POV: Shadow
((TW: More alcohol use, self depreciation))
I get my bags in the room and shut the door. 'I'll have to do this quick before Sonic gets home and stops me.' I think to myself with a sigh, pulling out the bottle of Elijah Craig Barel Proof whiskey. 'Damn it, I'm not an alcoholic, I shouldn't do this.' I sigh and put the bottle down. I look over at it sitting on the night stand and grip my head with frustration 'but I don't want to be sober if I have to be with Faker again tonight. He's too good for this world.' I fight myself before I snatch the bottle, taking a gulp before setting it back down, my hands shaking with frustration. 'He is getting too close to me. He doesn't deserve this. This is wrong. I'm just taking advantage of his kindness, someone needs to tell me to stop.'
I growl to myself and grab it quickly again, taking another swig. 'He doesn't deserve a friend like me. I'm too selfish, I'm too competitive, I'm too... I'm too me. I don't deserve the title of friend. What have I ever done except try and beat him? I almost killed him several times!' I grip the bottle tightly and sigh, looking at the liquid in it, seeing that is still 3/4 full. 'I don't want to be sober enough to remember his face when he sees what I did. This needs to be gone.' I take a deep, shaky breath before I chug the rest of the bottle. I get up and throw it in the bathroom trash, hiding my evidence. I'm glad I did, because when I come back into the room, I hear the front door shut and Sonic's voice in the living room. 'Damn it alcohol, hurry up and take effect.' I get in bed and cover myself with the blankets. Hoping he'll just think I went to sleep.
((TW over, kind of?))
I hear the bedroom door open, and I shut my eyes, ignoring him. I feel as he climbs into bed, getting under the covers and trying to get comfortable. He turns to me and I can feel his eyes on me and hear him sigh before speaking. "I know you're awake Shads, what's wrong?" I just grunt and pull the blanket higher. I feel as Sonic gets closer and gently touches my shoulder. I growl quietly at him and he pulls his hand back. "Are.. are you mad at me?" I stop growling 'he thinks I'm mad at.. him? Damnit he's too precious.' I roll over quickly, the room spinning for a second before I gather my bearings. "No. I'm not mad at you." I see his nose twitch and his eyes widen 'shit I forgot about his sensitive nose.'
He frowns and lowers his ears "Shads.. did you drink again? And don't lie because I can smell it." I sigh and roll back away from him, not wanting to see his disappointed face. "Yeah." I reply simply, just wanting the alcohol to take its affect so I don't have to deal with this conversation anymore. I hear him sigh and he gets up out of bed. I turn my head back to him and give him a raised eyebrow. "Where are ya going?" He shrugs his shoulders "I feel like I'm to blame, so I'm going to go sleep in my bed tonight." I growl "It's not your fault, get back here." 'Wait what am I saying?' "Nevermind, you shouldn't get too close anyway." He cocks his head before shaking it with a frown. He climbs back into bed and gets close with a sigh. "Shads. Please tell me what's wrong. I just want to help you."
I huff and lower my ears "I just need to stop. You don't deserve me. I've done nothing good for you and I feel like I'm just taking advantage of your friendliness and kind heart in order to fill a hole in my heart I didn't even know was there. I'm just bad news." 'Woah, this is not what I meant to say. I guess the alcohol is taking effect. Just not in the way I intended.' "I-Ignore me. It's just the alcohol talking."
I hear Sonic sigh yet again and without warning I feel a warmth on my back and his arms wrap around me, holding me close. "Shads. That is far from the truth. There is no reason for you to stop anything. You are definitely not taking advantage of me whatsoever. You have done plenty of good lately. Don't beat yourself up over accusations you make of yourself. I'm close to you right now because you have grown and changed lately, not because you're forcing me, or had convinced me somehow." I feel a few tears escape my eyes and I close them tightly, letting out soft whimpers as I lean into Sonics gentle touch.
We lay there for a minute, Sonic gently rubbing my arm for comfort, until I decide to speak again. "Are you sure that being close to me is a good idea? I don't exactly have the best track record for keeping my friends safe and happy." Sonic just chuckles and moves his hand up to my ear, playing with that instead. "I'm sure, Shadow. You have opened up a lot more and you're actually very sweet sometimes. I'm just upset you felt the need to try and drown your sorrows again." I nod "I'm sorry. I just felt like I needed to. I was trying to get drunk enough that I would just pass out and not have to deal with anything. Apparently I'm just at the emotional and revealing stage. Fuck. I did it again."
Sonic chuckles quietly again, mindlessly playing with my ear still. "That feels really nice by the way~" I say calmly. I can practically hear Sonic smile before he says "Good. That's my plan. I'm glad you're feeling better now. Ready for bed?" I nod my head "But don't roll over. I think I want to be held for once- Damn it. Tell no one about my filter drop." 'Ugh, I better shut up before I reveal more embarrassing things about myself.' He just squeezes me with his one arm and snuggles closer "Wasn't planning on it Shads." I just reply with "Good" as I fall asleep, for the first time being wrapped in someone else's arms.
I wake up in the morning, with Sonic wrapped around me, holding me close. I chuckle and move his arms, getting up and heading to the bathroom. Once I'm done I walk back in the bedroom to see Sonic waking up. "Morning." I say in my deeper morning voice, watching him jump and turn to me. "I didn't think your voice could go any lower. Also why are you out of bed? How did I not wake up?" I just shrug "I guess you were comfy. I just had to use the bathroom." Sonic stretches and gets up, putting his clothes on. "Feeling better?" He asks and I just give him a curt nod before turning to walk out the door to the kitchen. I notice a note on my coffee pot saying
'hey love hogs. Knuckles and Amy went to work from 9-5 and i'm going to the spa until 3. You two have fun ❤️;)'
I roll my eyes at Rouge's note and go and make my coffee, pouring Sonic some as well. 'Guess it's just us today. Good. The others are too annoying anyway.' He walks out of the door as I finish mixing his mug. I walk up to him with the two mugs, handing him his before I turn and walk to the chair. I watch as Sonic walks in the living room and sits down on that loveseat he likes so much. We enjoy our coffee in peace for a while, until I decide to break the silence for once. "Want to watch some more of those movies I picked out? It's only Wednesday, so we have a bit of time before the fight tomorrow evening."
Sonic just shrugs "Sure. Sounds good to me, I'll make popcorn." I nod "let's finish our coffee first. In silence preferably." Sonic chuckles and we finish our coffee in my preferred background, silence. I take the last sip and stand up, walking over to the sink to rinse my cup. Sonic walks up next to me and I turn and grab his cup, rinsing it as well. "Oh thanks Shads. I could have done it myself." I shrug my shoulders "I was already here."
I walk back into the living room as I hear Sonic making the popcorn. I pick out a couple movies and smirk to myself. 'Hmm, maybe I'll make him watch this movie. That'll be funny, even if he doesn't finish it.' I pick out a Horror movie to watch first, called 'Incident in a Ghostland' and then grab the movie with a light chuckle, placing it below the first one. I open the first one and put it in the slot, pressing play. I sit back down on the loveseat, waiting for Sonic to come back. He returns with our popcorn and sits beside me, turning his attention to the ads on the screen.
The movie starts and I watch as he jumps slightly at one of the scenes, lowering his ears slightly. I sit back on the couch and bring my legs up in a criss cross position. I watch as he flinches again and I smirk, pulling him onto my lap once again. He squeaks in surprise as I chuckle. "This seemed to help last time." He grunts "At least let me grab the popcorn." I release him from my grip and he leans over, grabbing the popcorn before returning to sitting in my lap. We turn our attention back to the movie, with me resting my head on his shoulder. I reach over with my hand, grabbing the popcorn and put it in my mouth without taking my eyes off the screen.
I hear Sonic chuckle and I glance up at him "What?" He smiles and shakes his head "Nothing, you just look so... focused." I shrug and turn my attention back to the movie. We watch the rest of the movie like this. Eventually we run out of popcorn, which makes me pout slightly and Sonic chuckles at me. As the movie finishes and the credits roll I grab Sonic, placing him to the side of me before getting up to switch the discs. I hear him huff and say "You know I could have just moved myself." I shrug my shoulders "Yeah. But like I said, I find it funny to make you flustered by doing things like that." I grab the next disc, smirking to myself as I put it in the slot and press play. I walk back to the couch, sitting down and quickly pulling Sonic back on my lap. He chuckles "Wow, needy much?" I roll my eyes "Shut up."
He chortles and leans back against me as he responds "It's fine, as I said before. You are just a very touchy hedgie. And I definitely don't mind. It's a nice change of pace." I shrug and wrap my arms around him tighter, nuzzling into his shoulder. I watch as the movie starts up and smirk as I see the title 'Magic Mike' Sonic tilts his head "This isn't a horror movie, is it?" I chuckle and say "Definitely not. Well at least not for me. I just want to see your reaction. Maybe help you out with your... thoughts." I watch as he watches confused for a minute until Channing Tatehog ((lol it's Channing Tatum but as a hedgehog)) starts stripping on screen. I glance up at Sonic's face and notice his face is very red.
I smirk and turn back to the movie, watching quite a bit of it, beore I hear Sonic whine once. I look back up at him and his face is extremely red, his ears are lowered, biting his lip, and he seems to be breathing somewhat heavily 'Heh, is he really this embarrassed? Is this what gay panic looks like? It's actually adorable. I wonder if he'd have the same reaction to me dancing like this? Wait.. am I.. do I have feelings for Faker?... fuck.' I feel my own face heat up and my ears lower. Sonic looks over to me and chuckles with a smirk "Glad to know I'm not the only one flustered by the scenes." I chuckle nervously "Yeah. The scenes..." I quickly turn my head back to the movie and keep my focus on it instead. I feel Sonic shrug and lean back against me, paying attention to the movie again.
Once it ends, I get up, setting Sonic to the side and sigh. "I'm.. going to go get lunch. I need to keep my chaos energies really high to prepare for the battle tomorrow." Sonic nods "Can I come with? I want you to show me how to do that thing on the bike you did yesterday." I sigh 'I was hoping to go alone. But if I tell him no he'll be suspicious.' "Sure. That means you're riding with me though." He nods and takes the popcorn trash to the kitchen, disposing of it before zipping back to me. We head outside and I start up my bike, the two of us hopping on. He wraps his arms around me and I blush, momentarily thinking of other things. I shake the thoughts away and take off, heading towards the food joint we always go to. I show him how to weave in the lane and I hear him laughing with joy.
I smile and continue doing it for a while until we come up to a red light. I slow down and stop, putting a foot down to balance the bike. Sonic snickers and leans closer to me, saying "Thanks for showing me. It looked like fun when you were doing it." I nod and keep my eyes on the light. I see the other light turn red and instantly take off, knowing it only takes a second for my light to turn green. Sonic wasn't expecting this, so he holds me tighter with a "Woah!" I chuckle and smirk. "Looked green to me." Sonic slaps my thigh in response and I just shake my head, continuing down the road.
We make it to the building and I pull up, parking where I always do, the two of us hopping off. We walk in and make our way up to the counter. The guy at the register smiles "Oh its you two again. Same thing as usual?" Sonic chuckles "Yupp. Shads? What about you?" I simply nod and the guy rings us up. I'm about to pull out my wallet when Sonic puts his hand out "You always pay, let me this time." I shrug my shoulders and smile at him, nodding to let him know to go ahead.
I catch the cashier looking Sonic up and down and I give a small growl and glare at him. He looks at me with wide eyes and then back to Sonic before returning his gaze back to me. "Oh. Sorry. I. I didn't know. My bad." 'The fuck is he talking about?' Sonic looks back at me confused and I just shrug. He pays for our food and we go and sit down once we get it. We begin eating and Sonic asks "What was that about?" I finish my bite and lower ny burger "What? Oh that? I don't know, he was looking at you funny so I called him out on it." Sonic just chuckles with an "oh. Ok. I see now." and continues eating his food, so I do the same. We finish our food and head back outside, deciding to take a joy ride to pass some time.
Once we head back home Sonic goes to the kitchen, throwing away the note Rouge left us and writes his own note 'Shads and I left to go to the base. Just meet us there.' We chaos control there and help train the other mobians for the huge battle tomorrow. Once we did all we could for the night, I help Mephiles make dinner for everyone, using a high protein plan to give us all adequate energy for tomorrow. After dinner, I chaos control the group back home and we all head to bed. I fall asleep holding Sonic in my arms once again, the two of us purring into the night.
((WOOHOO. Another chapter done. Now the next chapter is when the big battle begins.))