FOR YOUR HEART-BOOM

☆Ch38

"Come ooooon, what could possibly happen to us? If we work together, we are unstoppable! Plus, don't the emeralds glow? We can see the glow better during nighttime," Sonic tried to convince the ebony hybrid to go on this emerald hunt right now, unable to hold his excitement back. Shadow hated it, whenever Sonic got a point.
"I hate you," he hissed at him in response, but Sonic just threw his arm around Shadow's shoulders and softly laughed.
"Love you too, man~" he mused and planted a soft kiss on Shadow's cheek, even in the dark he noticed the faint blush on it.

A few hours later, the two hedgehogs had to stop in the deep jungle, since they were travelling all the time and tiredness started taking over them both.
"We could open a campfire maybe?" Sonic suggested upon arrival to the area open enough for them to safely create the campfire there.
"Sure," Shadow replied shortly and helped the other with gathering rocks and sticks to one spot in the center of the location. Sonic started positioning the rocks to form a circle with them, before Shadow placed the sticks and some dry leaves inside the circle.
"This looks decent enough," Sonic stated proudly as he sat on a nearby horizontally positioned log, which conveniently worked as a bench.
"I guess," Shadow shrugged and holding two smaller stones he started brushing them together to throw in a sparkle and make the fire. It took him multiple tries before one sparkle finally flew out of it and caught up on the sticks, creating the little smoking 'fire seed'. Shadow perked his ears up and getting on all fours he gently blew on it in order to bring the flames to life. And soon enough, there was a decent, middle sized fire in the center of the stone circle. Sonic, in the meantime, dreamily enjoyed the view of his (unofficial) partner with a warm smile on his muzzle. Oh, he so wished to have a guitar here right now, since he liked to sometimes enjoy a campfire relax time while singing soft songs and playing a guitar in the process. He also wondered, how Shadow's singing voice sounds and that brought an idea to his tired, yet so curious mind.

"Sing a song, Shads," he spoke up, surprising the lifeform, who remained sitting by the fire and seemingly got lost in thoughts, before Sonic's voice snapped him out of it.
"What?" Shadow looked at him with raised eyebrow.
"Sing a song, please, Shads," Sonic repeated himself, this time holding his hands together in pleading manner and making puppy eyes while pouting.
"Tch, I don't sing," Shadow denied and moved his gaze back to the flame, watching its magical power.
"Come ooon, I bet you have a great singing voice!" Sonic stood up and moved to sit to the grass next to him, picking a random stick he started playing with it. It had a single leaf attached to its end, which entertained him to an extent.

"Keep dreaming," Shadow still opposed, being very stubborn about it. In fact, he was able to sing pretty well, he was just too shy to sing. And Sonic was aware of that, thus he was gently pushing the other's buttons in an attempt to find the right one.
"Oh, I do, but I am sure hearing it in reality is even better~" the hero mused while leaning against Shadow's side and playfully teasing the other's nose with the single leaf of the stick he wielded. Shadow moved his head away from the leaf, but Sonic kept teasing him.
"Stop it!" the hybrid growled menacingly, causing Sonic to only smirk in mischief.
"Only if you sing for me~" the blue hedgehog stood for it, as he continued teasing Shadow with the leaf.
"I told you, I don't sing!" Shadow groaned and surprised the hero by taking the stick's end by his teeth and breaking it in half, before he spat the stick out of his mouth and grimased in disgust.
"Wow... your teeth must be truly hard," Sonic stared at the rest of the stick in his hand in pure astonishment, whilst Shadow just shrugged in response.
"I was created like this. I was often surprised by my own strength I have in my jaws," he admitted, glad, that the topic got switched.

"Oh, is that why you crunch coffee beans in their raw form?" Sonic grinned afterwards, now remembering the package of coffee beans Shadow has somewhere in his cave.
"I like them for their taste actually, but I use them as my coping mechanism at times," Shadow confessed and added a few more sticks to the fire in order to keep it alive.
"I see," Sonic nodded in understanding before throwing the stick away and just watching the flames dancing around in all directions.
"Shads?" he spoke up after a few silent minutes.
"Yeah?" Shadow glanced at his companion.
"What was she like?" Sonic carefully asked him while looking back at him, as he crossed his legs and rested one hand in his lap, while keeping the other hand on the grass by his side, close to Shadow, who was in the very same position. Shadow returned his gaze back to the fire and softly sighed.
"She was an angel in my eyes. She was the anchor of my little family, always so curious about everything. We often sat together in her room and dipped our minds deep in various educational books, as we both shared the very same hunger to know the truth about the world and even things beyond it," the hybrid softly smiled upon the memories replaying in his head, which made Sonic smile as well, whilst he listened carefully to the other's story.
"She easily believed in many beings and creatures. Mermaids, werewolves and fairies were her most favourite. On the other hand, I myself never really believed in their existence, but I must admit, I like their appearance and design," Shadow continued as he slightly leaned a bit backwards, supporting himself with his hand. Sonic glanced down at Shadow's hand and bit his lower lip, as he moved his hand a little closer to it, but did not touch it yet. He carefully watched Shadow to see, if he noticed anything. The hybrid seemed to be too focused on his memories and story telling to really notice anything around him. Fortunately, for Sonic.
"Yeah, they're pretty cool," Sonic replied and softly chuckled.
"Hm, I kinda find myself liking centaurs, though, plus various types of fantasy horses," Shadow admitted and glanced at Sonic, unintentionally making him freeze a bit and even hold his breath.
"Do you like any supernatural beings?" Shadow asked him while looking deep into the other's eyes, oblivious of his side intentions.
"Me? Oh uh, sure! I like vampires, werewolves as well and maybe also the mermaids. Which, I sometimes envy those for how easily they can move through the ocean waves without fear of drowning," Sonic got a little flustered and gave the other his answer while nervously snickering in the end of the sentence.

"If you want, I can teach you how to swim," Shadow offered, causing Sonic to blush in response.
"Uhhh, I-I think I am alright on the dry land, thanks," the blue hedgehog shook his hands defensively before resting them both in his lap. His little personal mission to hold Shadow's hand failed miserably.
"Hmpf, you will never overcome your fear, if you keep avoiding it. You must face it and become its boss, Sonic," Shadow advised him.
"But of course, only if you truly want to overcome it. If you're fine with it as it is, then you don't have to do anything about it," he added with a shrug. Sonic took a moment to think about it, looking down he sighed and lowered his ears a bit sadly.
"I don't actually know, Shads. It would be awesome to finally not be so scared, but.. on the other hand, just a sight of so much deep water makes me panic and feel sick," he admitted, feeling ashamed now. Shadow scooted closer to his side and gently slid his hand down to Sonic's, gripping it tightly he interlocked their fingers and gave it a gentle squeeze, making the surprised hero look up at him with widened eyes and dark blush on his cheeks.
"Sonic. I am here for you and just like you, I am not going to leave you, ever. I'd be happy to be by your side and teach you how to swim, to help you overcome your biggest fear, but only if you want to. I am not going to force you into anything you're uncomfortable with. I promise," the hybrid spoke from the bottom of his fast beating heart and it was now Sonic's turn to slightly tear up. Yet, his peach lips spread into a soft smile across his muzzle.

"Oh, Shads," Sonic gently squeezed Shadow's hand in return and cupping his cheek with his free hand he leaned in for a grateful kiss of his own. Shadow gladly went along with it, as he accepted the kiss and with his other hand he gently tugged on Sonic's side, subtly telling him to come closer. Sonic gladly sat into his lap and they both closed their eyes as they kissed deeper while holding each other close to their bodies.
"Shads~" Sonic whispered in between the kisses and they both purred for each other. Eventually, Shadow ended up laying down on the soft grass with Sonic on top of him, their lips constantly connected in the most loving and passionate way possible. A few minutes later, they broke the kiss and looked into each other's eyes.
"You became such a great kisser, Shadzy~" Sonic smirked down at him, making the hybrid blush darker than his own crimson stripes and roll his eyes in response.
"Let's sleep, hedgehog," the hybrid retorted tiredly and just held onto the other hedgie tightly, having him lay his head onto his chest fur.
"Hmmmm, gladly~" Sonic purred as he buried his face to the soft white furry patch on Shadow's chest and cuddling with him he closed his eyes while having a huge, happy smile on his face. Finally, what he so much dreamed of for the whole time became true! Finally, he got to cuddle with the ultimate lifeform and not only that. He could sense, that Shadow loves him back just as deeply and that made him easily drift into dreamland while feeling warm, loved and safe in the hybrid's arms.