Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Rouge shows up unannounced at his front door, holding a bundled up pup, Sonic tries to remember if she was ever pregnant. He will be the first to admit that his memory is spotty at best, but it couldn’t be that bad right?

Nevertheless, he will always be supportive of his friends.

“Oh… congratulations!” Sonic exclaims, smiling.

“This isn’t mine,” Rouge states, her usual flirty playfulness absent from her voice. This on its own puts Sonic on edge. There is not much that can make Rouge as deathly serious as this, and when there is, it is never a matter to be taken lightly.

His smile drops. He looks down, once again, at the bundle in her arms. He couldn’t see much besides the makings of a muzzle and dark fur. It’s sleeping, if its closed eyes and slightly agape mouth were anything to go by.

Sonic looks back up to Rouge, who had been analyzing Sonic’s reaction the whole time. Without another word, Sonic steps aside to let her in. She accepts the silent invitation with ease, making her way through the familiar territory. Before he closes the door, Sonic takes a moment to feel the crisp morning air hitting his face. He had just been about to go on a run when he heard Rouge’s knock. Mourning the loss of the favorite part of his routine, he closes the door.

He catches up to Rouge in the living room. She’s sitting in her usual spot on the arm chair that she often claims in her previous visits. She doesn’t seem to notice him when he walks in. Or, at least he thinks so, because he doesn’t believe she would let him see this vulnerable side of her so easily.

She has the strange pup nestled in her arms as she uses her foot to slowly rock the chair. With a gentle hand, she tucks the blanket around the pup’s face. Sonic cannot remember a time where she acted this delicately with anyone else. It feels weird to see her behaving so maternally, almost as if he shouldn’t be witnessing it at all. So, he decides to make his presence known.

“Do you need a drink or anything?” Sonic asks as he walks in, ever the good host. She looks up and stops fiddling with the blanket, but still rocks the chair.

“No,” Rouge answers. “Come sit. We need to talk.”

If Sonic had a ring for every time he had a we need to talk conversation that ended well, he’d have only one ring. Something tells him he won’t be getting another one today.

He hesitantly takes a seat on the couch closest to Rouge. He tries to break the tension by laughing a bit, albeit forced. “You’re kinda scaring me.”

It fails to lighten the mood whatsoever. She just stares at him, only faint twitches on her lips breaking her stoicism. He can tell she’s trying to find the right words to say what she wants to say. In hindsight, she probably could’ve searched harder.

“This pup is yours.” 

…

He mustn’t have heard her right, because it sounded like she said that that little tiny pup in her arms—that he has never seen in his life—is his.

And that is just absolutely impossible. Again, he will be the first to admit he doesn’t have the most reliable memory, but there is no way he could forget impregnating someone!

He wants to say this but his jaw is too slack to manage it. All he can do is stare, wide-eyed, at the unimpressed bat across from him.

“Let me explain,” she finally breaks the silence.

“Yes, please explain!” Sonic sputters. He looks down at the pup again, but it’s still covered by the blanket. It moves for a second before letting out a big sigh as if it was dealing with bigger issues than Sonic. Toning his voice down as to not make the situation worse with a crying pup, Sonic whisper-yells, “Wha- I- What do you mean it’s mine?!”

“He was made with your DNA,” she elaborates calmy, rubbing the pup’s side soothingly. “I found him while I was working on a mission for G.U.N.. Our systems detected an abnormal energy spike in an unidentified facility in the middle of ocean. I was sent to scope out the area and gather intel. You remember me stopping by to talk to Tails?”

Sonic, despite all his downplaying, has a memory that does in fact work. She visited about a week ago to borrow some gadgets that she would definitely need if she were to infiltrate an underwater facility. Sonic offered his assistance, because that’s what heroes do, but he was beyond relieved when she assured him she’s fine. The thought of having to go in the ocean had his quills standing on edge.

After he relays this memory to Rouge, she nods.

“The day right after, I flew off,” she recounts. “Took a few days, but I was able to find the place I was looking for. The mission was to just gather as much information as I could, because G.U.N. had no record of there being a base down there. Didn’t even know who was behind it.”

“Sounds like Eggman,” Sonic suggests.

“That was my guess,” Rouge shrugs. “But after poking around, I doubt it. Eggman isn’t particularly shy about his branding, and I couldn’t find any of it. Honestly, I was having trouble finding anything of note at all, until…”

She pauses for moment when the pup starts stirring. She rocks the chair a little harder and makes quiet shushing noises. Sonic stays uncharacteristically quiet, just watching the scene unfold before him with morbid curiosity. Soon enough, the pup stays still, and she continues with her story.

“I found a lab. Had to weasel my way through some heavy encryption, but when I did, I discovered a whole different section of the base—a secret lab. It was a mad scientist’s wet dream. I’m talking chemistry sets, computers, even a giant nuclear reactor. And in the middle of it all… was this guy.”

She gestures to the pup who sleeps peacefully.

“He was floating in this tall chamber filled with a bubbling green liquid—all hooked up to different tubes and wires.”

Rouge frowns as she recalls the memory. Absentmindedly, she brushes her hand against the pup’s blanket-covered head. A moment later, she clears her throat and continues.

“I started looking around and I found all the information regarding the project documented on paper. I skimmed through it, and I slowly pieced together what they were doing. This project is called ‘The Ultimate Weapon.’ They were trying to create something… someone to use him for their own benefit. It all reminded me too much of-”

“Shadow,” Sonic finishes solemnly. He looks down at his hands in thought.

Shadow was also created in a lab. It’s still something that weighs on Shadow’s soul, which some days, the dark hedgehog doubts he even has. For a long time, he was tormented by his own creation and its purpose, especially after what happened to Maria…

Shadow struggled to connect to others, often choosing to ostracize himself. If Sonic hadn’t been as persistent as he was, he never would’ve broken through Shadow’s hard shell. That truly would have been a shame.

“Yeah,” Rouge sighs. “And after digging around some more, I realized they were basically trying to create another Shadow. What I mean is that… Shadow was created to be the Ultimate Lifeform, right? He was supposed to help cure illnesses, but he also became an indestructibly fighting machine that rivals even you. That is what this person was trying to replicate. I found tons of documentation around Shadow’s creation, as if they were trying to learn from the process. Whoever is behind this must’ve had a lot of access to the Ark-”

“Hold on, hold on, wait,” Sonic interrupts before his brain implodes. “The only reason Shadow is as crazy powerful as he is is because he’s made with the DNA of the Black Arms, right? That’s a whole other alien species! This- evil scientist whoever couldn’t get that kinda access… could they?”

“My question exactly,” Rouge nods. “I was trying to find any evidence that they had any of the Black Arms DNA and came up empty. They did, however, have access to Shadow’s DNA…”

Rouge paused when the pup started to fuss again. Sonic was grateful for this break as he watched her adjust the pup so his head was against her shoulder. The blanket still covered his head, hiding him from Sonic’s view. The pup didn’t seem to be going down as easily as he did before. As Sonic’s brain finished processing the information, he spoke up.

“They used Shadow’s DNA to create this pup?” Sonic surmises. Then another thought came to mind. “Wait! I thought you said he was made from my DNA?’

“I did,” rouge says somewhat absentmindedly as she struggles to calm the pup. He is starting to whine now, no longer showing signs of returning the sleep. “They weren’t trying to make a shadow clone. They were trying to create the strongest, most powerful, most indestructible, and fastest ultimate weapon.”

“Oh Chaos,” Sonic let out the dreadful mutter. Rouge paused her attention to the whining pup that was now trying to push himself away from her. She only looked Sonic directly in the eye.

“This pup,” Rouge states slowly as the pup’s whines slowly turn into cries, “is the genetic combination of you and Shadow.”

The blanket falls from the hoglet’s head as he manages to turn away from Rouge. He lets out a loud cry and Sonic is finally able to get a good look of him.

And holy shit, that’s his and Shadow’s son!

Tails wakes up to the sound of a crying pup.

It is far too early for him to be awake, even for a day where he didn’t stay up 3 hours pass his bedtime playing games quietly in his room so Sonic doesn’t hear and scold him.

He groans and puts a pillow over his head to muffle out the sound. As if the mystery infant knew he was trying to block out its noise, the crying got even louder. Tails groaned again, knowing there was no chance of his sleeping again as long as there was this much ruckus.

He might as well figure out the cause of it, so he groggily gets out of bed and makes his way downstairs.

When he steps into the living room, he is only left with more questions.

Firstly, why is his brother pacing around the room like he’s trying to wear down the hardwood floors? Sonic’s hands are buried deep in his quills as he mutters something under his breath. Of course, there was no way for Tails to decipher it over the crying that is now 10 times louder since walking into the room.

Second, why is Rouge here? He let her use some of his gadgets for her G.U.N. mission and wasn’t expecting to see them returned for another few days. Instead, she’s here and flying in circles, making shushing noises to the bundle in her arms.

This leads him to his final, and honestly biggest, question: why is there a crying hoglet in his house?!

Tails should’ve stayed in bed.

“Whaaaat’s going on?” he asks hesitantly, his voice even raspier in his tiredness.

That’s when he gets the attention from the two adults in the room. The both freeze and look at him with different levels of stress written on their face.

“H-Hey lil’ buddy!” Sonic greets, wearing possibly the most forced smile Tails has ever seen on him. Sonic walks towards Tails with his arms open. He’s trying to act like things are normal, and failing terribly. He wraps an arm around Tails and starts steering him towards the kitchen. “You’re up early, huh? Let’s get you some breakfast!”

Tails lets Sonic lead him, but he still has his eyes on Rouge and the mystery pup she’s bouncing in her arms. She’s glaring daggers into Sonic’s head, most likely because he’s abandoning her to deal with a wailing hoglet all alone.

Just before the brothers fully exit the living room, Tails catches the faintest glimpse of the pup’s face. Why does it kind of look like Sonic?

Tails doesn’t get to revel in this thought for long before Sonic parks him by the kitchen island and Sonic goes into the kitchen. It’s normal for Tails to sit here and chat while Sonic prepares their meals, but today is clearly not normal.

“What are we thinking, huh?” Sonic asks, the forced grin still on his face despite his eyes easily giving away his nervousness. “Pancakes? Eggs? Spaghetti? Y-y’know what?! Let’s just do it all!”

“Soooonic?” Tails tries calling out for his attention, but Sonic is already opening the fridge and taking out a handful of ingredients.

“Sorry if we woke you up!” Sonic is clearly ignoring Tails, as if that has ever stopped the fox from figuring out what he wants to know. Sonic places a pan on the stove, and Tails doesn’t know how he feels about his brother handling fire in his frazzled state.

“Why are you so worked up?” Tails asks.

“How many eggs do you want, bud?”

“Why is Rouge here?”

“Let’s just use the rest of the carton! There’s only 10 left anyway!”

“Why is there a crying pup in our living room?!”

As if on cue, the crying gets closer. Tails turns just in time to see Rouge fly into the kitchen, wearing a disgruntled look on her face. She goes past Tails and stops right in front of Sonic. Thankfully, she gets to him before he can turn on the stove.

“Listen, I know this is a lot to take in,” She starts, having to raise her voice over the crying, “but I gotta go now. G.U.N. is expecting me back soon so you have to watch him.”

She finishes off her statement by unceremoniously plopping the pup in Sonic’s arms. Sonic completely drops his terrible everything-is-normal facade.

“What?!” he squawks, now holding the hoglet that looks suspiciously a lot like him. “Wh-why?! I can’t take care of him!”

“Yeah, well I definitely can’t,” she insists, tone serious. “I wasn’t supposed to take anything from the base. I was just supposed to gather intel so G.U.N. could decide what to do next. But I couldn’t just leave him there. I also can’t bring him to G.U.N.. I don’t know what they would do if I brought them the Ultimate Weapon but I can assure you, it wouldn’t be good.”

Tails jaw drops. That crying pup is the what?!

Sonic’s breathing is starting to speed up too much for him to muster an answer, causing Tails to grow seriously concerned. As much as Sonic likes to hide it, he has emotions and feelings that don't just abide to the happy-go-lucky persona he puts off. Tails has seen before that even Sonic can have a breaking point…

He’s about to do something when Rouge beats him to the chase. She rests a hand on his shoulder solidly. Sonic looks up to her where she is still flying a foot taller than him.

“Deep breaths, okay?” she says. She gives him a moment to do so, and only continues talking when he’s back to breathing normally. “We cannot let G.U.N. traumatize this pup the same they did Shadow. They can’t know he exists. I will do my best to lie and deter them, but meanwhile I need you to take care of him and keep him safe. I understand how stressful this is, trust me. I am risking a lot by doing this. But we’ll figure this out… together.”

She pointedly looks at Tails. He doesn’t really know how he feels about being roped into a situation he knows nothing about and even has Sonic this distraught. Nevertheless, he will do anything to help his brother and friends, so he nods confidently when Sonic looks his way.

“We always do,” Tails smiles reassuringly. Rouge smiles back at him before returning her eyes to Sonic.

“Shadow is on a mission, but he should be returning in a few days. He doesn’t know anything about this. I’ll- find the right time to tell him.

Now, Tails is a smart kid. He knows how to pick up on context clues and piece things together. If he’s correct (he usually is), this pup is the ultimate weapon the same way Shadow is the ultimate lifeform.

Shadow is… a complicated character. For a long time he was vindictive and hateful, and for an even longer time after that, he was closed off and brooding. At the time, the only person Tails had known to sort of get through to him, was Rouge. Even then, he could tell she was just barely scratching the surface. Tails eventually figured that Shadow was a lost cause. If it were up to him, Shadow would probably be out of his life, hiding somewhere in the corner of the world on his own.

It was Sonic, of course, who didn’t let that happen. Sonic was as earnest as he was persistent, forcing his way into Shadow’s life until the darker hedgehog got used to him. It took time, lots of it, but Shadow started opening up to Sonic.

The two of them, who were once at each other’s throats, were able to overcome their differences and work together to save the world multiple times. They are evenly matched, and this bonds them more than divides them. Tails knew Sonic was excited to finally have a worthy adversary to race and spar with. And seeing how Shadow never declined an invitation, Tails would bet he was too.

It felt like a miracle when Shadow even started opening up to the rest of the gang. Tails never thought it possible he’d hear the extent of Shadow’s past from the hedgehog himself.

So Tails knew… about how Shadow was created…

How he lost it all…

He knew this situation would bring back terrible memories and stir up even worse feelings. He did not envy whoever would break the news to Shadow.

Sonic’s breathing has slowed down a considerable amount, and, surprisingly, the pup starts quieting down too. As the hoglet’s cries are reduced to just whimpers, they all look down at him. Tails still doesn’t know all the specifics of the situation, but he finds it very interesting how much the pup looks like Sonic.

Tails finally gets a nice full look of the pup. The hoglet has a similar quill shape to Sonic, just a little flatter on the top of his head. His fur is a blue that’s so dark that it looks black while his muzzle and stomach is a light, blue-toned gray. No longer screaming his head off, the pup slowly starts to open his eyes. Looking up at Sonic is a pair of bright red irises.

Sort of like Shadow…

Sonic and the pup just stare at each other—the former in shock, and the latter in curiosity. The pup’s whines slowly turn into something closer to cooing. They all watch as he raises a tiny hand and brushes it against Sonic’s chin.

“See,” Rouge says softly, voice just above a whisper, “he already likes you.”

Sonic, still looking at the pup, smiles nervously.

“This is… a lot,” he mutters.

“I know, hon’,” Rouge pats his shoulder. “But you’ve got this. Tails will help. And so will Knuckles and Amy, I’m sure.”

Tails will be calling them the moment Rouge leaves and he figures out exactly what is going on.

“Yeah,” Sonic replies. He doesn’t look up until the pup’s hand slips away and tucks into his chest. “Okay... alright. I can do this! How hard is it to take care of a pup anyway, right?”

“That’s the spirit,” Rouge claps his shoulder one last time before pulling away. “I’ll get going then. I’ll come back as soon as I can, alright? Just try to stay alive ‘til then.”

“Okay,” Sonic nods. “Thank you Rouge. And be careful.”

She flashes him her signature smirk. “I always am.”

Sonic leads her out the front door and stands on the porch as he watches her go.

When she’s disappeared into the distance, Sonic looks down at the hoglet in his arms. The pup stares back with his big, red eyes. It reminds Sonic so much of Shadow, and he is again overwhelmed with just how insane this situation is.

But… when the pup isn’t crying… Sonic can admit he’s actually sort of cute.

Chapter Text

After Sonic explains the whole situation to Tails, the fox all but drags Sonic and Furball to the lab.

Furball is the name Sonic so graciously and cleverly bestowed on the hoglet, who is, quite frankly, a ball of fur. This is only a temporary measure, and he really hopes Shadow can come up with a better name.

Though, naming him will probably be the last thing on Shadow’s mind when he finds out about Furball’s existence. He’s going to freak out, and Sonic fears he may just run away.

In the past, it wasn’t uncommon for Shadow to get overwhelmed. His usual solution had been to hide away somewhere for a few days. Most times, he would not even give a warning. It is no longer a common occurrence, but Sonic fears the day it could happen again. Revealing to Shadow that he technically has a son now that was created similarly to himself may just be the tipping point.

The whole gang would make efforts to find him, even just to confirm he’s safe, but no one more so than Sonic. He would scour the galaxy twice over if he had to. But that would be a lot harder to do while watching over Furball.

He knows Rouge said she would be the one to tell Shadow, but Sonic had a feeling the responsibility will somehow fall on him. And he had to be prepared for the worst.

He knows his best plan of action is to make sure everything is as situated as possible. He wanted to make the transition of a life with no pup to a life with one as smooth as possible. He has just a few arbitrary days to research how to take care of a hoglet, get all the proper supplies, and get Furball tested.

Tails is particularly eager about that last part.

“Hey, hey maybe slow down bud?” Sonic asks, which pains every fiber of his being. In his defense, it is just kind of hard to go fast while holding a hoglet.

Although, Furball seems to be content in this position. He may not be smiling (Sonic has yet to see him smile), but he makes a cooing sound and lets out an occasional squeal. Sonic finds this adorable and prefers it much more over the crying.

“Oh, sorry sorry!” Tails apologizes, slowing down just the slightest bit. At least his grip on Sonic’s arm is not cutting off any circulation anymore.

They manage to enter the lab in one piece. Tails releases his brother and goes directly to the computer to boot everything up. Meanwhile, Sonic uses his newfound freedom to wander towards a chair that Tails had set up just for him. Tails had brought it into the lab when he realized just how often Sonic would come in to hang out while the fox works. Now, instead of Sonic following his brother around and nearly knocking down everything in sight, he has a designated spot to sit and stay (and look pretty too).

Sonic sits down and feels a sense of relief. He was feeling a bit tired, carrying around the pup, but it was probably just because he’s emotionally drained from all that happened in a rather short amount of time. He places the pup in a way so that he’s sitting up and facing Sonic. This is a great time for Sonic to truly analyze the hoglet without the shock of acquiring him blinding his senses.

Furball looks right back at Sonic with his furrowed red eyes and pouting lips. He doesn’t seem upset, but also not thrilled to be here. It seems his natural state of being is to look slightly disturbed, which he definitely got from Shadow.

Besides that, Sonic’s analysis concludes that Furball is small, round, and cute—exactly what anyone would expect from a baby hedgehog. Sonic himself was a rather adorable hoglet, so it all checks out. Absentmindedly, Sonic wonders what Shadow was like as a pup.

Then he remembers Shadow never was a pup. His body was artificially crafted to be a teenager by Gerald Robotnik. He missed out on many of the stages of life that came with growing up, including early puberty. Tails had also run tests on him when Shadow was finally comfortable enough to allow him. They discovered that since creation, Shadow’s body developed at a rate akin to a normal hedgehog. It halted when he was held in captivity with G.U.N. because of all the chemicals keeping him alive, but resumed again after being freed. He was created with the intention of being immortal, but Tail’s tests suggested that Gerald Robotnik could not quite manage that feat. That is not to say that his ability to create a lifeform like Shadow is something to scoff at.

Shadow’s body was crafted, and Furball’s body was grown, which is the clearest distinction between their creations. Sonic does not know that that entails, but hopefully Tails could figure it out.

“Alright, I’m all set up,” Tails announces, right on time. Sonic looks up to see all sorts of monitors alight with different graphs and jargon that Sonic may never fully understand. There are a few different devices that Sonic vaguely recognizes from doctor offices and others that looks like they came straight out of Eggman’s lab. Tails pats a cushioned table that he uses for his subject- patients.

Sonic takes this as his cue to walk over and place Furball on top. He keeps his hand on the pup’s belly so that he doesn’t roll away. Furball whines a bit in protest from no longer being held, but Sonic pays it no mind, instead turning to talk to Tails.

“Do you think you’d be able to do these tests while I run to the store? I need to pick up some supplies.”

Tails jolts a bit as the request, looking between Sonic and the pup he’s holding back. “Uh, I think so,” he responds tentatively. “Shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

“Nah, he’s been pretty chill,” Sonic shrugs non-committedly. Furball hadn’t cried since Rouge left, which was about an hour ago. He probably got all the crying out of his system for now. “I think he’ll be like this for another hour. I should definitely be back by then!”

Afterall, he doesn’t need to get much right? He just needs to pick up some food and diapers—maybe a toy?

“Hm, okay then,” Tails says a little more confidently. He experimentally replaces Sonic’s hand with his own and is satisfied that the pup only whines a little bit. If that is the extent of his fussiness, Tails should be able to handle it for less than an hour, right?

Right!

He smiles as Sonic. “You should get going then!”

37 seconds later…

“SONIC WAAAAIT!”

Sonic hears his brother’s ear-splitting scream right when he’s about to open the front door to leave. He flinches and immediately dashes back to the lab.

He is met with the sight of Tails, struggling to hold a crying Furball. The fox looks seconds away from dropping the pup with how much Furball is squirming and pulling at the fur on Tails’ muzzle. Tails’ frantic, wide eyes find Sonic the second he enters the room, pleading for assistance.

Sonic quickly helps by snatching Furball and nestling the pup back into his own arms. It takes a moment to pry the pup’s hands away from Tails’ fur, but when those chubby hands finally release, they find new purchase in Sonic’s chest fur. Sonic winces, but bares through the pain because at least, the crying is slowly coming down to a minimum.

Sonic rocks the pup until he is left with just hiccups. He sighs in relief, but abruptly stops when he sees the state that Tails is in. The poor kid looks traumatized. He stands where Sonic left him, still with his arms out like the way they were when he was trying to wrangle Furball.

The brothers silently make eye contact.

“Please don’t go,” Tails whispers, as if scared that anything louder could trigger the pup again.

“…We need a plan B.”

Plan B comes in the form of a phone call to Amy.

“Hello Sonic!” Amy answers the phone chirpily. She sounds so happy and carefree, that Sonic feels bad that he’s going to rope her into his troubles yet again. “What can I do for you?”

“Hey, Ames, I have a huge favor to ask,” Sonic responds urgently, like he’s ripping off a bandage. “And also—uh, you can’t ask any questions.”

“Not loving where this is going, honestly,” she says, her sing-song voice already losing its lightness.

“I know, but I’ll explain everything when you get here,” Sonic promises. He wishes he didn’t have to get his friends involved with his shenanigans, but it’s not his fault the shenanigans find him!

“Alright, what can I do for you?” Amy sighs, sounding a lot less enthusiastic than the first time she asked.

Sonic sighs in relief at Amy’s acceptance. He is forever grateful to have friends that still deal with him. Currently he sits on top of the testing table with Furball on his lap. They realized that Furball is most content when Sonic is holding him. This way, Tails is able to perform a simple physical exam on the pup, jotting down notes as he does. This is the least invasive part of Tails’ tests so Furball handles it with no issue. Sonic does fear for when it’s time to extract a blood sample.

“I need you to go to the store and get supplies for a baby hedgehog,” Sonic assigns the mission, knowing it sounds weird but hoping Amy could look past that.

“What?” Amy sounds as confused as Sonic expected her to be. He bites his tongue, hoping that she doesn’t change her mind on helping him with no questions asked. “Why do you- actually… whatever, okay I’ll do it. What things do you need?”

Her voice is monotone, but Sonic smiles anyway.

“Thank you, Amy!” he exclaims. He will definitely have to repay the favor—perhaps tickets to an upcoming concert will do? “Okay, so uh, I think I just need some baby food and diapers. Maybe a cute toy too, if you can find one!”

Amy goes quiet for a second. Sonic fears he might’ve celebrated too soon.

Then, in a low tone, which Sonic has taken to be a warning that she may or may not explode if he doesn’t play his cards right, she says, “do you have anything at all to take care of a hoglet?”

“Well… no, but,” Sonic says carefully, suddenly feeling sheepish, “I just kinda figured that that’s all we’d need for now?”

Silence again. No explosion so far, but he is nowhere near in the clear.

“How old is the hoglet,” Amy asks in a tone that doesn’t sound like a question.

“Uh… he’s…” Sonic looks to Tails for assistance. His brother quickly looks down to his notes, then raises a finger in a non-committal one gesture, which he follows with a shrug. “I think… 1, maybe?”

Silence. This time, Sonic can fully imagine she’s wearing the face she makes when he says or does something stupid. He can’t really blame her.

Finally, she speaks up again, no longer in that scary tone but sounding unenthusiastic nonetheless. At least the bomb is defused. “Give me 3 hours. And I’m using your credit card.”

“Three- wait, my credit card? How do you-”

“It’s saved on my phone. You can’t ask questions either.”

“Um… okay then…”

Money is not one of Sonic’s concerns. He has more than enough to go around and he lives way below his means. Still, he will be taking a closer look at his bank statements…

“Be ready to give me the full story,” Amy says in lieu of goodbye before hanging up.

Sonic can’t help but feel a little foolish after that conversation. He expected the shopping trip to take less than an hour, but Amy expects it to take several. She is going to come back with way more than just food and diapers, and he can’t even fathom what it could be. It is probably for the best that Amy took charge on this front, since she seems to know more. Compared to her, he is awfully unfit to take care of a pup.

He did raise Tails at a young age, but Tails was already a master genius, let alone potty-trained. When it comes to a hoglet who can’t even form a sentence, Sonic is way out of his element. He’s really starting to question if a few days is enough to get everything settled.

“Huh… Interesting…” Tails’ curious humming brought Sonic out of his thoughts.

Sonic looks down to his brother who is looking into a little handheld instrument, leveled with Furball’s face. He’s examining Furball’s eyes, guiding the instrument between both pupils. Each time he does, Tail’s brows furrow deeper like he’s trying to figure something out.

“What is it?” Sonic asks, a little concerned. This is the first time Tails found something strange enough to scrunch his brows over. “Is something wrong with his eyes?”

“I don’t know, really,” Tails replies, uncertainly, pulling away from Furball. He picks up his pen instead and writes down some notes. “It’s just that one of his eyes looks more… clouded than the other. I don’t know what it is, though.”

“Clouded?” Sonic repeats. He angles his head so he’s looking over Furball to try and get a look of his eyes. The pup notices him and raises a hand to bop his nose. Sonic smiles a bit, but doesn’t notice any difference in the hoglet’s eyes.

“Use this,” Tails prompts, holding out the tool that he was using just a moment ago. Once Sonic takes hold of it, Tails goes in search of something else.

Sonic maneuvers Furball in a more optimal position for the task, then copies what he saw Tails do. After a brief examination, Sonic can tell that in Furball’s left eye, there is something within the pupil that makes it look a bit foggier.

“Huh…” Sonic says thoughtfully. When he puts down the instrument and looks at Furball with his bare eyes, he can’t see any difference. “Interesting…”

“Let me try something,” Tails says, coming back with something else in his hand. Sonic turns Furball around in his lap so that the pup is facing Tails again.

Tails brings up the new device lines it up with Furball’s left eye. After a few seconds, he clicks a button and a red light shines directly into the eye. Furball reacts by wincing and making a startled ahh sound, then shakes his little head like there’s a bug on him. Sonic finds it endearing and rubs a hand along the pup’s quills to soothe him.

“Hmm, he reacted normally, so I don’t think it’s blindness,” Tails ponders, jotting down a few more notes. “I’ll set up a full eye exam later. First, I want to get a blood sample.”

Sonic sucks in a breath between his teeth. For the entirety of the exam, he was dreading this moment. Not just because he knows Furball will start crying again, but because he knows it would be entirely warranted. He himself is a not a fan of needles, so he can’t imagine a small thing like Furball handling it much better. It pains him to think of the pup being in pain. “This is going to be tough.”

“Yeah,” Tails mutters, getting a far away look in his eye. Sonic is sure he’s thinking back to when Sonic left the two of them alone. If that was how Furball reacted to just Sonic leaving, there was no telling how he’d react with a needle extracting blood out of him.

“Let’s just get it over with then,” Sonic states, trying to sound confident for Tails’ sake. He has to be the strong adult, even though he’d rather be shopping with Amy far away from here.

A few minutes later and they are ready for the operation. Sonic is holding Furball so that they’re facing each other. He’s playing peek-a-boo and making silly faces to try and distract the pup from the fact that Tails has a needle poised and aimed at the right vein for extraction.

Furball is completely oblivious, watching Sonic with fascination. Sonic has yet to see him smile, and he’s getting very little luck of seeing it now. Though, the pup doesn’t look as disturbed as he usually does. His eyes are wide and mouth slightly agape. Whenever Sonic pops out from behind his hands, Furball widens his eyes and leans back. Then he leans forward again in anticipation when Sonic goes back into hiding.

“Peek-a-boo!” Sonic grins, his focus on Furball, though he can see Tails in the corner of his eye. The fox looks nervous. He’s holding onto Furball’s arm to keep it steady, and the pup pays him no mind, just babbles at Sonic.

As Sonic goes to cover his face with his hands again, he gives Tails a meaningful glance. Tails sees this and nods to himself. When Sonic comes out again, Tails will strike.

In hindsight, Sonic really wishes he hadn’t. Or, at the very least, he wishes Furball chose another occasion to smile for the first time.

It happens in slow motion. Sonic breaks free from his hands, wearing the brightest, goofiest, most distracting grin he could muster to keep Furball in as best of a mood as he can. Then he sees it—Furball’s lips starting curl at the corners, revealing his two dull teeth and baby gums. It could’ve been just a smile, or maybe a full-blown laugh. But Sonic will never know, because then he sees that adorable, innocent face twist into one of anguish.

Furball lets out the shrillest cry he’s ever made yet. It hurts Sonic’s heart a lot more than he thought it would.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry!” Tails repeats, frantic, as he stumbles to put a bandage over the puncture. Once he’s done so, he takes a few steps back as if his mere presence is what’s causing Furball’s pain.

Furball, of course, still cries, with each sound reaching newer heights. Sonic immediately bundles the pup back up into his arms, standing to his feet. He starts walking around, bouncing a bit and making soft shushing sounds.

It doesn’t work. And disaster strikes.

“What’s going on?!” Tails panics, his nerves already jittery from Furball’s crying. It doesn’t help that the lights in the lab start flickering. Sonic looks around and sees the monitor screens switching between normal and static, and the plethora of devices flashing all sorts of little lights.

“I don’t know! Come here!” Sonic orders, falling into defense mode. Someone must be trying to rage an attack on them. It could be Eggman, or it could even be whoever it is that created Furball, coming to take back what they think is theirs.

It could not be happening at a worse time—not when Furball is crying his heart out and needing to be soothed. Tails runs up besides Sonic, and Sonic uses his free hand to hold his brother’s wrist. Sonic surveys the area quickly, looking for anything out of the ordinary besides whatever is happening to the electricity. He’s ready to fight whoever dares to try to hurt his family.

“Wait, Sonic!” Tails exclaims, and Sonic snaps his head towards him. Tails is pointing at Furball. “I think Furball is causing this!”

Sonic turns his attention to the pup and sure enough, he realizes what Tails is talking about. Whenever Furball’s screams are at its highest, that’s when the lights are brightest and the screens are static.

With the source found, he then puts all his effort into soothing Furball. He rocks him gently, running a hand through his quills softly, walking around in small circles, and cooing comforting phrases. It takes a few minutes, but eventually, the electricity goes back to normal and the pup is reduced to soft cries.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Sonic repeats, finally able to hear himself. Furball still hasn’t calmed down completely, but they’re getting there.

Sonic looks up around the room and sees Tails a few feet away. The teen watches them worriedly, rubbing his hands together in a show of nervousness. It’s easy to tell that Tails feels guilty. He’s probably blaming himself for causing the distress.

With Furball more or less dealt with, Sonic takes a moment to comfort Tails. He walks over with the pup in arms, and pats his little brother on the head.

“It’s alright, bud,” Sonic assures, smiling a bit to prove his point, though Tails is looking away. “Let’s take a break, yeah?”

Without saying anything, Tails just nods glumly. Sonic notices this and does something he hasn’t done in too long. He nuzzles his cheek atop Tails head. Nuzzling is a great way to bring comfort between loved ones, but Tails had insisted long ago that he’s too old for it. Sonic was disappointed but adhered to that new boundary. But every once in a while, Sonic can tell that Tails really needs it. Given how Tails accepts it easily and tilts his head for better access, now is one of those times.

Sonic pulls back and smiles at the way Tails’ fur is a little mussed up. Tails finally meets his eyes and returns the smile, albeit weakly.

“I’ll get the blood test started and meet you upstairs,” Tails says, walking away to do just that. Sonic watches him for just a moment more before making his way upstairs with a fussing hoglet.

A little while later, and the three of them are sitting in the living room. Sonic put on an animated kid’s movie just for background noise, but none of them are actually watching.

Sonic is sitting on the couch with Furball on his lap, as this seems to be the new usual. He has a bowl of mashed up banana in hand, using the smallest spoon he could find to feed it to the pup. He’s not sure when the last time Furball ate was and he would still be waiting a few hours for Amy to return with food, so he decided some banana was good enough.

Sonic brings another bite up to Furball. Tear-stained and sniffling, the pup opens wide and accepts the offering. Poor thing must be so hungry after going through so much in one day.

Oh Chaos, this is still the first day!

How do people have babies willingly? This is insanity.

He glances to his side and sees Tails sitting as far as he could from them on the other couch. The fox stares at them anxiously from the distance, guilt written all over his face. It’s clear he blames himself for hurting Furball.

“Don’t feel bad, lil’ bro,” Sonic says airily. “The results of the blood test are going to be extremely helpful! He won’t even remember the little pinch.”

The results will come out in about a day. It should offer some insight on the genetically modified hoglet and be greatly beneficial in the long run.

“I’m just like G.U.N.,” Tails mutters, curling into himself.

Sonic frowns. His little brother is a million times smarter than that governmental branch, and not nearly as cruel. “Hey don’t say that,” he scolds. “All you did was give him a little shot. He’ll survive. Right, Furball?”

Sonic turns to look at the pup, waiting for anything he can take as affirmation. Furball delivers by letting out a little squeak. It’s probably because he’s urging Sonic to keep feeding him, but Sonic took it as him agreeing.

“See?” Sonic raises his brows, looking back to Tails. His brother’s lips curl just a bit into an amused smile. Sonic relaxes. “Now come here! My arm hurts, so you gotta finish feeding him.”

They both knew that that wasn’t true but it didn’t stop Tails from snickering. He got up from his spot and took a seat right beside Sonic, taking the bowl and spoon offered to him.

Furball, still in Sonic’s lap, watches the spoonful of banana come towards him. He takes a moment to glance between Sonic and Tails, before opening wide. Tails follows through, giggling at the sight of the pup eating.

Sonic smiles warmly to himself, feeling a little fuzzy on the inside. He hasn’t had Furball for long at all, but something about this just felt right.

He’s felt this before, the first night he met Tails, and they fell asleep together in a cave to hide away from the rain. There was lightening, and even though they just met, Tails cuddled up next to Sonic for comfort. Sonic hadn’t been used to it, and tried pushing him away, but Tails was persistent. Sonic eventually gave in, and when he felt Tails use his namesakes to keep them both warm, he realized it wasn’t half bad. It was actually pretty nice.

Now, as Sonic watches his little brother feed the hoglet on his lap, he gets to revel in this feeling once again.

For the next few hours, Sonic sits around and watches movies. He had let Tails excuse himself to mess around in his lab since Furball wasn’t fussy enough to warrant two caregivers. In fact, Furball falls asleep in the middle of the second movie.

The credits are right about to roll when Sonic hears the front door barge open.

“We’re heeeeere!” Amy announces in her sing-song voice from the entry hall, effectively halting Sonic from going into defense mode once again. It’s only when he relaxes that he registers what she said.

“We?” he calls back, making sure his voice isn’t too loud. Furball is still napping in his arms after all.

“Yup! I needed help carrying everything,” Amy’s voice gets closer as she walks into the living room.

Sonic’s jaw actually drops when he sees her carrying armfuls of bags from several stores. She’s so busy balancing them all and placing them on the ground that she hasn’t even looked at him nor Furball.

Sonic’s jaw drops impossibly further when Knuckles marches in, carrying multiple huge boxes in in his arms. They’re so big and so many, that it’s completely blocking his face. Sonic has no idea how he’s able to see where he’s going. He stops somewhere in the middle of the living room and decides to drop everything to the ground as gently as he could—which is not at all.

All the boxes falling flat onto the ground makes a loud thunk! noise and succeeds in disturbing Furball’s nap. The pup jolts awake and instantly starts crying. Sonic sighs and stands up to do his usual routine of walking and shushing.

“Oh. My. Goodness,” Amy gasps just when Sonic stands up. He looks to her with a wince, ready for her to freak out on him

“I-”

“HE IS SO ADORABLE!” Amy squeals, cupping her cheeks and grinning like a maniac. She runs up to his side, looking over his shoulder at the crying pup. “Please, please, please let me hold him!”

Sonic looks at her in surprise. He was so scared that she would scold him that he forgot just how much she loves all things small and cute.

“Oh, uh, maybe in a bit, yeah?” Sonic compromises, patting Furball’s back to soothe him. “I’ve gotta settle him down.”

“Oh! I have the perfect thing for this!” Amy exclaims. Sonic doesn’t have time to ask what is it before she’s searching through the bags she brought. She finds what she’s looking for and dashes off to the kitchen. Sonic hears the sink water start to run.

Sonic is now left alone with a crying hoglet and a staring echidna. He hasn’t seen Knuckles in a bit, so surely his older brother would be shocked by the new addition. He could practically see the gears turning in Knuckles’ brain as he stares at the pup in Sonic’s arms.

“A pup?” Knuckles asks finally, his voice characteristically deep.

“Yes,” Sonic nods.

“Oh… congratulations.”

Sonic sighs.

“Here!” Amy thankfully returns, holding a freshly-rinsed pacifier in hand. She goes back to Sonic’s side, and pushes the rubber part into Furball’s mouth.

In just 3 seconds, the crying stops. Sonic cannot believe there was this sort of witchcraft that can shut a crying baby up in mere seconds!

“Oh thank you,” Sonic exhales a day’s worth of stress, falling back onto the couch.

He had not even thought to buy a pacifier and he’s glad that Amy had better foresight than him. He looks over at all the boxes and bags they brought in, and he feels stupid all over again. How could he think that all he needed would be food and diapers, when they practically bought the whole store? He wonders what other treasures Amy was smart enough to get.

“Can I hold him now?” Amy asks, wearing a pleading smile.

“Yeah, sure, go for it,” Sonic answers, absentmindedly. He’s been holding the little tyke all day, it’s high time for someone else to.

Amy’s freakishly wide grin somehow gets wider as she holds her hands out to Furball. “Hey little guy! Wanna come to Amy?”

She has the perfect baby voice that Sonic couldn’t truly muster. But even so, Furball just turns away from her and burrows his face in to Sonic’s chest. Sonic sighs defeatedly.

“Sorry, Ames,” he apologizes. “He’s very clingy.”

“Ah it’s no worries,” She shrugs, her grin calming down to a regular smile, but the eager look in her eye remains. “I’ll get my chance soon enough.”

“Wait…” Knuckles says suddenly. He’s standing in the same spot, his face still contorted like he’s in deep thought. “you weren’t pregnant, were you?”

“Oh Chaos,” Sonic sighs for what feels like the 50th time.

Sonic eventually calls Tails to join them in the living room, and together they explain everything to the others. Once everyone is up to speed, the room feels a lot more serious than it did before.

Knuckles is clearly concerned that Rouge is at G.U.N. alone. He looks 2 seconds away from going over there himself, but they all know it would just make matters worse. Not only would it most likely reveal their stowaway pup, but it would also reveal his and Rouge’s relationship. The two have been together for quite some time, but strategically kept it a secret from G.U.N., who would most definitely find a way to use it against them. Only the people in this room, and Shadow, knew they are together.

Speaking of…

“Oh Shadow…,” Amy says wistfully. She looks directly at Sonic while she says exactly what’s been on Sonic’s mind all day. “He won’t take this well.”

“I know,” Sonic says softly. Oh Chaos, did he know. They settled back into silence again, all thinking about how their ebony friend will handle the situation.

Without meaning to, Sonic lets out a yawn and rubs his eyes.

“Are you okay?” Tails asks with concern tainting his voice. “You seem more tired than usual.”

“Yeah, today has just been a lot honestly,” Sonic shrugs. He hadn’t realized that others could notice how tired he is and he feels a familiar need to reassure them he’s okay.

“Well, Knuckles and I will help you guys set everything up,” Amy offers, gesturing to the pile of things she bought. Sonic smiles at her gratefully, but it falls when he feels the pup start to squirm in his arms. He could already hear the start of his whines around the pacifier.

“What now, Furball,” Sonic groans.

“Hey don’t call him that!” Amy chastises.

“Oh, that’s just the name we gave him,” Tails quickly comes to Sonic’s rescue. “We’re not good at names.”

Amy shoots them both a face of disgust that suggests that, maybe, she’s not too fond of their choice. “You got that right. Anyway, maybe he’s hungry? Or he needs a diaper change?”

Sonic and Tails freeze and share a look. Sonic is the one brave enough to ask, “Oh yeah… How do you change a diaper, again?”

“OH MY CHAOS!”

The night ends with both Sonic and Tails knowing how to change a diaper, prepare formula milk, and put Furball to sleep.

Knuckles and Amy helped the brothers set up their house for the pup. They decided the guest room would act as the nursery and they shoved a crib in there. Furball now has baby eating utensils, bottles, pacifiers, teething toys, a few plushies, and more. There’s a high chair in the kitchen, a stroller by the door, and a playpen in the living room.

In just a few hours, Sonic’s and Tails’ little bachelors pad got baby-fied.

Honestly, Sonic is feeling a lot better about things by the time he bids his friends goodbye. Amy promises to come back the next day with even more things for Furball (all on Sonic’s card of course).

Although Sonic couldn’t coax Furball away from him to be carried by Amy, he was able to get the pup to sit in the playpen without throwing a fuss. It was cute seeing Furball in there, wearing his new socks, gloves, and pacifier, all while sitting in a clean diaper.

After closing and locking the front door, he decides it’s bed time, because he needs it to be. He’s about ready to pass out for the next 15 hours.

He takes Furball to the newly-appointed nursery, turns off the lights, and starts rocking the pup to-and-fro in his arms like how Amy showed him. Thankfully, the hoglet had a long day and looks mere seconds away from falling asleep.

Sonic didn’t realize his own eyes had fallen shut until he feels a little hand on his chest. He looks down to see half-lidded red eyes staring up at him. Furball seems satisfied to have gotten Sonic’s attention and tucks his arm back into to body. Only then does the pup finally closes his eyes completely.

Sonic knows to keep rocking for a few more minutes to make sure Furball actually is down for the count. He can’t help but smile as he watches the hoglet slowly, but surely, drift to sleep. Sonic can tell he’s done his job by the deep breaths the pup lets out and how the pacifier is falling out the side of his mouth.

He looks like Shadow when he sleeps…

Sonic’s smile weakens when he thinks that. It is all so weird how, technically speaking, Furball really is Sonic’s and Shadow’s son. How the hell is he supposed to explain that to Shadow?

He’ll just have to cross that bridge when he gets to it.

For now, he’s focused on slowly bringing Furball down into the crib without waking him up. This is probably the slowest he has ever moved in his life, but he really does not want to risk disturbing the pup’s sleep and make him cry again.

He successfully gets his arms out from beneath Furball and is about to stand up, when he’s overcome by a strong, familiar urge. Giving in to it, he ever-so-carefully nuzzles his cheek against the top of Furball’s head. To his absolute delight, he hears Furball start to purr. It’s a soft rumbling sound that Sonic can only hear because his ear is right next to the pup, but present nevertheless and it melts Sonic’s heart.

If someone had told him yesterday that this morning, he would acquire a pup that was technically his child, he would fall on his back laughing. And look where he is now. This has been a very sudden and very overwhelming experience, but…

Seeing Furball curled up in a cozy crib instead of a cold lab with tubes poking out of him… Sonic can’t help but feel grateful.

He remembers Shadow telling him about his youth and being locked away in a government facility. He remembers seeing the pain written all over Shadow’s face and the nightmares he wakes up from. Sonic would never want to wish that on anyone, let alone a defenseless pup.

Now that Furball is in his care, Sonic will make sure nothing bad ever happens to him.

Chapter Text

The next day starts at 3 AM thanks to the obnoxious sound of a hoglet crying through a baby monitor.

Amy had told Sonic this would happen, but he had really hoped it wouldn’t. Alas, he gets up groggily, prepares a bottle of hoglet-specific formula milk, and walks right into the belly of the beast.

He’s half asleep while he feeds Furball and settles him back down in his crib. Thankfully, it’s an easy enough feat and Sonic is back in his bed 10 minutes later.

His day begins again at 7 AM to a similar crying.

Despite his early wake-up(s), this day feels a lot better than the previous. There’s no one knocking on his door with a surprise genetically-mutated baby for him, which is always a plus. Furball is content and Sonic now has the necessary supplies to keep him so.

One of which is a neat baby harness that Sonic can plop Furball into, allowing him to use both hands easily while also staying attached to a clingy pup. Amy may have spent a lot of money, but at least it was all on smart investments.

Sonic is able to make a nice breakfast to share with his brother with only a few minor set-backs due to Furball’s wandering hands. Tails wakes up just as Sonic sets up the dining table, and they all have a rather pleasant morning.

Amy comes by a few hours later with another armful of bags, but thankfully not as much. This time around, she mostly brought baby-proofing supplies as well as a lot more toys. Sonic theorizes that she bought that many so that she can bribe Furball into loving her.

He’s proven correct shortly after.

Now, he sits on the couch with Furball, of course, on his lap. Amy kneels in front of them on the floor, with yet another colorful, stimulating toy. This time it’s a plastic bear that plays different songs when you press one of its many buttons.

“Wow, isn’t this so cool!” she exclaims dramatically, waving around the toy and mashing a few buttons. It lights up all over right in front of Furball’s face.

It’s hard for a pup to resist such toys and Furball is no different. He watches the flashing bear with wide eyes, and slowly reaches out to it. That’s when Amy executes the next phase in her plan.

“Uh oh, where’s it going?” She asks in an exaggerated baby voice as she slowly pulls the toy away. Furball follows it with his eyes, opening and closing his hand desperately. “Do you want it? Huh, baby? Then come to Auntie Amy!”

She puts her arms up in a motion like she’s about to carry him, grinning like her life depended on it. Sonic would say that’s a pretty manipulative thing to do to a pup, but it’s not even working anyway.

Just like the last 3 times she tried this tactic, Furball quickly turns away and buries his face in Sonic’s stomach. Sonic presses a hand to Furball’s back as he watches Amy’s face fall yet again.

“I don’t think it’s working Ames,” Sonic laughs, shaking his head. After the first few failed attempts, he offered her pity, but it’s gone on for too long to not be funny.

“I knoooow,” she whines. “What must I do for you to love me Furball?! Tell me please! I’ll do anything!”

Furball doesn’t even look up, which just pours salt in the wound. Sonic brushes his quills and shrugs. “I don’t know why he’s so clingy to me. I’m not even the one who first found him. It was Rouge.”

Amy stands up in search of another new toy. She’s not even facing him when she drops a bomb on him. “Well, I mean, you are his dad.”

She can’t even see the devastation she left on Sonic. He stiffens up so fast that it jolts the pup in his lap.

Sure, he knew Furball was made with his DNA and that technically made him Sonic’s son. But it was entirely different for Sonic to think of himself as a father. He can easily be a good friend, a great brother, maybe an uncle even! A father, however, comes with a whole new field of responsibility he’s not ready for. He figured he’d never be ready if he’s being honest.

He’s snapped out of his thoughts when he hears an inquisitive hum. His glazed eyes refocus on Amy pulling out a new plushie from a bag. Besides it being far less colorful and plasticky, what shocks Sonic the most is its familiarity. He’s always been good at spotting out that faker.

“It’s me Shadow!” Amy imitates, knocking her voice down a couple octaves. She holds the Shadow plushie in front her face, aiming it towards Furball.

Sonic recognizes the plushie as part of a collection that a toy company put out. There’s also a plushie version of him and all his friends. This Shadow plushie must have just been released because Sonic hadn’t seen it in stores before. It took a lot of convincing on Rouge’s part for Shadow to allow the company to use his likeness.

“Think about the money!” Rouge had argued.

“I don’t need it,” Shadow said, plainly.

“But it’d be so cool!” Sonic weighed in. “Our plushies could be buddies!”

Now Amy is holding the all-new Shadow plushie to entice Furball.

“I’m the coolest!” she exclaims, still using her faux deep voice.

And just like that, Sonic’s internal crisis clears up. A laugh rolls out of him so fast that he covers his mouth with his hand, snickering into his palm. Amy breaks character too, starting to laugh when she saw Sonic crack. They’re so busy looking at each other, laughing, that Sonic nearly doesn’t catch him when Furball lurches forward.

“Woah there!” Sonic yelps, quickly pressing a hand on Furball’s stomach to stop him from flinging himself to the floor. Furball ignores him, continuing to reach out with both hands and making incessant squeaking noises around his pacifier.

Amy sees this and gasps in delight.

“This is my chance!” she squeals. She lifts up the Shadow doll near her head again and grins when Furball still makes an effort to reach for it.

Amy continues to taunt Furball a bit more. The pup’s whining slowly turns from cute and excited to give-me-what-I-want-before-I-cry.

“Amyyyy, c’moooon,” Sonic says desperately, bouncing the pup on his knee.

Amy, still grinning, spreads out her hands in a request to hold him. She gets nearer and nearer with no sign of him backing down. Finally, she is able to get her hands under his armpits, and pick him out of Sonic’s grasp. Only when she stands up with Furball situated in her arms does she happily hand the plush over.

“I did it!” She laughs, hopping around in a victory dance. Furball simply sits in her arms with both hands wrapped around his new toy. He stares at the plush with an intensity that really makes him look like Shadow’s son.

Sonic watches in amusement, already endeared by the sight. The final blow to the heart was Furball hugging the doll close and starting to purr.

How did he and Shadow create a pup so stinking cute?

Tails walks into the living room, holding a detailed report he obtained from the blood draw. He’s shuffling through the pages as he walks in, ready to present his findings to his friends.

“Hey guys, the results came in-” He starts to announce but tapers off when he sees what’s happening in the living room. Amy is gushing about Furball being in her arms, hugging him and rubbing her cheek all over the pup’s head. Sonic is all around her, snapping pictures left and right, also gushing. And Furball is in the center of it all, minding his business and cuddling up to a doll that has Shadow’s familiar frown.

Tails can’t walk around his own home anymore without witnessing his friends do something strange….

“Just as we expected, Furball is a clear cut combination of Sonic and Shadow,” Tails says after he was able to wrangle the attention of the adults in the room. As it is, Tails stands in front of the living room, facing the couch currently occupied by Sonic and Amy. Furball is settled on Amy’s lap, because she refused to let him go now that she has him. Curiously, the pup is enamored with a little Shadow plushie.

“How’d they get our DNA?” Sonic asks, tilting his head.

“Well, you and Shadow aren’t exactly careful of your quills when you fight. And I see your quills lying around the house all the time, so it’s not impossible for someone to just pick them off the floor,” Tails shrugs, making sure to jab at Sonic about the amount of times he’s been poked by a stray quill.

“Hey,” Sonic grumbles, but does no more to defend himself. He knows Tails is right, as he should.

“Point is, Furball is your guys’ genetic match, but it’s difficult to tell exactly what that entails. The purpose of his creation was to be a combination of your powers, but we don’t know how much of your powers are even rooted in genetics. Most of it comes from chaos energy.”

“Maybe Furball is able to harness Chaos energy because of his inherited genetics,” Amy suggests, looking down at the pup as she says so.

“Possibly,” Tails agrees. “What’s interesting is his ability to affect electricity. From what I’m aware of, neither Shadow nor Sonic can do that.”

“Yeah no, I definitely can’t,” Sonic shakes his head. “Shadow can’t either.”

“Knowing that he could do things that are unique from your guys’ powers, we have to be extremely cautious of what else Furball could be capable of. His powers will most likely show itself over time, so we must be prepared for anything at any moment.”

“How relaxing,” Sonic sighs ironically. Tails can understand the sentiment. He’s used to being on guard when it comes to their roster of enemies, but their home was supposed to be a safe space to just chill out in. Now they’re at risk of a hoglet discovering some insane power and not being able to control it.

“Do you know how old he is?” Amy asks, which seems to also pique Sonic’s curiosity.

“That’s another interesting finding,” Tails perks up. He flips through a few pages until he gets to the one he’s looking for. “Physically, he’s just about 11 months old. But… he’s only been alive for one month.”

“Huh?” Both Amy and Sonic react at the same time, tilting their heads to the side. Furball tilts his head too, and Tails suspects it’s just a hedgehog thing to do.

“Yeah,” Tails nods understandingly, because he remembers when he also felt this disbelief. “He started off as a fetus a month ago, but he was exponentially growing since. Something at the lab he was found in must have been causing him to develop like that, but now that he’s out, he’s growing at a natural rate.”

Sonic was looking at Furball during the whole explanation, and Tails can only guess what he was thinking. Sonic has a look on his face that Tails recognizes from when Sonic is looking at past pictures of Tails as a kit.

“Where did the time go?” Sonic would blubber, pretending to dab his eyes. He made it look like he was joking, but Tails could see there was some sadness and nostalgia in those eyes.

A familiar whining snaps Sonic out of his thoughts. All three of them direct their attention to Furball, who is now squirming in Amy’s arms. Amy quickly goes into damage control by petting Furball and making shushing noises.

“No no, you want to stay with Auntie Amy, right?” She asks frantically. By the way Furball is actively reaching towards Sonic, his answer was a clear no. “Aw we were doing so good!”

“At least you were able to hold him at all this time,” Sonic says comfortingly as he actively pulls the pup away from her. She frowns and watches Furball forlornly when he gets comfortable on Sonic’s lap. “That was like a whole 10 minutes!”

Her frown only deepens. Tails knew that Sonic can give some fair pep talks but this was definitely not one of them. Sonic doesn’t seem to care because he immediately starts wiggling a finger in front of Furball and smiles when the pup grabs on to it. It’s like he’s eating a piece of cake in front of a starving person.

“I still have to decipher the rest of the data,” Tails calls their attention, before Amy clobbers Sonic out of jealousy. He could already see the darkness forming in her eyes. “I’m hoping to talk to Rouge soon, since she might have some more insight.”

Amy looks at Tails with a lot less enthusiasm now that Furball was ripped away from her. She crosses her arms and numbly says, “well, maybe she’ll come back soon.”

Soon is the very next day.

It’s the same day that Sonic discovers that Furball can crawl.

He found out shortly after lunch when he plopped the pup in the playpen so he could fold some laundry. Furball, per usual, just sat there and stared up at Sonic while Sonic worked. Sometimes Furball would play with his Shadow toy, but would more or less stay in the same spot.

It started getting interesting when Sonic got up to put the laundry away. Wherever Sonic went, Furball would crawl in that direction and whine from behind the fence. Sonic had never seen him do that before, nor had he wondered about that. He sort of forgot that was a thing pups do. As of yet, Furball relied purely on Sonic for transportation.

After laundry was folded and put away, Sonic decided to play with Furball a bit. He lured the pup to one side of the pen, watching Furball crawl over with determination. Just when Furball reached the border, Sonic dashed to the other side of the pen. Furball whipped his little head around in confusion until he finally noticed Sonic on the opposite side of where he once was. He squealed and came toddling over. Right as he reached his destination, Sonic sped off to another side again.

They continued this game for some time. Sonic was completely endeared by the hoglet crawling, even when the pup stumbled a few times and occasionally took little breaks.

Sonic then had the great idea to take this outside. Furball has been locked up in this house for so long; he needs some vitamin D.

So now Sonic is standing outside his house with a cooing Furball in his hands. He stares off at the large, empty fields around him which should be far more that enough space for Furball to move around. Living far from the city, miles away from anyone else, definitely had its perks.

“Ahh the perfect weather conditions for crawling!” Sonic breathes in the fresh air, grinning. He looks around and spots a nice flower sprouting out the green grass just a few feet away from him. He points to it so Furball can see it. “How ‘bout you get that pretty flower, yeah? Here we go! 3, 2…”

Sonic places Furball on the grass but still holds on. The pup takes a moment to get used to the new feeling, silently patting the grass with his hands. Sonic guesses Furball will probably be too busy touching up the grass to even bother going after the flower, but he keeps up the pretense anyway.

“…1, go!” He releases Furball.

Zoom!

The moment his hands are free, the flower is completely ran over and Furball leaves only a navy blue blur behind him. He is dashing over one of the hills in the distance when Sonic finally processes what the hell just happened.

“HOLY SHIT!” He yells and starts going after the runaway hoglet.

He’s able to catch up quickly but only because he is the fastest creature alive. Furball is already a mile away from the house and shows absolutely no sign of stopping.

Now that he’s within sight, Sonic can see that Furball is working his limps so fast that they just look like blurs, similar to how Sonic’s legs look when he’s running. Furball has his chin held high as the wind hits his face. And to Sonic’s disbelief, Furball is actually smiling.

Smiling! His few dull teeth are showing with how wide his mouth is. Even over the rushing wind, Sonic can hear his delightful squealing. This pup loves the feel of running- well, crawling fast!

Chaos, he really is Sonic’s son!

“O-okay now, bud, it’s time to slow down!” Sonic smiles nervously, running alongside Furball. He’s trying to think of the best plan of action on how to halt this diaper-wearing speedster without harming him. “Or, let’s turn around at least, yeah?!”

Furball doesn’t listen, continuing his trajectory towards a nearby forest. Running around trees is not the ideal situation to be in. It’s one thing to be dashing around a clear field, it’s another thing entirely to be dodging trees left and right.

Since negotiations failed, Sonic moves on to plan B. He speeds up and stops a few meters ahead of Furball, quickly turning to face the incoming hoglet. Hopefully, he should be able to catch Furball and the momentum won’t send them hurdling.

He doesn’t have to worry about that, though, because Furball makes a sharp 90 degree right turn to deftly avoid Sonic. The one time Sonic relies of Furball’s clinginess, and he gets swerved!

Furball’s new path leads him to a closer entrance to the forest. Sonic chases after him and into the trees. His next plan is to come up behind Furball at just the perfect speed and simply pluck him off the ground. Should be easy enough!

So he focuses on getting right behind Furball. Being too slow is not the issue—not for Sonic, of course—but if he’s too fast, he may just run Furball over. Again, not an ideal situation!

He carefully increases his speed, reaching out his hands towards Furball. He see’s the trees whipping past him in his peripherals but his attention is completely centered on Furball.

His fingers just about graze Furball’s side, when suddenly, they’re both hurdling into the sky.

Furball led them right off a ramp-like rock and into the air. Sonic yells as he flips a few times while getting his bearings straight. He finally does when they reach the peak of their arc. He frantically looks around and spots Furball a few feet ahead of him.

Giggling! Furball is giggling so much, and so loud, that Sonic forgets where they are for a second. He sees the pup’s dull teeth on full display and red eyes crinkling. Furball looks at Sonic like he has no care in the world.

Sonic wishes that was true, because now they’re starting their descent and when he looks down, he sees a lake miles below them. Why does it always have to be water!

Sonic screams again, and reaches out for Furball with a revived vigor. Falling from this height into unmoving water could be fatal for any average being, let alone a pup. Sonic could most likely survive the impact, even if the drowning would be the thing to get him.

Regardless, he has to do anything he can to protect Furball. He doesn’t know what he could do to get Furball somewhere safe, but Sonic can at least shield him from the impact. Every instinct in him is calling for him to wrap up Furball in a tight ball and he doesn’t ignore it.

He rapidly tries reaching for Furball as gravity pulls them both down. But Furball is just outside his reach.

Sonic feels the adrenaline rushing through his veins more strongly than he’s ever felt before. He’s used to near-death experiences and can usually improv his way out of them. But now he has Furball.

He can’t let anything hurt him.

So he stretches his arms as far as they possibly could.

He feels it! His fur! He’s almost got it, he-

Something from the sky whips by and grabs Furball right from under his fingertips.

Sonic quickly twists his body around to follow the offending creature. Did he really just witness a hawk snatch his son?!

Then he lets out the biggest sigh of his life when he sees that it’s actually a bat that snatched him. It’s Rouge! She has the most impeccable timing!

Sonic laughs, all the stress in his body rolling off him as he watches Rouge fly away with Furball safely in her arms. He doesn’t even care about the lake he’s about to crash into. Sure it’ll hurt, and sure he may drown a bit, but at least Rouge knows where he is. She can take Furball to safety and come back for him. Or maybe not, who cares? Furball is safe.

With that thought, he accepts his fate.

Only for his arms to be grabbed out of the sky. Oh Chaos, did he get snatched by a hawk?!

He looks up and lets out another loud laugh. “Oh you have no idea how happy I am to see you!”

Knuckles simply looks down at him while holding onto Sonic’s biceps. “I get that reaction a lot.”

Sonic cackles the whole way back to safety.

Rouge had been so nervous to leave the poor babe with Sonic, of all people, but she knew it had to be done. Sonic is one the fathers after all, and it wasn’t like she could take the pup to the other father. Shadow is still on a G.U.N. mission, which is no place for someone to find out they have a son.

That actually would have indeed happened if she hadn’t asked to trade missions with Shadow. Well, begged more like. She knew the original mission she was assigned—the one Shadow is on now—would have taken a long time in another country and she wouldn’t be able to leave until it was finished. Usually she wouldn’t have too much of an issue with it, but this mission overlapped with her 2nd anniversary with Knuckles.

G.U.N. took so much from her, including her ability to be with Knuckles freely, so she refused to give up her anniversary. She already had to miss the first one because of a last minute call, and she has felt guilty ever since. Her lovely partner had been understanding, but it was heart-breaking for Rouge to come back late at night and see the fancy dinner Knuckles cooked up packaged in the fridge, alongside flowers and champagne.

It was because of their anniversary that she showed up to Sonic’s house a day later than planned. Yesterday, she celebrated it with Knuckles all day on his island. She was treated like a queen and was very reluctant to leave. Knuckles telling her that Sonic seemed to be doing okay was all the reassurance she needed to stay a little longer. She deserved this!

So, yeah, she begged Shadow to swap, and it turned out to be the right choice. She can’t even imagine how Shadow would’ve reacted if he was the one to find the Ultimate Weapon.

Speaking of, who knew the Ultimate Weapon had such a cute laugh?

“What’s got you so giggly, huh, my love?” Rouge asks while flying in cruising speed, not in a baby voice, mind you. “Did you miss me? Yes, you did! Yes, you did!”

The hoglet just keeps giggling. Anyone seeing him would not have thought he was previously 3 seconds away from falling into a lake. Honestly, Rouge was right to be nervous about leaving this pup in Sonic’s care. If she had been flying in even a minute later, who knows what could’ve happened?!

She was fully capable of saving Sonic as well, but she wanted him to feel a little reprecussion for getting the hoglet in such a dangerous situation. A few minutes floundering in the lake would’ve been satisfactory. Of course, it was her handsome, strong, kind-hearted partner that saved Sonic. Psh, and people say she’s the bigger softie.

She smiled warmly at the pup as they reach Sonic’s house. As usual, she lands like a delicate lady, never letting her feet make a sound.

A moment later, she hears Sonic’s yelling as he’s released from a few feet up in the air and skids across the grass.

Then she feels Knuckles land right beside her, also like a delicate lady. They are a very demure couple!

“Landing could’ve been a little smoother,” Sonic grumbles as he pulls his face out of the dirt. His body left a long streak in the grass that he’d now have to clean up.

Suddenly, a shadow looms over him, and he’s almost too scared to look up.

He forces himself to anyway, and is met with the sight of Rouge standing over him menacingly. She wears one the meanest snarls he’s ever seen and he wishes he wasn’t the target of it.

“I told you to take care of him,” she growls.

“Hey, it’s not my fault!” Sonic defends himself, standing up. “I didn’t realize he’d already be so fast! I just took him outside so he could stretch his legs and boom!… He’s outta here!”

He brushes the dirt and grass off himself before he realizes Furball is whining and reaching out to him. It’s a testament to how lethal-looking Rouge was that he hadn’t even noticed the pup in her arm. But now that he has, he quickly snatches him away.

“Are you hurt?!” He asks Furball frantically even though he knows he wouldn’t get a response. Sonic swiftly examines every inch of the pup for any sign of injury. Once he’s satisfied to have found nothing of note, he brings Furball into a tight hug.

He relishes the fact that Furball is safe and sound for a moment. Then he rips the pup away and holds him by the armpits, bringing him up to eye level.

“Don’t do that again, okay Furball!” Sonic scolds, furrowing his brows. “That was so dangerous!”

Furball starts to whimper and presses his palms to Sonic’s muzzle. Sonic takes it as an apology and accepts it way to easily, wrapping Furball back into a tight hug.

After a few seconds, he finally remembers there are others around him. He looks up to see the couple staring at him with matching faces of incredulousness.

“Did you just call him… Furball?” Rouge chokes out.

They eventually make their way inside the house and gather around the living room for a debriefing. Tails comes in to share the results of the blood test with Rouge and Knuckles. Sonic tells them about Furball’s new speed, which Tails takes notes on. Finally, they let Rouge have the floor, so she can talk about what’s happening with G.U.N.. Rouge stands in front of the TV while the rest of them sit around on couches. Furball sits in his playpen along with Tails.

“I obviously didn’t tell G.U.N. about… Furball,” she grimaces at the name and shoots another nasty look at Sonic. Sonic smiles awkwardly and glances away to avoid eye contact. She clears her throat and continues, “I had to tell them something, though. So I told them that whoever is behind all this, is experimenting with creating a new dangerous lifeform, with no conclusive results. Didn’t even mention Sonic or Shadow. They seemed to buy it well enough.”

Sonic nods along. “Well, that’s good then! Will that… hold them off?”

“For now, yes,” Rouge answers. “But G.U.N. is going to deploy a team of operatives to the site. They’ll be tasked with combing through the whole facility and taking whatever they can. The place was mostly empty, but everything about the project is hidden within a secret lab. The only way I knew it even existed was because I had to hack my way through. It was hard, even for me. But if they manage to get in… it’s only a matter of time before they trace the Ultimate Weapon back to here.”

“We’d be screwed,” Sonic mutters, a grimace on his lip. G.U.N. would most definitely arrest all of them and ransack the whole house. They’d be enemies of the state for hoarding Furball. Rouge would be fired, Tails’ contracts would be cut off, Knuckles’ emerald would be taken, and Sonic… would lose Furball.

They can’t let that happen.

“I was hoping we could go to the base ourselves,” Tails says. “Maybe we could’ve found something that would help us understand Furball more. I guess it’s too late for that…”

“It is,” Rouge sighs. “There’s a team already on the way there.”

“What can we do?” Knuckles asks, like a soldier asking for direction.

Rouge just shrugs. “Just wait. Hope they don’t find the lab. Or we could try to relocate somewhere where G.U.N. can’t find us.”

“This is the safest place we could be honestly,” Sonic interjects. “We have a good defense system, thanks to Tails, but it’s not a good long term solution. And it’s not like we could run away forever, especially not with a pup.”

“Well…,” Rouge starts, but contemplates her words. Her face twists like she ate a rotten egg before continuing, “Another solution could be… to turn Furball in-”

“No,” Sonic’s mouth moves faster than his brain. He’s aghast that she would even suggest that, not after her being the one to find him. Not after her knowing what G.U.N. put Shadow through. “Totally out of the question.”

“You’re right,” Rouge concedes with no other objection. Sonic lets his shoulders relax without knowing they had even tensed up. “We can’t let Furball fall into their hands- what is he holding?”

They all instantly look into the pen. Furball sits there, unbothered by the new attention, and continues gnawing on the ear of his Shadow plushie. That’s been his favorite thing to do ever since he got the toy. At this rate, he’s going to chew off the whole ear.

“Oh!” Tails perks up. “That’s his favorite toy! Amy got it for him.”

Rouge quickly turns away and brings a fist to her mouth, like she’s restraining herself from doing something. Her eyes are clenched as she takes a moment to collect herself. Then, in a strained voice, she says, “that… is the cutest thing I have ever seen in my Chaos-dammed life.”

Sonic is only mildly surprised by the real passion in her voice. He can completely understand the sentiment. His phone is already loaded with pictures of Furball and his Shadow plush.

Rouge takes a deep breath through her nose and targets her piercing gaze at the only Echidna in the room.

“I want one.”

“Hu- what?” Knuckles stutters as his face is overcome with a bright blush. Only rouge could have that effect on him.

“I. want. one,” Rouge demands. “Let’s go.”

Even Sonic can’t catch up to how fast this conversation took a turn. If he could, he would already be covering Tails ears.

“Oh my gosh,” Tails squeaks, blushing.

“In front of Furball, seriously?” Sonic complains. He stands up so he can pluck Furball from out of his pen and shield his innocent eyes from these sinners.

“Terrible name for my beautiful nephew,” Rouge says automatically as she pulls her flustered partner off the couch. Knuckles looks like he doesn’t even know where he is right now, just lets Rouge shove him out of the living room. “We’ll be going now. Oh-”

She stops right before she exits and looks directly at Sonic. He looks back at her, but is wary that she may say something else completely out of pocket.

He doesn’t expect her to say, “Shadow will arrive tomorrow.”

Sonic freezes as his mind goes blank for a moment. When he comes to again a second later, Rouge is gone and shutting the front door.

He stands in the silent living room with his little brother looking at him worriedly.

He clears his throat. “I think it’s Furball’s bedtime…”

Rouge said Shadow will be arriving tomorrow, so Sonic prepares tonight.

He starts with putting Furball to sleep. It’s an easy enough task, and he’s learned to enjoy it. He spends a good 10 minutes quietly rocking Furball until he sees those ruby eyes drift close. Of course, just before Furball truly falls asleep, he takes a moment to press a hand to Sonic’s chest. Sonic likes to think this is the pup’s way of saying goodnight.

Then, he spends an hour stress cleaning the house. It’s something he does when he really needs to preoccupy his brain in a way that video games just can’t accomplish. By the end of the night, the dishes are washed and dried, laundry folded and put away, floors swept and mopped.

Afterwards, he takes a nice, long shower. He’s been needing this, and let’s himself relax under the therapeutic massaging of his fur. He also brushes his teeth, flosses, and combs his quills.

He looks in the foggy mirror and takes a deep breath. He’s done almost everything he can before going to bed. There’s just one more thing to take care of.

He goes upstairs and knocks on Tails’ bedroom door. He waits for his brother’s permission before opening it. Even then, he just leans on the doorframe, baby monitor in hand.

“Hey bud, I’m sorry to ask you this,” he starts sheepishly, but Tails cuts him off.

“You want me to be in charge of Furball tonight, so you can finally get a full night’s sleep?” Tails finishes, wearing a small smile.

Sonic laughs under his breath. His brother knows him so well. “You got me… Do you mind?”

“Not at all, big bro,” Tails says reassuringly. “You’ve been looking extra tired lately, it’s been making me kinda worried. You deserve some uninterrupted sleep!”

Sonic really has the best brother a guy can ask for.

Soon enough, Sonic finally in his bed.

These past few days have been the longest of his whole life. It’s insane to think that he was childfree just a week ago, and now he has a nursery in the room right next to his.

He’s grown so much already. Of course, he’s nowhere near perfect, but considering the little time he had along with the suddeness of obtaining a son, he’s done pretty alright. Hopefully, Shadow will think so too.

He drifts to sleep. The last thing on his mind, again, is Furball and Shadow.

It’s the dead of night.

The wind howls and swirls around the silent house.

Within the home, lies a blue hedgehog.

He sleeps, unaware of the red eyes glowing in his bedroom window.

Chapter Text

Being a light sleeper has saved Sonic’s life more than once. Whether its a ferocious beast snapping a twig or a killer robot whirring near him, it’s enough to put him on high alert. He never resists when his body tries to wake him up because it knows better than him.

It’s a soft thud that wakes him up this time.

In an instant, he’s lurched into a sitting position—much more optimal for combat than lying down. His first instinct is to reach for the baby monitor, but his hand comes back empty.

It’s with Tails… he remembers.

He strains his ears, trying to hear any sign of crying. Nothing. Furball is sleeping in his crib next door, as well as Tails upstairs. The teen isn’t even staying up late to secretly play a video game like he likes to do occasionally.

The room is silent still, but Sonic knows better than to find peace in that. Cautiously standing up from the bed, he scans the room. His ability to see in the dark is abysmal, but even he could see the window is slightly ajar…

There is absolutely no possibility he left it open. Every night, he is deliberate in closing and locking any possible entrance to their home. This window especially is safe-guarded with a lock. There was once a key to it, but he doesn’t even have it anymore.

Slowly, he makes his way to the window, still surveying his surroundings for anything lurking in the dark. He sees nothing move or out of the ordinary besides that damn window.

He stops right in front of it. Besides it being open, he notices something else strange about it.

There’s a foggy circle on the center of the glass, like someone was breathing on it…

Whoever it was, they also drew something…

Is that a heart?

“Boo.”

Gloved hands fall onto his hips as a deep voice whispers in his ear.

“Oh no!” Sonic gasps dramatically, bringing up the back of his hand to his forehead. He falls back like he’s fainting, expecting, correctly, that he’ll be caught. “I’m being attacked! Whatever shall I do?”

Shadow chuckles in the quiet, rumbly way that he does. Sonic likes he sound of it even more than the feeling of Shadow’s fluffy chest vibrating against his back.

“What gave it away this time?” Shadow asks, quietly. It is still the dead of night after all, and there are others sleeping in the house.

Sonic drops the act of damsel in distress and turns around in Shadow’s hands. He drapes his wrists on Shadow’s shoulders as he sighs in thought.

“Welllll, I know you woke me up on purpose,” Sonic says, looking right into those red, amused eyes. “But you still walk so loud. I could hear every step you made. It’s like you were fe-fi-fo-ing right behind me!”

“Anyone else would have thought I was silent,” Shadow says light-heartedly. Sure, he’s right, buuuut…

“I’m not anyone else though, am I?” Sonic smirks, leaning forward so their noses touch. There used to be a time when this was all it took to get Shadow so flustered. Nowadays, he takes it in stride.

“No… you’re not,” Shadow whispers, then finally closes the gap between them.

Sonic always forgets just how nice it is to kiss Shadow, until he does it again. His memory could never do justice the tenderness of Shadow’s lips on his own. But it’s all he’s left with when Shadow goes away on G.U.N. missions.

Despite Shadow not being involved with G.U.N. as much as Rouge is, he will still carry out a mission now and again when he believes it’s worth his time. It’s always difficult to part again, but Sonic has long accepted that it must be done. This past mission had been the longest one yet, and it was already driving Sonic insane even if he didn’t have to worry about Furball…

The worst part was that he usually had no one to talk to about it with. No one else knows that they’re dating—have been for two months. Though, they were hooking up for quite a while before then… but that’s a story for another time.

The point is that he has missed Shadow terribly, and he conveys this into their kiss. He wraps his arms around Shadow’s neck tightly and leans in to the point that he’s practically loading all his weight on the other. Shadow doesn’t seem to mind, and reciprocates with just as much enthusiasm. His arms are snug around Sonic’s waist like he’ll never let go.

Sonic wishes he never will.

“I missed you,” Sonic says in between kisses, because he must let Shadow know in every way he can.

“Mm, I missed you more,” Shadow mumbles before diving right back in. He kisses Sonic with a new vigor, forcing his tongue deeper into Sonic’s mouth. Sonic loves it, but can’t help but also take it as a challenge.

“No, I missed you more,” Sonic emphasizes this by pressing his body closer to Shadow’s. He feels the full force of that fluffy chest that he loves playing with so much. His hand start exploring Shadow’s quills, fingers digging in to massage his scalp.

Shadow hums into their kiss as his hands also start to wander. They travel from Sonic’s hips and run up to rub the blue fur on his sides, before dropping back down again. Sonic’s breath catches in his throat when Shadow’s hand squeezes right below the tail.

They part for a brief moment, during which Shadow meets Sonic’s accusatory look with a daring smirk. Then, like the asshole he is, Shadow says, “no, I did.”

This hedgehog will be the end of Sonic…

Sonic rushes back in to catch Shadow’s lips once again. He starts walking forward, pushing Shadow along the way. They’re moving around blind, but they have done this enough to know exactly where the bed is.

The back of Shadow’s knees bump into the mattress and Sonic surges forward. It results in Shadow’s splayed out on the bed and Sonic eagerly crawling on so he can sit on Shadow’s hips, all while their lips are still attached. Sonic takes a moment to feel up Shadow’s chest and bask in its furry glory. He then traces the length of Shadow’s arms, leading down to where his hands are busy at Sonic’s underside. He takes hold of Shadow’s hands and aggressively rips them away so he can slam them on either side of Shadow’s head. Satisfied with their new position, he slowly pulls his head away.

Shadow tries to follow, but Sonic doesn’t let him.

Now they’re two whole inches apart. Their heavy breaths fill the otherwise silent room as they look into each other’s eyes.

Sonic’s lips curl in a smirk. “I missed you most.”

Shadow stares at his mouth for a moment, then smiles. His fang is showing and Sonic remembers how it was scratching his lip just a moment ago. He finds himself missing the feeling already.

But… there’s something he still has to tell Shadow.

These past few days, Sonic has been dreading the moment he’d have to break the news to him. His biggest fear is that this new information will resurface all the trauma that Shadow suffered through, and may just trigger him into running away. It’s happened before, and Sonic isn’t sure if he has the heart to handle it again, especially now that he has Furball to worry about.

At the same time, a small, hopeful part of Sonic was also excited to tell Shadow.

Suddenly being thrusted into parenthood is scary. He is now in charge of a whole living being who relies on him for nurturing, when he doesn’t even feel like he’s fully grown himself. Sure, he is grateful to have his brother and friends who have been extremely helpful through this whole experience. He doesn’t know where he’s be without them.

However, they can’t fully grasp what Sonic is feeling. Furball is their nephew, but he is Sonic’s son. There’s only one being who could understand this. Of course, that someone is, and will always be, Shadow.

Sonic knows, deep down, that Shadow will fall in love with Furball just as much as Sonic has.

But that’ll never happen if Sonic doesn’t first tell Shadow the news.

Sonic is gathering up the courage when Shadow flips their positions. Sonic rolls onto his back with an oomph! and looks up to see his partner smirking down at him.

“I love you most,” he whispers then dives into Sonic’s neck. Sonic doesn’t even get to respond because he has to shove his fist into his mouth to stop from whimpering. Shadow is working his magic on Sonic’s neck, and Sonic has always had a hard time shutting up.

Okay… maybe that conversation could wait until later…

Shadow watches Sonic sleep.

It’s his favorite thing to do after a nice, pleasurable session. Just like most times, Sonic quickly knocked out afterwards and Shadow was left in charge of cleanup. He doesn’t mind in the slightest. Besides, he doesn’t need sleep as much as others.

Being a hybrid creature created in a lab made him… different. Made him a freak…

He shakes his head. This isn’t something he wants to think about while basking in the afterglow. Instead, he focuses on the sound of Sonic’s snores and the drool spilling out of his mouth. It takes all of his self-restraint to not lick the stray away.

The most beautiful creature in the galaxy is sleeping right next to him. Anyone in his position would take full advantage. So, ever so gently, he scoots closer to Sonic. He’s careful not to rock the bed too much (more careful than he was 15 minutes ago) as he wraps an arm around Sonic’s middle. He rests his chin atop Sonic’s head, and closes his eyes.

After every mission, he tells Rouge he will return a day later than scheduled. That way, he can spend his first night back with his favorite hedgehog.

But their secrecy means that he’ll have to leave by sunrise. Tails will wake up to a single brother and Shadow will return to his shared apartment with Rouge. Shadow has no right to complain though, because he is the one to ask for it to remain a secret. As much as it is peaceful, his resolve crumbles piece by piece each time he has to leave Sonic.

He doesn’t leave Sonic without saying good bye first, or at least, not anymore. He has learned his lesson from how upset Sonic got from waking up one too many times with only a note to wish him a good morning. He knows now to wake Sonic up, no matter how much he hates to disturb the other’s sleep, to bid him farewell.

He doesn’t have to do that now though. It’s just barely going to be 3 AM and he usually leaves around 5. He has a few more hours to rest his eyes with his partner.

So he lets himself drift to sleep.

Only to be woken up 15 minutes later.

Sonic is not the only light-sleeper around. Shadow, too, relies on his sensitivity to find and annihilate any threat. The only difference is that Shadow isn’t dead to the world after sex. Sonic could sleep through a tornado if shadow hits all the right spots, and Shadow never misses.

What startles Shadow awake this time starts off as a murmuring sound. He doesn’t quite know what it is, but it doesn’t sound like any machine. It can’t be confused with either Sonic’s snoring or Tails’ sleep-talking. It’s something new and therefore a threat.

He gets off the bed in the instant, on high alert, ears straining for any other unusual sound. His hearing does not quite reach Sonic’s caliber, but his night vision is impeccable. After a survey of the room, he sees nothing of note.

The sound gets louder, and it’s coming from the room next door… in the guest bedroom…

He must investigate and possibly eradicate. Under no circumstances can he let anything harm Sonic… or the fox, too.

So he exits Sonic’s room and sneaks into the hall. He’s quiet, even more quiet than when he tried to surprise Sonic. This time, he makes his steps extra soft.

The moment he’s out of the room, the noise gets louder. It doesn’t make sense though, because it almost sounds like… whining? What the hell could be in the guest bedroom that whines like a baby?

Whatever is going on, Shadow will have to put a stop to it.

Even in the pitch blackness, Shadow can see everything clearly. He looks around the living room as he walks down the hall for any sign of a break-in. It’s spotless, like the many times he’s visited late at night before. Sonic has a habit of cleaning up the place if he expects Shadow’s arrival.

What’s new, though, is the pen in the center of the living room. The coffee table is even pushed aside to make room for it. Why would Sonic have that? Is he trying to catch Chao again?

His pondering is cut short when his foot hits something. Instantly, he snaps his attention to… a toy?

Shadow leans down and examines it on the floor. It’s a brightly-colored, plastic bear with a dozen buttons that would undoubtedly make noise if he presses them.

The whining, the playpen, the toy… it can’t be…

Shadow ditches the bear as well as any pretense of being quiet and marches straight towards the guest bedroom. The whining is louder now, and slowly morphing into something else. He grabs the knob and pushes the door open.

He hears the crying before he sees the crib.

It’s loud, but not louder than the rushing in his ears.

He doesn’t remember gathering the willpower to step forward, but he’s slowly nearing the crib regardless. He looks over.

A hoglet. Eyes screwed shut. Arms and legs flailing. Crying.

All Shadow can do is stare, the blood freezing in his veins.

“It’s always only been you!”

Sonic had once told him this.

He said that, but now Shadow is looking right at a crying hoglet. One that looks just like Sonic. There’s no mistaking it.

“I can only love you!”

Was it a lie?

It had to be.

Because he’s looking at a hoglet that looks exactly like Sonic!

The last thing he sees before the lights turn on is red.

Tails regrets letting Sonic sleep in when his own sleep gets disturbed.

He wakes up to the muffled sound of a crying Furball. It’s already annoying as it is without the staticky effect that the baby monitor gives it. He’s too tired to even fish the monitor out from wherever it got lost on his bed. He uses that extra time to pray that the crying will just stop.

His prayer goes unanswered.

So he forces himself to roll out of bed. He takes his sweet time walking down the stairs with his eyes half closed and yawning every 3 seconds. He will get Furball, feed him, and possibly even fall asleep on the guest bed, he doesn’t care. He is just so tired.

The perfect remedy for that is to see a dark figure looming over the pup’s crib.

His heart stops, and he has just enough brain capacity to fumble for the lights.

The light reveals the intruder to be none other than Shadow! He can’t even think about what circumstances led to the ebony hedgehog to be standing in his house at 3 AM in the morning. Not when Shadow is aiming at him the darkest, scariest, most lethal glare he’s ever witnessed in his entire life.

He may be a super genius, but at the end of the day, he is still just a kit.

All he can do is press his back against the door and scream.

“AHHHHH SONIC!” is what wakes him up this time.

Sonic is up and sprinting into the guest bedroom before Tails can even finish his call for help. He stops right in front of his brother, ready to protect him from whatever danger there was to spark such a blood-curdling scream.

It’s Shadow. And he’s standing right next to the crib that contains a crying hoglet. Their crying hoglet.

Sonic should’ve told him sooner.

Shadow’s expression is deadly. He looks grumpy so often that others could not, and should pray they will not, ever imagine just how angry Shadow can look. Sonic can practically see the steam emanating off him. No wonder Tails is trembling behind him.

“Ah… okay,” Sonic says slowly, putting his hands up in a placating manner. “Let’s just all stay calm.”

“Why do you have a pup that looks just like you,” Shadow growls, his voice so harsh that his question doesn’t sound like a question.

“Why is Shadow here?!” Tails screeches as he holds onto Sonic’s shoulder in a vice grip.

It becomes clear to Sonic actually that no one is calming down. Shadow looks about ready to go on a murderous rampage and Tails is acting like he’s going to be the first victim. And, of course, Furball is still crying in his crib, waiting to be fed and probably scared of all the loud noises.

Sonic has to focus on one issue at a time and the most pressing one is Furball. He is overcome with a severe need to comfort him in this time of distress. Without a second thought, he walks towards the crib, pulling himself free of Tails’ hold.

“Okay, w-we’ll talk about this, but first let me feed him-” Sonic’s path gets interrupted when Shadow steps in between him and the crib. He feels a weird mixture of anger, paranoia, and concern wash over him. How dare anyone get in the way of him and his son?

He doesn’t mean to, but he snarls at Shadow. Shadow returns it with a glare, full of a scorn that Sonic hadn’t seen in quite some time.

“When were you going to tell me about this, huh,” Shadow spats, his words dripping in venom.

Sonic freezes. He realizes that he doesn’t know how long Shadow has been awake. For all he knows, Shadow has never slept and decided to poke around the house. He’s a smart guy and was bound to figure everything out eventually, especially if he had free range of their baby-fied house and blood-testing lab!

Sonic can only look abashed. “How did you know?”

Shadow, even in his rage, feels his heart break in two.

Sonic doesn’t even try to deny that he has a pup with some unknown stranger. The one person in the entire universe whom Shadow thought he could trust… betrayed him. Sonic had let Shadow fuck him, all while knowing he has a secret child right next door.

“Just look at him!” Shadow yells, pointing an offending finger at the pup in the crib. He’s basically a reflection of Sonic! It’s so clearly Sonic’s son that Shadow can’t even fathom how Sonic has the gall to pretend it’s not outrageously obvious.

The crying only gets louder and more shrill. Shadow sees Sonic’s eyes flicker with concern, in a way that a parent’s would. Then Sonic returns his nervous gaze to Shadow. In a small, frantic voice, he says, “I was going to tell you, I swear. I just- I wanted to wait for the right time!”

“The right time?!” Shadow barks. “How long have you been hiding this from me?!”

“I barely found out about him a few days ago!” Sonic pleads. “It was a huge shock to me too, trust me.”

“Trust you-?!”

“Look,” Sonic says, brows furrowed in nervousness. He slowly takes another step closer so he’s right in front of Shadow. He must know better than to try and touch Shadow because he only lets his hands hover over Shadow’s shoulders. Of course, he knows better because he was the only one to ever understand Shadow! “I know this is a lot to take in. Why don’t we just take a deep breath so we can talk about this-”

Shadow slaps his hands away. “No- I- I can’t do this right now!”

He’s so full of rage that he has to leave. If he doesn’t, he will most definitely explode and Sonic will get the full brunt of it. It’s all too much. A storm is swirling within him, shredding his heart piece by piece. He has to go. Hide. Never come back.

He brutishly side-steps Sonic, unconcerned with how hard their shoulders bumped. If Sonic wants to get to that pup so bad, he finally can. He’ll never have to worry about Shadow getting in his way again.

Shadow storms out the door and into the living room, passing up the playpen and all the toys scattered within it. The coffee table is littered with different baby supplies and papers. There’s a baby blanket draped over the back of the couch as well as a stuffed bear. Chaos, this pup is really part of Sonic’s life now, and Shadow had no fucking clue.

His increasing sense of betrayal only feeds the flames of his anger more. He doesn’t know how he could possibly get over this… after all the love he has given to Sonic.

The front door is within his reach when a blue blur flashes next to him.

“Wait!” Sonic begs, plastering himself against the door to block Shadow from leaving. Shadow’s lips curl.

“Get. out. of my. way,” Shadow demands, his tone leaving no room for negotiation. Anyone else would have moved in a heartbeat, but Sonic isn’t anyone else, is he?

“No!” Sonic defies, stepping forward so he’s right up Shadow’s face. “You can’t run away without us at least having a conversation about this!”

Shadow would rather die than talk about how his partner sleeping with someone else. The thought makes him want to scream, throw up, and cry all at the same time. That has to wait until after he gets Sonic out of his sight.

“Move,” Shadow growls. It is not up for discussion. He has just about reached his breaking point.

“Make me,” Sonic challenges.

Oh that was the last thing he should’ve said.

Tails picks up Furball the second both adults leave the room. The pup’s cries are reaching a level that’s cause for concern. Last time his cries have gotten this shrill, it nearly blacked out his lab. There’s a monitor that still doesn’t quite work right.

Furball is hungry, Tails knows this. That’s why he woke up in the first place. Sonic had told him there is a bottle already prepared in the fridge for him to use. It just has to be warmed up.

Once Furball is secured in Tails’ arms, he speed walks out the room. He doesn’t trust himself to run with a pup in his frazzled state.

He enters the living room and turns on the lights just in time to see the two grown hedgehogs tumbling out of the entry hall. Their flurried movements indicates it’s another one of their fights. Shadow throws Sonic at the couch, which drags back a few feet from Sonic’s carried momentum.

Shadow grunts and turns away, making his way back to the front door. It was stupid of him to leave his guard open, as Sonic instantly flings himself back at Shadow. Their fight devolves into a bunch of blurs of fast-moving fists.

Tails doesn’t even have time to gape and contemplate how his life ended up like this, because Furball is screaming his ears off. Without saying a word, Tails rushes into the kitchen. It’s not like he can get in the middle of them, especially since there has to be someone to watch over Furball. Besides, Sonic has proven to handle Shadow time and time again.

If Tails could, he would spare another thought to truly question why Shadow is in their home, unannounced, and why Sonic didn’t seem so surprised about that. But he can’t, so he won’t.

He focuses on grabbing the bottle out of the fridge. Before he can give it to Furball, he has to put it in the bottle warmer, which is unfortunate. It takes 1 minute to get the bottle to an appropriate temperature.

So for a whole 60 seconds, Tails stands in the kitchen, trying to console an inconsolable pup, while his brother battles it out in their living room with his long-time rival/friend. Keep in mind, it’s 3 o’clock in the morning!

Tails just wants to sleep so bad that he’s near tears.

The little ding of the bottle warmer finishing sounds like the trumpets of heaven. He quickly pulls the bottle out, shakes it a few times, and plops it into Furball’s mouth like a grenade.

Tails lets out the heaviest sigh of his life when the crying comes to a halt.

That sweet, sweet silence only lasts a second.

Furball pushes the bottle away and lets out a cry that’s an octave higher than before. His arms swing around dangerously as he tries to squirm out of Tails’ hold. Tails is so frustrated that he may just let Furball do so…

Kidding! Tails is just… kidding.

Instead, Tails tries shoving the bottle back into the pup’s mouth. Furball is not having it at all, turning his face every which way to rid of the offending figure. Tails’ repeated effort only makes the situation worse. Furball lets out a particularly loud scream that rivals the ones he made in the lab. The kitchen lights start to flicker.

“Oh no,” Tails mutters. The only way to soothe Furball at this point is for Sonic to get involved. That’s going to be a little difficult because he’s currently occupied with tearing up their house.

Tails runs (speed walks) into the living room but stops in his tracks when he sees the state of it. It’s a disaster. The playpen has been knocked over and thrown across the room. One of the couches is upside down while the other is missing all its cushions. Even the TV wasn’t spared, now sporting a huge crack right in the middle.

They couldn’t have at least taken the fight outside?

As soon as Tails gathers his quick assessment of the room, Shadow slams Sonic into the coffee table, effectively breaking it in half. It sends all sorts of toys, remotes, and papers flying around.

Shadow has Sonic pinned to the ground and Tails is starting to doubt he could get their attention. They’re not even paying attention to how all the lights are flickering around them nor Furball’s incredibly loud screaming.

Tails tries anyway. “SONIC!”

Sonic’s back hurts so much that it dulls the rest of the pain around his body. Being slammed into the coffee table had knocked all the air out of him. Yet, he knows that it’s not as bad as it could’ve been. He can tell Shadow is holding back as much as Sonic is. It almost feels like one of their friendly spars, just a little less friendly.

This fight could end at any moment if Sonic just stood down. Shadow is on the defense, only attacking to try and render Sonic immovable just long enough to escape. Sonic won’t let him. Every time Shadow throws him across the room and makes a run for it, Sonic is on his back again.

He cannot let Shadow go. If he does, he doesn’t know when Shadow will come back. Or if he ever will. That thought is enough to keep him going, regardless of how much pain he’s in.

Shadow is heaving over him, pinning Sonic’s wrists to the ground. He’s obviously reluctant to let go, now knowing that Sonic would simply follow after him again.

“Why can’t you just let me go?!” Shadow snarls, emphasizing his words by pushing even harder on Sonic’s wrists when he attempts to free himself.

“I never will,” Sonic manages to grit out his teeth between labored breaths. “You’re not… in the right state of mind… to be running off.”

“And whose fault is that?!” Shadow barks right in Sonic’s face. Sonic can feel the spit spray his cheeks.

Sonic flinches just slightly at the sudden raise of voice. He takes a moment to catch his breath before looking back up, but he loses his breath again when he sees the tortured look in his partner’s eyes.

Shadow’s anger slowly cracks and makes way for his overwhelming sadness. The conflicting emotions mangle his face. His brows are a furrowed bunch and his teeth are bared beneath curling lips. Most concerning is his eyes, which are wide and watery.

“I- Shadow,” Sonic says, his voice softening. He’s losing his will to fight, so he resorts to begging. “Just stay... please, so we can talk this out!”

Shadow clenches his eyes shut and lowers his head, in an attempt to hide the tears that spill out. Sonic instinctively tries to wipe them away, but his hands are still held down.

Then Shadow says something. It’s too quiet for Sonic to hear over the rushing in his ears.

“Wh-what’d you say?” Sonic asks.

“Who was it.” Shadow repeats, louder with a ragged voice.

“I don’t-… who- who are you talking about?” Sonic asks, because he truly doesn’t understand.

Shadow snaps his face back up, making Sonic wince. Tears are freely streaking down his face now. He still tries to mask his sadness with anger, baring his sharp teeth.

“Who’s the mother of that pup, huh?!” Shadow yells, and this time Sonic doesn’t flinch. “Who did you sneak behind my back with?! Tell me!”

Sonic is too stunned to speak. All he can do is stare at Shadow, dumbfounded, as his brain works overtime to piece the puzzle together.

Oh Chaos…

“Mother-” Sonic sputters in disbelief. “Shadow! YOU are the mother!”

And then all the lights turn off.

Tails is too shocked to be shocked when the power inevitably goes out. He was listening to Sonic’s and Shadow’s conversation, and suddenly it all makes sense why Shadow is in their home…

And why Sonic always talks about Shadow… and why they were always spending time together… and why Sonic didn’t want to be disturbed on this specific night…

Maybe Tails isn’t as smart as he thinks he is.

His mind is still reeling from the new information when Sonic pushes away a stunned Shadow and comes running up to Furball. The pup’s screaming hasn’t relented, not even in the dark.

“Shh, shhhh, it’s okay!” Sonic says in a soft, soothing voice, completely different from the one he was using a few moments ago. Furball reaches out for him, and Sonic scoops him up easily. He nestles the pup so his head is in the crook of Sonic’s neck and rubs a gentle hand up and down his back. “I got you, it’s okay.”

It takes a bit of time, but Furball’s screaming finally starts to weaken. It’s only when Sonic starts nuzzling the pup’s cheek that Furball is reduced to soft whines.

“Oh poor thing,” Sonic mutters softly, sounding genuinely guilty. “You’re probably so hungry, aren’t you?”

At the mention of hunger, Tails silently offers the prepared bottle right in front of Sonic’s face. He’s aware that his brother has awful night vision.

“Ah, thanks bud,” Sonic nods, readjusting Furball into a proper feeding position before taking the bottle. Furball, unlike with Tails, accepts the bottle eagerly. He holds it with his own hands even though Sonic props it up for him.

Sonic looks beat up. He has bruises and scratches all over him, but it doesn’t look any worse than he usually does when he comes back from one of his spars. Tails sees Sonic’s bloody lip curl into a soft smile when Sonic watches Furball eat.

Just then, the back-up generator kicks in. The lights in the living room flicker on and reveal all the damage done. Sonic looks around the room with a click of his tongue as he assesses the state of it.

Then he stops and stares at something in the middle of the room.

Tails takes a step from behind Sonic to see what captured his brother’s attention.

It’s Shadow, on his knees, reading over a few papers with a horrified look on his face.

Tails remembers belatedly that he had left Furball’s blood sample report on the coffee table.

Chapter Text

Shadow doesn’t know what to say.

He sits in Sonic’s living room, on a chair that was previously tipped over in their fight. Now that he isn’t blinded by rage, he can see just how much of a mess the living room has become. However, that’s the least of his worries right now.

He tries to keep his breathing as leveled as possible, but it proves to be a difficult feat. After everything Sonic just told him, all he wants to do is scream. The origin of his life had been an unnatural, freak incident. He was created to be a monster, tainted with an evil alien race’s blood. All he could ever be good for was wreaking havoc. The one, redeeming quality he had was helping cure Maria’s illness.

But she’s dead. Because of him.

His creation was one of destruction. Yet, someone used him as a blueprint to replicate it.

The Ultimate Weapon.

A pup, fabricated with his and Sonic’s DNA, capable of anything.

And it’s sleeping in Sonic’s arms, letting out rumbly snores.

Tails is also sleeping atop his brother’s thigh. He had tried to stay awake for their conversation, but fell asleep about 10 minutes in. Shadow knew he wanted to be there for Sonic’s benefit, despite the clear tiredness in his eyes. After what Shadow did, he could not blame the fox.

Even while Shadow processes the hoglet’s existence, a part of him is mortified for his reaction. He was so wound up by the idea of Sonic having a pup with someone behind his back, that he hadn’t given Sonic a chance to explain himself. It was a misunderstanding that could have easily been resolved had Shadow calmed his rage.

Now he hurt Sonic, and destroyed his home in the process.

There’s a lot weighing on Shadow’s mind and he can’t bring himself to look up from where he’s staring at the floor. Sonic has finished the explanation minutes ago, and now they just sit in silence. Shadow knows Sonic is watching him closely, waiting for any kind of response. Or maybe he’s waiting for Shadow to try and flee so he could chase after him again.

Shadow won’t. Even in his clouded mind, he knows that cannot be an option anymore. Now that he knows about the pup, he could never leave Sonic alone to handle this.

He understands why Sonic was so adamant on Shadow staying. Shadow’s been known to hide away when faced with emotionally strenuous situations. It’s a fault that he has long-worked on, with the help of his friends and, of course, Sonic. After so many years of not being able to trust anyone, he finally learned to rely on others instead of burdening everything on himself. They’ve given him a sense of belonging, and running away was no longer the only solution.

But Sonic had made the valid prediction that Shadow may fall back on his old ways. Maybe, had this situation happened years ago, he’d be right. Now, though… Shadow will face his past alongside the someone who gave him the strength to.

Shadow, for the first time since they sat down, looks up at Sonic. Sonic is already staring back, betraying no emotion. He has a very good poker face whenever he decides to use it. It’s unnerving not seeing his emotions worn on his sleeve, for once.

Then Shadow looks down at the pup that’s peacefully sleeping in his arms, as if the pup didn’t cause the whole house to lose power. He looks so much like Sonic, but now Shadow can see himself in the hoglet too. This pup is, technically, their son, after all.

Sonic has been taking care of him for a few days now. He never talked about having kids before, not even in passing when they were just friends. Shadow has always been under the impression that Sonic wouldn’t want any, since he lives such a wild and free life. He moves too fast for a kid, and yet…

He’s taken on the role of a parent fairly well. Shadow saw how quick Sonic was to fret over the pup, soothing him easily. And now Sonic sits on the couch with a pup in his arms like one belonged there his whole life.

Shadow, in the back of his mind, can admit it’s an endearing image.

“How are you feeling?” Sonic finally breaks the silence. Shadow realizes he’s been staring at the pup for an abnormally long time and looks back up to Sonic’s eyes.

He tries to think of how to respond—tries to somehow grasp a single thought from the flurry in his mind. He settles with the tried and true, “tired.”

“Yeah,” Sonic lets out a weak laugh, though no amusement reached his eyes. His lips quickly fall into a frown again, and he glances away. “I should have told you sooner.”

Shadow looks away too, but his gaze lands on the broken coffee table, so he just closes his eyes for a moment and shakes his head. “No, it doesn’t matter.”

“It did,” Sonic says. He looks around the destroyed room to prove his point. Shadow internally winces.

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes, guilty. “I overreacted.”

“No,” Sonic responds simply. He opens his mouth again as if he wants to say something, but after glancing at the kids around him, changes his mind. He licks his lips, and asks something that Shadow doesn’t expect. “Do you… want to go to bed?”

Shadow stares at him for a moment, dumbfounded. He figured Sonic wouldn’t want to give Shadow any grace for at least a little while after what Shadow had done. It would’ve been more deserving for Shadow to sleep on the ground with splinters of broken furniture poking him at every turn. However, this is Sonic they’re talking about. If he wasn’t one to give grace to those who don’t deserve it, Shadow wouldn’t even be here.

Shadow slowly nods. Sonic sees this and smiles a bit. He tries to stand up for a second but remembers he has both a pup and teen on him. Shadow slowly walks over and wordlessly decides to handle the latter. He gently picks up Tails, making sure not to wake him.

Sonic looks grateful, but it’s the absolute least Shadow could do. Shadow then takes the fox upstairs to his room. He carefully places Tails in his bed. Just as he’s about to leave, he hears Tails’ voice.

“Don’t hurt him…” he mumbles. Shadow whips his head around, only to see Tails is just talking in his sleep.

Sonic had confided in Shadow that his brother is prone to nightmares, and that’s why he sometimes has trouble sleeping. The majority of said nightmares involve Sonic being attacked by all sorts of villains over the years. Sonic didn’t say it, but Shadow knew he himself was a subject in those bad dreams.

After what Shadow had done to Sonic in the living room, he could understand Tails’ wariness. That’s why he has no right to try and comfort Tails. So, instead, he just walks out the room and quietly closes the door behind him.

He walks down the stairs and bumps into Sonic just as Sonic is closing the guest-bedroom-turned-nursery’s door. They look at each other and wordlessly make their way into the master bedroom.

It hasn’t felt this awkward getting into bed together for quite some time. Shadow crawls under the covers and turns to face Sonic, who is already settled and staring right back at him. It’s close to 5 am, and Shadow should really be leaving soon, but this is not something he could walk away from quite yet.

Sonic looks exhausted, and with good reason. It must have been a wild rollercoaster of emotions since the moment Shadow knocked on his window. Shadow feels guilty for being the cause of it.

His thoughts start to spiral again when a soft hand brushing his cheek snaps him back to reality. He accepts Sonic’s warmth easily, but doesn’t cuddle into it like he wants to. Sonic has too much of a serious look in his eyes.

“Did you really think I went behind your back?” Sonic asks in a voice just above a whisper. He sounds more upset than angry.

“I didn’t think at all,” Shadow says, the guilt consuming him. “I’m sorry.”

Sonic goes quiet for a moment. The flickering in his eyes suggests he’s studying Shadow’s face. Shadow just watches with baited breath.

“I love you,” Sonic finally says, like he’s saying the sky is blue. He rubs his thumb around Shadow’s cheek and this time, Shadow lets himself melt just a bit. “You are the only one for me. I tell you this all the time.”

“I know,” Shadow whispers. “I love you.”

“That… really hurt me,” Sonic continues, furrowing his brows. Shadow wants to kiss the creases on Sonic’s head away, but he refrains. “Please don’t think of me so lowly again.”

“Never again,” Shadow promises. He places a hand over the one Sonic has on his cheek. “Can you forgive me?”

“Yeah,” Sonic whispers, breathlessly, and Shadow lets out a sigh of relief. Sonic scoots in a bit closer. “Only if you stay.”

Shadow’s breath catches in his throat again. After a good long stare, he realizes Sonic knows exactly what he’s asking for. If Shadow doesn’t return to Rouge by the morning, she will surely come looking for him. She’ll find him here, and he’d have no choice but to tell her about their relationship.

“I-”

“Please.”

Sonic caresses Shadow’s cheek a little harder, scooting his head closer to look up at Shadow with hooded, pleading eyes. This is the first time he has ever asked Shadow to reveal themselves. He has never once tried pushing past Shadow’s boundaries, even if he really would have liked to tell others, especially his brother.

Well, Tails knows now anyway. The rest of their friends might as well be privy too. Besides, it’d be a lot harder for them to raise a pup together while pretending to not be together.

Shadow brings Sonic’s palm to his lips and presses a soft kiss to it. “Okay. I’ll stay.”

Sonic smiles, real and genuine, and buries his face in Shadow’s chest. He’s always had a fascination with his chest fur, so it was no surprise that that is the first place he finds solace. Shadow chuckles under his breath and wraps an arm around his partner.

Unsurprisingly, Sonic falls asleep first. Shadow follows him shortly after, drifting to sleep to the sound of loud snoring.

And he wakes up to the sound of a crying pup.

With bleary eyes, Shadow looks at the alarm clock sitting on Sonic’s nightstand and sees that it’s just past 7 am. On a normal day, Shadow would be sleeping on his bed in his shared apartment, and Sonic would be up and running around Green Hills.

Instead, Sonic is dead asleep and Shadow is here to witness it. Shadow has long learned to get used to seeing Sonic tangled up in the bed with a leg over Shadow’s stomach. No matter how many times he sees the disarray that Sonic has managed to get into during sleep, it never fails to bring a smile to his face, even with the loud crying in the background.

“Wha- huh-,” Sonic jolts his head up, also awoken by the crying. His eyes are hardly open and there’s a river of drool coming out his mouth.

“Shh, don’t worry about it,” Shadow says quietly, in his groggy morning voice. He reaches over to run a hand down Sonic’s messed up quills. “Go back to sleep. I’ll handle it.”

Sonic has had a rough night, so Shadow will at least do this for him, even if he would love to be going back to sleep right about now.

“Huh- I- okay,” Sonic mumbles, letting his head fall back down again. Not even three seconds later, his snores resume.

Shadow shakes his head fondly and gets up.

He walks into the nursery, no longer cautious of any threat. He sees the familiar crib and the pup standing inside of it. The hoglet is holding onto the guard rail and wailing for attention.

Shadow approaches the hoglet slowly, as if stalking a prey. He analyzes the pup now that he has more context regarding him. Besides his colors, this pup really looks like a reflection of Sonic. It makes sense now, after last night’s conversation, but it doesn’t make the uncanny likeness any less jarring.

Even if he looks like Sonic, he’s more similar to Shadow. They were both artificially made in a lab, created for a purpose they had no say in. Shadow thinks about Rouge finding this pup, alone in a chamber of mystery green liquid. Then he thinks of himself, waking up for the first time in a pod, the first thing he sees being a young girl…

He quickly shakes his head and focuses in on the crying pup. He reaches down and picks up the hoglet the same way he saw Sonic do it. It’s awkward and takes a lot longer to get the fussy pup settled in his arms than he figured it would. He manages to get the pup to rest on his shoulder, and gives him a few pats on the back for good measure.

“There… there,” he comforts, stiffly. The hoglet is now just crying in his ear.

Shadow keeps doing what he’s doing, not knowing what else he could try. It seems to be working, weirdly enough, because the pup eventually calms down. Heh, maybe this whole parenting thing isn’t so bad after all.

He feels the pup push away from his shoulder and lets him. It results in the hoglet leaning back in his arms, eyes furrowed as he studies Shadow’s face. He almost looks betrayed, like he was really expecting Sonic but is met with a faker instead.

Shadow stares back.

This is his first time seeing the pup’s eyes. They’re a vibrant red, just like his own. It really hits home that this hoglet really does share Shadow’s DNA.

Then the pup’s attention shifts upwards, somewhere above Shadow’s head. Shadow looks up too, trying to see what could possibly be so interesting, but the pup grunts the second he tilts his head up.

“What is it?” Shadow asks, like he’s speaking to a fellow agent.

Shadow watches intently as the pup brings a tiny hand to his own tiny ear and squeezes. He then lets go and reaches for something above Shadow’s head. Shadow realizes what the pup wants, but he’s not sure why.

Regardless, he gives into his demands. He tilts his head downwards and raises the pup so he has full access to Shadow’s ear.

It starts with the pup simply cooing and grabbing at the ear. His chubby little fingers are soft, even if he doesn’t have the most delicate touch. He explores with fascination, and Shadow can clearly hear his babble of curiosity.

Then the little punk takes a bite.

“Damn it!” Shadow hisses, making a real effort to keep his voice low. He yanks the pup away and holds him up by the armpits like a disease. “Don’t do that!”

The pup immediately starts playing the victim, crying his head off.

Shadow rolls his eyes and brings the pup back in his arms, but still keeps his ears away at a safe distance. Maybe the pup is hungry and that’s why he took that huge chomp. Thank Gaia the hoglet only has a few dull baby teeth. Had they been sharp, Shadow would be sporting some unwanted piercings.

Grumbling, Shadow walks out the nursery with a wailing pup in his arms. Common sense tells him there should be food in the kitchen, but to get there, he has to walk pass the disaster that is the living room. He quickly makes a mental list of all the things he’ll have to buy to replace the things he destroyed.

The list is concerningly long by the time he walks into the kitchen. It all leaves his mind when he’s hit with a new obstacle: what is he supposed to feed a hoglet?

He’s never been tasked with taking care of a creature so young, so this is all new territory for him. There have been times he hung out with Cream, but meals were always already prepared by her mother, and usually in the form of a tea party.

Then he remembers the bottle that Sonic fed him last night and decides milk is the best option. Everyone knows that babies drink milk right? Except, like many things in his life, that turns out to be a lie.

He opens the fridge and sees a sticky note slapped onto a carton of milk that reads in neat, but bold, writing ‘NOT FOR PUPS!’

It only takes a second to deduct that it was Amy who wrote it. Sonic’s writing is abysmal and Tails doesn’t dot his exclamation points with hearts. It seems she was here to help the brothers a lot more than Shadow suspected.

He looks around the fridge and sees similarly worded notes on various food items. With milk, grapes, and leftover chili off the list, Shadow doesn’t know what else to try. He shuts the fridge with a click of his tongue and looks towards the counters for his next course of action. That’s when he spots a tub of hoglet formula.

He would slap his own forehead if the pup wasn’t already doing so with all his squirming.

Shadow reads the directions on the tub while trying to ignore the crying in his ear. If he could just get this pup fed, he’ll find peace hopefully in the next few minutes. Once he’s satisfied with the clear instruction, he takes a clean bottle out the dish rack.

However, even just opening a container proves to be difficult with one of his arms predisposed to a fussing pup. He clicks his tongue again when the pup nearly kicks the formula to the ground had Shadow’s reflexes not been fast enough.

With a lot of struggle and a lot more luck, he manages to twist the lid off. Inside, there’s already a handy measuring spoon. He uses it to carefully scoop up just the right amount of formula, taking more and pouring out as is necessary. It’s not too hard of a task but takes twice as long as it would’ve been if he had both arms free.

Once he has an appropriate amount, he moves on to the next step. He has to pour the formula into the bottle, which doesn’t have a comfortingly wide opening. He must move with caution and precision.

He carefully lines up his shot, lowering himself so he’s just about eye level with the bottle. The pup is still wiggling in his grasp, but he tries to keep his hand as steady as possible.

He’s in the optimal position. He twists his hand to pour it in and-

Whack!

The pup slaps the bottle away with a scream. It falls onto the ground just as formula pours onto the counter, creating a powdery mess. Shadow doesn’t even get the chance to be upset about that, because he feels another chomp on his ear.

“Damn it!” Shadow curses, this time louder than he should, as he rips the pup away. He was so focused on the bottle that he forgot to protect his ears from this ear-biting fiend!

“Just let me do it,” someone rasps behind him.

Shadow whips around, fully alert, and sees Tails walk into the kitchen. He doesn’t know how long the fox had been watching, but clearly long enough to decide Shadow is in desperate need of assistance. Shadow is a highly-trained operative, so how the Hell did he not notice Tails observing him this whole time?

He doesn’t know what to say as he watches this kit come up to the counter and prepare the bottle with ease. Tails even uses a weird device on the counter Shadow hadn’t even seen to warm the bottle up.

As they wait for the bottle to finish, Tails turns to Shadow and extends his arms out in expectation, but flinches slightly when Shadow’s full attention falls on him. He must’ve just realized just who he’s dealing with: the same guy who trashed their living room and beat up his brother. He looks about ready to rescind his offer, but Shadow is all too eager to get the pup out of his quills. So he plops the pup in Tails’ arms before it’s too late.

Tails looks a bit surprised but turns his attention to the fussing hoglet. He easily maneuvers the pup into a more comfortable position and rocks him, making shushing noises. “It’s okay, it’s okay, food’s comin’.”

Shadow watches, dumbstruck, as Tails minimizes the crying. The pup is just a little fussy by the time they hear a little ding and Tails plucks the bottle out. He shakes it a few times in a practiced move, and brings it to the pup’s awaiting mouth.

The hoglet takes it eagerly, propping it up with both hands so Tails could rock him. When Tails looks up, he sees Shadow’s intent staring.

Tails merely shrugs. “We’ve had a few days to figure this all out. It was tough for us in the beginning too. Amy helped a lot.”

Shadow doesn’t know what else to say. He only had the pup in his care for 15 minutes and he wasn’t up for the task. This is what Sonic has been dealing with for days while Shadow was none the wiser.

Now that the crying has stopped, the silence is a lot louder. From the way Tails awkwardly looks away, Shadow can tell they’re both thinking about last night, and what was revealed. He’s not sure if he should be the one to start the conversation, but he also feels immature to wait on the teenager to start it. He already got showed up once.

“Thank you,” Shadow says, long after it’s socially appropriate to say it.

Tails shifts uncomfortably while looking around the kitchen. “Y’knowwww, if you really want to thank me… you could make breakfast.”

Shadow will not defy his pup-settling savior, so he gets to work.

Shadow has never been more grateful for having both arms at his disposal than now when he’s stirring a bowl of pancake mix. Though, it would be a lot more comfortable if he didn’t feel Tails’ eyes on him the whole time.

The fox sits at the kitchen island, cradling the feeding pup. Shadow is faced away from him, but he knows Tails is watching intently. He tries waiting to see if Tails will say something. It never happens.

Once Shadow’s done with the mix, he looks in Tails’ direction with a sigh. “Just say what’s on your mind.”

Tails has the decency to act surprised, as if he wasn’t burning holes into Shadow’s quills.

“Oh- I-,” he stutters, blushing. “Um… sorry, this is just really weird…”

“What is?” Shadow asks while wrapping an apron around his waist. He’s about to cook the pancakes and doesn’t want any of that mix to splash on his fur.

“Well… you seem to know your way around the kitchen,” Tails says, careful with his words. “But I don’t see you in here often.”

Shadow just hasn’t been here when Tails was aware. He’s been in the kitchen quite a few times to make himself a late night snack. There were times when he’d even make breakfast for the brothers, and let Sonic take the credit. Tails usually sleeps in so he’s never been privy.

Shadow remembers a day that Sonic got mad at him for making breakfast fajitas. Tails liked it so much that he asked Sonic to make it more often.

Shadow has interrogated many folks in his time as a G.U.N. agent, so he knows when someone is beating around the bush. Tails clearly wants to say something, and Shadow has his suspicions what it’s about.

“I’ve cooked here a few times, yeah,” Shadow replies vaguely, intentionally not giving Tails the response he wants.

The fox nods awkwardly. Then he tries again. “Uh, how many times have you cooked here exactly?”

“Ask what you want to ask,” Shadow demands, looking over his shoulder at the embarrassed teen. He doesn’t want to play this game all day.

Tails instantly looks away. “Ah… okay then… um… well…”

Oh this is just painful.

Shadow flips the pancake, revealing its perfectly golden brown crust, and faces his body towards Tails. He makes sure he has full eye contact before speaking. “We’ve been officially dating for two months, but we have been involved for about a year.”

It feels weird to say it out loud, after keeping it a secret for so long. It’s surprisingly easy to confess. In fact, it’s a bit satisfying, like letting out a loud sneeze instead of repressing it.

Tails doesn’t look quite as pleased. He looks rather mortified. Shadow takes a moment to reevaluate if bluntness was really the way to go. He hopes Sonic doesn’t get upset with him for traumatizing the kit.

Tails doesn’t say anything, letting silence prevail once again. Shadow decides to let Tails marinate in that information while he continues making breakfast. He finishes up the pancakes, and is about to start the eggs, when Tails finally speaks up again.

“Is there…,” He says slowly, almost timid, “a reason… that Sonic didn’t tell me?”

It’s Shadow’s turn to be the silent one. He should’ve been expecting this question, really. A relationship is a big secret to keep from a sibling, especially for ones who love each other so much.

Obviously, Sonic didn’t tell his young, innocent (Sonic’s words, not Shadow’s) brother about their occasional hook ups before their relationship was official. But as for the 2 months of dating…

It was Shadow who wanted to keep the secret going for a little longer. He was never ashamed of their relationship, ever, not even in the slightest. There was just something else, internally, that made him fearful of being so open.

It feels inconsequential now, when he’s face-to-face with someone who was hurt by the secrecy.

“I was scared,” Shadow breaks the silence, and that catches Tails’ attention. The bowl of eggs sits on the counter, long forgotten as Shadow stares in the distance, lost in thought. “You remember how I was created.”

Tails nods.

“And you remember… Maria, then.”

Noticeably slower, Tails nods again.

“She was the first person I ever loved,” Shadow says, feeling the ache in his heart. It’s a pain that will never go away, but keeps her memory alive. “It’s different from how I feel about your brother, but love nonetheless. She was my sister.”

There are times when Shadow sees himself and her in Sonic and Tails. And sometimes, it hurts, deeply, to see what they could’ve been. They might not have been flying around on planes, but they’d be lying in a field of flowers, watching the planes fly above.

“Living on the ARK, we were a secret,” Shadow recounts, and he could almost feel Maria’s hand tugging on his, pulling him around the halls and laughing the whole way. He frowns. “Until we weren’t.”

He feels her hand slip away.

Once G.U.N. became aware of the great lengths that Gerald Robotnik went through to make Shadow as powerful as he is, they sought to destroy the project, uncaring of any casualties. Dozens of lives were lost in the attack, including his sister’s.

Shadow takes a deep breath to settle his emotions. He is no longer in space, screaming for Maria to save herself instead of him. He is here, with Tails. It has been so long, but that day will always haunt Shadow.

“Now I love Sonic,” Shadow says, and forces himself to continue mixing the eggs to distract himself. He makes sure they’re extra whisked, to reach the right amount of fluffiness that this household enjoys. “He’s made me the happiest I’ve been in decades. I know he’s more than capable of defending himself, but part of me was scared that if anyone were to know about us… something terrible would happen again.”

Shadow glances over at Tails for the first time since explaining. The fox stares down at the table sadly. Whereas earlier he had looked upset about not knowing, now he looks guilty for asking. This is not an improvement.

“But we still should have told you,” Shadow states, ignoring how Tails looks up in confusion. “You are his family, and it was unfair of me to ask him to hide this from you. I’m sorry.”

Tails looks surprised, then shakes his head. “No, it’s okay-”

“It’s not,” Shadow interrupts. “This is a matter of trust between brothers, and I got in the way of that.”

He places the bowl of eggs back down on the counter and walks towards Tails. The teen straightens his back when he notices Shadow’s approach, eyes wide. Shadow stops on the other side of the kitchen island and stares directly in Tails’ eyes. There must be no misunderstanding.

“I promise to no longer keep any secrets from you,” Shadow says, voice hard with determination. “You deserve to know everything you wish to know about my relationship with your brother. You may ask any question, and I will answer it truthfully. It can be anything from how many times I have cooked in your kitchen, to when the first time Sonic and I had se-”

“OKAY, THAT’S ENOUGH!” Sonic suddenly bursts in frantically. It’s obvious he has woken up very recently by his messed up quills. He laughs loudly and awkwardly, all while sporting a bright blush on his cheeks. “Thank you so much for that Shadow, it was very touching!”

Shadow smirks, highly amused by the pair of brothers. Sonic is red in the face, smiling in his fake way when he’s trying to make everything seem normal. Tails looks officially traumatized.

Shadow could tell Sonic was eavesdropping a few minutes ago, sometime in the middle of their conversation, so of course Shadow had to mess with him just a little bit.

When there’s no crying hoglet to distract him, he’s actually a very good operative.

Chapter Text

It’s strange, but Sonic can definitely get used to this.

Most mornings, Sonic rises with the sun and goes on a nice jog. He would then return home, shower, and get breakfast started. Cooking has been a skill he picked up over the years and learned to enjoy. It may not be his favorite thing to do, and he’s nowhere near chef-material, but it’s satisfying to eat something he made with his own hands. It’s even more rewarding when he can share it with his brother, which is what he usually does.

Sometimes, he and Tails will eat at the table together, if the fox wakes up in time. He usually doesn’t though, so Sonic will just keep his portion in the microwave for Tails to eat later. This is their routine, and Sonic’s grown to be comfortable with it.

Today, though, he didn’t make breakfast.

If there’s one thing that Shadow is better than him at, it’s cooking. Shadow may argue he’s faster and stronger too, but Sonic has enough wins under his belt to refute that. Cooking up a nice meal, though? No question, Shadow deserves that victory.

So he’s happy to eat a nice set of fresh pancakes, sided with perfectly fluffy scrambled eggs, and tender bacon. If that wasn’t enough to warm his stomach, he also has his favorite beings surrounding him at the dining table.

To his right sits Tails, whose face is still tinted a bit pink from their earlier conversation. Sonic may have been wanting to confess his relationship to Tails for quite some time, but Shadow overcorrected. Now his little brother knows a little bit too much, and Sonic already made a mental note to scold Shadow about it later. Regardless, Sonic can appreciate that they no longer have to keep such a secret from Tails. It had been killing him on the inside every time he had to lie.

On Sonic’s left side, there’s the newest addition to the table. Shadow. This is the first time he actually joined them for any meal. He eats his food quietly, using each utensil appropriately and even has a napkin lying on his lap. Such a proper gentleman he is! Every time Sonic glances over at him, he feels just a little more giddy. He likes having Shadow around and not having to hide his presence. None of them could see it, but his tail is very much wagging.

Of course, on his lap, sits Furball. There is a high chair that’s for the express purpose of letting the pup sit with them at the table, but Furball isn’t the biggest fan of it. Whenever Sonic tries putting him in there, Furball starts throwing a fit. He’s ever the clingy hoglet, and that doesn’t change during meal times.

They all eat in relative silence, besides the scraping of utensils and Furball’s babbling. There is no doubt that memories of last night are still lingering in their minds, no matter how good breakfast tastes. It must be especially taxing on Tails, who probably had his life turned upside down by last night’s reveal. Shadow hadn’t made it much better this morning.

Furball snaps Sonic out of his thoughts. The pup reaches out onto the table, which is a bit difficult for him since the table is just at his eye level. He whines as he pats the surface in search of nutrition. Sonic already fed him his bottle, but he likes picking off Sonic’s plate when he can. Sonic decides a bit of pancake is his best shot at keeping clean.

“Want some?” Sonic asks, ripping off a piece of pancake that isn’t entirely soaked in syrup. He’s learned from experience that too much sugar isn’t good for either of them. Sonic shivers at the memory of the first time he gave Furball a bit of ice cream. “Here you go, Furball.”

He realizes his mistake when he hears the sound of a fork clattering on a plate. He winces and looks up to Shadow, who’s glaring at him with wide eyes. Tails is conveniently glancing away like he’s not an accomplice in this.

Sonic laughs awkwardly to defuse the situation. “Ahhhhaha, so I’m not the best at names-”

“No.”

“But it’s not toooo bad.”

“It is.”

“It kinda grows on you!”

“Furball?” Shadow scowls, face twisting in disgust when he tries the name on his tongue for the first time. “Of all names… Furball.”

Sonic is getting a little tired of having to defend his decision. He raises his chin defiantly, hugging Furball close as the pup gnaws on his snack. “It’s a perfectly fine name!”

“Literally any name would be better,” Shadow argues.

“Oh yeah?” Sonic challenges, putting up his fingers to start counting off. “Diaperhead. Mudpuddle. Ickyfartypants. Neville.”

“I get it-”

“Oh hey, Doodooface are you ready for a bottle?”

A loud knocking cuts him off.

Suddenly, the light-hearted mood drops. Everyone freezes, except Furball who has already proven to not care any less about being in life-endangering situations. No one is expecting any guests at this time. In fact, the last time Sonic had an unannounced guest this early in the morning, he became a father.

The loud knocking comes again, just 10 seconds after the first time. Whoever is there, they are persistent.

Sonic and Shadow stand up from their seats. Tails moves to do the same, but Sonic wordlessly hands Furball off to him. He doesn’t want the pup to be there in case there really is a threat at the front door.

The couple makes their way to the door, swiftly but quietly. Shadow lingers behind a corner by the main entrance, ready to intervene if things do go South. Sonic approaches the door warily and looks out the peephole.

He sighs. “Oh it’s Rouge.”

Then he stiffens up again and looks at Shadow with wide eyes. “Oh, it’s Rouge.”

He knew she’d come looking for her erratic roommate when he didn’t return home this morning, but he wasn’t expecting her to show up at his door so soon. They hadn’t even finished breakfast yet!

Tails already knows about their relationship, and Sonic has come to terms with the fact that the rest of their friends will soon know too. But he can’t help but a feel a little panicked as seeing the first friend already at his door. How should he tell her? Should he apologize first? Will she be angry at being left in the dark for so long? He should’ve written this all down on paper or something so he could have a nice little speech ready!

He’s so caught up in his inner turmoil that he doesn’t notice Shadow sidestepping him until the door is opening.

“Chaos, finally you open the door!” Rouge starts spouting the second she hears the door knob twist. “Listen, Shadow hasn’t come back yet and- SHADOW?!”

“Yes?” Shadow responds plainly.

Oh Rouge should knock the teeth out his damn head for coming at her with such a bland response as if she hasn’t been worried sick when her friend didn’t return home this morning!

“You were here this whole time?!” She berates, flying a foot up off the ground, forcing Shadow to look up at her as she shoves a finger in his chest. “Why didn’t you say anything?!”

Shadow frowns, looking like a scolded kit. “I was just about to go return to the apartment.”

“Well, you shoulda’ sent me a text or something!” Rouge argues.

“You could’ve just sent me a text asking where I was!” Shadow argues back.

Hm… that’s true. It would’ve been easier than what Rouge actually did. Usually, when she expects Shadow to come back from a mission, she’ll wake up and see signs of his entrance and know he’s sleeping in his room. However, this morning, there were no shoes by the door, or coat hanging on the rack, and his door wasn’t slightly agape like it usually is when he’s there. She eventually opened his bedroom door to see it’s still vacant.

Admittedly, she may have been a little too worried. She even went to G.U.N. headquarters (on her day off, mind you) to seek out any information about his whereabouts. She secretly went through some classified documents, because it’s a lot more fun than just asking for permission and it’s way too easy not to, and saw that Shadow already reported in from his mission the night before.

And yeah, she may have overreacted a bit and visited both Knuckles and Amy, asking them if they’d seen any sign of him, which also sent them in a frantic search. They should be showing up at Sonic’s porch any moment now.

However, instead of conceding, she chooses to change the subject.

“Why are you here anyway?!” She asks, even angrier now that Shadow tripped her up. Then she straightens up in shock as the realization hits that if he’s here… then that means… “Wait-”

“I already know everything,” Shadow scoffs. “Sonic told me.”

Just then, Sonic pokes his head out from behind Shadow, smiling. “Hello!”

Rouge’s eye twitches.

Not only has she had a heart attack this morning, she also has been stressing for days, thinking about how she’s going to broach the topic of The Ultimate Weapon with Shadow. She usually tries not to worry too much about things, but even her stomach would twist at the thought of that conversation.

Now, she’s standing on Sonic’s front porch, looking at her roommate—whom she expected to go berserk for the 5 days following the discovery of his son’s existence—standing lamely at his rival’s door, knowing everything, and looking right back at her like she’s the weird one in this situation.

She needs a drink.

Or at the very least, some cuddle time with her adorable nephew.

“Y’know what?” She takes a deep breath before she has an aneurism. “Just-just move aside, let me in.”

She gives no other warning before shouldering her way into the home. Shadow’s only resistance is an annoyed huff and Sonic knows better than to get in her way when she’s this wound up. She stops dead in her tracks when she sees the state of the living room.

“Did a hurricane go through here?!” She explodes, spinning to glare at Shadow. She just knows he was the cause of this. Perhaps he really didn’t take the news of his son so lightly and actually went on a rampage like she expected. She is going to make him grovel for Sonic’s forgiveness, so help her Gaia-

“Don’t worry,” Sonic says breezily, his easy smile a sharp contrast to Shadow’s defiant glare. “Just a little spat, y’know how we are. What else can you expect when you put us in the same room, right?”

He finishes the statement by hooking an arm around Shadow’s shoulder, smiling at Rouge. Shadow doesn’t react to the touch and Sonic is the only one who could get away with that. Not even Rouge can pat Shadow’s shoulder without receiving a harsh look.

Despite Sonic’s assurance, she still feels a strong urge to yank at Shadow’s ear. Instead, she practices good patience, and takes another deep breath. But if she doesn’t get her hands on a cute pup soon, she may just crack.

Right on cue, Tails comes walking into the room with a whining hoglet in his hands. Tails greets her like the well-mannered little boy he is, but Rouge has her eye on the prize like always.

“Well, hello, my love!” She coos, pretending she wasn’t feeling a murderous rage just a minute ago. The pup perks up at the sight of her and stretches out his little arms, humming around his pacifier.

She feels herself relax the moment there’s a pup in her arms. It’s been so long (nearly a full 24 hours) since she last saw her precious nephew!

She takes a seat in her usual chair, which is about 2 feet away from where it normally is and facing the wrong way. She has the pup standing on her lap, rubbing their noses together to get the load off. He doesn’t smile—she hasn’t seen him do that since the time he almost fell to his death—but he seems content, wiggling his nose right back.

Around her, the boys are staring at her in shock, probably because they don’t usually see her in this light. She has long decided that she no longer cares about her image in front of them regarding the pup. If she had to choose being nonchalant or showering her cutey-pie of a nephew with all the affection in the world, she’d choose the latter any day.

“What happened in here?!” Someone screeches by the living room entrance. Rouge is only mildly surprised to see Amy standing there with her hand in her quills. Knuckles is close behind her, brow raised as he assesses the area.

He’s so cute!

“How’d you get in?” Shadow questions, eyes narrowed. “I locked the door.”

Amy neatly changes the subject. “Why are you here?!”

Rouge would also like to know the answer to this, so she turns to stare at her roommate. Everyone else in the room seems to have the same idea, and they all focus their attention to the pair of hedgehogs, waiting in silence for a response.

Sonic, for his record, looks a little bashful. Shadow absolutely does not when he grabs Sonic’s hand and drops the bomb.

“We’re dating.”

“WHAT?!”

A few years ago, when she was still young and naive, Amy had a fat crush on Sonic, and did not try very hard to hide it. She followed him everywhere, professing her affection at every turn, all to no avail.

Sonic denied her every which way, and that’s probably why she has low rejection sensitivity, honestly. Still, that didn’t stop her from being upset every time it happened. She couldn’t understand why Sonic didn’t return her feelings. She figured that if she just pressed hard enough, he would finally look her way.

That never happened.

Then some time passed, and her need for his attention waned. She matured and learned more about the world. There was so much more to it than just Sonic.

It was only when she took a step away from Sonic that she got a fuller picture of him. She used to think he was perfect. He was selfless, brave, and stupid—all the right qualities to be the best kind of hero out there. But Amy began to realize he has flaws like everyone else. He could be a little cocky, lost in his own world, and he had a hard time taking instruction, even when it’s for the good of everyone around him.

She also realized that all those nice things he did for her that made her fall in love just a bit more every time, he did for all his other friends. Sure, he would always be there to save her from danger, would drop anything to run a favor for her if asked, and would go to great lengths to make her laugh. But he would also do that for Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge, too.

Sonic saw her as a friend, and treated her as such. All of her pining could never change that.

She was a little heartbroken, not just over Sonic, but over the part of her life that yearned for him. Her youth, she felt, was wasted on trying to gain his love.

After some more self-reflection, she realized that none of her past was wasted. She had many moments of fun and adventure, but the moments without it were just as important in shaping her into the hedgehog she is today.

And she’s very much happy with who she is.

Since learning to see the world for what it was, she also started paying attention to those around her, including Sonic and Shadow.

They had started off as rivals, and in her youth, she only saw Shadow as such. This was mostly due to the fact that Sonic acted… differently with him compared to when he was with his friends. In her binary mind at the time, not being a friend meant being a foe.

But as she grew older, she came to understand that their relationship was more complex than that. Sonic would still tease Shadow, but there was an undertone of something stronger. Sonic lingered around him more, stared a second longer than he would anyone else, and laughed louder at anything Shadow said that resembled a joke, which Shadow hardly made intentionally.

She also noticed how, when it was just Sonic and Shadow in their own little world, Sonic was more mellow. More often than not, when Amy stumbled upon their hang outs, the two would be sitting in silence, enjoying whatever view they were looking at. It was like Shadow brought the calmness out of Sonic.

And Sonic brought the energy out of Shadow. Shadow was more talkative when Sonic was around. He got more competitive when they all played games. That’s not to mention how Shadow would only agree to a 1-on-1 race with Sonic.

This is all to say that Amy already knew Sonic and Shadow were in love with each other. She knew that sooner or later, those idiots would figure it out too.

The fact that they have been dating for the past 2 months? Now that’s a surprise.

Shadow keeps their story fairly vague for the most part, which Amy can respect. It seems like he and Sonic had been hooking up for quite some time before making things official, and she does not, nor anyone else, need to know those kind of details. And when he did talk about them actually dating, he only talked about the logistics of it, not really about how it came to be.

However, as she hears the story unfold, she does remember a time, about 2 months ago, when Sonic had asked her a rather interesting question while he was going through a depressive episode. Shadow conveniently omits any mention of that…

A bad taste fills her mouth, but she keeps her lips shut. It seems Sonic and Shadow figured things out, so it’s not her place to open up old wounds.

She sits in the wrecked living room, on one of the couches that she’s vaguely sure is broken. It’s enough to hold her and Tails for the duration of their conversation at least. Knuckles sits on the armchair with Rouge lounging perpendicular on his lap, and Furball on hers. They look cozy and cute, if Amy could just ignore the daggers that Knuckles is glaring into Shadow’s soul.

Shadow and Sonic sit on the loveseat, hand in hand. It’s a strange thing to see after they’ve been dancing around each other for years, but it’s also fitting. Sonic’s cheeks are red as he stares down at his feet, away from preying eyes. Shadow is slightly flushed too, but he still sits up, straight-faced while he talks about their hidden relationship.

“Regardless of my past, I apologize for having kept this secret as long as we did,” he finishes. Amy, personally, doesn’t feel too offended about the secrecy, especially after Shadow explained his reasonings. Sure it’s kind of lame to not know that 2 of her closest friends are dating, but at the end of the day, they are both grown adults who could do what they please.

Knuckles doesn’t seem to be giving him that same grace.

“How dare you hurt my brother in his own home, after he spent days taking care of your pup?” Knuckles growls, his voice somehow even deeper in his anger.

“Dude, don’t say it like that!” Sonic beseeches, his face getting impossibly redder. “You’re making it sound like I’m some sort of single mother!”

“You were,” Knuckles says firmly, emphasizing his point by banging a fist on the arm rest as far from Rouge’s leg as he can manage, “until Shadow finally had the nerve to return to you, and then he attacked you!”

Knuckles looks seconds away from jumping out of the chair and lunging at Shadow. The only thing stopping him is the bat sitting on his lap. He must know that if he disturbs her—and by extension, Furball—he’d have Hell to pay. Rouge definitely knows this because she doesn’t appear worried at all about the arrangement.

“Calm down, big boy,” Rouge says absent-mindedly, patting his cheek with the back of her hand. Furball sees this and also pats a hand on Knuckle’s chin. The echidna doesn’t react but Rouge grins and nuzzles Furball’s tiny head.

Amy is just a little jealous that Furball has taken a much better liking to her…

(She’s seething on the inside.)

“It’s not like he knew about Furball,” Sonic argues back, still looking mortified by the conversation. “And I was the one who started the fight! It was all just a big miscommunication-”

“You are dishonorable, Shadow the Hedgehog,” Knuckles spats, completely ignoring Sonic and narrowing his eyes at Shadow. Shadow doesn’t react too much, but Amy swears she sees him deflate just a bit. “My tribe would never condone anyone laying a finger on their mate.”

Amy knows that Knuckles can be a little… traditional. He abides the laws of his lost tribe to a degree that very few could commit to. He may be a bit dense, but he’s fiercely protective of the people he cares about—doubly so for his little brothers.

“I apologize,” Shadow says shamefully, or as ashamed as he can sound as someone with limited expression. The fact that he lowers his head at all is a testament to how strongly he feels. “I will never do it again.”

Sonic scoffs. “Are you guys even listening to me? It’s fine—I’m fine!,” he reiterates, pointing to himself. He glares at Knuckles with an anger that could only be born to someone whose partner was scorned. “I’ve already accepted Shadow’s apology, Knucklehead. You’re just being overprotective!”

“Of course I am!” Knuckles snaps, showing no sign of backing down. “I will not approve of any partner of yours that would dare lay a-”

“Lay a finger on me, yeah yeah yeah,” Sonic rolls his eyes. Knuckles visibly bristles at the interruption. “I don’t care what issues you have, but you better get over it, because Shadow isn’t going anywhere anytime soon! So get used to it because I love him, and I’d appreciate if you stopped calling him dishonorable!”

The two are getting pretty heated up, and in a normal situation, Amy would try to intervene. However, she lets it play out because Shadow does need a bit of scaring, especially if what she suspected to happen those few months ago, did happen. If Shadow ever breaks Sonic’s heart, oh, Knuckles will be the least of his worries…

Knuckles huffs, and Sonic huffs harder purely out of pettiness. Knuckles redirects his snarl from his brother to Shadow and opens his mouth again like he’s about to say something. He shuts it when Rouge interrupts by putting a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. He looks down at her, seething, to see Rouge simply tilt her head meaningfully.

After whatever silent conversation they have, it has Knuckles taking a deep breath and looking at Shadow with 10% less rage.

“Just this once,” Knuckles emphasizes by clenching his jaw and releasing it, “… I will look the other way. But, Chaos help you, if I find you so much as leave a scratch on my brother again, I’ll have you pummeled 10 feet into the ground! Do you understand?!”

“Yes,” Shadow accepts easily, no hesitation in his voice.

“Wha- wait, no! What about our spars?!” Sonic squawks at Shadow. Then, like the bratty little brother he is, he crosses his arms and huffs at Knuckles. “I don’t want to give that up!”

Knuckles takes a second to growl while he contemplates. “Fine!” He concedes, throwing a hand up in frustration. He then narrows his eyes and points menacingly at Shadow. “If you leave a scratch on him—outside of his consent!—I will pummel you 20 feet into the ground! I will be watching you like a hawk!”

“I understand,” Shadow nods, still showing no hesitation.

Sonic doesn’t argue further but he still looks irritated that this had to be up for negotiation. Amy laughs into her hand.

“Oh, and also!” she smiles at Shadow, waiting for his attention to turn to her. Once she has it, her face drops into a threatening snarl with wide eyes. “They’ll find your body in pieces.”

Sonic groans into his hands and Shadow visibly winces.

Amy may not have a crush on Sonic anymore, but she still loves him!

Sonic has never been more grateful for a conversation to end. He still can’t believe Knuckles embarrassed him like that, and Shadow entertained it! Even Amy got swept up!

He grumbles as he picks up a few more stray toys. As of now, he and his friends are helping him renew his living room. He tasked himself and Shadow to clean out the mess, seeing as they were the ones who created it. Rouge is helping keep Furball entertained as she flies around the room with the pup in her arms. Sonic excused Tails completely, letting the teen have some much-needed alone time in his lab. Tails’ had a rough morning, so to spend the rest of the day tinkering at whatever he wants is more than deserved.

Amy and Knuckles were charged with finding replacements for all the things destroyed. Part of the reason was because Amy was excited to redesign his living room, and Knuckles is strong enough to carry everything. Mostly though, it’s because Sonic doesn’t trust them to not pick a fight with Shadow while Sonic isn’t looking. They are no longer trustworthy to be around his boyfriend privately.

“Knuckles will get over it soon enough, hon’,” Rouge assures him after Sonic angrily picks up another toy. She glides, her body facing upwards so that Furball can sit on her stomach. She holds onto his little hands and sways them back and forth like they’re dancing. Not even Furball’s cuteness can distract Sonic from his annoyance this time.

Oh, who is he kidding, Furball’s cuteness knows no bounds.

Sonic walks close enough to them that Sonic is able to nuzzle Furball just as they flutter by. This bit of affection is enough to get Furball yearning for more. The pup looks back at Sonic and starts whining, wiggling to leave Rouge’s hold.

Sonic is quick enough to take him before Furball throws himself a few feet off the ground. Seriously, this pup needs some survival instincts!

“Aw and we were having so much fun,” Rouge tisks, landing back on her feet with crossed arms.

Sonic doesn’t even pretend to feel bad as he revels in Furball’s affection. The pup rubs his face all over Sonic’s cheek, purring the whole way. He’d been held by Rouge for close to an hour, which is very impressive. Even with Tails, he starts throwing a fit after just 20 minutes. Sonic supposes Furball just has a stronger bond with her since she was the one to bring him to Sonic, carrying the pup through the whole journey.

It feels good to be holding Furball after the hour away. He doesn’t know how to explain it, but having Furball in his arms just… energizes him. Nowadays, he feels a little dull without the pup occupying his arms, which is crazy, considering he didn’t even know how to carry one properly a week ago.

He’s snuggling up to Furball, feeling his irritation melt when Shadow walks back into the living room, nearly undoing all of Furball’s hard work. Shadow had been busy carrying out the broken TV outside. It was a tough goodbye for Sonic to part with the device that kept him entertained for so many years. He didn’t have the heart to throw it away himself, so he sent Shadow to do it for him.

He also wanted to punish Shadow just a bit by making him deal with the more annoying tasks.

“Oh you’re back,” Sonic says unenthusiastically. With his free hand, he points to the broken coffee table. He can still feel the aching in his back from when he was slammed into it. “Take this out too, yeah? Careful. Wouldn’t want to get splinters.”

Even when faced with Sonic’s sarcasm, Shadow doesn’t argue. He simply nods languidly and gets to work. By now, he knows when it’s best not to test Sonic’s patience, especially after he himself is the reason it’s wearing thin.

Shadow picks up both halves of the broken table and heads outside. Rouge eyes him as he walks by but doesn’t say anything. She watches him go until he’s completely out of earshot. Only then, does she direct her attention back to Sonic, with just a bit of contempt in her expression. Sonic should’ve ran the second he saw it.

“Y’know, I didn’t expect you guys to be dating,” she says. Something about her tone made Sonic’s skin crawl and pulls at his fight or flight instincts. He knows how scary Rouge can be, and this low drawl of hers sounds like a warning of what’s to come. It’s not his proudest moment, but he does hold Furball a little closer in case he needs a shield. “But, I had my suspicions that Shadow was interested in you.”

Sonic, for fear of saying the wrong thing, keeps his mouth shut. He doesn’t know why she’s bringing this up now, but it probably isn’t good. She continues.

“He’s always treated you differently,” she says, taking a step closer to Sonic. It takes everything in him not to step back. “A little callous sometimes, sure, but he had a soft spot for you. I’ve seen it grow and grow. And I’ve seen him get scared of that.”

She looks directly in Sonic’s eyes as she speaks, her own eyes half-lidded and betraying no emotion. “I don’t have to tell you, of all people, how hard it is for him to open up—for him to love.”

Sonic knows all too well, but he’s too afraid to manage a nod. She takes another step closer.

“I don’t think he knew it, but he’s been in love with you for a while. I’m talking years, he’s been in denial, not because he wanted to be, but because it was all his shattered heart could do to protect itself,” her voice gets dangerously lower. “But he found a way to love you.”

She’s right in front of him now, staring into his soul. She tilts her head. “I think that’s great honestly. You’ll be good for him.”

Her gaze darkens, making Sonic’s quills stand on end. “Do you understand? You will be good for him,” She leans forward and hisses in his face “because if you break his heart I will ruin you…

“Isn’t that right, my little love!”

Her demeanor changes so drastically, as she leans down to kiss Furball’s cheeks, that Sonic gets whiplash. His soul is drifting from his body just as he notices Shadow walk into the room, completely unaware of the bone-chilling talking-to Sonic just received.

Maybe… he’s being a little harsh on Shadow, after all.

By the end of the day, Sonic and Tails have a newly-decorated living room, with only a few casualties.

As much as Sonic tried to keep an eye on Knuckles and Amy when they were in Shadow’s vicinity, a few aggressions slipped through his fingers. The most notable one was the time Knuckles and Shadow were bringing in the new couch. Knuckles had “accidentally” crushed Shadow between the couch and wall, completely knocking the breath out of Shadow.

Then it was while Sonic was busy scolding his older brother that Amy “accidentally” bonked the back of Shadow’s head with a new expensive lamp she bought (with Shadow’s card, of course).

Sonic eventually put Shadow on babysitting duty. Knuckles and Amy were merciful enough to not involve their nephew in the crossfire, so Shadow was relatively safe.

It’s also funny to see The Ultimate Lifeform sitting in a baby playpen.

“How is it in there?” Sonic smirks, standing just outside the enclosure. Behind him, their friends are packing up to head out for the night. Shadow looks up from where he’s been watching Furball chew on his Shadow plushie’s ear.

“A lot has been explained,” Shadow responds simply.

When Shadow first saw the plushie and hour ago, he bristled a bit. Sonic knew that Shadow only agreed to let the toy company use his likeness because of Sonic’s insistence. Shadow hadn’t been interested in there being thousands of his little stuffed replicas being sold across the world. Little did he know that Sonic only insisted so that Sonic could buy one himself, even if Amy hadn’t beat him to the punch.

Sonic snickers, absolutely charmed by the image in front of him. He doesn’t fight the urge to lean down and nuzzle Shadow’s forehead. Shadow accepts the affection with no resistance.

“Can you please just bring my nephew here so I can say goodbye?” Rouge demands, disturbing their moment. When Sonic looks back at her, he sees their friends all staring at him and Shadow with matching, unimpressed looks.

Sonic feels a little comforted by their mild irritation. He can now freely be affectionate with Shadow without fear of discovery. Now he just has to worry about his friends nagging at him about PDA.

And there will be PDA.

Sonic eventually rolls his eyes and scoops Furball out of his pen. The moment he walks over to them, Furball is smothered by Amy’s and Rouge’s affection, all from the safety of Sonic’s arms.

Rouge gives Furball one last nose kiss and stands up straight. Her face shifts back to one of business when she raises a brow at Shadow. “I’m assuming you’re staying here for the night?”

Shadow nods, stepping out of the playpen to stand beside Sonic.

“And for the foreseeable future?”

Shadow looks to Sonic, and Sonic nods merrily on his behalf.

Rouge sighs. “Alright, I’ll bring you a duffel bag.”

“No need,” Shadow says.

She raises a brow again, her lips curling in an amused smile. “Oh how sweet. You already have some of your stuff here.”

Shadow doesn’t respond, but his blush says enough.

“Well, I’ll try not to trash the apartment too much while you’re gone,” she muses, walking in Knuckles’ awaiting arm so they could leave. She waves off Sonic with a smile. “Goodnight, Blue. You guys try not to trash this place either, yeah?”

Sonic laughs airily, “no promises!”

“There are promises,” Knuckles says sternly, pointedly looking at Shadow. He narrows his eyes. “20 feet.”

The couple walks out the door and Amy is right on their heels. She, too, narrows her eyes at Shadow. “In. Pieces.”

And then they’re all gone. With the house now empty of guests—Shadow excluded—that means it’s bedtime. Sonic, as per the last few days, feels just about ready to knock out a lot earlier than he used to.

Furball makes this clearer by yawning and rubbing his eyes. Sonic smiles at this, never growing bored of Furball’s adorable habits. He presses a kiss to the pup’s forehead.

“Alright, let’s make you a bottle,” Sonic mutters and starts walking towards the kitchen. Shadow quickly follows.

“Let me make it,” Shadow declares, brushing a hand on Sonic’s waist as he walks by. He diligently marches into the kitchen like he’s on a mission and takes a bottle out the dish rack.

Sonic lets out a quiet laugh and settles by the island. Shadow has something to prove so Sonic will just let him. Tails had told him all about this morning while Sonic was still sleeping.

Shadow is admittedly better at preparing a bottle now that he’s not also holding a crying pup. He carefully abides to the formula’s packaging for direction and even uses the bottle warmer. A few minutes later, Shadow holds a a warm, properly-prepared bottle in his hand.

Sonic rewards all of Shadow’s hard work with a peck on the lips before leading them both to the nursery. Shadow insistent on learning everything he can about taking care of Furball, since he’d been gone for so long, despite, Sonic barely knowing what he’s doing himself. Regardless, Sonic appreciates having an extra helping hand.

So once they enter the nursery, Sonic just has to worry about rocking Furball to sleep. He moves to adjust Furball into a cradle position, when the pup does something very, very odd.

Furball starts whining, which is not the strange part. No, what’s strange is that he reaches away from Sonic’s hold. Sure, Furball has done this plenty of times but never with Sonic. Usually Sonic is the one Furball is trying to get to when being held by anyone else.

Sonic glances up at Furball’s target and realizes he’s not nearly as shocked as Shadow looks. Shadow gawks, mouth agape, at the pup reaching out for him.

“Take him,” Sonic says it before he realizes the words are leaving his mouth.

“I can’t.”

“Yes you can, you did it this morning.”

“And I failed.”

Sonic rolls his eyes, and nudges Furball just a bit closer. “Don’t be a drama queen, just take him.”

He all but forced Furball into Shadow’s arms. Shadow fumbles to accept the pup, awkwardly adjusting himself. Is this what Sonic looked like the first time he held Furball?

Sonic patiently helps Shadow get his arms in order so that he’s cradling the pup. Shadow lets Sonic move him like he’s a doll until Furball’s head is properly nestled on the crook of his arm. Only then does Sonic take a step back to admire his work.

Shadow holding Furball is a sight too cute that he wants to scream! He doesn’t, of course, but he does snap a few photos.

Furball’s whining and Shadow’s grumpy look is what gets him to stop. He snickers and finally hands the bottle over to Furball, who knows enough to prop it up himself to drink. Sonic stands in front of them, close enough to feels Shadow’s breath on his forehead, as he looks down at the pup.

Sonic brushes a hand down Furball’s quills and whispers, “good job, Furball, you’re a natural.”

He looks up when he hears a soft grunt leaving Shadow’s lips. Their faces are so close that their noses just barely miss each other. Sonic scoffs.

“You got something to say to Furball?” Sonic asks accusingly.

“I don’t like that name,” Shadow states, his eyes locked on Sonic’s.

“Yeah, well what name do you prefer, huh?” Sonic huffs. He says it a bit bitterly, but he really would like to know Shadow’s take on a name. Shadow possesses a bit more… appreciation for the finer things. He reads books with boring monologues and poems with too many intricate metaphors. Sonic, on the other hand, is more interested in the comic book variety of literature. That’s even if he reads anything at all. TV and video games is more his style.

Shadow is quiet for a moment, staring at Furball with an expression that Sonic knows is him being lost in thought. Sonic allows the silence and takes the opportunity to admire how handsome his boyfriend is. He could do this for hours, which is what it feels like by the time Shadow speaks up again.

“Terios,” he finally answers, tilting his head a bit, eyes still on the pup.

“Terios?” Sonic tries the name on his tongue. It feels totally unfamiliar, since he’s never heard that term before. There’s not many Terioses in the neighborhood.

“Yes,” Shadow confirms in a soft voice, looking up at Sonic again. At some point, Sonic must’ve inched closer, because now their noses do touch. “He looks so much like you—like a reflection. Terios means reflection.”

“Huh,” Sonic ponders, analyzing the bleary-eyed pup. Terios.

It fits, actually.

“I like it,” Sonic whispers.

As the couple watch their pup drift to sleep, Terios lifts a little hand and rests it on Shadow’s chest fur. Shadow noticeably stiffens at the touch.

Sonic has seen this quite a few times now, every night it’s time to go to sleep. He likes to think this is the pup’s way of saying goodnight. However, this is Shadow’s first time experiencing it. When Sonic looks up in his partner’s eyes, he can see the moment Shadow completely falls in love with his son, the same way Sonic has.

They watch as the pup lets go of Shadow, curls his arm into his body, and falls asleep, leaving the empty bottle forgotten on his chest. Sonic smiles and leans down to press a soft kiss on his little forehead.

“Goodnight, Terios.”

Chapter Text

Sonic remembers the day he realized he was in love with Shadow.

It had been a rather insignificant, spring day. In fact, it was rather boring. That’s why Sonic had decided to go on a run in the first place, with hopes of finding something interesting.

It was purely by accident that he stumbled upon Shadow. Well… perhaps he had been running in an area that he knew Shadow favored. And sure, maybe he did loop around a second time when he hadn’t at first seen the ebony hedgehog anywhere.

Still, what a coincidence that he spotted Shadow in the corner of his eye! Shadow was sitting atop a cliffside that overlooked a forest of cherry trees. He was leaning against a large, cherry willow, beneath its swaying leaves. Even from afar, he looked serene. Of course, Sonic had to stop by and say hello, since he was in the area. Might as well, right?

So that’s exactly what he did.

As Sonic ran closer, he realized Shadow had a book in hand. Shadow must’ve been so focused on whatever he was reading, that he didn’t notice Sonic until Sonic was right in front of him.

“Whatcha’ reading?” Sonic asked, not giving Shadow a chance to answer before he was peeking over at the book. “Is it interesting?”

Shadow scoffed and yanked the book away from the offending figure. He quickly shut it and glared up at Sonic from where he sat. Sonic was still leaning over from where he was trying to see what Shadow was reading.

It was only when Sonic saw how close their noses were that he took a casual step back. Their closeness had set off a fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he adamantly ignored it like he did most times. He disguised this by grinning and placing his hands on his hips with hopes that the distance would hide the warmth on his cheeks.

“Why are you here?” Shadow grumbled, pointedly not answering Sonic’s question. Sonic didn’t expect an answer anyway.

Sonic sighed dramatically while spinning on his heel and falling back to lay down on the ground beside Shadow. His quills cushioned his fall as his head landed somewhere near Shadow’s thighs. From this angle, he could look up and see Shadow backdropped by cherry blossoms. He kept his hands on his stomach to avoid accidentally touching Shadow.

“I’m booooored,” Sonic drawled like an annoying kid. Shadow simply rolled his eyes in response. He pulled out his book again, unbothered by Sonic dying of boredom beside him, and started reading in silence. There were definitely some social cues telling Sonic to leave him alone, but, like always, he ignored them. “Let’s race!”

“No,” Shadow immediately shot the idea down, not even glancing at Sonic.

“Whyyyyy?” Sonic whined. He kicked his foot out for extra flair, because he’s nothing if not dramatic.

“I’m reading,” Shadow answered, as if him holding up a book wasn’t obvious enough.

Sonic groaned just to be irritating. “You can do that anytime! Why waste a beautiful day like this just sitting around?”

“There have been days you spent entirely indoors, playing video games,” Shadow retorted, still not looking away from his book.

“Games are more fun than books!” Sonic argued.

Shadow stopped responding, and instead turned a page. He probably learned from experience that the best way to lose Sonic’s attention, was to not interact.

Ha! Jokes on him, because Sonic also learned from experience that to get Shadow’s attention, be must be even more annoying. A little silence couldn’t deter Sonic from bugging his favorite buggable hedgehog.

Just as Shadow was about to turn another page, Sonic jumped up into a standing position, snatching the book in the process. He smirked mockingly at Shadow, who glared up at him once he realized what just happened.

“Return it!” Shadow growled. He looked at Sonic with daggers in his eyes, but Sonic had seen it so often that he’d been immune to it for quite some time. Shadow was starting to look more like a grumpy kitten than a killing machine at that point.

So no, he didn’t return the book. Instead he opened it haughtily with one hand while he had the other propped on his hip. He cleared his throat and sought out a random passage to start reading from aloud.

“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself- huh, why do they talk like that?” Sonic laughed, registering absolutely nothing of what he read.

Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t get a proper response. The reaction he received was rather rude actually! Shadow lunged at him in an attempt to steal back his belonging, but, as per usual, Sonic was too fast for him.

“Ah ah ah,” Sonic admonished with a wag of his finger. He held the book at a safe distance away from Shadow, who snarled at him. Sonic’s mocking face twisted into a challenging smirk. “If you want it, you’re gonna have to take it.”

And with that, Sonic was off like a shot.

He sped through the forest, dodging trees and rocks with ease. And then he had to deal with dodging Shadow too as his rival quickly caught up to him. He laughed at Shadow’s first attempt of spin dashing into him, jumping away at the last second.

Together, they raced under the swaying pink blossoms. Sonic reveled in the sensation of the wind whipping past him and shaking his quills. His heart beat fast, not just from his speed, but from the thrill of the chase.

He always loved racing Shadow. They were equally-skilled rivals, fast enough only for each other. Sonic never had to hold back his speed like he did with his other friends, nor did he have to heavily rely on it to stay alive against enemies. His races with Shadow were the only times he can freely be fast without threat of death. This was a kind of fun he could only have with Shadow.

He knew that, deep down, Shadow enjoyed it too.

It had taken a ridiculously long time of teasing, needling, bugging—however you wanted to call it—to get Shadow out of his hardened shell. Sonic’s friends had told him that Shadow was a lost cause when it came to any sort of meaningful relationship, that he wasn’t worth all the effort. And there were times when Shadow brushed him off particularly harshly, that Sonic started to believe them.

But in this moment of Sonic breaking into an entirely new domain, fast enough to be a blur in someone’s eye, with the only other being in existence who could fully understand this same feeling right next to him, Sonic regretted nothing.

Well… he soon regretted not paying attention where he was going, just to glance back at Shadow and stick his tongue out. One second he was running at dangerously high speeds, the next, he was tripping over a vine and being flung into the air.

Their chase had led them to a jungle, hundreds of miles away from where they once were and in a completely different time zone. It was no longer morning but instead closer to sunset. The fleeting sun made it harder to see through the tall, densely-packed trees.

Sonic managed to trip on a downward hill, which had him tossed around in the air, crashing into multiple trees and bushes that didn’t stop his fall, just made it more painful. His luck ran even shorter when he started falling down a steep cliff.

After a particularly hard hit to the head, Sonic stopped registering exactly what was happening to him. He just knew he was falling and crashing into things for what felt like hours. He eventually landed somewhere in a mess of loose vines and bushes. It seemed like he finally stopped, so he groggily lifted his head, only for the ground to break underneath him.

He plummeted another 10 or so feet onto a cold, stone surface, with only the previous vines and dirt to cushion his fall. He lied there for a moment, getting used to the feeling of being stable again. He could only hope that this surface wouldn’t crumble beneath his weight either.

Eventually, he gathered enough willpower to lift his head, only to feel it throbbing hard. It was like a million drummers lived in his head, pounding his skull to a well-synchronized beat. It made him completely disoriented when he tried looking around.

He was in complete darkness, with only the light that shone from the opening he fell through, but even that was dying with the setting sun. Regardless, it was enough for him to realize that he was in some sort of cave that looked like it had never been touched.

He groaned and brought a hand to his head. That had to have been the worst wipeout he’d ever experienced—and he had a lot of experience. He tried to fight through the pain just enough that he could attempt standing up. It was fruitless, because the moment he tried, his ankle shot out a burst of pain, and he collapsed again, which only made the pounding in his head worse.

There was no doubt his ankle had twisted. It would be a bitch and a half to get out of that cave, especially with the only opening being the one overhead.

Then he heard his name being called from a distance.

“Sonic!”

Shadow! It was faint, but exactly what he needed to hear.

“Where are you?!” Shadow called out, his voice getting slightly closer.

Sonic opened his mouth to respond but all that came out was a hopeless groan. Thankfully, it was enough to get the other’s attention.

“Sonic!” Shadow yelled, with a new tone of recognition. Soon, the sound of rustling leaves and air shoes could be heard overhead.

It took up all his strength, but Sonic managed to flip himself on his back so he could look up at the opening. His eyelids were heavy and the call of sleep whispered in his ear. He ignored it with all his might; he had to stay awake until Shadow found him.

The light that shone on Sonic’s face got blocked when a figure poked his head over the opening.

“Sonic,” Shadow exhaled at the sight of him below. He instantly jumped down, careful not to land on Sonic, and kneeled down beside him.

Sonic slowly turned his head to see Shadow looking over him. Shadow quickly surveyed Sonic’s condition and didn’t look too happy with the results. He wore his signature frown but his eyes gleamed with a concern that Sonic is unfamiliar with.

It was weird to see Shadow worried like that, but it stirred something in Sonic. Sonic had acquired many injuries over the years that had been witnessed by multiple friends. They would all fret over him, but they never made Sonic feel this… warm like he did with Shadow. It was such an unfamiliar feeling that he just had to interrupt it.

“Sorry I lost your book,” Sonic quipped, voice evident of his weakened state.

Whatever softness Sonic saw in Shadow’s face before quickly reverted back to all its sharpness. Shadow snaps a death glare at Sonic so fast that he could’ve broken his neck.

“You’re an idiot,” Shadow growled. “You need to pay attention to where you’re going.”

If Sonic had been fully cognitive with a head that wasn’t pounding, he probably wouldn’t have said what he did next. “Well, I couldn’t resist looking at you.”

The moment it left his lips, he had enough sense to be mortified. It was just supposed to be a thought he kept somewhere locked away in his brain—not something he should be telling directly to the source of such thoughts. As part of some damage control, he exhaled a lame laugh, trying to play it off as a joke. This was just another example of Sonic teasing him, right?

Shadow simply stared at him for a good few seconds, then snapped his attention back to the sprained ankle. Sonic couldn’t see his face, and therefore could not have known that Shadow was fighting a blush.

He did see, however, the faint twitch in Shadow’s ear when Shadow saw the state of his ankle. Slowly, Shadow brought a hand to it with a touch more gentle than Sonic knew he was capable of. Even so, Sonic hissed in pain.

“You can’t walk,” Shadow stated the obvious as he ripped his hand away. He looked up at the opening above them with a look of contemplation. Sonic knew there was no way he could jump there himself with the ankle being the way it was. Then Shadow looked back down at Sonic with a determined expression.

With no other warning, he slipped his hands under Sonic’s knees and back.

“Wha- woah what are you doing?!” Sonic asked frantically. Suddenly, he didn’t feel the cold stone beneath him, and was instead pressed against a warm chest. Shadow was carrying him! Like Sonic was a princess!

“You. Can’t. Walk,” Shadow repeated himself, enunciating each word as he made sure Sonic was safely in his arms. He had picked Sonic up like he weighed nothing, and that had strummed up some butterflies. It was only made worse when Shadow looked down at him, his handsome face haloed by a fading light that made his shining eyes look like rubies…

Had Shadow always been that attractive?

Sonic was effectively shut up.

He was grateful when Shadow finally looked back up to the opening, lest Shadow would see the obvious blush forming on Sonic’s cheeks.

In that moment, Sonic was overcome by an influx of feelings. Sure, there was the pain in his ankle that made it increasingly more apparent that he wouldn’t be able to run for at least a week. But somehow, that was secondary to the crushing realization that he liked to be held in Shadow’s arms. He liked that Shadow worried over him. He liked that Shadow raced him. Liked that he could annoy Shadow. Liked that he found Shadow. Liked that…

Chaos, maybe he just liked Shadow!

To make matters entirely worse, Shadow held him even closer to secure him as he crouched down in anticipation for a jump. Sonic, nestled against that fluffy chest, looked up at Shadow with stars in his eyes. He saw the determined set to Shadow’s jaw as he calculated the necessary force to leave the cave. Shadow, in that deep, gruff voice that made his chest vibrate next to Sonic’s ear, said, “ready?”

Sonic, still hearing the drumming-turned-symphony in his mind, stayed slack-jawed and silent, but Shadow took that as a yes.

In an instant, Shadow jumped nearly more than 10 feet into the air, neatly popping out the opening at just the right angle as to not disturb Sonic’s ankle. As much as he tried landing as smoothly as possible, the impact still had Sonic squeezing his eyes shut and hissing in pain.

“Are you okay?” Shadow’s voice asked in a voice as close to frantic as Sonic’s ever heard. Sonic slowly opened his eyes again and is met with red ones looking down at him—a lot closer than he expected.

“Uh- yeah,” he managed to choke out. It was a struggle partially because of the pain, but mostly because Shadow was a lot closer than he expected! Their noses were practically touching!

Shadow gritted his teeth. Sonic knew that Shadow knew that Sonic was, in fact, not okay. Shadow huffed and looked up at the direction of Sonic’s home.

Suddenly, they were off.

It was weird for Sonic to feel the wind in his quills but not being the one running that fast. It was like being a passenger in a car only he had ever driven. Unfortunately, the same speed that was getting him to the help he needed, was also causing him excruciating pain. The wind pummeled his ankle in a constant torment.

He tried to grit his teeth and bare the pain. Tears burned his eyes as he tried to think of anything but his ankle, but the strain was so intense that it was impossible. He couldn’t even pay attention to his surroundings, and all he could do was pray that Shadow knew where he was going.

Eventually, the pain became too much. He tried to fight it, but he could feel himself losing consciousness. He took a moment to look up at Shadow, who was running like his life depended on it, before everything went black.

And that was the last he saw of Shadow in weeks.

When Sonic had woken up again, he was in his home surrounded by his brothers and Amy. All his wounds were being tended to properly, especially his sprained ankle that was wrapped up in a brace. After a few hugs, he received a severe tongue-lashing from Amy about paying attention to where he’s going.

Besides that, Sonic was completely fine.

Tails had ordered that Sonic couldn’t run for 2 weeks, and Amy was the one to enforce it. She knew Sonic would fight it, so she threatened to tie him to his bed if he didn’t comply.

Thus, Sonic wallowed in his slow-paced misery for fourteen days.

He couldn’t even walk quite right because of the bulky brace, which he suspected Tails made with the express purpose of slowing Sonic down. So most of the time, when he wasn’t playing games and watching TV, he just lay around, alone with his thoughts.

And all he could think about was Shadow.

Since the adrenaline had completely worn off, he desperately tried to convince himself he didn’t have feelings for Shadow. Surely, the butterflies that fluttered in his stomach was the result of being saved from a near-death experience. He was just excited by having a hero, not Shadow himself.

Although, Sonic had been saved a plethora of times by Tails and Knuckles, and he never had any lingering feelings afterward…

Well, the difference was just that Shadow isn’t his brother! These feelings only occurred because it was a friend who saved him, so of course he would react a little differently than he did with family. It made sense!

Except, Amy and others have saved him as well, and they’re not siblings…

Hm.

Well… he wasn’t actually catching feelings, he just…

OH! He just found Shadow attractive, that’s all!

Anyone with eyes could see Shadow was handsome, there was no shame in admitting it. Shadow’s eyes were a gorgeous shade of red that paired perfectly with the red in his well-groomed quills and fur. He had impeccable posture that puffed out his fluffy chest. His limbs were sturdy with muscle and had the strength to back up its appearance. As much as Sonic gave him grief for all his brooding, Shadow’s hardened expressions just made him so much more mysterious. Oh, he’s a mystery that Sonic wants to solve alright…

It was thoughts like this that kept him up at night—really kept him up at night. There was not much Sonic could do during his time of healing, but he didn’t have to leave the bed to find pleasure with the thoughts that swarmed his mind.

But that was the extent of Sonic’s feelings truly! Just because Shadow made for some good jacking material, didn’t mean Sonic was actually in love with him!

He’s a grown hedgehog, so it only made sense he’d find others attractive. And Shadow was most definitely attractive. There was nothing deeper than that, right?

…Sonic just wanted to confirm that.

The moment Tails removed his brace and discharged him, Sonic was off.

He spent a good few hours running wherever his heart desired to expend all the pent up energy he gathered over the weeks. It was amazing and probably one of the best runs he’s ever been on. It was like eating a nice, juicy chili dog after a month-long diet.

Once he was satisfied enough, with running at least, he pursued his next objective.

He began circling the areas he knew Shadow liked to favor, no longer denying that that was what he was doing. He only stopped running when his intuition told him to, and it landed him at the same tree he had found Shadow at before.

It was a beautiful day, with another nice breeze passing through as the sun overhead slowly started its descent. He took a moment to appreciate the view from where he stood atop the cliffside. It was a field of trees as far as the eye could see, all colored with different shades of pink. No wonder Shadow fancied this spot. The view nearly inspired even Sonic to pick up a book—maybe a comic book.

A few minutes passed. He heard the hum of air shoes before that familiar voice.

“What are you doing here,” Shadow asked, in his usual tone that never quite sounded like he was actually asking a question.

Sonic turned around to see him standing there beneath the pink leaves. A few petals fluttered around him, but he bared it no mind. Shadow just looked at him accusingly, until his eyes shifted to Sonic’s ankle. “You shouldn’t be running around.”

Sonic had really hoped Shadow wouldn’t look as attractive as he remembered him being a few weeks ago. Alas, his fantasies could hardly compare to the real thing.

“Hey Shads!” Sonic greets, incapable of hiding his joy of seeing Shadow. He lifts up his previously wounded ankle and twists it around in presentation. “I’m all good now. Tails patched me up.”

Shadow crossed his arms and huffed, looking thoroughly unimpressed. It was clear he disapproved of Sonic going on a run so soon after the accident, but did nothing more to push the subject.

Left with only silence as a response, Sonic awkwardly scratched his head. “So, uh, I just wanted to say thanks for helping me the other day.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“It was really cool of you-”

“I mean it,” Shadow grunted. So much for pleasantries…

Sonic closed his mouth awkwardly. Perhaps, in another timeline when Sonic was blissfully unaware of the shivers that Shadow’s deep voice sent down his back, he could’ve come up with a snarky response. Unfortunately, he was no longer in that timeline and he instead wanted to hear that voice whimper.

He cleared his throat to brush away such thoughts and got back to the topic at hand. He reached into his quills and pulled out a special gift he had prepared for Shadow.

“Well, can I at least mention this?” Sonic asked proudly, presenting a book. It was a copy of the one he had stolen and subsequently lost. “If you don’t want it as a thank you gift, just think of it as a… bribe.”

That got Shadow to raise a brow. “For what?”

“Spar with me!”

“No.”

Sonic’s grin fell almost as fast as Shadow rejected him. Shadow turned around to start walking away, but Sonic quickly sprinted in front of him.

“Wait- c’mon let’s fight!” Sonic pleaded, holding his fists up as it the combat already began. Shadow glanced between Sonic’s hands before meeting his eyes with an unamused look.

“No.”

“But we fight all the time!” Sonic argued, letting his hands fall to his side. “I’ve been laying around doing nothing for weeks! I just want to get some action!”

“Not while you’re recovering.”

“I’m already recovered!”

Sonic proved his point by hopping, single-legged, on his newly healed foot. Shadow’s unimpressed eyes followed Sonic’s, having to move up and down to keep up with the bouncing. Sonic kept hopping, hoping that Shadow’s silence meant he was being swayed.

Instead of conceding however, Shadow just swept a leg under the one Sonic was relying on, effectively causing Sonic to topple backwards.

“Hey!” Sonic flailed, waiting for the inevitable impact of landing on his back. It never came, but he did get cushioned by an arm catching him.

He blinked his eyes open when he realized he never actually fell, and is met with the sight of Shadow staring down at him with the same bored look. Their faces were so close that if Sonic lifted his head a measly few inches, their lips would meet. Just as that thought sent blood rushing to his cheeks, he got propped back up to his feet.

Which is a shame, because he had really liked being in Shadow’s arms.

However, any yearning he felt disappeared in an an instant when he realized Shadow was brandishing the book he had just been holding. A minuscule smirk was etched on his face.

“That was too easy,” Shadow said smugly.

“I wasn’t ready!” Sonic complained.

“You should always be rea-”

He didn’t finish that thought because Sonic tackled him before he could. Thankfully, Shadow had been standing on the side away from the cliff because otherwise, the impact would have sent them right over.

They rolled a few feet in the grass until Shadow managed to kick Sonic off. Sonic landed on his feet easily, skidding in the grass. That should’ve been proof enough that his ankle was fine, but he had to leave no room for doubt. So he instantly charged back at Shadow who had just jumped up to his feet, and aimed a kick with his healed leg right at Shadow’s head. Shadow blocked it easily, just as Sonic expected.

They were both back on their feet, crouched in combative positions. As they did with the start of all their fights, they began circling each other. Sonic’s face was twisted in his usual smirk while Shadow wore his signature frown. It seemed like whatever resolve Shadow had to not fight an “injured” opponent was completely thrown out the window.

As if they could read each other’s mind, they lunged for each other at the same moment.

Sonic had grown used to sparring with Shadow over the years, both as a friend and foe. He’d learned Shadow’s style, and watched it evolve in real time. They always targeted each other’s weaknesses, while strengthening their own. Because of this back and forth, both had become better fighters.

During this spar though, Sonic paid attention to something else.

Instead of the attacks, dodges, and parries that Sonic usually focused on, he paid more attention to just how often Shadow would grip his arms, press his body against Sonic’s, manhandle him. He took note of the grunts that left Shadow’s lips and how close his growling got to Sonic’s ear at times. These were things that Sonic had always been acutely aware of, but it then became the forefront of his mind. For the first time during one of their fights, Sonic was getting… aroused.

And that influenced how he fought too. He threw his body into the fight more often so it collided with Shadow’s. He took every opportunity he could to subtly rub himself against his opponent. All the usual grunts he exerted, he let out more breathily so it almost sounded like a moan. Everything he did, he did subliminally under the guise of battle.

Over time, he figured Shadow picked up on these signs, even if he didn’t fully understand the intention behind it. Or maybe he did, and that was why he started returning the somewhat sensual gestures.

It all came to a head when Sonic pinned Shadow to the ground. He sat on Shadow’s belly to refrain him from bucking away, using his hands to pin Shadow’s by his head. The book had been long-forgotten, lost somewhere in the grass.

All that could be heard was their labored breaths. Sonic stared directly down at Shadow, blocking the sun and shading Shadow in darkness. Their noses, again, were so close, only made worse by their heavy breathing. It was like they were in their own pocket of the universe. Sonic could focus on nothing other than Shadow’s half-lidded, furrowed eyes, and Shadow didn’t look away for a second either. Well, Shadow eventually did, only to focus on Sonic’s lips.

Then they were kissing.

Sonic, in the bat of an eye, had leaned down to capture Shadow’s lips, and Shadow met him halfway. Their kiss was as heated as it was aggressive, like it was a continuation of their fight.

For weeks, Sonic had wallowed in bed, fantasizing what it’d be like to make out with Shadow. He had imagined those peach lips, sharp teeth, and what they were fully capable of. Sonic finally got to experience the real thing.

And it was amazing.

Sonic feverishly explored Shadow’s mouth to the best of his ability, fighting against his partner who was doing the same. He desperately sought more of that taste with little regard to what he had to do to get it. In his excitement, he sat down completely on Shadow’s crotch. A soft grunt escaped Shadow’s lips in response, and Sonic smirked into the kiss. It sounded even better than in his fantasies.

Sonic grazed his fingertips along the length of Shadow’s arms, up to his shoulders, and slotted them in Shadow’s quills. He dug his fingers in deep, staking his claim. Shadow, in return, brought his newly-freed hands to Sonic’s waist. The sudden touch made Sonic wince in surprise, which in turn created more friction between their crotches, and made Shadow moan.

It was quiet, and had Sonic not been right next to his mouth, he would not have heard it. But he did hear it. And now he wanted more.

He began grinding down on Shadow, hoping to coax a similar noise out of him. Shadow must’ve understood his motive, because his tongue became less aggressive in its pursuit, like he was trying to use his energy in not making a sound.

Sonic was always up for a challenge.

His hips picked up a nice rhythm, rubbing deep and slow against Shadow’s. He took advantage of Shadow’s lack of resistance, and completely dominated his mouth. He let his tongue explore every nook and cranny left vulnerable and savored the taste. His fingers in Shadow’s quills started to gently, but firmly, pull.

He did whatever he could in that moment to get a sound out of Shadow. He technically did succeed. Except, instead of the moan he was striving for, he heard the threatening rumble of a growl.

That was his only warning before he was flipped on his back.

He gasped in shock at the sudden movement, squeezing his eyes shut. His hands no longer grasped those well-groomed quills but instead flopped onto his chest. A pair of legs were slotted between his own, making them slightly spread open. When his eyes fluttered open again, he was met with the sight of a growling, and blushing, Shadow.

“What are you doing,” Shadow grunted, his words dripping with venom. Honestly, Sonic thought it was pretty obvious that he was trying to seduce Shadow.

“You know what I’m doing,” Sonic responded coyly. He raised his arms to daintily hook them around Shadow’s neck. This overflowing confidence shocked even Sonic himself, but he could only blame his horniness for it.

Shadow glared at the arms around him but did nothing to push them aside. When his eyes landed on Sonic’s again, Sonic was gazing at him with the most sultry face he could muster. Sonic drawled, “C’mooon Shadow~ you feel it too.”

To emphasize his point, he rolled his hips upward so they brushed up against Shadow’s crotch that was just a few measly inches away. It caused them both to groan.

Shadow, for a moment, clenched his eyes shut. It was clear by the twitching in his brows that he was contemplating his next move. Sonic did a very good job of waiting patiently, as if he wouldn’t sulk like a kicked puppy if Shadow didn’t agree to pound him into next week.

Eventually, Shadow opened his eyes again and stared down at Sonic with a fractionally less amount of malice. Sonic hoped he was putting on as much of an alluring performance as he imagined, parting his lips slightly and looking up at the other with half-lidded eyes. Most of his inspiration came from Rouge.

“One time,” Shadow finally said. “But it’s strictly sex. No feelings.”

Sonic felt his whole body fill with giddiness. All he needed was one time. He could finally live out the thoughts that plagued his mind, and confirm to himself that these “feelings” were purely physical.

“Just one time!” Sonic agreed.

“Just one time,” Shadow growled in Sonic’s ear. If Sonic hadn’t been so incredibly horny, he would have laughed at the irony of that. Shadow had said the same thing last time they had sex.

That had been a week ago. He learned the hard way that a week’s time was just enough to make the stretch burn again. But he loved it all the same.

“Faster~,” Sonic moaned. His words came out a bit slurred from his face being pushed into the wall. The pressure made his bruised cheek ache, but the pleasure he felt overran it tenfold.

Shadow didn’t reply with words, but the increasing speed of his thrusts was answer enough. He had one hand holding Sonic’s hip in a vice-like grip. His other hand was busy pushing down on Sonic’s lower back to force it in an arch. Sonic could appreciate Shadow using his strength in this regard even more than he did in their earlier spar.

“Ah~ ah~ ah~ OH~!” Sonic, as always, had a hard time shutting up. During their first sexual encounter, Sonic’s moans had gotten so loud that he was practically screaming Shadow’s name. Shadow’s only way of muffling the sound was to keep Sonic’s mouth busy with his own.

That was a lot harder to achieve in their new position of Sonic faced away and bent against a wall.

Fortunately, they were far enough from any civilization that they needn’t worry about being overheard. They were deep in a snowy landscape surrounded by nothing but nature. It was the kind of place that only researchers ventured off to. In fact, the little hut they were in was an abandoned researcher’s housing.

It was purely a coincidence that their race had led them there. It wasn’t like Sonic had specifically led them to this very place, which he didn’t scout out previously, with the very intention of seducing Shadow again because he already craved that huge, alien cock after just a single week. Of course not.

And if he did, who could blame him?

Shadow’s thrusts sped up again. It was a clear sign, that Sonic had really learned the hard way, to mean he was getting close. That was just perfect, because Sonic’s own dick had been aching for quite a bit, just yearning for release. And, as mentioned, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

“Shadow! Ah~ Oh Shadow!” Sonic moaned, his voice reaching pitches that’d have dogs wincing. He couldn’t help it; Shadow set a brutal pace, manhandling Sonic’s hips to meet his bruising thrusts, and was groaning right in Sonic’s ear.

“You like that?” Shadow growled. Sonic was too far gone to be surprised that Shadow was actually dirty talking. He hadn’t done that before, but Sonic was in no way complaining.

“Yes! Yes- I need- AH~ more!” Sonic begged, feeling tears prickling his eyes.

“Say my name.”

“Shadow~”

“Louder.”

“Shadow!”

“Louder!”

“SHADOW!” Sonic screamed. He was shameless, because to have shame was to be unsatisfied. “HARDER SHADOW, PLEASE!”

After one final, brutal thrust, Sonic felt warmth spread inside him. It was just what he needed to expend his own release, letting it paint the wall.

Sonic’s moans eventually died down as Shadow humped him a few more times to milk every aftershock of pleasure. Their labored breaths filled the silence. Then, when they had both successfully come down from their highs, Sonic looked over his shoulder and smiled with dazed eyes.

“One more time~?”

“A one- ngh!- one time thing.” Shadow hissed, his voice wavering.

Sonic would have loved to point out that Shadow had said the same thing the last four times they were in a similar predicament, but his mouth was rather preoccupied. He could, however, roll his eyes.

If Shadow saw, then he didn’t mention it. Though, he did seem pretty distracted by Sonic’s lips wrapped around him. Sonic did good work of keeping Shadow’s mind busy with a tortuously slow pace. With hollowed cheeks, he let his lips drag up the length of Shadow’s cock and used his tongue to map out every vein and texture it could find.

This time around, their race (which was starting to feel like foreplay) landed them by the beach. What made this occasion so more special was that it was Shadow who initiated.

Of course, he didn’t have as much tact as Sonic. Whereas Sonic would hint—as heavily as it may be—that he’d like to partake in sexual intercourse via strategic touches, suggestive facial expressions, and rather raunchy noises, Shadow had gotten straight to the point.

“Let’s have sex,” he had stated, voice monotone, and lip bleeding from where Sonic had punched him in their spar.

Anyone with standards would not have been turned on by that display, but thankfully that was exactly what Sonic lacked. So of course, he pounced at the opportunity.

One thing led to another and he had Shadow pushed against a palm tree so he could fall on his knees to service Shadow. He had been practicing this new skill with the full intention of using it on Shadow. Every night spent reducing his gag reflex was more and more worth it with each moan he coaxed out of his partner.

By the time he was swallowing down every drop of Shadow’s expense, Shadow was looking at him with every sign of a properly-sucked male.

Deliriously, Shadow made his demand.

“One more time.”

“This is just-”

“A one time thing, yeah, I know the drill,” Sonic finished with a roll of his eyes. He had lost track of how many times he heard Shadow clawing at his window like a stray cat in heat, let alone how many times he said that same stupid phrase.

They’d usually venture out somewhere else for these “one-time” things. However, it became a new running trend for Shadow to visit Sonic after each G.U.N. mission, in the middle of the night, so they could mess around before Shadow had to go back to his apartment. Sonic didn’t mind—in fact, he loved getting a chance to fuck after waiting for Shadow’s return—but having Shadow linger out his home made things risky with Tails being around.

Shadow shut his mouth and glared up at Sonic, but didn’t refute. He stood just outside Sonic’s bedroom window, forced to look up due to the house sitting on a platform. From Sonic’s perspective, Shadow looked more like a pouting kit than the killing machine he supposedly was.

He just looked too pathetic not to let in. In more ways than one.

“Ngh!” Sonic, for all his effort, could not suppress that noise. In his defense, Shadow had aimed a rather hard thrust at just the right spot. How could he also expect Sonic to keep quiet about it?

Shadow instantly slapped a hand over Sonic’s mouth to shut him up. Sonic didn’t really mind that, but he did mind when Shadow’s hips paused too.

Sonic’s glazed eyes refocused on Shadow, whose head was tilted up as he tried to listen for something. Sonic knew he was making sure Tails hadn’t heard anything. They did not want to wake the teen up and make him privy to their nighttime activities, even if they weren’t hiding whatever relationship they had. Sonic could already confirm that Tails was still soundly asleep, but he liked watching Shadow’s ear twitch cutely.

Sonic, having run out of self control, wrapped his arms around Shadow’s neck so he could pull himself up. He used the traction to get up near Shadow’s ear and take a little nibble. That sure got Shadow’s attention quick. As Sonic fell back onto the bed, he saw Shadow’s eyes snap back to him, looking affronted.

“Did you just bite my ear?” Shadow mumbled in a low voice.

Sonic licked his lips and smirked. “Yum~”

He then rolled his hips impatiently, causing them both to hiss in pleasure. He’d have to find his own satisfaction if Shadow wasn’t going to deliver.

Shadow clicked his tongue. “Needy?”

Oh yeah?

In the blink of an eye, Sonic flipped them over. Shadow was pushed to lay on his back with Sonic’s hand on his chest to keep him down. Sonic easily straddled him again, reaching behind himself to hold Shadow’s cock still to sink on. He reveled in the feeling of being filled again, letting a shiver roll down his back. The best part about this position was that Sonic had a clear view of Shadow’s face twisting in pleasure.

Sonic smirked, keeping direct eye contact with Shadow below him. “I’ll show you who’s needy.”

Sonic usually liked to fall asleep after each hook-up.

It was so easy to do when Shadow cuddled up to him in their shared afterglow. He’d been surprised when it happened the first time they had sex below the cherry tree. Shadow had pulled out, and Sonic expected that to be the end of their one time, no feelings arrangement. That was until Shadow rolled on his side, and spooned Sonic from behind, going as far as to drape a hand around Sonic’s front.

Sonic hadn’t said anything, in fear it would make Shadow stop. So he silently accepted the gift that had been bestowed on him, uncaring of his own tiredness. He hadn’t realized he’d fallen asleep until he woke up again, alone and clean.

This similar pattern repeated itself for the times to come. It became a silent expectation for Sonic to fall asleep in Shadow’s arms, and wake up refreshed.

The same thing would’ve happened this particular night, except Sonic made an effort to not fall asleep so soon.

He felt the familiar warmth of Shadow’s fluffy chest pressed against his back and the tiredness that weighed on him. He fought the call of sleep, and reached a hand over to the night stand. Shadow didn’t say anything as he watched Sonic pull something out the little drawer and presented it to him.

It was a loose string tied together to form a hastily-made necklace. At the bottom of it, dangled a key.

“For my window,” Sonic mumbled sleepily. “Use it next time. Less suspicious.”

“This is a one-”

“No it isn’t,” Sonic yawned. He didn’t know who Shadow thought he was fooling with that kind of nonsense, but it definitely wasn’t Sonic.

Shadow stayed quiet, but also didn’t take the key. Sonic’s arm grew tired and he let it fall to the mattress. He set the key down and tucked his hand under his head. Now that he did what he stayed awake to do, he stopped resisting sleep.

“Just take it,” Sonic said, his words trailing off as he fell asleep.

He woke up alone on fresh sheets.

The key was still there

Sonic didn’t know what he expected when he tried giving Shadow that key. He knew it was a huge overstep of their “no feelings” boundary, but he figured he could maybe get away with it under the guise of conveniency.

He understood what their arrangement was that played out over the past several months. Their one time offense had repeated itself to the point that they’d be considered friends with benefits; They both wanted a way to release their pent-up frustration than neither fighting or racing could manage.

And it was their secret. That’s why they’d only have sex where no prying eyes could find them, during times when no one would look for them. If they didn’t hook-up during the dead of night, they’d meet each other with the excuse of another race.

When they were around friends, they were still the same old rivals who bantered and bickered. Sonic still teased Shadow at every opportunity and Shadow always pushed him away. Their friends were none the wiser. They would shake their heads at whatever quip Sonic threw Shadow’s way that had the latter glaring at him. Little did they know that, just a few hours prior, Shadow had given him the sloppiest hand job.

Sonic can’t lie and say the deception wasn’t at least a little fun. He enjoyed the thrill of secrecy, of knowing a part of Shadow that no one else did.

And it wan’t just Shadow’s sexual side that he enjoyed being privy to. He knew the taste of Shadow’s preferred lip balm that made his lips so soft. His fingers had traced the scars that littered Shadow’s back under his fur. He’d felt Shadow’s hands explore his body when he thought Sonic wasn’t paying attention. He knew how cautious Shadow was of his movements to make sure Sonic was always comfortable. Knew that Shadow would spend the last of his afterglow cleaning Sonic up and changing the bed sheets. Knew what it was like to be surrounded by Shadow’s warmth.

It was addicting.

That was why, for the past several months, Sonic always went back for more. And why he was always ready to accept Shadow when he came to him.

But that arrangement only worked if there were no feelings involved.

Of course, because he could never be satisfied with what he had, Sonic had truly and deeply fallen in love.

Part of him had already known, way before the first time they kissed. It was as if Sonic wanted to break his own heart.

It was a cloudy afternoon. The sun was hidden behind a multitude of dark clouds, making the absence of its warmth known.

It was bittersweet to sit below the cherry tree atop the cliffside. Although it was still beautiful in its own right, the tree lost its signature pink colors and its petals instead shrunk into white buds. It had lost most of its leaves during the fall, and it looked significantly more barren. Winter was still in its beginning stages, and snow was threatening to fall soon.

Sonic sat in the same spot he had found Shadow in those many months ago. Time, as usual, had flown by fast. Sonic could still vividly remember Shadow reading beneath a shower of pink petals.

He peered over at throve of trees in similar stages as the one above him. They looked like a swarm of dark vines beneath the grey sky. The clouds were dark and heavy, and he expected it to rain soon.

Yet he stayed there, lost in thought.

He knew… he’d regret this. But it had to be done. Otherwise, he’d crack under the weight of his own feelings.

So Sonic waited quietly, and that was how Shadow found him.

“You wanted to meet,” Shadow said in lieu of a greeting. His deep voice called from a few feet behind Sonic. “We can’t be long. I’m deploying on a mission after this.”

Sonic knew that. He specifically called on Shadow during a time he knew he wouldn’t have to see him after. If the conversation turned out how he expected it to, he’d thank himself.

He slowly tore his eyes from the view and turned it towards the hedgehog behind him. Shadow stood there expectantly, waiting for a proposal for either a spar, hook-up, or both. Sonic would have loved to make an offer, but that was not what this meeting was about.

“It won’t take long,” Sonic spoke hesitantly. He turned his body to face Shadow more directly. His hands settled in his lap, thumbs twiddling out of nervousness.

Sonic stayed silent as the words caught in his throat. This was the first time he hadn’t been on the receiving side of confessions—mostly ones from Amy. Suddenly, he had a lot more respect for her trying so many times. He felt like he might combust confessing just once.

Shadow’s shoulders tensed as he took in the tone of their conversation. He must have just realized he wouldn’t getting a nice little quickie before leaving off to his mission. He let the silence linger for a good minute before finally breaking it. “Well?”

Sonic flinched out of his thoughts. His mind was a fuzzy mess as the words formed on his tongue. He decided it was best to just rip off the bandage.

“I think I love you,” Sonic blurted, his face heating up to an unprecedented degree.

He hadn’t meant to say love. It was such a strong word and he didn’t want to scare Shadow off too much, but his heart had other plans. His mouth wouldn’t work well enough to take it back anyway.

Shadow froze. Any emotion he had had completely melted off his face, leaving just a blank canvas. His arms uncrossed and fell lamely at his sides as the words sunk in.

They spent the next few moments just staring at each other. Sonic was waiting for Shadow to say something—anything—in response to his declaration. He couldn’t tell what Shadow was thinking, and it was killing him.

Then he finally got his answer. It was the one he wasn’t hoping for.

“We agreed there would be no feelings involved,” Shadow said darkly. His face slowly morphed into a scowl. Sonic had honestly expected this, but it didn’t stop his heart from falling like lead.

“I know,” Sonic muttered shamefully, looking down at his hands. He had already messed everything up, but of course, he couldn’t keep his stupid mouth shut. “I think… I already had feelings at the time.”

“What?” Shadow spat. His lips twisted in disgust in a way that made Sonic want to crawl in a hole and die. He must have looked like a huge pervert, trying to have sex with someone he liked by pretending he didn’t. He wanted to argue that he didn’t know about these feelings, but had already lied enough. “This whole time, you loved me?!”

Sonic was too ashamed to nod, but his silence was telling enough. Shadow just stared at him, his face shifting like a million thoughts were running through his head as well. He was probably thinking of every instance in which Sonic acted like their relationship was purely physical, with the new knowledge that Sonic had been using him. Sonic couldn’t bare to look at him.

“Why?”

The question caught Sonic off guard. He looked up at Shadow just to confirm he heard that right. Shadow simply stared at him with an angry, expectant face. Sonic couldn’t think of how he could possibly answer why he loved Shadow. Why did people watch the sunset, knowing it would bring darkness after? Why do brothers laugh together, after they spent the whole day arguing? Why does a mother sing to her baby, when her words could not be understood?

Love is so much of a question that it becomes an answer in and of itself. But Sonic wasn’t poetic enough to explain that.

So he stayed silent. All he could do was stare into Shadow’s eyes and hope that Shadow could somehow decipher his mind in a way that he himself could not. Unfortunately, Shadow must have only seen a pathetic loser who can’t even defend himself.

“Whatever this was,” Shadow sneered, “it’s over.”

And then he walked away.

Sonic’s heart sank impossibly deeper as he watched Shadow turn his back on him. It happened so fast, being tossed aside like trash. He could only watch him go in shock of it, hardly registering the rain that was starting to fall. It started with a few drops but quickly accelerated to a crushing pelt of water.

Shadow’s figure slowly disappeared in the distance and thick rain. Sonic had felt a despair similar to this before, when he’d been kicked down by villains so hard that he felt like he could never stand back up. What did he usual do when that happened?

He stood the fuck back up.

In a second, Sonic was back on his feet and dashing in front of Shadow. He stopped right in his path to prevent him from walking any further. Shadow stiffened at the sight of him and snarled. But Sonic didn’t give him a chance to say anything.

“Do you really not feel the same?” Sonic demanded angrily. He glared up at Shadow through a furrowed gaze.

Shadow was taken aback by the question, but then he matched Sonic’s stance and growled out, “What makes you think I would?”

“You didn’t have to kiss me back,” Sonic sneered, taking a step into Shadow’s space. Shadow didn’t do anything to stop him, just how he hadn’t for all these months. “You could’ve pushed me away at any time.”

“Don’t act like you weren’t just as impassioned.”

“I’m not saying I wasn’t,” Sonic argued. “I’m saying I kissed you because I love you. What’s your excuse?”

Shadow gawked at the implication, then his face twisted into a deeper snarl. “I just wanted a quick fuck-”

“Then you kept coming back for more,” Sonic cut him off. He took another step forward, but Shadow still stood his ground. “Again and again, even though you were the one who kept saying it was just a one time thing.”

“Just because you were a good lay doesn’t mean I love you!”

“But you didn’t just fuck me!” Sonic exploded. The sudden outburst had Shadow flinching back just a bit, but Sonic didn’t care. All of his emotions swirled and bubbled within him and he couldn’t control it anymore. “What did it mean when you kissed me?! What did it mean when you took care of me after I fell asleep?! What did it mean when you just held me?!”

Tears prickled at Sonic’s eyes. He was so angry that Shadow couldn’t see what this was like he could. Angry that Shadow was denying what he knew to be true. Angry that he actually didn’t know.

Somewhere in his yelling, he had gotten a hold of Shadow’s chest fur and yanked him forward. It was wet from the bullet-like raindrops that fell all around them. Sonic pulled Shadow’s face in front of his to look him directly in the eyes just as lightening flashed overhead.

“What did it mean?!”

Sonic was left a panting mess after the outburst. His breaths were heavy as it burned out his throat and its sound mangled with the thunder around them. Shadow glared, speechless.

Until his gaze darkened, and he opened his mouth so say something that Sonic remembers to this day. Still, the memory of it stings.

“Nothing.”

And just like that, Sonic’s heart broke.

Nothing.

He loved, and Shadow thought he was nothing.

Sonic couldn’t manage to speak, let alone hold on when Shadow inevitably pulled away from him. His eyes were too watery to watch him walk away; the rushing in his ears too loud to hear it.

He was left alone, in the middle of the rain, feeling the ache in his chest where his heart once was.

Chapter Text

Nothing.

Sonic barely remembers how, but he eventually went home. He had spent hours crying in the forest, under the rain and all. It did nothing to alleviate the pain.

Nothing.

Tails had welcomed him, asked him where he was, why he was all wet. Sonic doesn’t remember the excuse he gave, but he imagines it was something lame enough that his brother completely saw through it.

Still, Tails did nothing to stop Sonic from locking himself in his room.

Nothing.

For days, Sonic rotted there. Friends stopped by, tried talking to him. He refused to say anything besides asking them to leave. It wasn’t until he lashed out at Knuckles that they stopped pushing. His older brother had looked crushed, but at the time, Sonic felt nothing.

Nothing.

His mind was a prison of memories of the being who left him like this. He could not escape it, could not block it out. Sleep seldom came, and when it did, it brought soul-crushing dreams. Every moment he closed his eyes, even if just to blink, he saw Shadow—glaring at him, calling him nothing.

Nothing.

That’s what he was. Because the only one whom he bared his entire heart to, said he was. Being nothing was the most painful feeling he had ever endured in his life. It made him powerless, weak, heart-broken, nothing.

All he could do was deteriorate, alone in his empty room, on his massive bed, for days to come.

He had lost track of how much time has passed when he heard the knock on his bedroom door.

It had to have been another one of Tails’ daily attempts to get him to eat. And just like all the other times before, Sonic ignored it. He laid in bed, faced away from the door, and continued staring at the stain on the wall.

Sometimes it was a stain, and sometimes it was Shadow looking back at him, not with malice and hate like usual, but with a serene sense of neutrality. It made his heart ache so much more, yet he could not make himself look away.

But then the door opened, even though Sonic knew it was locked. He closed his eyes knowingly as he heard the familiar footsteps enter the room. When he opened them again, he was met with Amy staring back at him, just as he expected. She always found a way of accessing things she wasn’t supposed to. This time, it was Sonic’s bedroom.

She was crouched down in front of him, her eyes hard. In her hands sat a steaming bowl of porridge. Her stern expression was an interesting change of pace from the previous pitying looks she had given him the past few times she visited. Sonic could only imagine her patience was wearing thin, even with him. Sonic usually had that effect on others.

“Eat,” she demanded, pushing the bowl closer to his face. The smell wafted in Sonic’s nose. It gave him a headache.

He eyed the food numbly and felt no desire to eat it. If anything, the thought of putting it in his mouth made him sick. “I’m not hungry.”

“I don’t care,” she sternly dismissed. “Eat it.”

“I don’t like porridge,” Sonic mumbled. It was a half-truth. Although porridge was far from his favorite food, he’s been known to eat it. He just didn’t have the stomach to eat anything at all.

“Good,” she said simply. “If you eat something you like now, it’ll just be ruined for you.”

Sonic hadn’t fully understood what she meant. But in hindsight, he is beyond grateful for her forward thinking. This had been a terrible time for him, and he would not have wanted to associate anything he enjoyed with it. To this day, he refuses to eat porridge because it brings up memories of the days his heart was broken. If he had to lose chili dogs to that same fate, his life would have been ruined. Porridge was an easier sacrifice.

But at the time, he was still reluctant.

“I don’t-”

“You. Have. To. Eat,” Amy enunciated, growing more agitated with each word. She then placed the bowl on the nightstand and Sonic hoped that was the end of it. Unfortunately, she only did that so she could pull him up into a sitting position. He didn’t resist her effort, but he didn’t make it easier either. She used her brute strength (which she had a lot of) to haul his slack body up.

Once he was sitting, albeit slumped over, Amy took a seat on the edge of the bed. She picked up the bowl again and twisted her torso to face him. Their positions made Sonic feel like a sick child and Amy was his mom about to feed him chicken noodle soup. That is, if a mom would look at her child with an expression of such angry determination that Amy was aiming at him.

“You’ve been holed up here for nearly a week,” she scolded. “I know you haven’t eaten any real food, and I doubt you’ve been drinking any water.”

She was right on all accounts, but that didn’t faze Sonic. The pain of his hunger and thirst was negligent to his heartache. He didn’t care about anything else at all.

She must’ve seen this in him, because her face softened just the slightest bit. Not enough to reach the pitiful looks she was giving him before, but enough that Sonic knew she was just putting up a tough facade for his benefit. She could only hide her concern for so long.

“We’re worried about you,” she told him, voice hard. “You don’t have to tell us what happened—it doesn’t matter anymore. We just want you to eat.”

She emphasized her words by pushing the bowl closer to his chest. He stared at it for a few moments before silently taking it from her hands. Still, all he did was hold it, making no other move to take a bite.

Amy saw this and sighed. Her tough exterior was fully crumbled, leaving only a wistful gaze behind.

“Tails called me,” she admitted. She lowered her head, like this was something she was ashamed to say at all.

At the mention of his brother, Sonic looked up at her, but she didn’t meet his eyes as she continued.

“He asked me to come talk to you again. Said he’s been putting food by your door for days but you haven’t touched any of it. He’s getting really worried, Sonic, I mean…,” she threw a hand up in a vague gesture around the room Sonic hadn’t left. “I… He… I tried to calm him down, but… over the phone, it’s hard…”

Sonic was horrified when he realized what she was saying. He knew his brother was always concerned for him, and that led to some bad anxiety. Whenever it got too much, Sonic did what he could to relax Tails’ mind. He’d distract Tails with games, take him out for a nice walk, or, at the very least, nuzzle him.

But Sonic became the cause of Tails’ distress. And he wasn’t there to comfort his little brother.

“I headed here as soon as I could, and I was able to calm him down,” Amy whispered. Her eyes were watery. “I took him to stay with Vanilla and Cream for a while and promised I’ll take care of you. He tries to stay so strong for everyone… but he’s still just a kit.”

Sonic had been here, under the same roof as his brother. Tails needed his help, and Sonic didn’t even know.

He made a move to stand up. He had to go find Tails and tell him he’s okay, that Tails doesn’t have to worry, that he’s sorry for making him worry at all. But he’s stopped when Amy puts a hand on his arm.

“Going to him now won’t help,” she said sternly. Her grip on his arm tightened when he tried shaking it off. “He’s still worried about you being in this state. If you want to make him feel better, you have to start taking care of yourself. So, if not for your own sake, do it for Tails and just eat… please.”

Sonic glared at her and she glared back. There was no room for argument in her eyes. He suddenly realized how much of a mess he must look like. He hadn’t showered, brushed his teeth, or made his bed in a week. How could he possibly comfort his concerned brother without at least taking the first step to getting himself back together?

Defeated, he sat back down and scooped up a spoonful of porridge. He swallowed thickly before bringing it to his mouth.

It tasted like ash, but he ate it anyway. Slowly, surely, he finished each bite until the bowl was empty. Miraculously, his head hurt a bit less.

Amy silently watched him the whole time. As the amount of food grew smaller and smaller, her relief became more apparent. It wasn’t just his brother whom Sonic worried.

He suddenly thought back to the old days, when Amy would follow him around like a puppy. She was in love with him, and professed this at every turn. Sonic had thought it was annoying and turned her down at each opportunity. Back then, it hadn’t seemed like a big deal.

But then he became the one rejected, and it felt like his heart had been ripped out and stomped on and set on fire and turned to ash and was picked up by the wind to be scattered across the world. He gained a whole new respect for how she always managed to bounce back after just a few minutes following rejection, whereas Sonic had been rotting for days.

Eventually though… she got over him.

It happened slowly, and Sonic didn’t realize it until he’d gone months without receiving a new confession. That was great for her, but Sonic couldn’t imagine ever moving on from Shadow.

He let his spoon clatter in the bowl once he was done. Only then did Amy smile softly.

“Thank you,” she said earnestly in a gentle voice. She took the bowl away and placed it on the nightstand. Sonic followed her with his eyes. All he could think about was how nice she was to him after all the pain he must have put her through.

“Amy,” he called out groggily. She turned her attention to him with a raised brow. He opened his mouth a few times as he thought of what he wanted to say. “How did you… move on… from me?”

She looked surprised at the question. They have never spoken about Amy’s love for Sonic this outrightly in years. As her affection fizzled out, it became somewhat of a taboo topic to bring up, mostly because it was an awkward conversation. They sort of pretended it never happened and Sonic had been content with that.

Guilt prickled at him for asking a question like this, especially so long after the fact. When Shadow had asked him why he loved him, Sonic was gutted. Now he was putting Amy in the same position. But he couldn’t help it. If she knew how to get rid of this pain, he had to know it.

Finally, after some thought, she said, “did you know you chew with your mouth open?”

Sonic could admit that that was the last thing he expected her to say. His confusion must’ve been obvious because she tilted her head and continued.

“I didn’t notice that for a long time,” she said. “Then one day, I don’t know, I just did. And I thought it was gross.”

If Sonic hadn’t felt like his heart was already trampled, he would have been offended. However, he could not deny the truth. Both of his brothers had pointed this out multiple times, with different level of disgust (Knuckles in particular was harsh with his criticism even when Sonic pointed out he did the same). He had tried to fix the bad habit, but he never could. He just accepted that he ate with his mouth open, and some people were grossed out by it. Apparently, Amy was one of those individuals.

“I think that was the day I realized I was no longer in love with you,” Amy said thoughtfully. “You weren’t perfect anymore. I no longer looked at you through rose-tinted glasses, and I stopped caring for what I saw.”

Okay, that was a bit rude…

“Not that you’re ugly or anything,” Amy quickly cleared up, thankfully. “It’s just that… I idealized you for so long. You were my whole world.” She sighed, smiling a bit to herself. “That was stupid. Because the world is so much bigger than you. Than us.”

Sonic knew how much Amy cared about the planet. She loved the beauty of nature and did her best to protect it. A lot of her time was dedicated to different non-profit organizations that focused on fixing the environment. She had come to Sonic many times asking for assistance, donations, and even endorsements. Sonic was always happy to help, since he loved the planet just as much, though his expertise mostly lay in defending it from evil-doers.

As he thought about it, he realized that Amy became even more involved with the planet around the time she stopped bugging him. He supposed it wasn’t a coincidence then.

“I still had feelings for a long time and that part of me isn’t lost honestly,” she admitted, which made Sonic tilt his head. She didn’t see though, because her eyes were looking off in the distance as she reminisced. “And I think I will always carry that with me. But I kind of just… grew around it… until it wasn’t so important. And that took a lot of time.”

Her eyes found their way back to him the way her hand found his shoulder. She looked so earnest and so… mature. He never realized how she wasn’t the same little girl anymore, and how he wasn’t the same little boy with her. They were grown and scarred by the world in both good and bad ways. It made her beautiful, in a way he could have never appreciated before. He wanted to apologize for hurting her, but part of him knew that wasn’t what Amy wanted to hear. She wanted to be understood. And Sonic could only give this to her by listening.

“I didn’t force myself to move on,” she said softly. “That’s not how this works. All I could do was spend my time doing other things and let my heart decide on its own. If my feelings were strong enough, I would still love you, I think. But they weren’t, and that’s okay.”

She used her free hand to brush Sonic’s cheek and let it rest there. How ironic that the first time Sonic let her get this intimate was when she was saying she no longer loved him. “You are still one of my best friends, and I love you in that way. That’s why I’ll bite my tongue when I get grossed out about the way you eat your porridge, because I’m just thankful that you’ll finally eat.”

Her lip curled in a small amused smile.

And somehow, for the first time in days, Sonic was able to smile back.

Sonic finally managed to leave his room.

His heart still ached, but he couldn’t let that control him forever. It was a pain he knew would never truly go away. He could only grow used to it, until he stopped feeling it. Rotting away in bed forever would never have helped.

He took a nice long shower and scrubbed every inch of his body and quills. He wanted to wash all of his depressive stink away and feel just a bit more refreshed. After he ate some more food, drank a ton more water, he finally felt ready to face Tails again, with Amy’s stamp of approval.

His little brother had hugged him the second he saw him in a less disheveled state. Sonic held him close in return, to make up for all his time away. He didn’t mention to what extent he knew of Tails’ worry, but he hoped his embrace was enough to relieve it just a smidge. He spent a good long moment nuzzling Tails and the fox happily returned the gesture.

Sonic then spent the next few days trying to get his life back together. He finally cleaned up his dreaded room and opened the windows to let out all the stale air. He went on runs again, which did wonders for his soul.

He took some time to visit Knuckles via Tails and his plane. Their older brother had given Sonic a bone-crushing hug the moment they set foot on Angel Island. It was painful sure, but much preferable to to the one in his heart, so he enjoyed it. Knuckles hadn’t even mentioned Sonic’s recent behavior, just told him to lay down in the grass and let the chao alleviate his stress.

As for his diet, it improved insurmountably. Even if he still didn’t have much of an appetite, he still made an effort to eat, especially when it was Tails offering him food. He even decided to finally commit to a skill he’d tried picking up for a while: cooking. Oh he was atrocious, somehow burning food on the outside while leaving the inside frozen. Tails cheered him on the whole way, even going as far as being a taste-tester, which brought actual tears of disgust to his eyes at times. Eventually, Vanilla got involved and straightened him out a bit. He was soon able to make a half-decent breakfast that he could enjoy with his younger brother.

Sonic tagged along to a few of Amy’s volunteer events. They helped start up a community garden, planting new seeds for vegetation. It was good fun to spend a leisurely day on his hands and knees doing something pure for once. Everyone had been so nice around him, even if he messed up a few times. There were a few kits around too who were with their parents. Sonic even managed to entertain them a few times, cracking jokes and pulling a few gags. They all loved it, coming up to him and asking for his attention. There was one pup in particular—no older than 2 years—who toddled around and had the most adorable laugh. Sonic had never been too partial to pups but even he could admit the little furball was endearing.

Needless to say, this week had been going a lot better than the previous. He was incredibly grateful to have such supportive friends who helped him every step of the way even if he had turned his back on them in his time of hurt. They never even asked how Sonic had ended up in that state in the first place, which made Sonic infinitely more thankful.

Though he still carried the anguish of unrequited love with him, he was able to start feeling like himself again. It was so much more wonderful to be out of his room than cooped up in it, wallowing in his pain. It helped a lot that he didn’t have to face Shadow at all during this time.

He knew Shadow had gone on a G.U.N. mission right before… the incident, but he should have been back. Perhaps he was avoiding Sonic, and Sonic made no effort to seek him out, for his own sanity. It would only shatter his heart more, to see Shadow completely unconcerned about their parting.

So he focused on himself.

Until he couldn’t anymore.

Sonic was spending a nice morning with Knuckles on Angel Island. They both silently rested in the grassy field beside the master emerald while Tails was somewhere on the edge of the island, tinkering with his plane . A few chao surrounded Sonic, but it was nowhere near impressive to the crowd Knuckles had amassed. His brother attracted them like a magnet.

Knuckles sat in a meditative position, with crossed legs and closed eyes. He was frozen like a statue and let chao walk all over him as they pleased. One of them had just managed to nestle on his head when they heard the sound of flapping wings.

The brothers turned their attention to Rouge, who flew towards them. Even from the distance, Sonic could tell she was a bit frantic. Her flapping was erratic, like she was flying on empty fumes. Knuckles hurriedly stood up, but was still careful enough to grab the chao on his head and place it on the ground.

Sonic was slower to react. He had also been avoiding Rouge, since she and Shadow were so close. He wouldn’t even know how he could talk to her, nor how much she knew. It sucked to miss out on whatever gossip she had for him, but it was a small price to pay for his mental health, he supposed.

But all hesitance left him when he saw just how panicked she was as she grew nearer. It took a lot for her to lose her cool, as she was one to not let things affect her too much. Whatever had her in this much of a frenzy, had her tripping up her landing. She was only able to stay afoot thanks to Knuckles catching her.

“What’s wrong,” Knuckles demanded the moment she was in his arms. He took her face in his massive hands as he examined her for injuries. Sonic ran up next to him to also confirm with his own eyes that she was okay. She hardly glanced at him as she looked up worriedly at her partner.

“It’s Shadow,” she panted out, having been out of breath. She must have been flying far and fast for her to get like that.

Sonic froze at the mention of his name. Suddenly, all the feelings he’d been trying to chase away had come flooding back, choking him. He wanted to run away and hide under a blanket, but the way she said it so worriedly had him rooted in place. There was something wrong.

“He hasn’t come back yet!” she exclaimed, hardly giving herself a chance to catch her breath. She put her hands on either side of Knuckles’ shoulders as a way to stabilize herself. Her face was twisted in concern as she looked up in Knuckles eyes. Sonic had never seen her quite this panicked, and figured it was a side she only let her partner be privy to. Sonic just so happened to be there. “His mission was supposed to end yesterday! I-I waited because I thought maybe he was running late or something, oh, sometimes he’d come late, that’s why I didn’t think to-”

“Breathe,” Knuckles told her, effectively cutting off her out-of-breath rambling. He brushed her face with a gentleness Sonic had hardly seen. It seemed there were sides Knuckles only saved for her as well.

As she took in much needed breaths, Sonic was increasingly more on edge. He knew he himself had been the reason for many of Shadow’s late returns. But he hadn’t seen Shadow in weeks, and could not have possibly been the one who kept Shadow away this time.

“I checked G.U.N.,” she spoke up again, voice still frantic, but more stable. “They- ugh- they didn’t tell me! Those idiots!”

Sonic’s heart beat so fast he could hear it in his ears.

“They said Shadow abandoned his mission halfway! No explanation! He just- and they didn’t think to let me know!” She took a moment to seethe before returning back to her worried tone. “I tried calling him and he won’t answer! I don’t know why he bothers having a phone if he never responds! When I find him, I’ll kill him! Oh Chaos, why did I wait so long to try to find him?! I have no idea where he is, and G.U.N. doesn’t know shit-”

“How long,” Sonic choked out. He didn’t know how he managed the words out over the dread that filled his throat. “How long has he been missing.”

“Chaos!” Rouge cried out, and she finally looked at him and he could see the tears forming in her eyes. “It’s been 10 days! No one’s heard from him in 10 fucking days!”

Sonic ran.

Tails’ plane had taken them back to the mainland from Angel Island, and the moment it was close enough to solid ground, Sonic jumped off and began his hunt.

He searched for hours.

He zipped around place to place, calling out Shadow’s name as loud as he could. There was never a response; not in the mountains or valleys; not along the shore of beaches or rivers; not in the depths deserts or forests. He checked, double- triple checked all the places he knew Shadow favored, but there was absolutely no sign of him.

For every minute he couldn’t find Shadow, his heart sunk impossibly deeper. He knew that Shadow had broken his heart and that he didn’t want anything to do with Sonic, but that didn’t stop Sonic’s fear of losing him forever. As much as it pained him, he still loved Shadow, more than he should. Even if Sonic couldn’t be part of his life, he still wanted Shadow to live.

Sonic didn’t know what he’d do if he could never find Shadow…

At some point, he stumbled upon a familiar jungle. As he looked around its densely-packed trees and falling vines, it finally clicked to him that this was the forest he twisted his ankle in nearly a year ago. The greenery was vaguely familiar from the blurs he saw them as as he tumbled down its steep hills. He didn’t remember where exactly he landed, but he didn’t care to seek it out.

It was in this jungle that Sonic finally paused in his pursuit. His throat was burning from how much he called out Shadow’s name, and his limbs ached from how overworked they were. Thoughts of what could possibly be happening to Shadow each second he wasn’t found had plagued Sonic’s mind to the point of mania. For the first time in weeks, he hadn’t eaten or drank anything all day.

Darkness slowly enshrouded the jungle, making it even harder to decipher anything in its mess of vines and trees. Sonic looked around in a frenzy as hopelessness clouded his eyes. Shadow was still nowhere to be found, and the dread of never finding him again was wrapped around his neck like a noose.

All of this anxiety bubbled up and formed one, last desperate call.

“SHADOW!” He screamed into the abyss, officially draining the last of his voice. It was his loudest call yet, and it shook the trees and scared off the birds. It was mangled with all his paranoia, fear, and distress he felt since the moment he realized Shadow was missing.

Nothing.

There was utterly no response.

He waited another few minutes, because something in his soul told him to. But as time passed, he realized it was just his own delusion.

So he left.

He had no more voice, no more energy. There was nothing more he could do that day, except hope that Shadow could wait through one more night for Sonic to build up strength enough to renew his search.

There was only one place he could turn to in this time of hopelessness.

Atop a cliffside that overlooked a drove of trees, Sonic settled beside a large cherry willow. In the spring, it had been a gorgeous shade of pink, but in the cold of winter, it was barren. Only its dark trunk and sprouting branches remained, a stark contrast to the white snow surrounding it. It looked like a mangled hand breaking through the frigid ground and into the heavens.

Sonic had ran through here multiple times already, because he knew how much Shadow liked it. He understood why, as it was a beautiful, serene place to stay even in the dead of winter. But Shadow hadn’t been here, and it was no different when Sonic arrived again.

The moment he slowly reached the base of the tree, his knees buckled under his emotional and physical exhaustion and he kneeled over in the deep snow. He looked over the cliff at the naked trees and the last remnants of the sun behind them. The light slowly faded away, taking with it his last hopes of finding Shadow anytime soon.

He watched it go, weakly, pathetically.

“Sonic.”

It was faint, but exactly what he needed to hear.

Sonic quickly turned around and there he was. Shadow. Standing in the snow with the moonlight hitting his front just right. He was an angel, a ghost, a fairy. He was beautiful and alive and found.

His voice didn’t work anymore. So instead of yelling at Shadow for hiding away, for making him worried, for not saying anything, Sonic could only do the next best thing and run up and hug him. He hadn’t realized what he was doing until his arms were snug around Shadow’s body, fueled only by his palpable relief that Shadow is okay.

He wasn’t thinking about the anguish he felt the following days of his rejection, but instead the warmth of Shadow’s chest. Not about how much he yearned to be more with Shadow when their arrangement didn’t allow it, but instead the breaths leaving Shadow’s lips. Not about the years he denied his love for Shadow, but instead how much he still loved Shadow.

But Shadow wasn’t hugging him back.

“We need to talk.”

And suddenly everything came back to Sonic.

He immediately released Shadow after hearing that dreaded phrase. If he had a ring for every we need to talk conversation that ended well, he’d have no rings. He didn’t want to try his luck again with the being who had already broken his heart before.

As Sonic took a step back, Shadow’s eyes widened minutely. Shadow looked at him with some pathetic semblance of concern—pity. Sonic hadn’t realized tears were falling down his face, nor when it started happening. He was caught in a weak moment, and he hated that. Shadow was the last being he wanted to show any vulnerability to ever again. And yet…

“Are you okay?” Shadow asked, and Sonic’s stomach still fluttered. How sad was it that he still yearned for Shadow’s care.

He had to learn that he didn’t need it anymore. And if he did, it was because Shadow was the one to hurt him in the first place, and again by going missing. Oh, the gall of Shadow to ask him if he’s okay… No, he’s not okay.

He’s nothing.

Sonic let the anger fester in him as he took another step back, scoffing. He dangerously eyed Shadow for a moment, contemplating if he’s worth the effort to attack, and decided no. Sonic is cold, hungry, and tired. He didn’t want to fight; he wanted Shadow to leave.

He turned around and walked back towards the tree. Then he plopped right back down in the snow, bringing his knees up to his chest with a huff.

“I’m fine,” Sonic muttered as he stared off over the cliff, his voice cracking from the way it scratched out his throat. The forest looked even more mangled without the sun to light it. “Go home, Shadow. Rouge is worried.”

Whatever talk Shadow wanted to have, Sonic was in no mood to hear it. He’d rather sit under the black tree, in the dark, and let the cold freeze him into an ice cube so he could be discovered 200 years later when all his frustrations were gone.

Shadow didn’t leave, of course. He was one to make his own rules, follow the beat to his own drum, be all of who he is even if all he is is an inconsiderate asshole. And as such does, he ignored Sonic’s demand and, instead, Sonic had to listen to his stupid air shoes’ (glorified roller skates’) footprints grow closer from behind. Then with a sudden plop, the two of them were just a couple douchebags sitting in the snow together.

Sonic glumly turned his head away, not wanted to see Shadow even in his peripheral. A gross silence fell over them for the next few minutes, broken only by the crisp breeze. Sonic kept his eyes focused on the snow beside him to prevent himself from looking at the hedgehog on his other side.

That’s why he never knew that Shadow was looking up at the moon, as he gathered the strength to say what he wanted to say. The moon looked back, broken, but still shining. If Shadow stared at it for long enough, he could almost see her gentle smile…

“Why do you love me,” Shadow finally asked. Sonic’s stomach twisted the same way it did last time he heard that question. He didn’t want to play these stupid games. Couldn’t.

“I don’t know,” he grumbled. “Why do you hate me?”

“I don’t,” Shadow responded immediately. There was no hesitation in his voice and Sonic’s pathetic heart took notice of that. However, what did it matter if someone didn’t hate him? His standards were way to low if that was all it took to get his heart beating.

“Okay, cool,” Sonic rolled his eyes, uncaring if Shadow could see it or not. “Could’ve fooled me.”

Silence settled over them again. Sonic was adamant in keeping his gaze turned away at the ground. He knew Shadow was looking at him, but he didn’t even want to give him the decency of looking back.

“I want to… apologize for what I said,” Shadow said slowly.

“Don’t mention it,” Sonic replied angrily.

“I just-”

“I mean it,” Sonic snapped, turning his head suddenly to glare at Shadow. The outburst had Shadow wincing back a bit and that was the only thing that prevented their noses from smashing into each other. Sonic quickly pulled back, not wanting any more close calls. Still, he faced Shadow with a snarl. “I don’t care anymore. If you say I’m nothing, whether you mean it or not, I don’t care!”

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Shadow lamented quickly. He looked genuinely ashamed, but it was a little too late for that. “You’re not nothing, you’re-”

“A good lay?” Sonic finished scornfully.

“No! Well, yes, but also-”

Sonic interrupted him with a loud scoff. “Just can it, won’t you? I don’t want to hear your stupid apologies! I told you something I should’ve kept to myself, and you didn’t like it-”

“I did-”

“So you don’t have to worry about me anymore. I know where I’m not wanted, and you’ve made it clear for years-”

“Listen-”

“Now we don’t ever have to see each other again!” Sonic threw his arms out in a grand gesture. “I won’t bug you to race or spar or anything. I won’t follow you to your stupid tree, or take anymore of your stupid books, or-or bet on you ever coming to my rescue-”

“Sonic!” Shadow raised his voice. He gripped both of Sonic’s arms and pinned them to his sides in a forceful bid for his attention. His red eyes bore directly into Sonic’s, mere inches away. “I love you!’

…

Did Sonic hear him right?

“What did you say?” Sonic asked breathlessly, because he couldn’t trust this wasn’t another delusion.

He leaned into Shadow’s space with no regard to Shadow’s deep blush nor the touch of their noses. Shadow quickly turned his head away shyly, suddenly have found the same profound interest in the snow that Sonic had earlier. Sonic just leaned in closer, trying to catch another glimpse of those ruby eyes.

“Did you just say you loved me?” Sonic dared asking as his heart beat faster than he ever was.

Shadow slowly peeked out of hiding, revealing his even brighter cheeks. “I- yes… I did.”

“What!” Sonic burst. His body thrummed with so much newfound energy and his only way of expelling it was to tackle Shadow to the ground.

Shadow fell back with an oomph while Sonic scrambled over him on all fours. Sonic’s knees landed on either side of Shadow’s waist and his hands at the sides of Shadow’s head. From this angle, Shadow could not possibly have seen just how much Sonic’s tail was wagging. All he could do was look up at Sonic’s excited green eyes while being bombarded with questions.

“But you said-!”

“I know.”

“Why did you-!”

“I was stupid.”

“How come-!”

“Listen!” Shadow demanded, swiftly sitting up. This new position forced Sonic to sit back onto Shadow’s knees. Shadow took a deep breath, still sporting a bright blush, before determinedly looking back at Sonic. “That day, when you confessed… I didn’t know I loved you.”

Sonic opened his mouth to say something but Shadow quickly pressed a finger to his lips. “Let me speak, please.”

When he saw Sonic’s mouth close again, he tentatively removed his finger to make sure it stayed that way. That didn’t stop Sonic’s eyes from staring at him eagerly, reflecting all the thoughts he would’ve been saying aloud if Shadow didn’t stop him. Shadow let out another deep breath.

“For a long time, I felt something for you,” Shadow said. “I didn’t understand it, or actually… I was scared I did. Nothing good has ever come from me loving someone.”

Sonic looked like he desperately wanted to say something but adhered to his silent promise of not speaking. Shadow was thankful because this was something he needed to get off his chest.

“Then you kissed me, which was… a surprise,” Shadow continued. He truly hadn’t been expecting it that day, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it. Sonic had delightfully soft lips. “I never thought you’d be interested in me, so I figured you only wanted to be involved in a sexual relationship, considering how… amorous you seemed in the moment. I knew it was foolish but… I pursued it too.”

Strictly sex, Shadow had said. No feelings.

He hadn’t known if he was trying to convince Sonic or himself. When Sonic’s actions opened up an avenue for sex, Shadow hoped it was just what he needed to clear these frustrations he’d had since knowing Sonic. He’d hoped fucking him into the dirt would be everything he needed to cleanse his soul.

And it was amazing. Every time.

“Don’t be upset, but you really are a good lay,” Shadow admitted, somewhat dreamily. But one look at Sonic’s unamused frown had him clearing his throat and continuing. “I- I also realized how much I like… being with you. I enjoyed kissing you, taking care of you, and just.. holding you—I liked having you in my arms.”

Shadow emphasized this by cradling his hands around Sonic’s elbows. Sonic looked like he was melting more and more to Shadow’s words and that touch was enough to get his tail wagging. Shadow was endeared to feel it brush against his legs.

Shadow hadn’t known what came over him the first time he cuddled Sonic. He knew it was a direct contradiction to the agreement he himself made the terms for. But as he faced the aftermath of Sonic’s pleasure, watching him pant with dazed, green eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to walk away so quickly. It was with pure instinct that he protectively wrapped his body around Sonic’s as they both came down from their highs. Neither had said a word, and Sonic blissfully fell asleep like that.

This happened each time they hooked up and it was never addressed. Shadow found himself to be looking forward to that just as much as the sex. It was that sort of physical touch that was actually effective in satisfying the frustrations he felt. His heart treasured those moments of them being together, in their own quiet bubble.

It was a feeling he’d been missing for decades.

“It was terrifying,” Shadow said. His quills are too sharp for bubbles. His last one popped and he feared it would happen again. “For so long, I made sure no one got too close to me… but you did.”

How many times had Shadow reenforced the walls around him and how many times had Sonic slipped through the cracks? And, with whatever relationship they developed, Sonic had bulldozed all of Shadow’s hard work, wearing a cute smile on his face. Shadow was left vulnerable. All he could do to defend his heart was… to lash out.

“I said awful things to you,” Shadow uttered shamefully. He wanted to look away from the way Sonic’s face dropped but wouldn’t let himself. “You have always been so persistent but I figured if you hated me… you’d leave me alone… and these feelings would go away.”

There had been so much hurt in Sonic’s eyes the night Shadow left him in the rain. The image of it haunted Shadow for days to come. It stayed with him when he reported into G.U.N.. When he was deployed on his mission. When he had to fight through a flurry of bots. When he could’ve dodged, but his mind was too distracted to make him.

“These feelings didn’t go away,” Shadow said after a moment of silence. “Even on my mission, all I could think about was just how much I hurt you. I could hardly focus on anything else, so… I bailed out halfway.”

After he lost a fight he knew he could have easily won had his mind not been a flurry of regret, he returned to G.U.N.. They were upset, but he never cared about how they felt anyway.

He should have went home after, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Rouge would undoubtedly ask him what happened, not letting him get away without giving her satisfactory answer. He wouldn’t be able to give her one so it was best to avoid their apartment at all costs.

Besides that… he just wanted to be alone.

He found a place, where he knew no one could bother him, to hide away in while he wallowed in his self-deprecation.

“I couldn’t bring myself to face anyone after what I did to you,” Shadow said. “So I hid. I should have told someone, I know, but… I just…”

Did nothing. For days, he rotted. He hardly ate or drank and could not even sleep to waste the time. Hours and hours and hours and all he could think about was Sonic.

It was during this desolation that he came to two equally devastating revelations: He loved Sonic, and he broke Sonic’s heart.

It only made him more miserable. He had no idea what he could do with these newfound discoveries. It was too late to win back Sonic’s heart after he grossly tossed it aside. It would just be cruel to even try. He thought Sonic would not want anything to do with him again, and he could not blame him. All that was left to do was to try and get over these feelings now that he accepted them. There was a painful and long journey ahead of him.

But then, after however many days he lost count of, he heard Sonic’s voice.

Even from the distance, Shadow was able to hear the ragged desperation in the way Sonic called out his name.

Shadow!

It was faint, but everything he needed to hear.

“You looked for me,” Shadow said after he had trailed off his previous sentence. His voice picked up from its dreariness as he watched Sonic’s eyes slightly widen and his cheeks blush. “I heard you… I figured you would already hate me, but… you were searching for me.”

When Shadow heard him, he knew it was a sign—an opportunity. He couldn’t spit in its face like last time.

So he came out of hiding. He didn’t know how he knew Sonic would be there, but something in his gut told him to go to the tree.

And there Sonic was, sitting below its mangle as the sunlight slowly drifted over the horizon. Shadow just stood there, watching, until the moon was high in the sky.

He had gathered up his courage, and called out Sonic’s name.

Shadow’s ruby eyes looked at Sonic like he was trying to find an answer in him.

After Sonic had silently listened to his explanation without saying a single word, he knew it was time for him to speak up again.

“Of course I searched for you, stupid,” Sonic said softly. He brought his hands up to Shadow’s face and gingerly cupped it. “I already told you I love you.”

Shadow let out a breath when he felt Sonic’s hands close around him. His eyes shone with hope and sorrow. “I’m sorry for what I said… and how I treated you.”

“I know,” Sonic said, because he did. He had watched the way Shadow’s face twisted with new emotions that Sonic had never seen and heard the depth to his words.

“You’re not nothing,” Shadow spoke earnestly. “I was stupid to say anything like that. I loved every moment we spent together, not just from these past few months, but for years. You are the only reason I’m even capable of feeling this way.”

Each word slowly patched another piece of Sonic’s heart. This was all he ever wanted really. To matter. To be something so important in Shadow’s life, the same way Shadow was dear to him.

“Sonic,” Shadow whispered. “You are everything.”

Everything.

Sonic loved, and he was everything.

“Do you think you could ever forgive me?”

Sonic sniffed as he looked down at Shadow through blurry eyes. Even so, he could see just how profound Shadow’s gaze was as he waited for a response, like it would affect the outcome of his entire life.

“Yes,” Sonic let out breathlessly.

Shadow’s eyes widened like he couldn’t believe it. “Really?”

Sonic felt himself smile, real and genuine. His heart fluttered at the sight of Shadow staring up at him with stars in his eyes. “Yes, yes, I forgive you.”

Suddenly, there were arms engulfing his waist and pulling him into a hug. Sonic squeaked a bit in surprise but didn’t fight it. In fact, he melted into it and wrapped his arms around Shadow’s head which was buried in Sonic’s chest. This was the tightest Shadow ever embraced him and it made him feel safe and warm even in the cold snow. He always did love being in these arms.

They slowly pulled apart but kept their faces hovering just an inch apart. Sonic didn’t know who leaned in first, but it didn’t matter because he finally got to taste those lips again.

Their kiss was slow and deep as they got back into a rhythm they had thought they lost. Sonic reexplored each nook and cranny in Shadow’s mouth with vigor and let Shadow do the same. He felt those arms tighten around his waist and he dug his fingers into Shadow’s quills. As things gradually got more heated, Sonic shifted his hips down on Shadow’s. Like music to his ears, Shadow groaned.

“Wait,” Shadow mumbled, pulling away. Sonic tried following but it was clear Shadow wanted to pause. “I- we can’t.”

“What?” Sonic’s voice was dangerously close to a whine. His happy ending was within his reach! “Why not?”

Shadow peered up into Sonic’s eyes with a complicated look. He wanted to ask something, but was nervous to, that much was clear. From experience, Sonic had learned it was best to wait out these sort of moments rather than nag for an answer.

“You never answered my question,” Shadow said quietly.

Sonic tried to think back on their conversation but came up blank. “What question?”

“Why do you love me?” Shadow asked.

When he asked that on the day of their fallout, Sonic took it as him being disgusted with Sonic’s feelings. It was like he was asking why a little rat thing such as Sonic would possibly think he had a chance with the high and mighty Shadow. But as Sonic looked into Shadow’s insecure eyes, he realized he had it all reversed.

Shadow thought he was the little rat thing, and wanted to know how Sonic could like him.

Sonic remembered what Amy had told him. She loved him because she thought he was perfect, and only stopped when she realized he wasn’t. That was not Sonic’s case.

He knew very well the many flaws of one Shadow the Hedgehog. Sure he was fast, and strong, and smart, but his attitude could be a pain in the ass. He was difficult to work with in a team setting if he didn’t get to do exactly what he wanted. He had a temper that got the better of him at times and made him extra aggressive. His communication was dogshit (exhibit a: he went missing for 10 days).

And yet, Sonic was head over heels for him.

He lifted one of his hands from where it was still buried in Shadow’s quills and brought it to his face. He traced different parts of Shadow’s features, from the corner of his lips, to the arch of his nose, to his eyebrow ridge (Shadow closed one of his eyes adorably to avoid being poked), to the beginning of the red stripe on his head. It was all beautiful.

“Did you know your breath smells like coffee?” Sonic asked.

That had Shadow looking at him as if a fish landed on his head, and it nearly made Sonic laugh.

“Wha-”

“Yeah, I feel like I noticed that about you a long time ago,” Sonic said dreamily. He had been getting real up front in his face over some sort of argument he didn’t even remember anymore, and he caught a strong whiff of caffeine. It had been a bit faint in the moment, but as the years passed, it seemed to only get stronger as Shadow was became more of a coffee fiend. “I used to call you coffee breath behind your back.”

“I don’t understand-”

“But…” Sonic interrupted, because it was his turn to talk, “one day… I started liking it. Coffee isn’t the worst thing to smell like. At least it’s not rotten eggs, y’know. When we started hanging out more often and we’d actually just… talk… I liked hearing what you had to say. And I even started liking the smell of it. You gave words a smell, and I liked it. That’s so weird, right?”

From the way Shadow was looking at him, Sonic knew he thought it was.

“There were a lot of moments like that over the years, where I’d just realize that I like something little about you,” Sonic said. “And then the somethings got bigger and bigger and my feelings grew stronger and stronger.”

Sonic found himself smiling.

“I love how considerate you are, even when you pretend to not be. I love how you put your all into everything you do. I love how dedicated you are to the things you care about—enough that it even affects your breath,” Sonic laughed softly. He pressed a finger to where Shadow’s brow furrowed until it smoothed out. “I love your smiles, I love your frowns. I love your humor, your silence. I love everything about you!”

Sonic suddenly cupped Shadow’s cheeks with both hands out of the spark of adrenaline that shot through him. “I have never felt anything like this about anyone ever. You are the only one who made my feelings this complicatedly simple. It’s always only been you!”

Tears, filled with all the love in the world, gathered at Sonic’s eyes as a huge grin split across his face. He could see them in Shadow’s eyes too. He brought their faces so close together, bundling them into their own little world that existed only in the space between their gazes. “I can only love you!”

And finally Shadow kissed him again. He had surged forward so fast and so suddenly that it pushed Sonic back a bit, but Sonic didn’t care. His arms found their way around Shadow’s neck again as he returned the kiss with just as much enthusiasm. It was even more lovely than the one that ended abruptly before.

This one didn’t get interrupted, thankfully. Not when it got deeper and more heated. Not when Shadow turned them around so he was nestled between Sonic’s legs. Not when his hands roamed all the parts it hadn’t been able to explore in weeks.

Sonic missed this feeling so dearly. And it was all so much sweeter now that he knew there were real feelings behind it, not just his own. Shadow was finally his, the way he had always belonged to Shadow.

In the dead of winter, under an old cherry tree, they became one again.

The moon was at its peak when Sonic and Shadow sat on the cliffside, letting their legs dangle off the edge.

Sonic, satisfied and sleepy, leaned his head on Shadow’s shoulder. It had been one of the rare occasions when Sonic didn’t immediately knock out after sex, and it was mostly because he knew he had to return home that night. Otherwise, he’d get everyone even more worked up when not just one, but two emotionally unstable hedgehogs have gone AWOL. Still, they could wait just a bit longer while he enjoyed his afterglow with the one who created it.

Shadow had a protective arm around Sonic’s waist while he looked out over the trees. Sonic peeked up at his handsome face and watched the way those ruby eyes leisurely surveyed their view.

“Are we dating now?” Sonic asked, with a bit of a baited breath.

Shadow paused for a moment before looking down at Sonic. “I believe so.”

Sonic’s heart swelled double its size. He had to bite his lip to contain the massive smile that would have surely torn his face in half. He snuggled impossibly closer to his boyfriend.

“But…” Shadow said, and Sonic felt ready to strangle him, “Do you mind if… we kept it private for now? I have never been in a relationship before and it would make me feel more… secure if I had you to myself.”

He sounded so nervous making the request as if Sonic wouldn’t bring down the moon for him if asked.

“That’s okay,” Sonic agreed. “We’ll take some time to figure ourselves out while we go back to the basics.”

“Basics?”

Sonic laughed. “Most couples don’t start their relationships with sex. It usually takes a bit of time before any of that happens. This…” Sonic gently took Shadow’s free hand and interlocked their fingers, “is the basics.”

He looked up to see Shadow’s reaction, and what he saw almost had him burst out laughing. Shadow stared at their hands with wide eyes and the most flushed cheeks Sonic has seen on him. This expression was all new to Sonic and he was happy to add it to his mental catalogue.

“Why are you so shy about this?” Sonic giggled, squeezing Shadow’s hand tighter. “You literally just fucked me!”

“I- yeah, but-” Shadow stuttered, his face still beet red. His eyes hadn’t moved from where it stared at their intertwined hands like a deer in the headlights. “This-… I-”

Sonic threw his head back and let out a loud laugh. That finally ripped Shadow’s eyes off their hands and instead at Sonic. His face twisted grumpily, but the red on his cheeks ruined any effect of him looking angry. Oh how adorable!

“Yeah, we’ll need the time,” Sonic snickered, but that didn’t put an end to Shadow’s grumpiness.

Still with their hands together, Sonic leaned in real close and rubbed their noses together. It was the first time Sonic purposely did so, as it was usually an intimate action between couples, which they now were. He regretted it the moment he did. Or maybe he didn’t.

Shadow had violently jolted at the gesture. Sonic pulled away quickly, scared he accidentally did something wrong. He stared wide-eyed at Shadow, but it didn’t compare to how wide Shadow’s eyes were. And if Sonic thought Shadow’s cheeks were red before, it was nothing in comparison to how it was now.

Sonic would have laughed, if Shadow hadn’t also scrambled out of Sonic’s hold and right off the cliff.

“Shadow!” he called out as he watched his new boyfriend plummet into a field of trees.

Sonic was quietly snickering when he finally put Shadow down in front of his apartment door. He had to carry Shadow from the forest due to Shadow spraining not only his ankle, but also his wrist. Thankfully, his body was capable of a speedy recovery, and he should be up on his feet by the next morning.

“We’ll practice the basics more another time,” Sonic whispered, his voice joyous.

Shadow did not look amused, but that didn’t stop Sonic from quietly laughing in his face. Sonic then knocked on the door, since Shadow wasn’t as capable.

“Here’s some homework though,” Sonic mused as he saw the light inside the apartment instantly turn on.

He pressed a big, fat kiss to his lovely boyfriend’s cheek, then dashed away just as the door was opening.

Rouge, after a full day of frantically searching for him, found her roommate at their front door past two am with twigs in his quills, a twisted ankle and wrist, and a bright red face.

Oh, he was going to be the end of her!

Sonic wakes up after having such a lovely dream. It’s a beautiful spring day, the sun peeking over the horizon with the promise of a nice sunny day after a rainy spell.

The sound of a crying hoglet reaches his ears and he doesn’t have the heart to be annoyed by it. Terios is just a bit hungry, so Sonic will happily provide.

He moves to stand up, but feels an arm on his waist stop him. He turns around and sees Shadow, grumbling in his sleep as he tried to keep Sonic in bed. This has been happening the past few mornings, and it warms Sonic’s heart each time.

He leans down and presses a soft kiss to Shadow’s forehead and watches his furrowed brows fade away. Only then does Shadow’s hold slacken just enough for Sonic to slip out. Sonic is happy to pay this daily toll.

Before he opens the bedroom door to leave, he takes a moment to admire the handsome hedgehog in their bed. Their journey may have been a complicated one, but Sonic would gladly do it again if it means he gets to feel Shadow’s love another day.