Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Dude, are you sure we need all of this? It's just a camping trip." The speedy blue hedgehog huffed. He was sprawled across a medium sized suitcase, laying like one of your french girls. He was messing with a stray zipper that seemed very interesting for some reason.

"Look, I just want to be prepared-" Grunted the red echidna. "Sorry that I seem to be the only one worried about the two of you." This gained a sigh from the hedgehog. On top of Knuckles' worried behavior, he had been trying to zip up this suitcase for about 13 and a half minutes. He had asked Sonic to lay on top of it, mostly because he was kinda chunky, so he could use the weight to his advantage, but also because Shadow was off cooking a hefty meal before they took off. And no one interrupted him while cooking. He could and would whack you with a greasy spatula, but would hold off until after the meal was completed. Fur would mess up the taste, as the black hedgehog would say.

Finally, after 28 more long, excruciating minutes, Knuckles finally zipped up their bag. It wasn't even full of clothes -- none of them WORE clothes. At least, not unless it was for a formal event, or Shadow's pants that he has for some reason(both Sonic and Knuckles find it hot, so neither complain). Nothing for the outdoors.

"I hope you realize we're only going to be out there for a couple of days, Knucklehead." Sonic sat up and hopped off the bag and table, then placed a hand on his hip.

"Well, yeah, but… You can never know what'll happen. Gotta think about that."

"Huh. I never thought YOU of all people would be thinking. Especially when it comes to being prepared. You usually just run in first!" The blue blur chuckled before patting Knuckles' chest and walking past him into the kitchen. The buff echidna was too flustered to reply.

"Yo Sha-" Sonic started, before being halted by a black hedgehog clad in a bright pink apron with the words "BITCH BITCH BITCH" plastered all over the front. He was waving a wooden spoon littered with chili in front of the blue blur's muzzle, and his face was seething with rage. Sonic ignored said rage and licked the spoon before lowering it with his index finger.

"Hm. Not spicy enough. Try again."

Shadow groaned. Sonic smirked.

"How many times do I have to tell you--"

"Don't interrupt you while cooking, yeah, yeah. I won't bother you for long, sadly. Just wanted to check in. I see the chili's going well. Disregarding the spice, anyway." Shadow sighed before returning to the stove, mixing his delicious concoction.

"It's almost ready. Be sure to inform Knuckles. Maybe this time he won't be late to the table. And for the record, hedgehog, this chili is in fact spicy enough! You're just too hot headed to notice!" Sonic just chuckled. It was always cute when Shadow got pissed about someone knocking his cooking skills. He was so far beyond Hell's Kitchen and Gordon Ramsey… he was the ULTIMATE chef. No one could compare! At least, that's what Shadow thought.

"I'll just take that as a compliment. See you at the table?" Sonic winked. Shadow replied with a nod before quickly adding 'try not to eat so much this time, you'll get a tummy-ache'. But by then, the blue hedgehog was gone.

After many attempts of prying Knuckles away from looking for more stuff to shove in their unnecessarily over packed bag, Sonic finally got the buff echidna to the table. Shadow was glaring daggers into his red boyfriend, who was trying to hug the black hedgehog as an apology. This chef was having none of it. As soon as the poor echidna got in his vicinity -- he was going in for a smooch -- Shadow growled and bopped Knuckles right on his nose with his signature spoon made out of wood.

"OW, MY RHINARIUM!!" He shouted, rubbing his hurting, throbbing, schnoz. The fool jingled miserably back to his seat after his boyfriend bared his fangs in a threatening manner, but nearly forgot about his pain when their lunch had arrived.

"Can I get four?" Sonic asked, just now recovering from laughter after what had happened with his two men.

"No you may not. Eat two, and if you finish those and you're still hungry? Then you can have more. Knuckles and I have to eat too, you know." The black hedgehog passed out two to each, much to the blue blur's dismay. Sonic thought it was strange how Shadow gave himself two, as he rarely ate. Guess he just wanted to be just as prepared for the wilderness as Knuckles was. Despite how much he had been out, Shadow had never really enjoyed the outdoors before. At least, he had never camped before. Sonic and Knuckles vowed to show him just how pretty and serene it could be. Shadow expected this trip to be anything BUT serene, as Sonic and Knux were going. They were way too chaotic. But he digressed, it was a chance to experience something he never had before, along with his two closest and precious men.

Fitting the black hedgehog's perception on Sonic's behavior, Sonic ignored the onslaught of warnings against eating too much and scarfed down his dogs anyway. He then proceeded to plead for more. Shadow sighed before relinquishing two more of his wieners. Sonic was very happy.

Knuckles bit into one of his before looking at Sonic, saying,

"Y'know, if you eat too many, you might choke."

Shadow gave Knuckles a blank expression. "He already has. Twice." Sonic grabbed his throat as he fell out of his chair. He was gasping for air, an arm extended up in the air dramatically.

Shadow watched as Knuckles looked around nervously before tackling his blue boyfriend and wrapping his buff arms around the hedgehog's pudgy middle. With a firm squeeze, Sonic could breathe again. The echidna stood up, holding the poor Hedgehog in his arms. Knux looked down at him with a worried expression, waiting for Sonic to say something. Anything.

"I… liked when your muscular arms were wrapped around me…"

The even redder echidna dropped Sonic to the floor, absolutely flustered.

"I actually wished you choked." This only got a smirk from the blue blur.

"I thought I already did~?"

Shadow then watched as Knuckles sat back down at his seat, pinching the bridge of his muzzle. He was on the verge of screaming.

"Alright, alright, that's enough, you two. Eat your lunch so we can leave." He grumbled, a slight smile spreading across his face cheeks. He shook his head. Despite how much of a dumbass each of his boyfriends were, he loved them all the same. Shadow just hoped he could survive the next few nights with these bumbling idiots he loved so much.

Chapter Text

The boys were nearing their destination, only just a few minutes away. With how fast Sonic and Shadow were, it didn't take them too long. Getting ready to leave, however, was a different story entirely.

At first, Knuckles suggested he carried everyone AND their bags, which they all agreed to at first. But everyone (Sonic more than anyone else) complained about how slow they were going. Knuckles hadn't even left the house yet. After much trial and error, it was decided that Shadow carries the bag while Sonic carried Knuckles on his shoulders. It was a little difficult at first, the blue blur not expecting just how much Knuckles weighed. He had a lot of muscle mass, after all. He crashed into a bunch of walls a multitude of times, much to both Shadow and Knuckles' amusement. But once Sonic found his momentum, they were off.

As the three entered the campground, Shadow looked over at Sonic. 

"Hey, make sure to slow down gradually, you wouldn't wa-"

"WHAT?!" Sonic replied loudly, skidding to a halt almost as fast as he replied. Knuckles flew right off of Sonic, colliding face first into the thiccest tree possible.

"-want Knuckles to fly off…" Shadow snorted, finishing his statement from earlier. He was concerned for the red echidna, like any good boyfriend would be, but he would be lying if he said it wasn't a tad bit funny. Even for an edgy hedgy like him.

"Hey! Watff where you're stoppibg, Sobic!!" The rhinarium-busted echidna screamed, pinching his hurt nose. Sonic rushed up to him and pat his chest, causing a slight blush to creep up onto Knuckles' face.

"S-Sorry, Knucklehead. But uh… at least you used your head for once?" The buff chested echidna groaned and viciously pat his blue boyfriend on the back.

"Not cool, Sonic…" His aforementioned boyfriend shrugged before planting his hand on Knuckles’ left tiddy, going on his tippy toes, and smooching his snoot. Knuckles’ muzzle became about as bright as his fur, Sonic knowing full well of what he had done. The sneaky little devil of a hedgehog smirked as he saw Knuckles falter with his words and actions, struggling to even take a step. This was too easy. Sonic turned and walked towards Shadow, making sure to caress the buff-chested echidna’s chin while doing so, just to make Knux’s day just that much more of a living gay hell.

“Will you two stop fooling around?” Shadow grumbled, looking away from his two idiots before using this opportunity to scout out a place to set up camp. Sonic slithered up in front of him and scritched behind Shadow’s ear. The black hedgehog didn’t move.

“Aw, but I’m serious about my fooling around~!” Shadow groaned. He was used to this, but that didn’t mean it got any less annoying. He still loved these idiots, though. Quite frankly, he didn’t know what he’d do without them.

Shadow gave Sonic a look, who reluctantly stepped aside. He was still smiling like a dummy.

"We need to find somewhere to put our stuff…" The edgehog huffed. He looked back at Knuckles, who was still in a daze. Poor guy. Shadow felt that pain, not that extent however. Sonic was a teaser, but sometimes he tried way too much.

"Sonic, please don't kill Knuckles. He has nice muscles."

Sonic had to process what Shadow had just said. He wasn't wrong by any means, he just wasn't expecting it. From Shads of all people. The blue blur simply crossed his arms and nodded his head, his muzzle flushed with a brilliant pink.

"You're not wrong," he said simply. "...A-Anyway… We were looking for a place to set up camp, right? Easy! Just leave this to me!" The blue hedgehog reeled back, ready to take off before Shadow interrupted him with a waggle of a finger.

"Uh uh uh, faker. I can't let you win this one." Sonic smirked, then shrugged.

"Of course. I should've known. First one to find the best place for our tent gets to hold the bag of marshmallows." The Ultimate Competitor shook his head, knowing full well his blue boyfriend would hog the bag regardless of the results of this little race. Sonic really put 'hog' in 'hedgehog'. No doubt Shadow wasn't going to give him a chance to win at yet another of one of their annual trivial races.

This left Knuckles to practically nothing. He rolled his eyes at his boyfriends before sighing and picking up their gear. He was used to this. Thankfully after the two were thrown out of their big dick contest, they'd run back for Knuckles while apologizing profusely, at least Sonic did. Shadow only apologized once then turned his head away in shame. The red echidna was fine with it though, he always found their petty competitions cute. Even if they did leave him in the dust.

The two sped off in their own directions, causing a mighty gust of wind to come careening through the trees. Knux sighed once more, his dreads flapping in the wind. It didn't take long for them to come back, teeth gritted, both claiming they found the greatest spot. Knuckles extended both arms out, visually telling them to settle down.

"Ladies, ladies! You're both pretty, good looking, etc… Now show me to these spots of yours..." The buff chested echidna stopped to take off one of the ties around his wrist. He bit onto it for the time being, so that he could use both hands to focus on bunching up his dreads to the back of his head. He grabbed the tie from his mouth and tied his quills up.

"...I'll be the judge."

Sonic and Shadow exchanged glances, gulping at nearly the exact same time. Sonic's legs felt like Jell-O™, and Shadow wasn't faring well either. They both agreed Knuckles was smokin' (who wouldn't), but when he put his dreads up just made them quiver and panic with pure gay intent. Full homo. The only problem was, the two gay messes known as Sonic and Shadow would debate over who's they should inspect first. Knuckles just decided it with having the two compete in a thumb wrestling match. Despite Shadow's deep concentration and skill, Sonic won with flying colors by utter lack of skill and a heavy dosage of luck.

"Alright! C'mon, guys!" The blue hedgehog did a mini back flip then proceeded to literally drag his two boyfriends through the wooded area. The blue blur careened around trees and up hills, passing through a few unnatural naturally made loops. Soon, he came to a stop. It wasn't as smooth as his other acts of deceleration, as he had extra weight to handle. But he managed.

"Well, here we are!" He motioned down towards a small, recluse area nestled into the woods right on the edge of a sparkling lake. It was gorgeous, frankly put by Shadow. But he had better. The black hedgehog chuckled triumphantly.

"Let me show you a true camping spot, faker!" Sonic rolled his eyes, but decided to play along.

"Alright, Tweedledee, lead the way." Shadow was happy to oblige, as he scooped up Knux into his arms and darted off. Knuckles was quite surprised by the sudden action -- so surprised, he couldn't say anything. He just clung to Shadow with a beet red muzzle and let whatever was happening happen. Sonic shrugged, grabbed their camping gear, then followed. They went back the way they came and more, passing more bizarre landmarks that you'd only see in these regions, like corkscrew from a dead tree or a half pipe ditch. They paid no mind to this, however, as they came to a clearing and stopped.

In front of the three was a vast, open field, covered with flowers of many kinds. Knuckles could probably name a hefty amount, but he was too busy taking in the view. There was a majestic rainbow slathered across the delightfully blue sky, fitting considered who was there. There were deer and other forest folk prancing off into the distance. The sweet aroma of the flowers tickled the three's noses, and they knew. This was their spot.

"I gotta hand it to ya, Shadster. You really know how to find a good spot." Sonic admitted, crossing his arms with a defeated smirk.

"Damn right I do." Shadow replied simply.

The three inspected the area, and with each passing second, it was becoming ever more apparent that this would be their camping grounds. Good. Thankfully the lake wasn't too far, so even if they wanted to take a dip, namely Shadow and Knuckles, they could easily make their way over there (at least, the former would have to carry the latter -- he can't exactly run fast). Sonic dropped their camping supplies in a patch of grass clear of any flowers and raced over to meet his boyfriends.

Shadow and Knuckles were sitting next to each other on a log, eyes closed and hands intertwined. It was until Sonic zipped up in front of them with a tapping foot that the two opened their eyes.

"Starting without me, eh?" Sonic raised a brow. The two replied with a chuckle before Knux pat his lap.

"Alright, you clingy asshole, c'mere~" Sonic huffed before trotting over and sitting precisely where the echidna mentioned. He was immediately enveloped in Shadow and Knuckles' free hands, pulling the three into a loving embrace. Sonic blushed, but looked up to each of them and gave them both a kiss on the cheek. Knuckles planted a smooch on Sonic's head, near his ear, before leaning on it, and Shadow simply rested on his shoulder.

The three sat there for awhile, admiring the views from their relaxed position. The sun was setting, and the air was starting to get chilly. Sonic closed his eyes, taking in the fresh, now cool air.

After a long swath of silence, Sonic finally spoke up, not once opening his eyes. Shadow's ear flicked at the sound of Sonic's inhale.

"We should totally make s'mores."