FOR YOUR HEART-BOOM

☆Ch22

Shadow blushed in response before averting his gaze and scoffing.
"Sure I did, couldn't leave you alone in such state, huh?" he tried to play tough, but Sticks and probably also Sonic himself saw through such act, knowing of Shadow's real reason, why he stayed. He was just too stubborn to admit it.
"Awwww, Shadzy~ I knew you love me~" Sonic slightly wagged his tail inside the sleeping bag, but it did not have enough space to wag properly, thus the motion was very tiny.
"I-I... you should drink your tea to heal faster," Shadow panicked and then tried to get out of the sleeping bag, but Sonic held onto him tightly, refusing to let him leave.
"Shads, stay a bit longer, pleaaase," he pleaded with puppy eyes and his ears pinned to his head.
"I'll bring it," Sticks got up and went to pick up the mug with the tea while Shadow proceeded to sit up along with the sick hedgie still holding onto him tightly.
"Geez, Sonic, I am not going anywhere, can you let go now?" he had enough of it and growled at Sonic, who flinched a bit and quickly let go, not wanting to upset the lifeform any further.
"Sorry, heh! You're just so comfy," he tried to explain, but Shadow just rolled his eyes in response as he crossed his arms. Sticks patiently waited for Sonic to be able to take the mug carefully and handing it to him she let him drink it. However, he quickly spat it out and stuck his tongue out.
"Bleh, what the heck is this?!" he looked into the mug, seeing the herb floating on the bottom, the sight making him feel almost nauseous.
"It's a healing herb, Sonic, I use this anytime I feel sick and it actually helps a lot! And with you healing faster than us all, this should help you feel good this evening," Sticks explained nonchalantly, not getting fazed by Sonic's disgusted reaction to the awful taste of the herb tea.
"Ew.. it tastes gross!" Sonic grimased and moved the mug away from his face.
"Drink it, Sonic! It's important!" Sticks appealed on him to just take it in, for he needed to get the healing essence to his system.
"Don't you have rather some pill?" Sonic turned towards Shadow, who gently grabbed the mug over Sonic's hand and moved it closer to his peach mouth.
"No and now drink!" he growled, 'teaming up' with Sticks in this matter.
"Ew, no! Get this away from me!" Sonic tried to keep his face away from the gross tea.
"Okay, then I suppose you're healthy enough to not need me anymore," Shadow smirked and getting up he ended up holding the mug in his hands, determined to somehow force Sonic to drink it if he had to.
"No, no, no, wait, come back here!" Sonic oustretched his arms like a baby and wore a pleading expression on his face while looking up at the ebony hybrid, who stood in a fair distance from him, still with a smug grin on his face. Though, he had to admit, the tea even SMELLED gross, but believed, that its healing effects are 100% worth it.

Sticks watched the two now in amusement, as she stood next to her new ebony friend with crossed arms.
"Hmpf, why should I? You're surely good on your own now," Shadow still played stubborn and honestly enjoyed this, it was amusing to him just as much as it was to Sticks.
"Grrrr, fine, I'll drink it!" Sonic resignated while crossing his arms in a sulking manner, hating to submit to the dark male. Shadow crouched down to him and handed him the mug, which Sonic took to his hands again and was going to try at least take a sip, but paused after seeing the two watching him intensively.
"Can you two stop staring at me like this?" he complained in a whiny tone.
"Nope. We are now going to make sure you drink it all, of course, don't eat the hearb," Sticks shook her head. Shadow sighed afterwards and actually stood up again.
"You watch him, I... need to do something," he said firmly before fully leaving the cave, heading who-knows-where. Sticks and Sonic both watched him in confusion before they looked at each other.
"Is there anything I should know of?" Sticks asked him, since he was the one spending time with Shadow, she assumed, that maybe he knows about Shadow's routines and habits by now.
"Uh, I am not sure, honestly. He usually does this to me, suddenly leaving somewhere and then meeting up with me later on again," Sonic replied and glanced at the gross tea again, just its smell was making him feel pretty unwell and disgusted.
"Alright. Now, I know, that this is terrible, I could make you some breakfast if you want? So we would beat the terrible taste," the badger suggested and Sonic nodded in agreement, for such idea sounded good to him. His fever was a little lower now, but it was still there. Sticks moved to the kitchen corner and rummaged through Shadow's stuff to see, what kind of breakfast she could make for the blue hedgehog. Or actually a lunch, because by now it was almost noon.
"Wow, coffee beans dipped in milk chocolate? Does he eat those?" she held a package of the beans in her hand while looking at Sonic over her shoulder. Sonic was just as surprised while grimasing everytime he took a sip of the terrible tea.
"Beats me!" he shrugged in response before clumsily trying to stand up, but his head got dizzy and made him sit back down and lean against the wall of the cave.
"Actually, bring it here, maybe it could beat the awful taste of this crap," he added while gesturing for her to come over with the sweet snack. Sticks hesitated a little, as she did not wish to make Shadow upset, once he would find out about them rummaging through his stuff and even stealing it.
"But.. what if he finds out?" she asked Sonic in worried tone.
"Meh, he can get a new package if he wants it so badly, now come on!" Sonic brushed it off, stubborn about his request. Sticks sighed and indeed brought the package to the blue male, who set the mug carefully on the small japanese table and took the package from Sticks, instantly trying to open it.

He used his teeth for it and with a sudden 'RIP!' the package got finally open with many beans spilling around.
"Whoops," Sonic froze and so did Sticks, who quickly shot her gaze towards the entrance, now super nervous about Shadow returning at any moment.
"Quick, we need to clean it up!" she even spoke quietly as if Shadow could hear them from all the miles away. Sonic nodded and started gathering all the spilled beans to his palm before carefully putting them back to the broken package, which had a huge crack right in the center. Sticks gathered as many as she could and soon returned last one to the package before sighing in relief.
"Phew, we shouldn't ever do this again, heh," she softly giggled while wiping an imaginary sweat off of her forehead. Sonic agreed with her and took one bean out before sniffing it, the chocolate smell was MUCH BETTER than the crap of a tea - which he managed to drink at least halfway. Afterwards, he shoved the bean to his mouth and tried to bite it, but grimased and paused in shock, for his teeth collided with the hard bean, thus he was unable to crunch it. He let the chocolate layer melt in his mouth and swallowing the sweet delight he then spat the hard bean out onto his palm. Staring at it with narrowed eyes he noticed, how his teeth left tiny marks at two spots of it.
"Ugh... is it really... edible at all?" he asked nobody in particular, while Sticks watched him carefully, taking one bean from the package as well she looked at it, sniffed it and then dared to put it to her own mouth.
"Why else would it even exist though? Hmmm.. the chocolate part is so good," she melted at the sweetness and once only the coffee bean remained she tried to carefully crunch it, after a while she succeeded and grimased at the bitter taste of the coffee. Its aroma was very strong. Sonic actually had to admit, that she got a point with her statement, but now he stared at her as if she grew another pair of arms, which made her pause and raise an eyebrow.
"What?"
"How do you eat that? It's too hard for me to crunch it!" he asked her as he put the package on the small table and rather took the mug of tea again, sipping it he did his best to finish it in order to heal better and faster.
"I don't know, guess my teeth are resistant to many stuff," Sticks shrugged in response before moving to the kitchen counter and quickly making a few pancakes for them both, plus adding a few more for Shadow, when he returns.
"Yeah, guess so. Now imagine what kind of teeth Shadow has to have then," Sonic replied with a chuckle, actually finding it amusing. Eventually, he finally finished the tea and set the mug on the table before curling like a burrito to the sleeping bag and still in sitting position he leaned against the wall. The wet cloth was now laying on the carpet next to him from earlier, when Shadow first sat up with him, so picking it up Sonic pressed it against his hot forehead and hummed in bliss, the coolness brought relief to his system. Sticks was soon done with the pancakes and served them on plates, which she set on the table before sitting across from the hedgie. Sonic's eyes sparkled at the sight of pancakes and taking the offered fork he gladly ate it along with some fruits Sticks added to them, so they wouldn't eat them empty.

Hours later, around evening time, Shadow finally returned to his cave and found Sonic asleep in the sleeping bag while Sticks was absent. He checked all the areas of the cave, but didn't find the crazy badger anywhere, so shrugging a bit he approached the blue hedgehog and sitting down next to him he gently pressed his hand on his forehead. Smiling a little in relief, he could feel the other's temperature being back to normal. Glancing at the small table he saw the open package of the beans, which made him scowl immediately and taking it to his hand he quietly grumbled.
"You're so dead when you wake up, hedgehog!" he whispered while glaring at the peacefully sleeping hedgehog next to him, but then used advantage of this as he stood up and taking out a small bowl he spilled all the beans to it. At least, it will be easier to eat them from this, than the weirdly open package. Taking a few to his hand he shoved them to his mouth and easily crunched them, as if they were just an ordinary candies, liking the bitter-sweet mix of the chocolate layer with the coffee bean itself. Taking the bowl he moved to his bedroom and sitting on his bed he just relaxed while quietly crunching the beans, enjoying his little night snack.