two stayed hidden, surveying the drone for a few cycles as they watched how long it took to make its rounds. There was at least one gap between passes where they shouldn’t be detected and could sneak in.
“Okay, so when it reaches the back left corner, we can run up to the container,” Shadow said, lowering himself into a running crouch.
“You got it, boss,” Sonic chuckled.
Shadow’s ear twitched, but he paid it no mind as his gaze remained fixated on the drone. Watching intently before finally saying.
“Okay, go.”
The two dashed up to the tall container doors. Shadow pulling back the metal latches and opening the door wide enough for the two of them to slip in before closing it behind them.
Engulfed in pure darkness, Sonic couldn’t see a thing, his hands lingering on the metal walls beside him as a form of stability.
“Uh, dude, can’t really see,” Sonic called out.
Shadow didn’t respond as he shifted his hands into his quills and pulled out a mini flashlight, clicking it on.
The beam directly landing on Sonic’s face, blinding him. He turned his head away, and threw up his hands attempting to block the light.
“Man, now I really can’t see,” Sonic groaned.
Shadow let out a small amused exhale through his nose, one that barely registered in Sonic's mind, before the flashlight swept over the rest of the container.
Sonic’s brows furrowed in confusion seeing before them an empty container. There was nothing inside except, at the far end, one silver box no bigger than the size of a shopping basket.
Sonic frowned. “Uh... there's nothing here?”
He stepped up to the box, his shoes echoing through the hollow space.
“What do you think it is?” Sonic asked, crouching down to look it over.
“Whatever it is, don’t touch it,” Shadow said. “Let me call GUN.”
But Sonic being Sonic, those words fell on deaf ears as he unclipped the front latch and opened the box.
To see, once again, nothing inside.
Sonic picked it up and turned to Shadow.
“There’s nothing in it,” Sonic frowned.
Shadow growled. “Didn’t I just tell you not to fucking touch it?”
Just then, there was a hiss coming from somewhere inside the shipping container, and the scent in the air started to shift.
Something strong and putrid. Like burning sulfur.
The space grew thick and cloudy as the oxygen suddenly felt like it was thinning out.
Sonic dropped the box, starting to cough, unable to catch his breath as the sulfur burned against his lungs.
“We need to leave,” Shadow said, grabbing Sonic’s wrist and pulling him back toward the doors.
He carefully opened the hatch and peeked outside, seeing that the drone wasn’t there, they stepped out.
Sonic was now hacking his lungs up as Shadow closed the container, and the two dashed back to cover.
Sonic hunched over, his chest hurting from how hard he was coughing. He gasped for bits of air as his body trembled, trying to regain itself.
“Are you okay?” Shadow asked, shifting almost hesitantly in his stance.
Sonic wiped a tear from the corner of his eye as he straightened up, taking in a shaky breath.
“Yeah—yeah, I think I am,” Sonic said.
Suddenly, he felt a spike of pain in his right shoulder.
“Good,” Shadow said, punching him.
“Because why the hell did you pick it up when I told you not to?” Shadow's voice rose in frustration.
Sonic winced, gripping his arm where he had just gotten hit.
“Ow, dude, sorry. I didn’t know we were gonna get bombed with a fart blast,” Sonic frowned, rubbing at the sore spot.
Shadow exhaled deeply, crossing his arms over his chest.
“This wasn't the container,” Shadow said. “The real one has weapons in it.”
“Man, how do we know Eggman isn’t just lying?” Sonic asked.
“Because we have 3D scans of what’s inside it, and it shows weapons.”
“Do you think I'm gonna be okay? What was even in that fart cloud?” Sonic asked, looking over his body and attempting to find something wrong.
“I feel fine,” Shadow said.
“Man, you're the Ultimate Lifeform,” Sonic scoffed. “Of course you feel fine. I’m asking about me.”
“How do you feel?”
“I don’t know. I don’t feel anything wrong.”
“Then you're fine.”
Sonic frowned. “Eggman would just place a fart bomb as a joke?”
“I don’t know. You tell me. You’re the one that loves jokes.”
“I mean, I would love a fart bomb as a joke,” Sonic chuckled. “But Eggman? I don’t know... that doesn’t seem like his style.”
Shadow just gave a blank stare and a shrug.
Sonic exhaled. “Fine, dude, whatever. If I turn into a mutant werehog or something, that’s on you.”
Shadow then let out another small exhale through his nose.
A more noticeable one.
When Sonic looked up, he swore he could see the smallest twitch possible at the edge of Shadow’s mouth. The tiny remnants of a smirk that suddenly filled Sonic with so much pride.
Any fear from what had just happened with the smoke bomb was easily overshadowed by the pure, simple fact that Sonic had just made Shadow smile.
Sure, it was the tiniest one in the entire world, but still a smile nonetheless.
As quickly as the smile formed, it disappeared the second Shadow noticed that Sonic had noticed.
Sonic opened his mouth to acknowledge it but was smoothly cut off.
“Come on. We still have to finish checking this section,” Shadow said, clearing his throat and continuing down an aisle.
Sonic exhaled, smiling deep inside, his tail twitching with excitement.
Oh, he was definitely bringing this up later.
The two continued checking the rest of the shipping yard, the fart bomb container being the only one that matched the description that they found in this specific section.
So, with nothing left to do for the day, the two raced back to their campsite—an abandoned factory just outside the shipping yard.
Sonic loved his races with Shadow. Any time they got to race, it felt electric. Exhilarating.
He had never met anyone else who could keep up with him, let alone challenge him on his runs aside from Shadow.
He could tell Shadow liked racing against him too. It seemed to be a mutual feeling because, instead of ever saying something that could come off as mean or angry, Shadow’s words shifted into taunts, words that teased and pushed Sonic into going faster.
Out of the two of them, Sonic liked to think he was the fastest—because obviously, why wouldn’t he want to be cocky about that?—but there were times Shadow showed him up, unfortunately winning when Sonic became too distracted by how much fun he was having.
And for some reason, he didn’t mind losing in those moments.
Coming up on the old, decrepit building, the sun began to dip down into the cooler tones of the incoming twilight. The air had now chilled a bit more.
Inside, they had their camp set up. Nothing luxurious. Just a campfire, some snacks, and two simple sleeping bags.
Sonic plopped down on his green sleeping bag as Shadow began setting up a fire.
Pulling out some beef jerky from his own bag, Sonic leaned back, kicked off his shoes, and watched.
Shadow had the fire set up pretty quickly before taking out a protein bar and settling onto his own sleeping bag. Pulling out his GUN logbook, he began writing as he snacked.
Sonic sat for a moment, chewing and finishing his snack before finally speaking up.
“So, are we gonna address the elephant in the room orrrr—” Sonic said, his face pulled into a teasing grin.
“What elephant?” Shadow said almost dismissively.
Sonic crossed his legs, grabbing his shins and rocking forward a little. His grin widened.
“The you elephant.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Shadow said, closing the book, crumpling his wrapper, and finally looking up.
The way the fire light flickered against Shadow’s muzzle, made Sonic suddenly feel queasy.
Although queasy maybe wasn't the best way to put it.
Nauseous, maybe?
Regardless, Sonic had started noticing these weird and unexplainable feelings more and more recently.
At first, they were super mild, and the easiest thing to do was ignore them. But as time went on, Sonic began noticing them becoming more and more incessant. Sometimes so bad they felt suffocating.
His heart would race. His palms would sweat. He’d get this weird jitter in his chest, and it made him want to just run.
These feelings were somewhat manageable because they didn’t happen all the time. And on the rare occasions they did, it usually only ever happened around Shadow.
Or when he thought about Shadow… it was really weird.
So Sonic had trained himself to push those feelings away because, aside from the fact that Shadow already thought he was annoying, Sonic didn't want him to also think he was some weirdo.
But sitting here, watching the glow from the fire paint so beautifully across crimson eyes in a soft ember gradient, Sonic couldn't help but feel like he was going to throw up right then and there.
He forced the jitters down and swallowed, putting on his comedic face once more to hide the way his chest felt so incredibly tight.
“Oh, I know you know, dude,” Sonic teased, forcing himself steady.
Shadow’s eyes narrowed into a glare before he shifted on his sleeping bag and laid on his back, his hands behind his head.
“It was an accident,” Shadow muttered, so low Sonic almost didn’t hear it.
Sonic’s grin widened.
“Ah—what was that? You think I'm funny and enjoy hearing me talk?”
“I never said that.”
Sonic chuckled to himself. “Yeah, okay. You didn’t have to, buddy.”
“I’m not your buddy,” Shadow muttered.
“Pal, friend, best friend. Man, I don’t care what label we use,” Sonic beamed as he shifted to lie down on his sleeping bag.
“Just focus on the mission,” Shadow said flatly.
“I got the Ultimate Lameform to smile, so I think my mission is complete,” Sonic teased.
“Good, so you can leave now,” Shadow deadpanned.
“As if,” Sonic chuckled. “Now that I know you can smile, my next goal is to make you laugh.”
“Good luck,” Shadow muttered, now turning onto his side so his back faced Sonic.
“Thanks. I need all the luck I can get,” Sonic smiled.
Shadow didn’t respond to that, and silence soon fell over the space between them.
Seeing as they had to get up early tomorrow, Sonic decided to try and get a head start on sleep.
As he laid there with his eyes closed and snuggled under his sleeping bag, sleep seemed to be an afterthought. His mind felt like a rampant mess of nonsense.
A mix of thoughts from today and everything else he had going on in his life.
The mundane chores he had to do when he got back home.
The project he said he’d help Amy with, which sounded the least bit exciting compared to what he was doing now.
Sure, the mission itself was kinda slow and a bit tedious, but at least he got to be with Shadow.
He had fun in that.
Especially now, knowing the hedgehog was capable of smiling.
What a liar.
As he laid there, his jumbled thoughts suddenly started making him antsy. His body refusing to fall asleep despite his eyes starting to feel heavy.
He kept opening and closing them, checking to see if they were in fact heavy. They were.
But for whatever reason, sleep was not coming.
He tossed onto his side and tried again to force himself to drift off. Nothing.
He turned onto the other side. Nope.
He sat up and adjusted his small pillow, flipping it to the cold side before laying back down again. Nada.
The tossing and turning blurred together and Sonic couldn’t tell how long it had been or what time it was when suddenly his heart skipped a beat at a voice cutting through the night.
“Will you stop moving?” Shadow asked over his shoulder.
Sonic exhaled. “Sorry, man. I can’t seem to sleep.”
“Maybe go for a run or something,” Shadow muttered as he snuggled deeper into his own sleeping bag.
Sonic sighed as he sat up, running his hands through his quills.
The fire was now long out, with only small ribbons of smoke and mild embers burning in the remnants of the charred wood, leaving the building feeling cold and slightly off putting.
He shimmied out of his sleeping bag and slipped on his red shoes before giving a small stretch and a yawn, making his way out of the building.
Outside, the chilled ocean air instantly rushed over his body, drawing a shiver from him.
He instantly took off, ignoring the way the cold burned through his fur as the wind blew through his quills.
It was honestly a great suggestion by Shadow.
He probably could relate.
Running at night was so different from running during the day. It helped gather thoughts and burn off extra energy, tiring oneself out, especially if they couldn’t sleep.
The run was fun, and Sonic ran all over the outskirts of Green Hill, passing the hills, beaches, and forests before making his way back to the factory. His legs were slightly tired, and his eyes felt even heavier than before.
Sonic could only hope the energy inside him had finally been burned off.
Coming back into the building, he once again slipped off his shoes and settled back into his sleeping bag.
Closing his eyes, he waited patiently.
And was once again was greeted with no sleep.