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The chill of the wind flows through the air, weaving between skyscrapers and street lamps before finding its way to the ultimate lifeform. They shiver as they sit perched on a rail, the skatepark is silent in the dark of night, the only noise being Shadow's soft breaths, the occasional car passing by and the buzzing of a nearby light, casting a warm glow on the architecture.
Before long, a familiar skater makes their way into the concrete landscape and wanders over to Shadow, leaning on the railing as he makes some small talk, “Nice weather for skating, huh?”.
“And here I thought I would go the night without a nuisance bothering me” Shadow mumbles.
The blue hedgehog chuckles, his eyes moving to gaze at them, “Don't be like that…You love me really.”
Their cheeks tingle with a little bit of warmth when he says that to them…They know it's true, but they're still going to deny it, “You can't be so sure, Sonic.”
“Well, if you didn't, you wouldn't tolerate me for this long!” He snaps back, offering his hand to them, “C'mon, lets walk around a while, that local coffee place you like is still open.”
“It's always open…” They roll their eyes, hopping off the railing before taking his hand in theirs, “...But coffee would be nice.”
Sonic smiles, initially leading the two out of the skate park before letting Shadow take over navigating the busy streets of central city. After all, they probably know the way to their favourite coffee shop better than he ever could. They may be walking at a snail's pace, but sometimes going slow is nice. Sonic is taking notice of the local shops and recognising what's unique about all of them unlike usual…He might have to take Shadow to that Chilean restaurant sometime, or maybe that antique shop…But before he knows it,
“We're here.” Shadow states bluntly, leading him inside a quirky little coffee shop, nestled between a bank and a stationary shop. They pick up a menu as they enter and step aside to let people come and go as they please, showing the menu items to Sonic, “What do you want?”
“You know I'm not fussy Shadow…”
“I know but I want to get you something you'll love, not just like.” The ultimate lifeform argues softly, “I know you like more spicy things and they have a coffee that includes a bit of cayenne pepper as well as some cinnamon.”
Sonic smirks, taking the menu from them and deciding to take this seriously since they sure as hell aren't letting him just order the most popular thing. He scans the menu as Shadow peeks over before deciding, “That coffee actually sounds really nice…How about we get a slice of their black forest gateau to share?”
Shadow's tail sways happily as they see he's getting interested, “Their black forest is great, we should also get a bag of their caramel and sea salt fudge for later. C'mon, let's go order.”
They practically drag Sonic to the counter, it's clear they're excited to share this place with someone, even though that joy may not be obvious to most people. The employee, an opossum begins the interaction, “Hello! My name is Bri, what can I get for you tonight?”
“I'd like a bag of sea salt fudge and a coffee with two extra shots of espresso and caramel.” Shadow replies, their words clearly rehearsed. Sonic proceeds to add to this, “and I'd like a slice of black forest gateau and the cayenne surprise coffee.”
Bri nods, adding those all to the order and ringing them up, “That will be £17.49 please.”
Shadow pulls out their card and pays for it, watching as the barista gets their orders and mixes up their drinks while Bri cuts a slice of cake for them and grabs a bag of fudge. In just a few minutes, their order is done and the two hedgehogs collect their drinks and food and go to sit down at one of the booths.
Sonic observes the environment, taking a sip of his coffee. He immediately directs his gaze at the coffee, the pepper and cinnamon work together to make the perfect spicy blend for him, it's awesome! Shadow can see the look on his face and has to stop themselves from giggling, “I knew you'd like that drink.”
“You know me too well…” He mutters, taking a couple more sips before taking a bite of the cake, letting the tastes melt in his mouth and swallowing, “You know how to find absolute gems in this city, I'll give you that.”
“That's because I take the time to walk around and simply walk into places that look interesting.” They shrug, taking a swig of their coffee.
“Y'know, I love how tuned in you are to the world around you to the point you know all the best spots in the city. It's one of my favourite things about you.” Sonic mumbles, reaching over and placing his hand over theirs.
Shadow blushes, taking a long sip from their coffee, “And I love how you're able to just tune everything out and focus in on something really specific.”
The two realise simultaneously that this spontaneous hangout has turned into a date and the pair just sit with that for a minute, basking in eachother's presence as they listen to the subtle clicking from a pair of uni students working together, the soft voices of the employees, and the low sound of rock music coming from the speakers. It's calm, not like the usual fields they run around and lay in together, but it's still nice, just different.
Everything is peaceful, when Shadow's phone suddenly goes off, spooking them as they rapidly try and get their phone out of their pocket and clumsily try and orient it correctly. It's just Rouge, they deny the call and text her something about being busy, they don't want their date to be interrupted. Sonic notices this and decides to suggest something, “Wanna stay at my place tonight? We've almost finished our food and coffee but I want to spend a little more time with you…”
“Sure…You actually have a place?” Shadow questions, they've always thought that he just couch surfed.
Sonic chuckles, having expected that answer, “Yep, I bought a small unit a while back. I keep my clothes, videogames and CDs there. I stay there a couple nights a week at least so there'll be food in the pantry if you want to have breakfast at my place tomorrow.”
Wow, he's thought this through. Shadow starts to feel a little bit stupid over assuming that Sonic didn't have an apartment or even a storage unit…Of course he has his own place, he's always viewed this city as home.
The blue hedgehog spots their look and chooses to not bring it up, they don't exactly like being reassured they're not stupid. Instead, he takes a final sip of his coffee and confidently stands up, “c'mon, lets throw these cups away and go get some rest.”
Shadow nods, picking up the disposable cups and throwing them away, following Sonic out of the coffee shop and to the subway.
The two hedgehogs hop between lines before eventually getting to the part of the city they need to be in. Sonic confidently leads them past a couple blocks and then into an apartment building, finding his room, digging around his pocket for his keys and then going inside. Sonic holds the door open for them like a gentleman as Shadow wanders in, taking off their shoes and inspecting the area. The main living space is decently put together, framed posters on the walls, fairy lights across the ceiling, an old beat up couch covered in blankets facing the TV, a couple retro systems on the TV console…It's cozy, lived in even.
“My room is a little more chaotic…I haven't found a bedframe secondhand yet so I've got a couple layers of wooden pallets under my mattress, if that's cool with you. If it isn't, we can sleep on the couch.” Sonic mentions, kind of embarrassed to not have such a curated home in front of such a classy hedgehog like Shadow.
But…”That'll be fine. I like it here…Now let's stop wasting time and get ready for bed.” Shadow responds.
Sonic nods, going to his room to grab some spare clothes for Shadow, leaving the door open to allow for him to throw them to the ultimate lifeform, “You can change in the bathroom, it's the door by the potted sunflower.”
They smile as they catch the clothes, wandering into the bathroom to get changed. This entire place is just so him that it's beautiful. They take a look at themselves wearing his clothes in the mirror and they simply feel content in this space.
Shadow walks to the bedroom to find Sonic having cleaned up a little bit, wearing his own pajamas. An old CRT lays on a table across from the bed but it has a laptop hooked up to it so Sonic has managed to put on a YouTube playlist. Shadow leans up against the wall as Sonic perches on the edge of the bed, “C'mon, I know you tolerate me enough to come cuddle…” Sonic jokes.
Rolling their eyes, Shadow joins him in bed and rests their head on his chest, “So, what have you been up to recently?”
“Just the usual, helping people out, supporting protests…Oh, I met the new mayor of Empire City last week, he's really nice. What's been going on in your life?” Sonic shares, he knows this isn't the most normal thing to say but he figures Shadow will get it.
Shadow nods, “Yeah, that sounds right…I've just been doing some charity going to therapy as per usual…Is it fine if I take my inhibitor rings off?”
Sonic's ears prick up, slightly confused, "Don't you need those?”
“Not all the time. I've not been using chaos control that much so my system isn't making that much energy. Taking them off really only gives me pain when I'm walking, those big bursts of energy only happen when I'm using my powers more often and I take them off.” Shadow explains, growing a little tired but also wanting to get these metal rings off their wrists before they fall asleep.
“Oh, that makes sense, you can totally take them off if it's more comfortable.” Sonic replies, feeling like he understands Shadow a bit better now. He watches as they unclip them and place the rings on the nightstand. “Ready for bed?”
“You know it, faker…” Shadow utters, shifting to kiss them in the lips. The action is slow and deep, intimate and full of care.
The two settle down, the glow of the CRT cast on their faces, a soft, chill breeze entering the room from Sonic's window. There's nowhere else they'd rather be right now.