Morning finally came; Shadow was the first to get up, soon followed by Knuckles, them both usually being early risers anyway. They sat in the kitchen, an awkward silence filling the room.
Shadow took a sip of coffee, it burning his throat on the way down, but he didn’t seem to mind. Knuckles stared at the table, not really being a coffee drinker.
“So….” Shadow’s eyes glanced disdainfully at Knuckles while he spoke. Knuckles regretted that word, but he couldn’t just stop talking now that he got the other’s attention. “Um….” He finally sighed. “Look, I’m sorry for getting into your personal business a couple days ago. I told Rouge that I’d try to help you, but I guess I went too far….”
“Is that why you’re so nervous?” Shadow raised an eyebrow. “I thought that it had already passed.”
“You can… never really tell when it comes to you.” Knuckles replied.
Shadow glared at him for a second before rolling his eyes. “Whatever, I already know how your socializing skills are, so it’s understandable.”
“My socializing skills aren’t that bad!” Knuckles quickly defended. “Besides, look who’s talking.”
Again, Shadow rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m aware of my own skills when it comes to socializing, you don’t have to point it out.”
Knuckles huffed, deciding that it was better to sit outside than be in a room with Shadow. Shadow didn’t mind it one bit, taking another sip of his coffee.
“Hey, Shads.” Sonic yawned as he walked in.
“I figured you’d be the last to get up.” Shadow said, not even glancing in the other’s direction.
“Usually I am.” Sonic laughed. “Guess the others were too tired for their own good, eh?”
Sonic sat down, stretching. Shadow glanced at him before quickly looking back at his mug, taking another slow sip.
“Guess that gives us time to talk, hm?” Sonic smiled.
“Talk about what, hedgehog?”
“Come on, Shads; I’m serious here.”
“I am too.”
Sonic pouted. “I just want to talk about what happened yesterday.”
“Nothing happened yesterday.” Shadow then promptly finished his coffee and stood up.
“Shadow, you can’t just pretend it never happened!”
“I can if I want to. I don’t know when you’ll get this through your head, but you can’t control my mind, hedgehog.”
“I’m not trying to-”
“This conversation is over.” Shadow’s voice remained calm throughout the entire conversation, but on the inside, he was frantically trying to piece together his mind. Sure, Sonic doesn’t control his mind; his heart, on the other hand….
He left before he could make a mistake.
‘This is something that you’ll just have to try….’
‘Yeah, well I’ve already tried it out in my head, and it’ll never work out.’
Shadow stomped into the forest, leaving a confused Knuckles to walk inside and find Sonic staring off into space.
“What was that about?”
“Um, nothing.” Sonic smiled nervously to his friend.
“Sonic, I’m tired of you lying to me.” Knuckles crossed his arms, a glare fixated on the blue blur. “I’m not letting you leave here until you tell me why Shadow stormed off into the woods.”
Sonic bit his lip, looking down at the table in front of him. Knuckles kept his place at the doorway, and Sonic knew that unless he wanted to break a window and have Tails get mad at him, he’d have to tell Knuckles. “Um, so, the reason Shadow stormed out was because… well-”
“Come on, Sonic! Just tell me.” Knuckles looked almost desperately at his friend.
“Alright fine!” Sonic sighed. “I kinda have a crush on Shadow….”
Knuckles’ eyes widened. “I wasn’t expecting that…. Did you tell him?”
“Not exactly….” Sonic grinned nervously. “Yesterday, I might’ve accidentally kissed him….”
Knuckles walked to the table, sitting down across from him. “How did he react?”
“Um, he pushed me away, but a couple seconds later, he kissed me. Then he pushed me away again, yelled at me, and told me to forget it ever happened.”
“That sounds like Shadow alright.” Knuckles rolled his eyes.
“Heh, yeah, it’s been really confusing.” Sonic chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “I tried talking to him about it just a little bit ago, and he got mad and stormed off.”
Knuckles smirked. “Y’know, he was blushing when he went into the forest.”
Sonic’s ears perked up. “Really?”
Knuckles nodded. “I wanted to ask Shadow about it, but I knew better than that.”
Sonic smiled. “Do you think he’s hiding his feelings for me?”
“Who knows? It is Shadow after all, but I think you got a good chance.”
“Thanks, Knux.”
“No problem.” Knuckles shrugged. “I’m gonna go make sure Tails is alright.”
“He’s probably just sleeping. He stays up too late.” Sonic sighed.
Knuckles simply nodded as he walked out. Sonic then found himself with the biggest smile he could muster. “He might like me back….”
____________________
Shadow walked through the forest, too mad to think about where he was going.
Why was he mad though? He was just pretending to be mad in front of Sonic. He was alone now; it was fine to drop the facade.
But it wasn’t fine. Not to him.
He just wanted his facade to be the real him.
“I need to stop.” Shadow sighed, leaning against a tree and slowly sliding to a sitting position.
He already decided against telling Sonic of his feelings, but there was still some kind of urge to talk things over. It wasn't any use, anyways. As soon as Farah shows up, Sonic would be far out of his grasp.
It was dumb, to keep harboring those feelings, but Shadow just couldn't let it go.
“Shadow!” Uncharacteristically, Shadow jumped in surprise. “Shadow! Where are you!?”
Frowning, the black hedgehog decided to keep quiet. The last person he wanted to see was the object of his burdening thoughts.
It was quiet for another long while, and Shadow had thought that the other had given up.
He knew the blue blur better than that.
It was only a matter of time before he heard footsteps approach him.
“Shads, didn't you hear me calling you?” Shadow refused to even look at the other.
Sonic frowned. “Look, I just wanted to say that….” A sigh. “Listen, I've spent countless years on this world, staying in the shadows, laying low. Then this generation came, and I've suddenly found myself with friends that mean more to me than you'll ever know.” He sat down beside the other. “I don't know what'll happen in the future, but…” He gently grabbed Shadow's hand. “You mean a lot to me.”
Shadow finally looked to him, eyes shimmering as if they were holding back tears. He wouldn't allow himself to cry in front of someone. Very quietly, he whispered, “You mean a lot to me too….”
Sonic smiled. “For right now… there's no one I'd rather be with. I want you to let me care about you, Shadow.” He leaned in a bit closer. “I want you to let me love you….”
Love…. The word echoed in Shadow's mind as he found himself leaning closer, their noses almost touching.
Without anymore words, their lips connected, gentle and soft. Shadow's mind went blank, just enjoying the warmth of the other.
A short time later, they found themselves silently listening to the sounds of the forest, leaning against the tree and cuddled up beside each other.
“This could still work with my plans….”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Lava]
Holy cow! This story hit 1K votes recently!
And it's now ranked #378 in Fanfiction!
Thank you all so much for all of this! I'm still in disbelief!
So, here's a late Christmas gift from me as thanks!