Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was nice to finally be back home, everyone safe and relatively unharmed. Tom is still in a sling, and he moves around the house rather gingerly, groaning as he sinks into chairs slowly (and half the time with Maddie’s help). He was happy to see him home, conscious, but he couldn’t help the feeling of guilt that worms its way into his heart and mind whenever he’s reminded of the fact that Tom got hurt, and Sonic wasn’t there to stop it. He’s received multiple talks from both Tom and Maddie, both of them attempting to reassure him that none of it was his fault, that he did everything he could have. 

Doesn’t make it any easier. 

He’s made it his personal mission to make sure Tom is as comfortable as possible, constantly fetching extra pillows, drinks, snacks, whatever Tom wants Sonic gets (even if it wasn’t asked for). It helps.

And then there are the nights that Sonic dreams about finding Tom, though in those dreams no one else comes, and Tom never wakes up. Instead he’s alone in that empty hallway, not even Shadow looming over them as he pleads for Tom to wake up, to not leave him. When he wakes up in the middle of the night from those he’ll sneak downstairs and down the hall, stopping just outside Tom and Maddie’s room. He’s never actually gone in, not wanting to bother them. So instead he stands outside with his ear pressed against the wood, listening for any sign of life behind the door (usually coming through one of Tom’s occasional snores). 

Tonight, though, when he’s once again awoken by that stupid dream, he decides to go for a run. He hasn’t allowed himself to ever really leave the house and stretch his legs in a while, instead wanting to stick around and properly protect the more vulnerable members of his family. But Knux and Tails are here, and Sonic knows they’re more than capable should something happen, so he allows himself to get out and get some air. 

He runs through Green Hills, out into the mountains that surround his hometown, and he feels at peace. The night air was crisp, and the smell of pine and damp foliage a welcome sensation. He ran up to his usual cliff, but before he could make out into the clearing he skids to a stop. There, sitting on the edge was a familiar silhouette. Sonic blinks a couple times, and then when the figure remained, he scrubbed at his eyes. There was no way that was who he thought it was, right? It had to be someone else, someone dangerous and unknown, someone who-

“I know you’re there, Sonic.”

Sonic steps beyond the tree line, his body tense, not quite trusting his own ears.

“Shadow? Is that actually you?”

Shadow stands, turning to face Sonic. He was illuminated by the moonlight, and Sonic slowly approaches while Shadow frowns at him.

“Who else would I be?” Shadow says, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Sonic puts his hands on his hips, “Lately? Anyone, the number of aliens that have shown up is beyond weird.” 

Shadow huffs a breath through his nose before turning his back on Sonic. Sonic takes a couple of tentative steps forward, and then when Shadow doesn’t do more than flick an ear his way, he takes the last couple of steps until he’s standing beside him. They look up at the sky, seeing the moon (though, the sight has changed a bit since the bottom half of it was missing). The stars are much brighter here than in the backyard, not all that light pollution all the way out here. 

Sonic looks over at Shadow, whose eyes are gently shifting between the clusters of light in the sky. Until now, Sonic had no idea what happened to the other hedgehog, though he had hoped that he was okay somewhere out there, living his best life, whatever that entailed. 

In the time between then and now, Sonic had pretty much forgotten what it was like to be so close to Shadow, how powerful he was, and just downright cool. Sonic isn’t afraid to admit it, he’s hedgehog enough to admit something like that. So he looks at Shadow, and the downturned curve of his mouth. He looks fine, not singed or broken (though, black fur in the dark doesn’t make for the clearest of pictures), which is good. Sonic shifts his weight foot to foot, suddenly nervous. He should say something. But what? What could he possibly say? Oh hey fighting with you was awesome and I totally don’t think about it or you or that motorcycle chase or anything else for that matter. Where was I going with this?

“How did you find me?” Shadow asks.

Sonic blinks, clearing his throat, “Ah well, I didn’t mean to find you, I kinda just happened to. What are you doing out here anyway? You were never in Green Hills before now.”

Shadow looks away from the sky and instead looks at Sonic, “Is that what this place is called? Green Hills?”

Sonic nods, a smile forcing its way onto his face, “The one and only.” 

Shadow raises a brow, “A bit on the nose, isn’t it?” 

Sonic’s eyes sweep over the landscape before returning to Shadow’s face, “I suppose it is.” 

Another bout of silence, and Sonic kicks at some rocks under his feet before blurting, “Has anyone ever told you you sound like Keanu Reeves?” 

Shadow frowns at him, “I don’t know who that is.” 

Sonic gasps, placing his hand on his chest in mock insult, “How could you not know the Keanu Reeves? That has to be some kind of crime.” 

Shadow just rolls his eyes with a shake of his head.

Sonic takes a side-step closer to Shadow, lightly punching him in the shoulder (which, totally bad idea, don’t hit the guy that took out you and both of your brothers). “Don’t worry, Shads, I would be honored to be the one to introduce you to him.” 

“Don’t call me that.” 

He says it as he moves to sit, cross legged on the overgrown rock. Sonic plops down next to him, legs out, feet swaying back and forth. There’s this jittery energy bouncing around his torso, fluttery and electric. It was the opposite effect he had been seeking when he first came out here, wanting to calm his head so he could go back to a hopefully dreamless sleep. However he finds the sensation oddly pleasant, leaning into it as he basks in the fractured moonlight. 

“So where have you been?”

Shadow is back to looking out at the darkened forest below them, his hands folded in his lap, “Around. Lately I’ve been staying with that henchman, Stone.” 

Sonic’s brows come together, a crooked sort of smile on his face, “Really? How did that happen?” 

Shadow shrugs, “We just kind of found each other. We knew each other, and we were both lost, just worked out.” 

Sonic nods a couple times, unsure of what to say. He doesn’t really know that Stone guy much at all, other than Robotnik seemed to trust him implicitly. Knuckles knew who he was, but until the motorcycle thing Sonic had never even seen him before. At least, not that he remembers. He didn’t seem very threatening (walking around virtually shirtless certainly didn’t help), and he’s sure despite the man’s previous allegiances, Shadow can take care of himself. 

Sonic, very smoothly, leans back on his hands, “Well, if you ever wanna swing by casa de la Wachowski, the door is always open.”

Shadow looks over at Sonic, head cocked slightly to the side, “I’m not sure how welcome I would be.” 

“Pssh! You came around in the end, helped me fight off all those robots, saved the world, you’re cool in my book.”

Shadow’s frown deepens, “I hurt Tom.”

Sonic pushes himself all the way upright, expression serious, “Yeah, you did. But you were hurting, I wouldn’t say you were exactly thinking straight.” 

Suddenly Shadow’s expression turned sort of sad, “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know, he was cloaked or something, because the man I hit was Walters, and then all of a sudden, he wasn’t.” 

The holograms. Everything made a bit more sense, and a sense of relief washed through Sonic at that moment. It’s not like he hasn’t forgiven Shadow, like he just said, it happens. But knowing that Shadow didn’t hurt Tom on purpose, it made something in Sonic’s chest loosen. 

Sonic kept his voice lower, not wanting to ruin the moment, “Crazier things have happened.” 

Shadow looks him over, and for a second, he relaxes some. 

“I’m sure.”

They look at each other for a couple more moments before turning their attention back to the stars. Sonic feels his eyes start to grow heavier, and he blinks rapidly. He doesn’t know what time it is outside of it being late, and he knows he should probably head home soon. However, he can’t quite get himself to get up and leave. When he does leave, when will he be able to see Shadow again? Will he ever see Shadow again? He knows he’s staying with Stone, but Sonic has no idea where that guy is hiding out now. Would it be too forward to ask to see him again? Maybe they can meet here again tomorrow night. 

Before Sonic knows it, Shadow is gently shaking him back awake, the sky a bit lighter than it was what he swore was only a moment before. He doesn’t even remember closing his eyes, let alone falling asleep. 

“You should probably get back home before someone notices you’re gone.” 

Sonic groans as he sits up, Shadow getting to his feet. It’s been a while since Sonic has slept on something this hard, his back being spoiled by the car bed Tom and Maddie got for him. 

Shadow offers him his hand, and Sonic gladly takes it. 

As Shadow pulls him to his feet, Sonic says, “When do you think we’ll see each other again.” 

Shadow just shrugs, and Sonic rolls his eyes, “Okay well are you doing anything tomorrow night? Or I guess that would be tonight by now.”

“Not that I know of.” 

Sonic smiles, “Perfect! We can just meet here then.”

Shadow gives him a confused squint, “Why?” 

Sonic shrugs, still smiling, “Why not? We can hang and get to know each other better. Besides, it’s nice to get to hang around another hedgehog.” 

“I suppose it’s not the worst thing I could be doing…” 

Sonic sticks his tongue out at him, “That’s rude, Shadow.”

There was the slightest upturn of Shadow’s mouth, and Sonic counted that as a win. 

“See you tonight?” 

Shadow sighs, “Yes, I’ll be here.”

Sonic flashes him a thumbs up and an even brighter smile before taking off. It’s still dark, but the sun is starting to peak over the horizon. Instead of trying to sneak back into the attic and risk waking up his brothers, he decides to just crash on the couch, pulling a blanket from off the back of it and over himself. It’s not the first time he would’ve woken up here, and he can just claim that he couldn’t sleep. 

So he turns the TV on, the volume low. He manages to get through half an episode of Adams Family before conking back out. 

Only to be awoken by Ozzy licking his face an unknown amount of time later. 

He groans, turning over so he’s facing the back of the couch. He hears footsteps, too light to be Knuckles or Tom, but not short enough to be Tails, so it had to be Maddie. His suspicions are confirmed when a gentle hand runs over the top of his head a couple times. He can see light now, the living room now gently bathed in it. 

He continues to lay there for a while longer and pretends to be asleep until he smells toast being made. 

He sits up, kicking his blanket to the end of the couch before groggily making his way into the kitchen. Maddie is at the counter, making toast and something in a pan. He walks up to her, leaning against her legs. She reaches down, patting the side of his head.

“Couldn’t sleep?” 

“Yeah…”

She moves the pan off of the heat, looking down at Sonic, “More bad dreams?” 

He turns so his face is against her hip, his words muffled as he speaks into her leggings, “Something like that.” 

She keeps her hand on his head, her thumb running behind his ear, “Aw I’m sorry bud.” 

Sonic shrugs, now looking up at her, “It’s okay. What are you making?” 

She gives him a smile, “Oh just some eggs and toast. Want to help me plate?” 

Not really, but he isn’t going to say no to Maddie. So he pulls up a chair, helping her make enough food for everyone (which is a lot, Knuckles and Sonic eating their way through what could’ve easily fed Tom, Maddie and Ozzy for two weeks). During this process Tails comes into the kitchen, seeing what they were doing and excitedly asking if he could also help. Then came Tom, still in his sling, smiling at the three of them. 

“Where’s Big Red?” He asks, coming over and taking some eggs with his fingers before being swatted at by Maddie. 

“I think he’s in the backyard.” She says. 

When they start setting the table, Sonic notices Maddie whispering in Tom’s ear, Tom’s eyes finding Sonic. They both know about his dreams, though he’s always said that they weren’t that bad, just made it harder to sleep. 

Tom doesn’t mention it to him, which Sonic appreciates. Breakfast was the normal affair, the boys talking loudly to one another, Tom and Maddie offering their own insights when the three of them took a breath. For the rest of the day, Sonic found himself waiting for night time. He wonders what Shadow is doing right now, if he’s impatient about tonight as Sonic is. He also wonders what it’s like to be living with that Stone guy. Is he as eccentric as Robotnik is behind the scenes? Do they talk? What do they talk about? Is Stone as hellbent on revenge as his better half? Does Sonic even want to know?

At dinner Sonic had scarfed his dinner, and then shifted in his chair, antsy for everyone to finish. Did they always take this long to eat? 

Tom looks over at him with a quirked brow, “You seem to be in a rush, pal. More so than usual, anyway.” 

Sonic shrugs, still swaying side to side in his chair, “I’m just tired, ready for sleep.”

Tom looks Sonic up and down and then points at him with his fork, “You call that tired?” 

“Mhm.” 

Tom looks over at Maddie, who looks back at him. Sonic knows they’re communicating something, though he isn’t sure what. 

Doesn’t matter. What does matter is how quickly he can get out of there. 

Sonic skids to a stop, looking around in the dark. He didn’t see the other hedgehog.

“Shadow? Buddy? Are you here?” 

Nothing. Sonic frowns, his shoulders dropping. Did he forget? 

“Sonic.” 

Sonic jumps, spinning around. There, against the darkness of the forest behind him is Shadow. Sonic ignores the warmth in his chest at seeing him again, and he smiles widely.

“You’re late.” 

Shadow huffs, stepping a little closer, “We didn’t set a time.”

Sonic shrugs, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, “Soooo what did you do today? Anything interesting?”

Shadow shrugs, crossing his arms, “Stone took me to get coffee.”

“Oh. How was that?” 

“Good, I rather like the beans.” 

Sonic cocks his head to the side, “The beans?”

“The coffee beans.” Shadow says as he moves to the edge of the cliff, taking a seat.

“I didn’t even know you could eat those.” 

Sonic moves to sit next to Shadow, their legs dangling over the side. Sonic sat fairly close to the other hedgehog, suddenly aware of their proximity. That fluttery electricity has returned, warm as it zips around his stomach and chest. He doesn’t know what it is about him, but he brings that out of him. 

“So you’ve been around for fifty years, does that make you an old man?” 

Shadow looks over at Sonic with a frown, “No. I spent that time in a tube. I didn’t age, didn’t…experience anything. Anything other than those memories playing on loop.”

Sonic bites the inside of his cheek. Wrong question to ask, apparently. 

“What’s the biggest difference between then and now?” 

Shadow’s expression relaxes some, “The TVs are a lot better now.” 

Sonic smiles at him, “Yeah, and I bet the movies are a lot better, too.” 

Shadow seems to think that over for a second before a wrinkle forms above his nose, “I’m not sure I’d agree with that.” 

Sonic waves a hand, “Just wait till I show you my movies, you’ll change your mind in a split second.” 

“I doubt it.”

“Once I show you Speed, nothing will ever be the same.” 

Shadow rolls his eyes, but there’s that hint of a smile there, “Whatever you say, hedgehog.” 

We’re both hedgehogs. Sonic looks out at the sky, the stars looking to him to be the same ones from the night before. Sonic sways, his head nodding along to an unnamed song in his head. He accidentally bumps Shadow, but the other hedgehog doesn’t seem to mind, only giving Sonic an odd look. 

He feels like there should be more to say. He feels like just sitting here quietly, only being interrupted by passive conversation is wrong somehow, like there should be something festering between them after everything that happened. But there isn’t, and Sonic feels like he’s going to receive some kind of karismatic backlash for how easy this is for them. 

Eventually he stops looking up at the sky, but instead at Shadow. There’s something about him…

Shadow’s eyes slide over to Sonic, effectively catching him staring. Sonic quickly looks away, cheeks burning as he refocuses on the sky above.

“How do your shoes work?”

It’s the next night, and Shadow is looking down at his feet. 

“They’re air shoes, frictionless.” 

“Ooh okay. Can I…try them on?” 

Suddenly Shadow was looking at him as though he grew an extra head. 

Sonic rolls his eyes, “You can wear mine if you want, if being barefoot is something you’re not comfortable with.” 

Shadow crosses his arms over his chest, “Being barefoot isn’t the problem.” 

“Then what’s the issue?”

“They’re my shoes, besides I don’t think you’ll be able to figure them out.” 

Sonic scoffs, “First of all, ouch. Second of all, come on pleeeease? Just for a minute and then I’ll never ask again.”

“And if I say no?”

“Then I’m going to ask over and over and over and over and over and over and over-”

Shadow places a hand over Sonic’s mouth, but he continues his litany of ‘and over’s into the other hedgehog’s palm. 

“If I agree, you wear them in silence, understand?” 

Sonic stops speaking, giving Shadow a thumbs up. Shadow drops his hand from Sonic’s face, and Sonic watches with anticipation as Shadow sits on the moss, pulling his feet out of the blocky white and black shoes. Sonic quickly sits, pulling off his own shoes, and once Shadow hands Sonic the air shoes, Sonic hands him his red and white ones. 

Shadow looks between Sonic and the shoes in his hands before hesitantly taking them. Sonic grabs the air shoes, and immediately starts putting them on. They’re not as heavy as they look, but the weight is distributed oddly, most of it being along the edge of the shoes. 

Shadow did not put Sonic’s shoes on, but he stands too, intently watching Sonic. Sonic shakes his feet out, testing out the feel, shifting his weight from foot to foot before aggressively jogging in place.

Sonic isn’t sure how serious Shadow was about being silent, but it’s not something he’s ever been good at anyway.

“These are weird.” 

“You don’t have to wear them.”

Sonic holds up his hands, “No, no, not a bad weird. Just, well maybe weird is a bad word for it, it’s just different. Yeah that’s what it is, different.” 

Sonic takes a quick run with them, a mile out and a mile back, and he will say these aren’t that great for running. While they’re not as heavy as they look, they’re still a touch heavier than Sonic’s shoes, and that weight distribution difference would probably make his feet ache if he ran in them long enough. 

He stops in front of Shadow, who seems unphased by the gust Sonic brought with him. Sonic bounces from foot to foot, looking at Shadow.

“So, how do I do the slidey thing?” 

Shadow’s expression shifts, now slightly smug, and already Sonic regrets asking, “What? You can’t figure it out?” 

Sonic rolls his eyes, “No, I can’t. So help me out ‘ultimate lifeform’. If you’re so great.” 

Shadow huffs, stepping closer to Sonic, “You have to have intent, a bit of energy, and then lean forward on your feet, and it should activate.”

Sonic looks up at Shadow, “That’s it?”

Shadow nods, taking another step closer. He holds his hands out, and Sonic suddenly feels his face flush with heat. 

“Give me your hands. Knowing you, you'll slide off the cliff.” 

Sonic swallows. Play it cool, Wachowski. He puts his hands in Shadow’s, and when Shadow’s fingers closed around Sonic’s, Sonic felt his heart beat just a little bit faster. 

It takes a couple tries, but Sonic eventually gets them to activate. And true to Shadow’s prediction, Sonic immediately started sliding, and since he was leaning on his toes his feet started to slide backwards under him. Shadow quickly pulled his arms up, forcing him back up, but then he started to pitch backwards, his feet sliding back towards Shadow. 

But Shadow kept a steady grip on Sonic’s hands, and after sliding just about every direction, he finally gets his feet to stop flailing in every direction, now just slowly drifting in opposite directions. It made Sonic think of a plastic puck on an air hockey table, slowly sliding across the board without having anything to stop it. 

“It’s easier when you actually move.” Shadow says, starting to walk backwards towards the woods. Sonic tries to force his feet together as he effortlessly glides after Shadow, his grip on Shadow’s hands tighter now. 

“Bend your knees a little.” 

Sonic does, and he finds he has a little more balance.

“You use these all the time? How did you even get these?” Sonic says, unable to quite look away from his feet.

“I came to earth in them. I’m not entirely sure how I got them.”

Sonic sticks his tongue out in concentration, and he can feel Shadow staring at him. Shadow starts to move a little faster, now jogging backwards in circles around the clearing by the cliff. Eventually Sonic feels Shadow’s grip on him loosen, as though he were letting go, but Sonic’s grip remains absolute. 

“What are you doing?” Sonic panics, and Shadow huffs a small laugh.

“I’m letting go. I think you’ve got it down. Let go.” 

Sonic takes a couple deep breaths, “What if I go flying into a tree? Or off the cliff? I can’t exactly stop these things!” 

“I won’t let that happen.” 

Sonic looks up from his feet, and Shadow looks resolute. He takes one more deep breath, looking unblinking into Shadow’s eyes. 

“Okay. I trust you.” 

So, with one gentle tug towards the dark forest and away from the cliff, Sonic lets go of Shadow’s hands. It’s still pretty slow moving, but he keeps his knees bent, and he glides over the uneven terrain of the forest. 

“Push off like you’re skating!” He hears Shadow call, and so he does. 

He starts to pick up speed, and he realizes that yeah, he can do this, this is actually a lot easier than he anticipated it being. He starts to glide with ease, and when he hears the familiar sound of Shadow's chaos control above him, he looks up. He sees the hedgehog hopping from one branch to another with his chaos control as he follows Sonic, and Sonic smiles up at him (though he’s almost certain Shadow can’t see it in the dark). 

He weaves between trees with an ease that appears practiced. 

“I think I’ve got the hang of this!” Sonic calls up to his follower. 

“Oh yeah?” He hears from above before Shadow suddenly appears in front of him. That’s the one part Sonic does not have down; stopping. He tries to turn his feet to the side, as though he were on ice skates, but unfortunately only works because of the friction created, of which these shoes have none. 

So he crashes into Shadow, who doesn’t go down, but only ends up stepping back as he catches Sonic, who once again had to try and right his balance again now that his flow has been thrown off. 

“I did have the hang of it.” Sonic says, totally not focusing on the fact that Shadow is holding him by his arms, Sonic’s side up against Shadow’s front. 

“Uh huh. I’d like my shoes back now.”

Sonic looks down at Shadow’s bare feet, “Hey just because you went shoeless doesn’t mean I want to. I’ll give them back once we go back to where my shoes are.” 

There’s that twitch of a smile again, and Sonic knows he’s in trouble. 

“If you insist.” 

“Wait, wha-” 

Shadow grabs Sonic by the hands again, and then holds him at arm's length before spinning around quickly, easily whipping Sonic around and around. 

“Shadow!” Sonic yelps as he’s suddenly launched back in the direction of the clearing, Sonic helpless to do anything but try and stay on his feet. Before he can even really process the fact that the cliff was approaching, once again Shadow appeared, catching Sonic. There was an undignified ‘oof’ that came from Sonic, realizing that his savior is built like a brick wall. 

Sonic shakes his head out, and Shadow just hangs on to him while he regains his bearings. Once again, Sonic has to play it cool despite the sudden increase in his heart rate. He looks up at Shadow, who is looking back at him with that oh so familiar half smile.

“So, how do I turn these things off?” 

Tom is off today, so Sonic has decided to hang out with him later in the afternoon and watch his super boring shows. There’s no action, no stakes, just guys arguing about how much something should cost. While those shows are no good to watch, they are perfect for napping. Which is where Maddie finds them when she gets home from work; Tom laying down on the couch with Sonic tucked between Tom and the back of the couch. 

She shakes them both awake, gently telling them that she picked some food up on the way home if they were hungry. Sonic hears Tom thank her, and then he starts to sit up, Sonic grumbling in protest. 

Tom gets his shoulders against the armrest of the couch, Sonic still clinging to him, “Sonic you’ve been sleeping for the last three hours, how come you’re so tired?”

Sonic huffs, “‘m a growin’ boy.” 

Tom rolls his eyes. Sitting all the way up and essentially dumping Sonic onto the couch. Tom looks over his shoulder at Sonic, and Sonic blearily looks back.

“You’ve been having nightmares, haven’t you?” 

Sonic’s heart drops to his stomach, and he can’t quite meet Tom’s eyes, “No.” 

Tom moves off the couch, instead kneeling in front of it and trying to get eye level with the blue hedgehog, “Sonic, be honest with me. I’m here to help, and I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s going on.” 

That’s the problem, though. It’s not the nightmares keeping him up anymore, and he hasn’t been having any for the past couple of days. Would he be having them if he actually was sleeping and not hanging out with Shadow? Who’s to say.

Sonic sits up, and Tom straightens some, still kneeling. 

Sonic shrugs, not meeting Tom’s eyes, “They happen sometimes, but they’re really not that bad. It’s just once they wake me up I have a hard time going back to sleep.” 

“What are they usually about?” 

Sonic really doesn’t want to talk about this, and for some reason he really, really doesn’t want to talk about it with Tom. Sonic feels bad for feeling that way, considering the fact that Tom is usually the one Sonic goes to when he’s in trouble or needs advice. But he doesn’t want to admit to him that he’s been dreaming about him getting hurt, and that those dreams keep him up at night, and that Sonic is sneaking out every night to go see the guy who did that to him in the first place.

“The vault.”

It’s only two words, but Tom seems to understand him anyway. His face softens even further, a distinct sadness in his eyes, and he reaches out with his good arm, grabbing Sonic’s shoulder and bringing him in for a hug.

“I’m sorry bud. I don’t want you to be afraid to come to me or Maddie if this keeps happening, okay? You don’t have to, but I don’t want you to think you have to endure this alone.” 

Sonic feels his eyes start to sting, and he buries his head even further into Tom’s chest. Despite everything, Sonic considers himself incredibly lucky. So a crazy old guy tries to kill him and his family sometimes, but he has a family. It makes his heart ache for Shadow just that little bit more, wondering what would have happened if he had what Sonic had. He wonders if he and Stone talk like Sonic and Tom do, and as much as Sonic doesn’t really trust Stone, he kind of hopes they do. For Shadow’s sake.

Even if they don’t, hopefully Shadow can see Sonic as someone to confide in. Eventually, anyway. 

With that nap under his belt, he felt a bit more energetic as he ran to their usual spot. When he gets there, Shadow is nowhere to be seen, so Sonic goes to the edge of the cliff and takes a seat, swinging his legs over the edge. After a couple minutes, he jumps when he hears a voice he wasn’t expecting to.

“Look out, Sonic!” 

Sonic scrambles to his feet and turns, seeing Knuckles and Shadow grappling on the ground. 

“Knuckles stop! Get off of him!” 

Though, before Sonic could even finish his sentence, Shadow had Knuckles pinned to the ground, his arms pinned to his back.

Knuckles grumbles, struggling. Sonic comes up beside them.

“Okay let him go.” 

Shadow snarls, “He attacked me.”

“I was stopping you! You were going to do a sneak attack!” 

Sonic rolls his eyes, “No, he wasn’t. Seriously Shadow, let him go.” 

Shadow huffs, looking up at Sonic before complying. Knuckles gets to his feet, and Sonic moves to stand in between his brother and friend. 

Knuckles and Shadow glare at each other for a moment, Sonic sighing.

“Knuckles, what are you doing here?” 

Knuckles crosses his arms over his chest, “I could be asking you the same thing. What has possessed you to conspire with the enemy?” 

Sonic quickly looks back to Shadow before looking back at Knuckles, “He’s not the enemy. We talked about this, he had a change of heart.” 

Knuckles looks between them, his eyes squinted, “I did not see it happen, I have no proof such a thing actually took place.” 

“You’re just going to have to take my word for it.” 

Knuckles once again takes a moment to just look the other two boys over before speaking to Sonic. 

“Do the others know?” 

Sonic shakes his head, “No, and they’re not going to. Knuckles I need you to promise me you aren’t going to tell them.”

Now Knuckles just looks straight at Shadow, “As long as this one does not cause harm to us, I suppose I can keep this secret for you.” 

Sonic lets out a breath, and he smiles at Knuckles, “Thanks, man.” 

Knuckles looks around the area, “So, what is it you even do out here?” 

Sonic shrugs, “Oh you know, hang out and stuff. Nothing crazy.” 

Knuckles hums, and Sonic rocks back and forth from his toes to his heels. He was kind of hoping Knuckles would just turn around and go home, not wanting his Shadow hangout time to turn into Shadow and Knuckles hangout time. He gets to see Knuckles all the time, besides it doesn’t seem like Shadow likes Knuckles all that much. 

“Soooo, are you going to go home now?” 

Knuckles puts his hands on his hips, “Why would I do that? I already came all the way out here.” 

Sonic groans, “Please Knux, just go home. We’ll be fine here.”

There’s this hot itch in his chest, one he recognizes as irritation. He doesn't feel it often when it comes to the other Mobians he lives with, but it was currently burning a hole in his sternum. He looks Sonic up and down, and he has this look in his eye, one that tells Sonic that Knuckles is going to push his buttons on purpose. 

“What if I do not want to leave?”

Sonic takes a deep breath, “Knuckles, I-”

“He asked you to go, so go.” Shadow says, stepping up beside Sonic. He’s glaring at Knuckles, and for a moment, Sonic thinks Knuckles might actually lunge at the other hedgehog. But then he sighs, putting his hands up.

“Fine, I will go. Return home safely, Sonic.” 

With that Knuckles leaves, and Sonic blinks after him. He then turns back to Shadow, who sighs out of his nose.

Sonic lightly punches him in the shoulder, “You’ve got scary dog privilege. I’ll have to use that more often.”

He turns to Sonic, a confused frown on his face, “I don’t know what that means.” 

Sonic can’t help but smile at him a bit, “Don’t worry about it.” 

There’s a moment of silence, and that burning itch from before has morphed into something else, the warmth now pleasant and buzzing. Sonic is suddenly itching for a run.

“Have you ever played tag?” 

Sonic’s chest rises and falls a bit quicker than before, his legs tucked under himself. Shadow is sitting next to him, his chest having returned to its normal rhythm. They’re looking up at the stars again, and while it’s not something that is overly interesting to Sonic (especially looking at them from under the atmosphere versus the moon), he noticed that it seemed to be a sort of comfort for Shadow. 

After a couple of minutes, Sonic feels himself start to droop, finding it harder to stay upright. He quickly looks over at Shadow, who seems enthralled by the glittering celestial bodies above them. So, with a pounding heart, Sonic slowly leans towards his companion until his head is resting against Shadow’s shoulder. He can feel Shadow stiffen for a moment before relaxing again, and Sonic lets his thickened heartbeat push warmth throughout his body. After a couple of moments, he allows himself to put more of his weight against Shadow, his eyes closing. There’s a giddiness in his blood, but his exhaustion was winning out. 

As he teeters on the edge of consciousness and unconsciousness, he feels Shadow lean his head against the top of Sonic’s, making the blue hedgehog fall asleep with a smile on his face.

Sonic and Knuckles stare at each other across the breakfast table, and Sonic really needs Knuckles to stop looking at him like that because someone is going to notice that something is up. 

When they go back to the room, Knuckles walks behind Sonic, his feet swinging out in an exaggerated fashion. 

“So, did the other hedgehog tell you how he survived the explosion?” 

Sonic turns, frowning and pointing at Knuckles, “First off, no I haven’t asked. Second, you’re promised not to talk about this.” 

“No, I promised not to tell anyone.” 

Sonic rolls his eyes, “Yeah, and if we talk about it, someone could overhear and figure it out.”

“Figure what out?” Tails says, flying in through the skylight. 

“Nothing.” 

Tails lands next to Sonic, and he looks up at him with his head cocked. 

“It sounded like something.” 

Sonic can’t quite meet the fox’s eyes, “Yeah well it isn’t.” 

Tails looks at Knuckles, and then back at Sonic, “Whatever it is I promise to keep it a secret! I won’t tell a soul, promise.”

Sonic hates keeping things from Tails. He’s his little buddy; his reliable sidekick, his brother. But the more people who know about Shadow, the more likely it is that someone is going to slip, and then Tom and Maddie are going to ground him and forbid him from seeing Shadow because he’s been lying about it for a week. 

But then he looks down at Tails, wide-eyed and already looking hurt that Sonic and Knuckles don’t seem to trust him with their secret. Did he ever really stand a chance?

Sonic sighs, closing his eyes tight as he says, “Shadow is alive and I’ve been meeting up with him in the middle of the night.”

“What?!” Tails exclaims, Sonic quickly moving to cover his mouth and putting a finger over his own mouth.

“Shh! Tom and Maddie can’t know, so I’m really trusting you guys with this information.”

Tails gives him a thumbs up, and so Sonic takes his hand off of his mouth.

Tails then scrunches his brows together, “Wait, how did Knuckles find out about this before me?”

Knuckles puffs out his chest, “I caught the hedgehog sneaking out and followed him.” 

“When was this?” 

“Last night.” Sonic says, defeated. 

“How long have you known about…” Tails leans in closer to Sonic, “Shadow.” 

Sonic can’t help but smile a bit at how seriously Tails is taking the secret thing, “A couple of days, a week maybe, I haven’t been keeping track.” 

Tails nods. His tails flick, “How come Tom and Maddie can’t know?” 

“They’ve got enough to worry about without me stacking this on top.” 

Tails wrings his hands, looking around, “What are you gonna do?”

Sonic cocks his head, “About what?” 

“About, you know.”

“Shadow?” 

Tails nods.

Sonic shrugs, “Nothing? I like to hang out with him, he isn’t causing any trouble, there really isn’t anything to do.”

Tails hums, “I guess you’re right.”

Sonic feels fairly confident that Knuckles and Tails will keep this information to themselves, but he fears it’s now only a matter of time before someone else finds out. Though, he finds that that problem gets pushed to the back of his mind after their next movie night. 

Sonic loves action movies. He loves how face paced they are, and he always enjoys the explosions that seem to happen every couple of minutes. There’s usually a romance subplot as well, however Sonic has never really paid much attention to those bits of the movie, and he usually just ends up sighing and trying to will those scenes to get over with faster. The action and betrayal will always be infinitely more interesting to Sonic.

Though, tonight Sonic finds himself a bit…distracted. He’s not sure what it is, but he keeps imagining Shadow as the slick hero of the night, which can you blame him? The lead guy has that deep baritone Shadow’s got, and he drives fast cars and motorcycles, and wields a gun, and is just kinda good at everything. Worse still Sonic realizes that he’s a bit more enthralled by the romance bit of the movie, wanting the hero to accomplish his mission for the girl. Even when she’s not on screen, and the guy isn’t talking about her, Sonic finds himself replacing the two characters in his mind with not only Shadow but himself. He wants Shadow to involve him in whatever cool stuff he gets up to, wants Shadow to think about him when they’re apart like this guy does. And it’s then while Sonic is sitting on the couch, smooshed between Tom and Tails that Sonic realizes something about himself.

He likes Shadow. Like, he like likes Shadow, like he’s the girl in the movie. It made sense, what with the warm and buzzy feeling Shadow gives him, and deep down Sonic already knew this, but to actually think the thought…geez. 

So he becomes a bit more squirmy for the last couple minutes of the movie, and he realizes having a crush to keep to himself sucks. Obviously he isn’t going to tell anyone in his family (and thankfully this isn’t something they can just stumble on either) and for some reason the thought of being around Shadow with this information just bouncing around in his head seems unpleasant. So he devises a plan to get it out in the open in the least weird way possible that would also prevent Shadow from abandoning him should he refuse. How hard could that be?

Very hard, apparently. 

Sonic’s heart was pounding the entire time, and Sonic is 99% sure that Shadow noticed something was off, because he kept giving Sonic these sideways looks with wrinkles between his brows. The other part of Sonic’s plan was to go for a walk. Which raised Shadow’s heckles even more which is something Sonic maybe should have thought about.

“A walk? Since when have you ever walked anywhere?” 

Sonic felt heat rise to his cheeks, “I walk! Sometimes. Maybe I just want to show you that I’m capable of anything. Huh, did you ever think about that?” 

Shadow rolls his eyes, big and exaggerated to the point his head moves with it. Sonic huffs, turning and walking towards the treeline. 

“I’ll just go without you then!” 

He doesn’t even hit the trees before Shadow is beside him. 

“What’s the point of this again?” 

Sonic shrugs, swinging his arms, “Maybe we should just take in the view, enjoy the scenery.”

Shadow looks around, frowning, “It’s incredibly dark.” 

Sonic leans in towards Shadow, putting on a goofy voice, “Are you scared?”

Shadow lightly shoves Sonic away, “Please.” 

They walk a bit more, and the thundering in Sonic’s chest grows louder. Now or never Sonic.

Keeping his head high and his eyes straight, Sonic reaches over and grabs Shadow’s hand. Sonic tries to keep his breathing even, tries not to hold his hand too tight. There’s a moment of tense silence, and Sonic feels like he’s about to pass out.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared.”

Sonic scoffs, “What? No!”

“Why are you holding my hand then?” 

Shadow hasn’t taken his hand back from Sonic, which he counts as a win. 

“Because I felt like it. Because I want to.” 

Another beat of silence.

“Are you trying to tell me something?” 

Sonic feels like he’s going to be sick. The fact Shadow hasn’t pulled back or away should mean something good, but Sonic can’t help but brace himself for the worst possible outcome. Why did he do this? This was a dumb idea; putting his new friendship with Shadow on the line for what? Some jitters? His inability to keep his thoughts to himself? He suddenly wants to curl into a ball and never be heard from again.

But Shadow is still holding his hand, and they’ve stopped walking, Sonic not able to make out any of the fine details of Shadow’s expression. 

“Maybe. Would…would you be mad if I was?” 

Shadow doesn’t say anything, and Sonic swears he feels the faintest squeeze of his hand. 

When Shadow continues to not say anything, Sonic shifts on his feet, and there’s a strange wriggling in his stomach.

“Can you say something, please?” 

“I…I think I need to go home.” 

Sonic’s heart drops into his stomach, and he feels as though his entire world collapsed. Way to go idiot, you’ve ruined everything.

“Okay, I understand.” Sonic says sadly.

He loosens his grip on Shadow’s hand, but the other hedgehog doesn’t let go of him. Instead, he gently pulls Sonic closer, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

The Shadow does let go of his hand, and in a flash he was gone, leaving Sonic in the middle of the Montana woods, his fingers grazing his own cheek, and a dopey smile on his face.

Chapter Text

Sonic is on cloud nine. When he had imagined enacting his plan, he imagined being super cool and suave about it, confident in a way that Shadow would find admirable. However, what actually happened was a lot less seamless and a lot more awkward than he intended, but he got there in the end so does it really matter? And if he thought he was impatient for night time before, that’s increased tenfold. 

Sonic moves through the day in a bit of a sunny haze, subtly dancing to a song only he can hear. Maddie laughs when she sees his flowy moves as he takes his socks from her.

“I see someone slept well.” 

You have no idea. “Definitely.” 

She adjusts the laundry basket on her hip, “No nightmares then?” 

Sonic shakes his head, and she scratches the top of his head with a smile.

“Good.”

Maddie went into work not long after that, leaving all three boys alone in the house. Sonic isn’t sure where the other two were, but Sonic throws himself onto the couch, sighing as he looks up at the ceiling. That warm, giddy feeling won’t leave him, though he doesn’t really want it to. Not for the first time Sonic wonders what Shadow is doing right now. He’s probably being very cool and normal about this whole thing, going about his day with that same default frown he’s always wearing, Stone none the wiser about what took place last night. 

Why can’t Sonic be like that?

Something Sonic has noticed about this warm, giddy feeling is that it kind of curbs his appetite some. He’s not as hungry as he usually is, and he knows that would raise suspicion, especially with Tom and Maddie. So, during dinner, despite his stomach telling him he doesn’t want any more pasta, he continues to shove it in his mouth, hoping no one notices he’s not listening to anything anyone is saying. Tails seems to be running everyone through his newest invention, Tom and Maddie both listening with rapt attention even though Sonic knows neither of them understand half of the words coming out of the fox’s mouth. 

After dinner, Sonic waits a respectable amount of time playing games with everyone before claiming he was ready for bed. Tom looks at his watch with furrowed brows.

“Since when do you go to bed at nine o’clock?”

“Since I started reading before bed, duh.” 

Before either human can say anything, Sonic zips around the room, kissing both of them on the cheek with quick calls of ‘good night!’ and then stopping at his fellow mobians and wrapping his arms around them, looking back and forth between them.

“See you in the room,” He then looks at Tom and Maddie, “and I’ll see you guys tomorrow. I take this reading thing very seriously and I do not wish to be disturbed. Okay bye.” 

Sonic races up to the attic, arranging his bed so it looks like he was asleep, with a book open on the ground beside his bed, lamp on. He then goes straight out the skylight and towards his new favorite place.

For the first time since their first night here, Shadow was already there. Warmth zaps Sonic’s heart, and he can’t help the aching grin that spreads across his face as he approaches. 

“Hi, uh, hey. Hey, Shadow.” 

Shadow turns, and his face and stance were relaxed, and Sonic wanted nothing more than to reach out.

“Hi.”

The two of them stand there for several long, agonizing moments. This was something Sonic didn’t think about; what now? What Sonic wanted to do was hug him, but he had a feeling that Shadow wasn’t exactly a hugger. Would it be weird to grab his hand again? What did Shadow want him to do? Did he want him to do anything? Who should be leading here? 

Sonic clears his throat, his arms swinging widely at his side, “So, how was your day?”

Shadow blinks, “Fine.” 

Sonic draws his mouth together and nods slowly, “Cool, yeah. That’s, that’s good.” 

“You?” 

“Good. It was good.”

This is so weird.

As excited as Sonic is about the whole, holding hands and kiss on the cheek thing, he already misses the easy relationship they had before. It’s not that they can’t have that again, Sonic knows that, but he’s just not quite sure how to get back there. 

“Do you wanna look at the stars?” Sonic asks. 

Shadow nods, so Sonic follows the other hedgehog to the edge of the cliff. They sit as they usually do: close together and leaning back on their hands. Sonic watches Shadow take a deep breath, and there’s a bit of a swell in Sonic’s chest. He likes seeing Shadow happy, content. Especially if it’s around Sonic.

They’re silent for a couple of minutes, and Sonic decides to just man up and make the first (second? Third?) move. So, he takes a deep breath, and reaches the hand closest to Shadow over. He covers Shadow’s hand with his own, once again his heart giving his ribcage a little kick.

Shadow looks over at him, and Sonic braves a look over at him as well. He’s rewarded for his bravery with a slight smile from Shadow, sending warmth straight to his cheeks. Shadow then turns his hand over under Sonic’s, now returning the grip. 

There’s a teasing quip on the edge of Sonic’s tongue, but he bites it, knowing it would only make Shadow pull back. So instead he takes the jittery energy bouncing around his chest and stomach and throws his head against Shadow’s shoulder, nearly knocking him off balance.

“Take it easy, hedgehog!” Shadow scolds, but there’s an undercurrent of fondness to it.

“Why do you call me that?”

Shadow attempts to look down at Sonic, who is still leaning heavily against Shadow. 

“Call you what? Hedgehog?”

Sonic twists his neck so he’s looking up at Shadow, “Yeah.”

A raised brow from the ultimate lifeform, “Are you not one?” 

Sonic sits up, hand still holding Shadow’s, “Well I mean yeah but, so are you.” 

“So?” 

Sonic sighs, “Never mind.”

Sonic turns back to the sky, and he wishes he could find the same peace in the sight as Shadow does.

“So what book are you reading, bud?” 

Sonic looks up at Tom, the two of them driving into town together. They’re going grocery shopping, and Tom promised Sonic a treat if he rode along with him.

“Oh you know, book.”

“Book.” Tom says with a flat tone.

“Yeah, book.”

“Which book?”

Sonic shrugs, looking out the window and avoiding Tom’s suspicious look, “I don’t remember what it was called, something Tails gave me. Super boring though, I fell asleep almost immediately.” 

Tom hums, “You’ll have to show it to me.” 

“I couldn’t find it this morning, but I’ll let you know if I come across it.”

There’s a moment of silence as Tom pulls into the parking lot, and he turns the truck off, turning to face Sonic. 

“You don’t have a secret gaming console or something, do you?”

Sonic whips around to face Tom, “What? No.” 

Tom squints at the little blue alien in front of him, “Are you sure?” 

“Yes, Tom, I promise. I’ve just…” Sonic wracks his brain for an excuse, going through all the items in his room, “taken up drawing. I’ve been excited to go up and draw for a bit.”

Which, in a way, is true. Sonic enjoys drawing, his bedside drawer has an impressive collection of drawings stuffed inside it. Tom has no way of knowing when those were made, so he thinks it’s a pretty air-tight fib. 

Tom seems surprised by that claim, blinking at Sonic a couple times, “Oh. Well okay then. I’m glad you’ve found something you enjoy.”

That’s one way to put that. “Thanks.”

Tom nods, giving Sonic a smile, “Alright, let’s go buy out half the store.”

Sonic swings from a low tree branch, Shadow looking up at him with crossed arms from the ground. Back and forth, he swings his feet before letting go on an upswing, doing a flip before landing right in front of Shadow.

“Ta-da!” 

Shadow doesn’t move, “Am I supposed to be impressed?” 

Sonic sticks his tongue out at him. Sonic takes a moment to look at Shadow, and then his eyes slide past him and towards the sprawling forest behind him. Nestled in between the mountains and trees was Green Hills, his home, the place he knows like the back of his hand. It’s then that he realizes that Shadow has never been to Green Hills, not really. 

Sonic smiles, looking back at Shadow, “Okay then, tough guy. How about we go on a field trip instead?” 

“Aaaand this is the police station, Tom works here.” Sonic says from the roof of the station. Shadow looks over the edge of the roof, looking down the front of the building. Sonic and Shadow have been hopping from building to building, Sonic pointing out the different parts of town, usually tied with some different anecdotes. Shadow silently listens, his eyes following Sonic’s pointed finger as he shows him around town.

“And this used to be a coffee shop. I think it was called the Mean Bean? It was destroyed the last time Eggman came through, though.” 

Shadow hums, “So the one down the road is the only one now?” 

“Guess so.” 

Shadow overlooks the main road, the buildings lining the street. 

“So, where do you live?” Shadow asks. 

Sonic spins on the roof, pointing in the direction of the house, “Just over that way. Wanna see it?” 

Shadow crosses his arms, shrugging with one shoulder, “I suppose we could stop by.” 

Sonic smiles, grabbing Shadow by the hand, “Alright, let’s go!” 

He yanks Shadow with him, the other hedgehog grunting as he’s suddenly pulled. They zip through the sleeping town, ending up in a tree in the Wachowski’s backyard. Sonic gestures with a flourish, “Home sweet home!” 

Shadow takes a moment to look at the darkened house and trimmed yard. For some reason, Sonic wants Shadow to like it, to be impressed with the place he’s decided to call home. It’s not as though Sonic picked the house out, or mowed the lawn himself (he wasn’t quite tall enough to use the lawnmower and he’s been forbidden from using their riding one). 

But the only change Sonic sees in Shadow’s expression is the relaxing of his eyes, looking from window to window. He doesn’t say anything, and Sonic clears his throat.

“So, what do you think?” 

A beat passes before Shadow answers, voice soft, “It’s nice.” 

Sonic will take that. So he nods, moving to sit on the branch. Shadow stays standing, his eyes locked on the house in front of him. 

“Does the place you live look like this?” Sonic asks. 

“It’s smaller, on the very edge of town. Stone doesn’t go out much, and I have my own room. There’s no stairs, though.”

Sonic nods. He’s swaying slightly, and Shadow’s eyes are still looking around the house.

“Which one is yours?” 

Sonic jerks his head, “Very top floor, I share it with Knuckles and Tails.”

Shadow nods, crossing his arms and leaning against the trunk of the tree. They listen to the chirp of crickets in the dark, and Sonic looks up at Shadow. There’s that now familiar thrumming of his heart, the feeling reverberating through his ribcage.

This guy right here kissed him. On the cheek, sure, but still. He hasn’t done it since, though, and Sonic was starting to worry he read into this whole thing wrong. Sonic likes to think of them as being in the early stages of an epic, action movie romance, where through the explosions and hyped emotions they find each other and realize just how much they have in common and blah blah blah.

But he hasn’t done it again, and maybe Sonic’s view of things wasn’t the same as Shadow’s. It would be weird if it wasn’t, you know given everything, but it’s possible. How do you even bring something like that up? Shadow seems like the guy that appreciates things being straightforward. Can he do that? Just ask him? That shouldn’t be weird, no of course not, he just has to-

“So that kiss a couple nights ago, did you like, do that on purpose?”

Sonic interrupted his own spiraling train of thought, knowing nothing good was going to come from thinking that hard. 

Shadow looks down at him with a frown, “How would I even do that on accident?”

Sonic shrugs, his movements a bit exaggerated, “Well I dunno! I just didn’t know if it was like, a friend thing or a…more than friend…thing.” 

Sonic trails off quietly, looking down at his lap as he speaks. Shadow’s voice drops when he speaks as well. 

“Did you want it to just be a friend thing?”

“No.” Sonic answers quickly. Realizing what he said, and how fast he said it, he quickly tries to correct himself, “I mean, I do only if you do, like you’re the one who kissed me so you get to call the shots. So, like, it’s up to you.”

Sonic glances up at Shadow, who is looking down at the lawn below them. He then looks over at Sonic, who feels heat rise in his face. 

Shadow reaches a hand out, which Sonic takes, allowing Shadow to pull him back into a standing position. 

“I think I’d like it to be a more than friend thing.” 

Sonic couldn’t help the smile that spreads across his face, the heat in his face intensifying. Despite this, he tries to play it off cool, “Yeah, that’s, I like that decision.” 

Shadow cocks his head, a sly smile on his face, “I take it you want me to do it again?” 

Sonic chuckles nervously, “Whaaaat? Noooo.” Sonic looks at Shadow with that stupid smug smile, and Sonic’s ears go flat on his head as he mumbles, “Yes please.” 

Shadow rolls his eyes as he leans forward, pressing a quick kiss to the corner of Sonic’s mouth. 

Those electric jitters return, and Sonic nearly falls out of the tree, grabbing Shadow by the shoulders to keep his balance. Shadow just reaches up and takes Sonic’s hands off of him. 

“Since you’re already here, I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Sonic groans, “You did this last time.” 

Another eye roll, though it’s accompanied by the slightest curve of the mouth, before Shadow is gone. Sonic huffs, shaking his head as he makes his way back down to the ground. Once there, Sonic puts his face in his hands, trying to get his smile under control, and he feels as though his heart is going to explode out of his chest. He decides to take a couple of laps around the property in an attempt to burn off some of this energy, though it was hardly a success. 

He goes inside, but the fur on his arm bristles when he hears noise in the kitchen. He looks around the corner and sees Knuckles digging through the fridge. Just as Sonic decides to sneak past him, Knuckles emerges, a bowl cradled in his hand, spotting Sonic.

“You’re back.” Knuckles says at regular volume. Sonic quickly shushes him.

“What are you doing up?” Sonic whispers.

Knuckles holds up the bowl, now lowering his own voice, “I got hungry.” 

Sonic looks between the bowl and Knuckles’s face, “Do you do this often?” 

“Yes.” 

Sonic nods, “Okay then. I’m going to bed.” 

“How is the other, stronger hedgehog?” 

Sonic rolls his eyes, but he once again can’t keep the smile off his face, “Good, he’s good.”

Knuckles hums, but he’s looking at Sonic, and for a moment Sonic fears that somehow Shadow left something on his face. 

But before Knuckles can say anything else, Sonic says, “Good night, Knux.” Sonic then dashes up the stairs, mindful of the sleeping fox. Sonic lays in bed, but finds he can’t sleep for the life of him. He feels as though someone was sending electric shocks through his whole body from the inside as he tosses and turns. He didn’t really process the fact that Knuckles was back, the only thing Sonic’s brain was able to do was play Shadow pressing his mouth against Sonic’s face over and over again. He thought about everything that has led up to that moment, and then thinks about all of the things they could do in the future. 

His brain was rattling around his skull like that for what felt like hours, until eventually he just crashed. When he woke up the next morning, he was alone in the attic. For a couple of moments, his brain was empty, all of his thoughts hardly more than a collection of fragmented dreams. But then Shadow pops into his head (a habit he’s formed lately) and that giddy excitement returns. He allows himself to smile himself silly for a couple moments before taking a few deep breaths, calming himself. The last thing he needs is someone finding out. He’ll tell them eventually, obviously, but he has to get a grip over himself first. 

So he goes down to breakfast, keeping his steps purposeful and relaxed. There were no comments about a change in demeanor, no questions about what he’s been up to, and Sonic feels like he’s in the clear. 

That is until Knuckles corners him when Sonic was trying to find the notebook Maddie gave him to draw in a couple months ago. 

“You are acting strangely.” 

Sonic looks over his shoulder to see Knuckles standing in the middle of the floor, arms crossed over his chest. Sonic feels something sink a bit in his stomach, but he just gives Knuckles a confused look, complete with a disbelieving smile.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

Knuckles narrows his eyes at Sonic, “Do not lie to me, hedgehog. Something has changed.” 

Sonic gives up his search and stands, turning to face Knuckles, “Not that I’m aware of.”

“I thought something was different a couple days ago, but I wasn’t sure. I am now. Tell me what has changed.” 

Sonic huffs, “It’s not that anything changed, I just, I’m trying to put on a normal act for Tom and Maddie, which obviously doesn’t seem to be working, so I'll try and fix that, okay?” 

Knuckles grumbles, “I still don’t think you’re being honest with me.” 

“Well I-”

“Sonic! Can you come here for a second?” Maddie calls from below them. 

“Coming!” He looks at Knuckles, “We can finish this conversation never, okay?” 

He zips downstairs, looking around for where Maddie was calling him from.

“Over here, sweetheart.” 

Sonic turns, seeing her standing in the doorway of the master bedroom. He jogs over to her, and he notices her hair is tied up in a towel. She has a strained smile on her face, and the empty casing of her hairdryer in her hands. 

“Would you be a dear and go ask Tails to put my hairdryer back together? I’ll talk to him later, but I’m in a rush.”

Sonic takes the shell from her, “On it!”

“Thank you.” She then turns and goes back in the room, and Sonic goes out to the backyard, and to the shed that has been converted into Tails’ workshop. Sonic knocks on the door.

“Tails? Can you open the door for me?” 

“I’m not done talking to you!” Knuckles says from the other side of the yard, and Sonic just groans.

“Just let it go, man!” He turns back to the shed, knocking harder, “Tails! Open up, please!”

Knuckles is stomping across the yard to Sonic, but then Sonic hears the shed door unlatching, Tails popping his head out, goggles placed on his forehead.

“What is it? I’m a little busy in here.” Tails says. Sonic jerks his thumb back towards the house, handing the fox the remaining pieces of hair dryer.

“Maddie wants her hairdryer back.” 

Tails winces, looking over his shoulder for a brief moment before looking back at Sonic, “Does she need it like, right now, right now?”

“Sounded like it, pal.”

Tails frowns, thinking for a second, “Give me a minute.” He then takes the plastic casing before closing and latching the door in Sonic’s face.

“Rude.” Sonic says, no real bite to his words as he turns and leans against the door. By now Knuckles had reached him, now openly frowning at his younger brother.

“Our conversation wasn’t over.” 

Sonic crosses his arms over his chest, “Yes it was.” 

“No it wasn’t.”

“Yes it was.”

“No!” 

“What do you want me to say, Knuckles?” 

“The truth!” 

“I already told you the truth. So you can stop asking for it.” 

Knuckles puffs his chest out, “I will find out what it is you’re hiding.” 

Sonic gestures widely with his hand, “If you enjoy wasting your time, be my guest.” 

The last person he wants to find out about him and Shadow is Knuckles. He loves the guy, but he hasn’t exactly mastered the art of subtlety. 

It was then that Tails opens the door, Sonic straightening as soon as he heard the latch.

He offers Sonic the hair dryer, “Here you go. Tell Maddie I’m sorry for taking it without asking.” 

Sonic takes it from him, “I think she’d appreciate it more coming from you.” 

Tails’s shoulders drop, “I know. I’ll talk to her…later.”

Sonic shrugs, “You do you.” 

Sonic starts to walk across the lawn, and as he passes Knuckles he sticks his tongue out at him, which only makes Knuckles huff in annoyance. 

He returns the dryer, which then leaves him to find something to do on his own. His brain is full of the other hedgehog, and so he does exactly what he told Tom he was up to; drawing. He steals some printer paper (he still couldn’t find the notebook), grabs his colored pencils, throws on some music, and gets to sketching. He’s not the best artist in the world, but you can always make out who’s who, and Sonic is pretty proud of that. 

Later that night, he made sure to stuff all of his drawings under his bed, the gap thin and no one would even think to reach in and grab them (though Sonic isn’t 100% sure how he’s going to get them out).

As with every other night, Shadow was there first, standing with his arms crossed and head tilted upwards as he gazed at the night sky. Sonic jogs up behind him, bumping his shoulder with his own. Shadow turns his head to look at Sonic. 

“Took you long enough.”

Sonic smiles as he steps right next to Shadow, “Movie night always runs longer than anything else.”

“Do they have any idea that you do this every night?” 

Sonic shakes his head, “Nah. None of their business, anyway.” 

Shadow nods, and then turns his gaze back to the stars. Sonic kicks at a rock under his shoe, and then bumps Shadow again. 

“So, you gonna plant one on me before the end of the night this time?”

Shadow turns to face Sonic, brow furrowed and eyes slightly squinted. 

“Not if you’re going to ask like that.” 

Sonic jumbles the words to a protest before scoffing, “How would you like me to ask? ‘Oh sweet prince Shadow the Hedgehog, please lay your lips upon mine before I fall under the witch’s spell! It’s the only way!’”

Sonic sways dramatically, the back of his hand pressed to his forehead. He then goes to lean on Shadow, who just takes one step back, allowing Sonic to fall on his back.

Sonic sits up, looking up at Shadow, “Ow, jerk.” 

Shadow looks down at him, his expression as unimpressed as ever, “Maybe try asking me like a normal person.” 

“I hardly think I qualify for that.” 

Shadow just rolls his eyes as Sonic gets back to his feet, now standing face to face with Shadow. A slight breeze rolls through, Shadow’s ear flicking at the disturbance. They’re one in the same, and something thick and warm swells in Sonic’s chest, making his next deep breath a bit difficult to take in.

“Shadow, will you please kiss me again.” 

Shadow lets out a breath, as though he were greatly unconvinced by the request, “If I must.” 

And then Shadow does something he never has before; he cradles either side of Sonic’s face, and kisses Sonic square on the mouth. There was no explosion of fireworks or anything, and Shadow’s kiss was a firm, singular press against Sonic’s mouth. But there was still that zip through his gut and spine, his hands flexing uselessly at his sides (what was he even supposed to do with them?). 

When Shadow pulls back, Sonic looks at him wide-eyed. 

“Wow.”

Shadow’s eyes don’t quite meet Sonic’s, “That was okay?”

Sonic nods a couple times, “Yeah.” 

Shadow clears his throat, stepping back, “Good.” 

Sonic rocks back and forth a couple times before speaking again, “Do you think we could go again?” 

The floodgates have opened. If Sonic thought he was thinking about Shadow before, he’s pretty sure his brain has grown red and black quills. Sonic was the one to give the goodbye cheek kiss, something Shadow grumbled at. Maybe it’ll become a competition, that’s one Sonic could easily get behind. 

“Hey Sonic, can I ask you something?”

“Hm? Oh, hey Tails. What did you say?” 

Sonic is sitting on his bed, supposedly pairing his socks (he only really wears white ones, there isn’t a whole lot to pair).

Tails rolls his eyes as he comes to sit on Sonic’s race car bed. 

“I wanted to ask you about something.” 

Sonic puts down the same socks he’s been ‘pairing’ for the last five minutes, giving Tails his full attention. 

“What’s up?” 

Tails adjusts the way he’s sitting, “I heard you and Knuckles arguing outside my workshop yesterday. What was that about?” 

Oh boy. There’s a knot in Sonic’s stomach now, knowing how bad he is at keeping information from Tails. But this time, he’s gonna do it, he’s gonna be strong. He’s beaten the same set of bad guys for the last year, he can keep a secret from this kit.

“Oh that? It was nothing, just a spat over, uh, stolen food. Or at least he thinks I stole his food, which I didn’t.” 

“You have a bad habit of lying, hedgehog.” 

Both Sonic and Tails look over as Knuckles appears from the opening in the floor. Sonic groans.

“Can I not have a private conversation with either of you without the other showing up?” 

Knuckles comes to stand in front of Sonic’s bed, arms crossed, “We are a team, we must not keep secrets from one another. About anything.” 

“He’s right, Sonic. If there’s something going on, we should know about it.” Tails says. Sonic looks over at him, betrayed.

“What, I can’t keep anything to myself? Is that what you’re saying?” 

“Well, certain things should be kept to yourself. Personal things.” Knuckles says with a slight nod.

Sonic crosses his arms, “Fine, this secret is personal, so I’m not telling you.” 

“I don’t think Shadow counts as a personal thing.” Tails says, leaning to try and get into Sonic’s eyeline. 

Sonic looks over at Tails, anxiety crawling up his throat, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Something has changed with you, Sonic. And everything here has remained as it always has, so it must be because of the other hedgehog.” Knuckles says. 

Tails nods, “Knuckles is right. You’ve been acting differently, but not necessarily in a bad way. It’s just something we need to keep track of, just in case something happens with you or him. You know what I mean?” 

Sonic props his elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands. The problem is he does understand, and if it were either one of them, he’d be making the same arguments to make them spill their guts. But being in the hot seat himself sucks and he doesn’t want to tell anyone yet. He wants this thing to be just for him and Shadow, and he doesn’t want to shatter the carefully crafted atmosphere they have when they meet up. 

But Knuckles and Tails are his trusted teammates, his brothers. He trusted them with the fact that he’s been meeting up with Shadow, and neither of them have let it slip to either Tom or Maddie, so really what is the harm in telling them this oh-so-minor change in his and Shadow’s relationship.

“Okay, okay. Fine, you guys win.” Sonic lifts his head, looking between Tails and Knuckles. He takes a deep breath, which did nothing to slow his thundering heart.

“Shadow and I are like, a thing, I guess.” 

Tails cocks his head, brows furrowed slightly, “A thing?” 

Sonic stands, too much nervous energy rushing through his limbs to stay sitting, “Yeah like, we’re dating.” 

Sonic didn’t know if that was actually true, if that’s what what they were doing is called. But from what he’s seen in movies and on TV, it seems pretty accurate. The idea of calling Shadow his boyfriend made his brain all fuzzy, and that’s something to worry about later.

Tails’s eyes go wide, and he too shoots off the bed, “Are you serious?” 

Sonic nods, not quite able to look at Tails’s excited face. 

Knuckles raises a brow, “You two are courting each other?”

Sonic runs his hands between the quills on the back of his head, “I guess you could call it that, too.” 

Knuckles just nods approvingly, “It makes sense, you were bonded during your glorious battle, facing down certain death together.”

Sonic rolls his eyes with a smile, “I guess so.” 

“So you guys are dating, huh?” Tails says, still in awe of this information.

“Yup.” Sonic says, popping the ‘p’.

Tails goes and stands on his own bed, now taller than the other two, “So, what do you guys do?” 

Sonic shrugs, “I dunno, we hold hands, go on walks, sometimes we’ll like, kiss and stuff I dunno.” 

There was an embarrassed heat in Sonic’s cheeks, but it was kind of cool to have the two of them be as happy for him as they were. Or at least they were interested in the fact he was dating Shadow. 

“Do you think you’ll bring him around anytime?” Tails asks.

“Probably not any time soon. I’m not quite ready for that.” 

A moment of silence, birds could be heard chirping outside.

“Well I’m happy for you Sonic.” Tails says.

“Yes, I am happy we got to the bottom of your strange behavior.” 

Sonic huffs out his nose, still smiling, “Thanks guys.” 

They then go their separate ways, and Sonic is left to think about Shadow. 

Which he does, for the rest of the afternoon, and into the evening while his nose is pleasantly greeted with the smell of dinner. Though, even in his ultra distracted state, Sonic could still tell that something was off. Tom and Maddie kept looking at each other, and Tom’s jaw kept flexing every so often, something Sonic notices he does when he’s stressed or overthinking. He’s still injured, and Sonic wonders what it could be that’s bothering him. 

He hopes it isn’t work related, ever since the whole GUN thing Tom has been on desk duty, which has been less than ideal for him. 

By the end of dinner neither of them have dropped any kind of big news bomb on them so he figures it’s something that happened at work that was troubling him. 

That is until Sonic finishes putting his plate on the counter and gets called back over to the table.

“Sonic, could you come here for a second?” Tom calls.

Immediately that anxious pumping of his heart starts back up. Did he do something he forgot about? He can’t remember anything he’d done recently that would require a Talking To. 

“Knuckles, Tails, why don’t you go up to your room for a bit? You guys can watch a movie or something on our tablet.” Maddie says as Sonic climbs back into his seat at the kitchen table. Hearing that only made his heart sink even further into his gut. It was never a good sign when the other two get kicked out of listening range.

Once Maddie and Tom were sure the other two were out of the room, they turned their attention to Sonic. They didn’t appear upset, in fact they almost looked nervous, which is a first. Usually when Sonic received a Talk, their faces were steely with that hint of disappointment, never the apprehension Sonic sees now.

“What’s uh, what’s going on?” Sonic asks, not quite sure which of the two he should be looking at.

Tom and Maddie share a look, and then Maddie gives Tom a small nod. Tom sighs, looking at Sonic.

“We wanted to talk to you about something.”

Another glance from Tom, to Maddie, then back to Tom, “Okay…?”

“It’s something we, I, heard earlier. Do you have any idea what that might be?” 

All of the blood rushes from Sonic’s face. His chest rises and falls a little bit faster than before, and suddenly he can’t look at either of them in the face, instead looking at the wall between their heads.

“No.” 

Tom tries to get back in Sonic’s line of sight, but the hedgehog refuses to accommodate him.

“Buddy, you’re not in trouble, okay? I promise. We just wanted to talk to you about it.” 

Finally Sonic looks at Tom, and there’s a stinging in the corners of his eyes, “I’m not?”

Tom shakes his head, and Maddie reaches across the table and puts her hand on his shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze. 

“We’re not mad. We just want to have an open line of communication.” Maddie says. She then pulls back so she’s leaning against the back of her chair.

Tom folds his hands on the table, “I was coming up to ask you something, and I heard part of a conversation that…not concerned me, but kind of worried me a bit.” 

Sonic draws his brows together and frowns, “That was a private conversation.” 

Tom closes his eyes, “I know, I know, I didn’t mean to listen in, but I heard you say you were dating someone and I just kind of froze.” 

Sonic didn’t think his stomach could drop any lower, but it now resided in his feet.

“Now I don’t know who the guy is, but that’s kinda part of the problem.”

Hearing that gave Sonic pause. If they didn’t know it was Shadow, then he must have come in towards the end of that conversation. Them not knowing it’s Shadow makes him feel a little better, but at the same time it might’ve been nice to get that tidbit out of the way.

Sonic’s brows remain furrowed, “Why is that a problem?” 

“Because it becomes a safety issue.” 

Sonic gives a disbelieving laugh, “Safety issue? Tom, Dad, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Have you seen me? Have you seen my list of accomplishments? 

Tom sighs, “I understand that you’re in a better position to defend yourself, but when it comes to relationships it’s different. Now there’s emotions involved, and you may not want to hurt that person even if they’re hurting you, emotionally or physically.” Tom shifts, now resting his forearms against the table, “You’ve grown a lot in the last year since you came into the family, but like I’ve said before, you’re still a kid. These things are complicated and I want you to be safe.”

There’s no point in arguing that point, Sonic knows. So he just shrugs and says, “Okay. Can I go now?” 

Tom shakes his head, “Not until you tell us who he is.” 

“What? Why?” 

“I need to know if he’s going to be a problem. There are bad people out there Sonic, bad people who would take advantage of you in a second if you let them. I need to know this guy isn’t some weirdo who’s using you.”

Sonic puts his hands on the table, rising up on his knees to get a bit taller, “He would never do that!” 

There’s that steely look Sonic has grown used to getting these talks. Tom fires back at Sonic, “You can’t know that.” 

“Yes I can! And I do!” 

Now Maddie gives an exasperated sigh, her voice sharp when she speaks, “Sonic Wachowski just tell us who he is.”

That stinging in his eyes returned, and anger bubbles in his chest. It’s not that he doesn’t trust them, but after everything, he just doesn’t know how they’ll react. What if they hate him the way Sonic had, before they ended up on the moon. What if they forbid him from seeing him? Sonic doesn’t think he could take that. 

But he just wants this to be over. If he tells them he can get out of this chair and ‘hide in his bed’ (hop through the window and meet Shadow). 

“Fine! It’s Shadow, okay? The guy I’ve been seeing is Shadow. Happy now?” 

Sonic takes a moment to take in their shocked expressions, each of them flying through a variety of emotions before Sonic fixes them both with a watery glare.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go see him now.” 

Sonic pushes out his chair, hopping down as he hears Tom’s call of, “Sonic wait-” 

But Sonic didn’t wait, instead flying through the front door and slamming it shut behind him. 

When he got to their spot he was alone, forgetting that he usually has to stall a bit longer with his family after dinner. So Sonic stands at the edge of the cliff, picking up rocks and throwing them as far as he can, ignoring the tears soaking his fur. 

Eventually he feels a hand tap his shoulder, startling him out of his teary revere. Sonic turns to face Shadow, whose face immediately shifts to one of concern.

“What’s wrong?” 

Sonic sniffles, harshly rubbing the space beneath his eyes, “Tom and Maddie found out.”

Shadow’s expression drops a bit, his shoulders tensing. But his eyes never waver from Sonic’s.

“Were they upset?” 

“I don’t actually know. I kinda ran out of there before they could even respond.”

Shadow hums, looking Sonic over. He then grabs Sonic by the shoulders, leading him a little closer to the edge and having them sit. Sonic immediately leans against Shadow, and Shadow, hesitantly, wraps an arm around Sonic’s shoulders.

“Do you…wanna talk about it?” 

Sonic shakes his head against Shadow’s shoulder. So Shadow remains quiet, just letting Sonic lean against him for as long as he needs.

Even as the sun started to rise, Sonic having long fallen asleep against Shadow, the other hedgehog didn’t disturb him. 

Eventually, though, Sonic knew he had to go back home. He didn’t want to face Tom and Maddie, fearing what they could say. They do this because they love you, his heart says, but his brain is embarrassed, and Sonic wonders how much of that blow up got through the tinny speakers of the family tablet. 

Shadow kisses both of Sonic’s cheeks before they depart, wishing him luck. And so Sonic returns home, standing outside the front door for a long while before he manages to muster up the courage to open it. When he does, the house is quiet, but Sonic can smell coffee. He quietly closes the door behind him, and walks a little further into the house. He spots Tom sitting at the kitchen table, a mug held between his hands, his eyes meeting Sonic’s. 

They both stare at each other for a while, and Sonic has a feeling Tom is trying extra hard not to spook him. 

Eventually Tom does let go of his mug, standing and walking over to where Sonic is. Sonic sheepishly looks up at him, and Tom crouches down on one knee so they’re face to face.

“Sonic.”

“Tom.” 

“We did not appreciate you disappearing all night like that.” 

Sonic looks down at the floor, “Sorry.” 

“We had no idea where you were, if you’d gotten hurt we’d have no way to find you.” 

“Knuckles would have known.”

Tom tilts his head, “What?” 

Sonic looks back up at Tom, “Yeah he knows where Shadow and I meet up. He’s been there.”

Tom blinks, “I didn’t know either of them knew.” 

“Oh yeah they both know. Not because I told them or anything, but they figured it out.”

Tom looks off to the side, “Huh,” then he looks back at Sonic.

“We just want you to know that you can talk to us, that you don’t have to hide things. We do this because we care.”

“I just didn’t want you to hate him.”

“Why would I hate him?” 

“Because he almost got you killed? I hated him.”

“What changed your mind?”

Sonic thinks about Shadow, about his handsome face and cool shoes and those big sad eyes reflecting the starlight while he tells Sonic about his pain. Sonic realized they had more in common than they had differences, and that in reality, Shadow was just hurting and lonely.

Sonic couldn’t help but smile a little, “I got to know him.” 

Tom’s face softened, and he gave Sonic a small smile of his own, “Well, I’d like to get to know him too, if that’s okay.” 

Sonic’s eyes widen a bit as he looks at Tom, “Really?” 

“Sure! From what I’ve heard he had a change of heart, and he seems important to you, which means he’s important to me.”

Sonic couldn’t help himself, he threw himself forward, wrapping Tom in a hug (he was finally out of that sling, so Sonic didn’t have to be quite as mindful). 

Tom easily returned the grip, and when Sonic stepped back, they were both smiling widely at each other.

“Let’s go tell Maddie we’re gonna have to plan to have a guest over sometime soon.”

Sonic nods, excitement welling up in his chest.

Chapter Text

When Shadow made it back down to Earth, he wasn’t sure what to expect. Though, this certainly wasn’t it. 

He’s currently watching Stone cook in their small kitchen, humming a low tune. They’ve lived here only a few short weeks, and Shadow is starting to get antsy. It’s a rather small ranch style house on the edge of some small town in Montana. Shadow is used to the remoteness of it all, having lived in a lab in the middle of nowhere before now. 

The agent has given Shadow his own room, which was almost completely barren. He didn't have anything he wanted to put up or display, and there was only room for a bed and a dresser. Stone’s room, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. It was littered with blueprints and plans, the desk shoved into the corner held multiple screens, more of which had been mounted on the wall alongside even more blueprints that had been stuck to the drywall. 

Shadow didn’t like going in there, the room feeling like a condensed version of that lab he once knew so well. 

He kept a pair of strange looking gloves on his dresser in there, something Shadow had picked up once, but Stone made sure it was only once. 

The man was very strange to live with. In general he held a moderate disposition, friendly (sometimes overly so). He made sure Shadow was comfortable, and usually asked him to help cook/ask his opinion on whatever he was making. But then when he wasn’t cooking or talking with Shadow, he was different. The best way for Shadow to describe it is just sad, but there was more to it. When he worked, he didn’t like to be interrupted. He was never mean to Shadow should he go and bother him (which almost never happens), but he certainly doesn’t look happy about it. He gets this laser focus that changes his expression into something hardened and cold. 

A couple nights after they first moved in, Shadow could hear Stone sobbing in the other room, before a series of crashing and crumpling paper. He knew he and the Doctor were close, but Shadow didn’t realize how deep their relationship ran. He doesn’t talk about him, not outloud, anyway. Shadow’s noticed the latte art.

That’s all to say that the house is generally very quiet. They don’t talk to each other much outside of mealtimes (of which dinner is followed by a viewing of one of Stone’s telenovellas). Shadow prefers the quiet, but he’s started to feel suffocated by it all. He needs to experience something that isn’t the heavy silence that clings to these walls during the day, and the melancholy that permeates the evening. He’s been warned against going out into town, Stone worried he would alarm the locals, and any one of them could report their location to GUN, which is the last thing either of them wanted or needed right now. 

But Shadow couldn’t stay cooped up like this. So, after Stone had turned in for the night, Shadow hops out of his bedroom window. It’s late, so all the houses around them are dark, so Shadow felt safe moving around and no one would see him. He’s been out in the yard before, but he hasn’t had a chance to stretch his legs in a while. He looks to the side, noticing the tall, mountainous hills peeking out over the forest. No one would see him there, especially not at this hour, so Shadow takes off on his air shoes, passing a sign with the name of the town on it; “Westopolis”. 

He found the silence in the forest to be completely different from the silence at home. The chirps of insects were more erratic and much more soothing than the constant hum of the TV. The air was fresh,  and Shadow could see the stars much more clearly out here. Shadow likes Stone, he’s kind to him, and he understands his sadness and pain, but it’s nice to be away from everything, those four walls no longer pressing down on him. He goes every night for a couple days, and if he angles his head the right way, he can only see the night sky, and he can pretend he’s fifty years back, with her. 

One night, as he sits on the edge of the cliff, he hears footsteps behind him. Well, they’re not just footsteps, they were quick, too quick for any human. Then there was a slight slide against the stone beneath them. 

“I know you’re there, Sonic.”

He was sure he would have run into the blue hedgehog again, though he wasn’t sure when. 

“Shadow? Is that actually you?” 

Only Sonic the hedgehog would ask the black and red alien hedgehog if he was the same one he knew before. How many black and red alien hedgehogs has this guy run into?

“Who else would I be?”

Shadow didn’t mean to stay out all night. He had been talking to Sonic, and it was nice to have someone who understood him by his side again as he watched the night sky. It didn’t take long for the other to lay back on the ground and pass out, his breathing heavy but even. Shadow could have left him there, could have shaken him long before the first purple hues of morning spread across the sky, cloaking the stars beneath it. But he didn’t, instead letting Sonic sleep, and occasionally glancing over at him while he waited for the ‘right time’ to wake him. Shadow learned that Sonic snores sometimes.

Maybe Shadow was just basking in the fact that the other hedgehog trusted him enough to fall asleep next to, that he wasn’t on guard around him like so many others. It was…nice. He almost felt bad for waking him, but he figures no one in his family knows he’s even out here.

And then Sonic asked to meet again the next night, which surprised Shadow even more. He wanted to see him again? Why? What could Shadow possibly give him that he doesn’t get from the others in his home? 

But Shadow realized that he enjoyed being around someone like him, and Sonic isn’t the worst person in the world to hang around, so he agreed. 

When Shadow makes it home himself, Stone is already up, evident by the sounds the computer makes and the scratching of pencil and paper Shadow can hear when he climbs back in his window. Shadow checks himself in the mirror, briefly pressing his quills together and smoothing his hands over them to try and make sure that nothing is out of place. 

He then exits his room, looking over and seeing Stone’s door open, two badniks floating around the room. Shadow rolls his eyes at seeing them, as there’s something about them that Shadow doesn’t like or trust. 

Shadow goes into the kitchen, scrounging through the small pantry and grabbing a box of chocolate cereal. He walks over to the couch in the living room and turns on the TV, some cartoon popping up. Shadow digs his hands into the box, grabbing a handful before stuffing them in his mouth. His eyes are a bit heavy, and he chews slowly as he watches the colorful characters on screen. 

Eventually his eyes are drawn away from the screen when he hears someone clear their throat above him. Shadow looks up, seeing Stone looking at him with a raised brow and crossed arms. 

“Shadow, we talked about this. You’re getting crumbs all over the couch.” 

Shadow looks down at his lap, seeing bits of cereal all over his lap and on the cushions next to him. He then closes the box of cereal and puts it next to him on the couch. He then looks back up at Stone who sighs. 

“I’m going to get the vacuum.” 

That’s another thing about Stone, he likes his house clean. 

Shadow stands, brushing the crumbs onto the floor. He steps off to the side as Stone approaches with a handheld vacuum. Shadow watches as Stone cleans, and once he’s done he looks at Shadow. 

His brows come together as he stands, “Are you okay, Shads? You seem tired.” 

Shadow shrugs, “I stayed up late.”

Stone hums, and then looks towards the kitchen. When he looks back at Shadow, he’s got a half smile on his face, “Have you ever had coffee before?” 

Stone hands him a warm cup, the heat easily transferring from the paper cup to his hands. He brings it up to his nose, sniffing it a couple times. It smells good, so Shadow brings it to his mouth. Stone watches him take a sip, Shadow recoiling slightly at the heat of the drink. It tastes good, though.

“What do you think?”

Shadow looks at his plain cup, watching the steam slowly roll out of the small hole in the top, “It’s good, I like it.” 

Stone smiles at him, before pulling out of the cafe parking lot. After the coffee shop, Stone swings by the store, leaving Shadow in the car (which he left on with the windows cracked open) to sip on his coffee. Shadow watches out the window, seeing people walking in and out of the grocery store. He saw a young child with her mother, the girl excitedly babbling about something while her mom focused on getting them through the parking lot safely. 

Shadow wondered if Maria ever got to do things like that before they met. If she was ever dragged to the store with a family member, or if she ever had mundane things to look forward to. Shadow is free from the lab, but he’s hardly more free than he was then. Maybe even less so. 

It’s not Stone’s fault, the man wanted to protect him as best he could (though, Shadow is more than capable of taking care of himself). He wishes people saw him differently, that he weren’t so out of place everywhere he goes.

Well, almost everywhere. He’s not looked down upon on that cliffside with Sonic. He’s not feared there. The other hedgehog even looked happy to see Shadow, something he hasn’t experienced in a long, long time. 

Stone returns shortly, dropping the bags in the backseat of the car. They drive home in relative silence, the only sound being the radio playing some generic pop song. It’s not at all like the music he used to listen to with Maria, and he wondered if all music now sounded like this. 

He helps Stone carry the bags into the house, and as Stone takes one of the bags from him, Shadow sniffs the air, smelling something. It smelled like the coffee he was given earlier, but stronger, and a little different. Stone puts it on the counter, and Shadow watches as he takes out various boxes and bags and starts putting them away. Shadow keeps sniffing, and when Stone takes out a smallish bag that was folded at the top, Shadow points at it.

“What’s that?” 

Stone stalls, looking down at the hedgehog and holding the bag a bit higher, “These?” 

Shadow nods.

“Coffee beans.” 

“Can I have some?” 

Stone furrows his brows at him, “To eat?” 

Shadow nods again.

Stone props a hip against the counter, “I can make you another cup of coffee if you’d like, we don’t usually eat the actual beans, though.”

Shadow blinks at him, and Stone returns his look. 

“You really want to try the beans?”

Shadow nods, and Stone sighs, opening the bag. 

“Cup your hands for me.” Stone says. Shadow complies, and Stone dumps a small amount into Shadow’s palms. 

Shadow puts them in his mouth, chewing them. Stone watches, and for a moment he has a sort of odd, almost smug expression, as if expecting Shadow to hate it. However, Shadow’s eyes widen, as he’s never had anything like this before. It was delicious. 

He looks up at Stone, then at the bag, and then at Stone again, his mouth still full of coffee beans.

Stone’s shoulders drop and he adopts an expression of surprise, “You want more?” 

Shadow nods, and Stone looks at the bag in his hand, “If I’d known you’d like it this much I would’ve bought more bags.” 

And yet he dumps more of them into Shadow’s awaiting hands.

Shadow isn’t sure why he continues to slip out of his bedroom window every night to see the other hedgehog. He’s erratic and jittery, and chatty to no end. Shadow should have told him off long before Sonic felt comfortable enough to ask to wear Shadow’s shoes. He should’ve told him off when he caught him staring at him, but instead there was this strange warmth that resided in the space between his ribs and stomach. It was clear that Sonic liked him, though in what capacity Shadow couldn’t say. Normally, all Shadow wanted was to be left alone, to not be bothered so he could think in peace. Stone’s good at that, and recently he’s been slipping Shadow a bowl of coffee beans before he disappears to work on who knows what. 

But Sonic wants Shadow’s attention. He wants to be around Shadow, and as much as he hates to admit it to himself, the attention feels good. He likes that Sonic is interested in him for him, and not just because of his powers. It reminds him of something Maria had said to him, all those years ago, about how he could be anything he wanted to be, but not because of his powers, but because of who he is inside. To know there’s someone out there that sees him that way…

He thinks Maria would’ve liked Sonic.

But Shadow does not like that Knuckles guy. 

Shadow thinks it as he climbs back into his room, a scowl on his face. That big red idiot jumped at him from a tree, something Shadow should’ve seen before walking out into the open. Unfortunately, Shadow had been distracted by the fact Sonic had beaten him to their spot, and he had felt a slight raise in his heart rate at seeing him sitting there. He needs to be more alert from now on.

It was later than normal, Sonic having fallen asleep against him. Shadow seems to have a hard time waking him, not wanting to disturb his rest. Though this time, Shadow found himself nodding off as well. Sonic was warm, his weight comforting against his side. So he took a short nap with him. It was…nice.

But Shadow decides to curl up on his bed and take a nap, which is annoyingly filled with blue hedgehogs running circles around his head.

The next night, Sonic acts strangely. His swaying is more squirming than swaying, and he keeps rubbing his hands together. Instead of being able to focus on the stars, he’s worrying about what’s going on in Sonic’s mind. Is he trying to figure out how to tell Shadow he doesn’t want to keep meeting like this? Did Shadow scare him the night before while playing tag? (Shadow had tackled Sonic a couple times, only to immediately hop up and run in the opposite direction). 

Eventually Sonic pops up, clearing his throat, “Hey do you, uh, wanna go for a walk?”

Shadow raises a brow at him, his concern only growing, “A walk? Since when have you ever walked anywhere?”

Sonic splutters, “I walk! Sometimes. Maybe I just want to show you that I’m capable of anything. Huh, did you ever think about that?”

Shadow rolls his eyes, disbelieving. Sonic huffs, turning and walking towards the treeline anyway.

“I’ll just go without you then!” He calls over his shoulder. 

Shadow sighs, getting to his feet and jogging to catch up with him. 

Shadow’s heart goes a bit sideways, and he looks over at Sonic, “What’s the point of this again?”

Sonic shrugs, swinging his arms, “Maybe we should just take in the view, enjoy the scenery.”

Shadow looks around, frowning, “It’s incredibly dark.”

Sonic leans in towards Shadow, putting on an annoying, goofy voice, “Are you scared?”

Shadow lightly shoves Sonic away, trying not to smile, “Please.”

They continue to walk, sticks and fallen leaves crunching beneath their feet. Shadow tries to focus on something else, looking up at the branches, making sure no one was following them again.

Suddenly, a hand slips into his own, and Shadow barely stops himself from jumping. He looks over at Sonic, who is keeping his head straight, his eyes focused on a spot in the dark. Unsure of what Sonic was getting at, Shadow decides to return his own teasing against him.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared.”

Sonic scoffs, “What? No!”

“Why are you holding my hand then?”

Shadow knows he could have taken his hand back by now. He probably should. 

Sonic gives a weak shrug, “Because I felt like it. Because I want to.”

Another beat of silence.

“Are you trying to tell me something?”

Shadow stops walking when he says it, inadvertently pulling Sonic into stopping as well. Shadow is realizing that his initial concerns may not actually be what’s on Sonic’s mind, and the possibility of something else, made Shadow’s heart race.

“Maybe. Would…would you be mad if I was?” Sonic says, looking at Shadow, concern deeply embedding in his expression. 

Shadow doesn’t say anything, instead trying to figure out if Sonic is saying what he thinks he’s saying. This is a first, and Shadow isn’t exactly sure what he’s supposed to do in this situation. His brain kicks into overdrive, and suddenly all of Stone’s stupid telenovellas are running through Shadow’s mind.

When Shadow continues to not say anything, Sonic shifts on his feet, clearly growing impatient, “Can you say something, please?”

“I…I think I need to go home.”

Shadow is starting to panic. This was a situation he never thought he would be in. He thought he was going to live out the rest of his life by Maria’s side, comfortable and uncomplicated. He would snarl at any suitor who broke her heart, and take care of whatever family she formed. After she was gone he thought he would live out the rest of his days angry and alone, but now there’s this blue Mobian holding his hand in the middle of the woods, a quickly fading light in his eyes.

“Okay, I understand.” Sonic says sadly.

He loosens his grip on Shadow’s hand, but Shadow doesn’t let go of him. Despite the fire happening in his mind, he needs Sonic to understand that Shadow understands. So instead, Shadow gently pulls Sonic closer, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

With that Shadow drops his hand, his own heart threatening the integrity of his ribcage, and he chaos controls out of there.

The next morning was as quiet as all other mornings, which for some reason feels wrong given what had happened the night before. Stone is sitting across the table from him, eating his omelet and reading something on his tablet. The TV is on behind them, though this time it’s not telenovellas, but some random game show.

Eventually, Stone taps his fork against the edge of the wooden table, looking up at Shadow, who is now just picking at his own omelet.

“So, where have you been going?”

Shadow looks up at Stone, his expression remaining unchanged, “None of your business.” 

There’s no point in lying, the badniks know everything that passes through the parameters of the house. And Shadow meant what he said; it was none of his business. 

Stone puts his fork and tablet down, putting his hands together on the table and leaning forward, “Shadow, you’ve been leaving the house in the middle of the night, I should probably know what you’re up to. You’re not human, I need to know if you’re doing something you shouldn’t.” 

Shadow frowns at him, “Do you not trust me?” 

He’s come to quite like Stone, and he figured the man understood him better than most, despite their obvious differences. So this insinuation hurts Shadow a bit.

Stone sighs, “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I don’t trust other people.”

Shadow pushes his plate away, “I’m not doing anything I can’t handle.” 

“I’m sure you’re not. Don’t do anything you can’t get out of.

Shadow wrinkles his nose, “I wasn’t planning on it.” 

Stone stands, picking up his now empty plate and then Shadow’s mostly empty one, “If anything does happen, you’d tell me, right?” 

Shadow looks up at him. Stone has always been kind to him, even when they were both still teamed up with Gerald, Stone didn’t hesitate to invite him to do something that didn’t have to do with their grand plans. In fact he seemed almost disinterested in the whole thing, which at the time had Shadow viewing the henchman as nothing more than that, a simple henchman. 

After getting to know him a bit more, though, he’s seen that Stone is a lot more than what was on the surface. He was smart, cunning, and Shadow can only imagine what all those numbers and schematics mean. Shadow wonders if Gerald’s grandson knew all of this, and despite how clueless the man could be, he figured he had to. 

In regards to Shadow, he realizes he trusts the man. Maybe not entirely, but he trusts him enough to not harm him, and that he believes that all of the things he says to Shadow are true. He’s not sure he would trust him with Sonic, though.

“If I thought you’d be able to help.” 

Stone scoffs with a smile, “I’ll take that, I guess.”

So Stone takes the plates to the kitchen, and Shadow listens to the sink as he gets off his chair, and heads for his room. 

He shuts the door behind him and puts his face in his hands. What was he doing? Maybe he should’ve told Stone what happened so he could call Shadow stupid and bring him back to reality. 

Shadow kissed Sonic on the cheek. After he let Sonic hold his hand. What had he been thinking?

No, he knows what he was thinking. He was thinking about the fact that Sonic was kind to him, even after everything they’d put each other through. He was thinking about the fact that Sonic liked him, that he was clearly nervous about what Shadow would think when he had grabbed his hand. 

He was also thinking about the fact that Shadow found himself enjoying the time he spends with the other hedgehog, and he knows he likes Sonic more than simple friendship. Regardless, that doesn’t mean this is a good idea. 

Why not? A small voice in the back of his head asks. Sonic likes him, and he likes Sonic back, so what’s the problem? Sonic is able to take care of himself, which is a plus. He’s tired of losing people, tired of worrying about these fragile beings. He loved Maria, and he wishes nothing more than to have her still here with him, to help him with these new feelings, to even tease him for them. He also loved Gerald, and saw him as a grandfather, as Maria had. He had a family, a small, fragile one, but he had it. 

And now Sonic is offering a comfort that Shadow has been missing for fifty years. The time he spent with Gerald was angry, but it’s not like that with Sonic, the bubbly, happy hedgehog bringing a pleasant warmth back into his chest. He wonders what Maria would say about all this. She’d probably poke him in the shoulder with a smile, her voice high as she teases him for having a crush of all things. 

It causes tears to spring to his eyes, and he sniffles as he hears her in his mind.

Ooooo Shadow likes a boooooy. Here, let me help you make something for him, okay?

The breaths in Shadow’s chest become hiccupy, and he leans against his bedroom door, sliding down it. He folds in on himself, resting his face against his arms, crying silently into them.

It was interesting seeing where Sonic lived. He lives in Green Hills, the town right next to the one Shadow and Stone are staying in. Their towns are very similar, with a main road lined with buildings, fringe residential areas and other buildings hidden between the trees. The house he lives in is nice, quite a bit bigger than the one Shadow’s living in, but they have a lot more people living there. In all honesty, Shadow prefers his living arrangements, as he has his own room and doesn’t have to share it with anyone. 

Before he left for the night, he had kissed Sonic again, though this time he had kissed him on the mouth. At the time he remained composed, his expression cool. However at the time his heart was racing wildly through his chest, unsure if he was even doing it properly. 

It wasn’t the last time either. 

The next night, there was more kissing, and it seems that Shadow has opened the floodgates for Sonic. He had kissed him full on the mouth, Sonic’s eyes going wide when Shadow pulled away, his expression dopey with awe.

They kissed a couple more times, each one no more skillful than the last, before Shadow eventually told him to take a break. Sonic agreed reluctantly, pressing a kiss to Shadow’s cheek before flopping down and laying his head in Shadow’s lap. Shadow had a hard time focusing on finding any constellations that night. 

Despite his distractions, Shadow has kept a pretty good lid on his poker face. Stone is none the wiser to any shift in Shadow or his personal life, though he partly attributes that to the wave of grief that seems to have hit the man. 

When Shadow had returned home that night, he heard Stone mumbling to himself in the kitchen. Concerned, Shadow cracked his bedroom door open, peeking into the kitchen. There he saw Stone lying on the ground, the only light being the singular one above the sink. Shadow quickly stepped through his doorway and rushed to the agent’s side.

He had a welt on his forehead, so Shadow assumes he passed out and hit his head on the way down. He put his hand under Stone’s nose, thankfully feeling puffs of air. He had shiny tracks on his cheeks and bags under his eyes. Shadow gently shakes Stone.

“Stone? Stone, are you okay?” 

He rolls the agent on his back, shaking him a couple more times before Stone blearily opens his eyes. He squints up at the hedgehog.

“Shadow? Wha…what’s going on?” 

He tries to sit up, and Shadow tries to help him lean against the cabinets. Stone groans, putting a hand to his temple, “Jesus.” He mumbles.

“Are you okay?” 

“Yeah.” 

Shadow looks him in the eye, both of which are glazed over, “What happened?”

Stone shrugs, “Dunno.” 

Shadow frowns at him, “Have you been sleeping?” 

Both of Stone’s hands run down his face, “Uhh, what day is it?” 

Shadow had found Gerald like this before, he had been working on a project that he was incredibly focused on. But back then there were a lot of people that were there to support him, but now it’s just Shadow and Stone.

“You need to go to bed.” Shadow says, standing.

Stone sighs, “Yeah, okay.” 

He tries to stand, but he only makes it onto his knees before he wobbles and nearly topples again. Shadow catches him, Stone giving him a tired smile before quickly blinking as he tries to focus on standing again. He manages to get to his feet, Shadow following closely behind, hands up slightly, just in case. 

Stone makes it to his room, though his steps were uneven, leaning against the door frame for a couple moments before throwing himself down on his bed. Shadow grabs a blanket that had fallen to the ground, picking it up and draping it over Stone. Stone blinks at Shadow, and some tears well up in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Shads. I didn’t mean for you to see me like that.” 

Shadow shrugs, “It’s fine. Just start going to bed, okay?” 

Stone closes his eyes, his speech slurring a bit, “Sure thing.” 

Once Shadow is sure the man isn’t going to be getting up any time soon, Shadow leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Stone’s room was a mess, and Shadow wonders if he had been here for the past couple of nights if he would have noticed the fact that Stone hadn’t been sleeping. 

Stone slept through most of the next day, Shadow making sure he stepped lightly as to not disturb his much needed sleep. So he spends the day watching TV on a low volume, thinking about the night before with Sonic.

Stone still hadn’t come out of the room before Shadow had left the house to meet up with Sonic.

He had been excited to see Sonic, enjoying this change in their relationship. But when he had arrived that night, Sonic was visibly upset.

Apparently Tom and Maddie had found out about them. Shadow had figured that this Tom character was more of a father-figure for Sonic, as he was living with him. He’s heard Maddie’s name before, though he’s never seen her before, but Sonic talks about her in a similar manner as he does Tom.  

They spent the night in relative silence, Shadow holding Sonic against his side while he sniffled and dozed. Before sending Sonic back home (which Shadow was honestly hesitant to do) he kissed both of Sonic’s cheeks, Sonic smiling and laughing weakly. 

Shadow lingers at their spot as the sun rises, worrying about what Sonic is walking into. He doesn’t know Tom or Maddie, and he’s not entirely sure he trusts them quite yet. 

So he spends the rest of the day wondering what was happening in Sonic’s home. He’s sure it’s nothing for Shadow to actually be worried about, but the thought of Sonic being cornered in the house because of Shadow wasn’t sitting well with him.

Those concerns are quelled when Sonic shows up the next night, back to his happy and giddy self. Shadow can’t help but raise a brow at him, “You seem chipper.”

Sonic is smiling widely, swaying from foot to foot, “Well of course! I have a very special invitation for you, Mr. Shadow.” 

Sonic boops Shadow on his nose, Shadow scrunching his muzzle and jerking back. 

“What kind of invitation?” 

“To come to my house!” 

Shadow’s head tilts slightly, “After last night I wouldn’t think I would be a welcome guest.” 

Sonic blows a raspberry and waves a hand, “It was a big misunderstanding, we’ve got it all figured out.”

Shadow is unimpressed, and he conveys it with his face. 

“Pleeeeease, Shadow? Let me show you around properly. The people of Green Hills are totally cool with us alien types.”

Shadow looks off to the side, Brows furrowed, “I dunno…”

Sonic falls to his knees, Shadow trying to step back but before he can Sonic has his hands in his, “Shadooooow.” 

“Let go of me.” 

Sonic looks up at him with a pouty lip, “You’ll have the time of your life, I swear.” 

It’s not that Shadow doesn’t want to go with Sonic, he just doesn’t know if he can face the rest of his family. Especially not Tom. If Sonic is to be believed, Shadow has been forgiven by the man, but Shadow still hasn’t quite forgiven himself for it. He’s not sure he would be able to face him.

But seeing the stark difference between Sonic’s demeanor from the night before to now, Shadow seems to have no choice but to agree. 

He closes his eyes and sighs, “Fine. When do you want me over there?” 

Sonic shoots back up to his feet, still holding onto Shadow’s hands, “Yes, yes, yes! Can you come over tomorrow evening? Like late afternoon?” 

“I suppose I can make that work.” 

Sonic does some quick, light foot-taps and squeezes Shadow’s hands, “You won’t regret this.”

“I’m pretty sure I will.” Shadow mumbles. 

When the time came to go the next day, Stone was up in the kitchen, eating a bowl of cereal while he swipes at something on his tablet. Shadow gets off the couch and heads for the door without saying anything. As he pulls it open, Shadow could hear Stone’s spoon clatter against the bowl.

“Hey, where are you going?” 

Shadow looks over his shoulder, “Out.” 

Stone raised a brow, “Out where?”

“Out.”

“Shadow-”

“I’ll be back later.” Shadow says as he steps out of the door.

“Shadow-!”

He closes it behind him, and he looks across the street and notices a kid playing ball on the other side. They look over at Shadow, seemingly just frozen before Shadow chaos controls away. 

It doesn’t take long to get to Sonic’s house, and having been there before he’s able to get there on his own. There’s an undercurrent of nerves that are cursing through him as he approaches the secluded house. He approaches the door, quickly grooming his quills before knocking on the door.

From within Shadow can hear Sonic’s call of ‘I got it!’ a moment before the door is being thrown open with a flourish. Sonic is smiling at him, and Shadow attempts to look past him and into the home.

“So glad you could make it, come in, come in.” 

He ushers Shadow into the house before closing the door behind them, Sonic cupping his hands around his mouth as he calls, “Shadow is here!” 

“Bring him in here!” Tom calls, though he doesn’t sound far away. 

Sonic grabs Shadow’s wrist and pulls him a little further in until they’re standing on the edge of the kitchen. The house is nice, and it feels warm, homey. 

Two adult humans are moving around the kitchen, one of them he recognizes to be ‘Tom’. The other Shadow surmises is ‘Maddie’. 

Tom looks over at them with a smile, Maddie crouched by the oven.

Sonic lets go of Shadow, and gestures to the other hedgehog with a flourish, “May I introduce to you, the one and only Shadow the hedgehog!”

“Hello.” Shadow says, feeling uncertain. Has Tom actually forgiven him? Will Shadow be able to see his distaste of him in his eyes?

But Tom continues to smile at him, and puts his ladle back in the pot, turning towards the two hedgehogs. He puts a hand on his hip.

“Well, it’s nice to officially meet you. I’m Tom, and this is my wife Maddie.” Tom says, gesturing to Maddie who is still kneeling behind him.

Shadow’s eyes dart off to the side, “I’m sorry about our previous encounter.”

Tom waves a hand, “Ah don’t worry about it. No biggie.”

Maddie stands, a tray of garlic bread in her hand. She gives a brief smile towards them.

“It’s nice to meet you, Shadow.”

“And you, ma’am.” 

Maddie’s smile grows but is crooked, her head tilting slightly, “Well aren’t you polite.” 

Shadow feels some heat rise to his face. Before he can linger on it any further, Sonic is grabbing him by the arm.

“Knux and Tails are outside, let’s go see what they’re up to.”

Sonic, still holding Shadow by his arm, pulls him out of the kitchen and into the backyard. From there Shadow could see the fox inside of a shed, showing Knuckles a gadget on the table. Sonic jogged across the yard, still pulling Shadow with him. Once they were close, Sonic calls out.

“Hey guys, our guest is here!” 

Tails looks up, and Knuckles goes around the table and steps outside. 

“Ah! The more formidable hedgehog has arrived.”

Sonic sighs, “Dude, we’ve talked about this.”

Shadow clicks his tongue. What does this red buffoon know? Shadow pulls his arm out of Sonic’s grip, instead crossing them over his chest and looking at Knuckles with a raised brow, “He fared much better in our fight than you did.”

Knuckles raises his head a bit, forcing himself to look down on Shadow, “Only because he got the advantage of seeing me fight you first.” 

Shadow huffs, unphased, “Not like there was much to learn from.” 

Knuckles snarls, and Shadow glowers back, so Sonic grabs Shadow by the shoulders and turns him back towards the house with a strained laugh, “Okay, well dinner is almost ready so we’re going to go inside and help set the table.” 

So Sonic starts to push Shadow towards the house by his shoulders, which after a couple of steps he’s shrugged off. Shadow is already regretting his decision to come here. It’s clear the humans are weary of him, and Knuckles and Shadow simply don’t like each other. Shadow also doesn’t care for the smallest one, Tails. He hasn’t done anything exactly, but there’s something about him that seems to grate on his nerves. This was a mistake.

He tells Sonic as such, which makes the other hedgehog stop in the yard, looking at Shadow with these wide, sad eyes.

“What? You just got here, you can’t know that!” 

Shadow crosses his arms over his chest, looking over to the side. Despite being surrounded by others like him, and by humans that wholly accepted what he was (though the jury is still out on the whole accepting who he is), Shadow felt out of place. He misses Maria, he misses Gerald, hell, he misses Stone right now. 

Sonic puts a hand on Shadow’s shoulder, which makes him look up.

“At least stay for dinner. If you want to leave after that you can.”

Shadow rolls his eyes, but he can’t pretend that he wasn’t being swayed by Sonic’s pleading. He’s clearly excited that Shadow is here, and he doesn’t want to ruin it for him, but he has this twisting in his stomach, one that makes him want to curl up under his bed and ignore everyone. But if staying for a meal is what Sonic wants, then Shadow can oblige him. It’s not like any of them can do anything to him, what’s the worst that could happen?

Shadow sighs, “Fine.” 

Sonic beams at him, “Perfect.” 

He then presses a quick kiss to Shadow’s cheek before once again dragging Shadow inside. He takes Shadow back up to the two humans, who have plates stacked next to the pots. Sonic goes up and puts his hands on the counter, going up on his tip-toes as he looks up at Tom.

“Anything we can help with?” 

Shadow wondered if the dinner table was always this quiet. It wasn’t silent, not like the one Shadow had grown used to, but the conversation moved in and out, mostly carried by Tom asking questions to everyone at the table. The fox has been going on a ramble about something or other, Shadow was drowning it out, when Shadow noticed Maddie looking at him.

When Tails finished speaking, Maddie points her fork at Shadow.

“So, where have you been staying, Shadow?” 

Shadow isn’t one hundred percent sure what the relationship between this family and Stone is, though they seemed comfortable enough with Ivo and Stone to work with them before they had ‘switched sides’, which only further complicated it in Shadow’s mind. 

But he also doesn’t know these people, and what exactly would he even get out of lying about it?

“Agent Stone.”

The recognition from Maddie never came, though. She just nodded a couple times, “Okay. And how do you know him?” 

Knuckles slams his fist against the table, “You are living with the goat milker?!” 

Shadow squints at him, “What’s it to you?” 

Tom’s brows are furrowed in confusion, “The goat milker…?”

Tails turns to Tom, “Robotnik’s henchman.” 

And there is the recognition Shadow was expecting from both of the humans.

“What?” Maddie says, her shoulders tensing.

Sonic puts both of his hands up, “Okay why don’t we all take it easy. I’m sure with Robotnik gone the guy is completely harmless. Right, Shadow?” 

Shadow looks at Sonic, and it takes a bit more effort to keep his face neutral. He thinks now would be a good time to lie.

Shadow gives Sonic a single nod, “Right.” 

Maddie turns back to her soup, “If you say so.” 

Silence returns to the table, and Sonic looks around at everyone before he decides that can’t stand.

“Did you guys know that Shadow has these super cool floaty shoes?” 

“They’re air shoes.” Shadow automatically corrects. Sonic just waves a hand.

“Sure, sure, whatever. They’re super cool. They work because they’re uh, what did you say? Frictionless?”

Shadow nods, and Tom whistles.

“Frictionless, huh? I can barely roller blade as is, must take a lot of skill.”

Sonic puts his hands behind his head, lounging back in his chair, “Maybe for some, but I was pretty good at it.” 

Shadow rolls his eyes, and Maddie just smiles at them, “Seems like your friend disagrees, hun.” 

Sonic looks over at Shadow, betrayed, “What? I was so good!” 

Shadow shrugs, stirring the remaining soup in the bowl, “For an amateur, I guess.” 

Tails goes, “Ooooo,” which only makes Sonic scoff.

“You wish you could pick it up as fast as me.” Shadow wasn’t sure if Sonic was saying that to him or Tails.

This then devolved into a sibling squabble with references to occasions Shadow has no clue about. However he was content to just watch in silence, happy to not be the center of attention. Dinner ended soon after that, Tails chirping that he was going to go get the game set up on the TV. Shadow brought his plate over to the sink, handing it to Tom who thanked him. So far Shadow hasn’t noticed any underlying signs that Tom hates him, which Shadow still can’t quite get his head around. Once dinner was cleaned up, Shadow lingered in the kitchen, as did Sonic. He looks at Shadow, his face laced with apprehensive hope.

“So, do you wanna stay and play some games with us?”

Dinner wasn’t as bad as Shadow had expected it to be, and he kind of liked the chaos of it all when it wasn’t focused on him. Maybe during the games he could sit back and just enjoy the warmth of family.

“I suppose I could stay a little longer.” 

Sonic smiles at him before once again grabbing Shadow by the arm, “Come on!” 

Everyone was already on the couch, and Sonic and Shadow sit in the space left open for them (Shadow now sitting between Sonic and Tom). On the screen is a guy in a kart of some kind, covered in bright colors. Sonic picked up a blue remote, and started maneuvering a stick with his thumb to move the screen around.

As Shadow was trying to process everything that was happening, Tom hands Shadow a green controller.

“Thanks…” Shadow says, turning the device over in his hand. It had a lot of buttons, and he wasn’t quite sure how to hold it.

Sonic notices his plight, and quickly maneuvers Shadow’s hands into the proper position, and then he quickly runs over how to select a kart to use. That did not prepare him to actually know how to play. 

When his character on screen didn’t move, Tom looks down at Shadow’s hands, and points at a button on the controller.

“Press that to make your guy go forward.” 

Shadow does, and then his guy runs into a wall.

“And then you steer with that, like this.” Tom puts his finger over Shadow’s and moves it, making the guy on screen do the same. 

Once he thinks Shadow has the hang of it, he leans back. 

Shadow, of course, came in last, but he demanded a redo since someone decided to not teach him how to play.

And it went on and on and on, Shadow becoming more and more comfortable shooting back at something that was said, finding Tom and Maddie’s laughter at it amusing. At some point Knuckles gave up playing and joined Maddie in the recliner (which resulted in the woman complaining of how heavy the echidna is and that he has to lay to the side of her lest she break a rib). 

Shadow liked spending time with this family, despite the fact that they’re loud and make references Shadow doesn’t understand, they’re happy, and that’s enough. He wishes Maria was here to see this, wishes she was here to experience it for herself. For a moment, he thinks it’s not fair that he gets invited into this happy home while Maria is gone, but he thinks about what she would have wanted, what she really would have wanted, and he knows that it’s for Shadow to have this. 

He finds himself hesitating to leave, Maddie sending him on his way with the call of he’s welcome anytime. As he walks down the drive, he looks up at the night sky, stars twinkling above him. 

I made it, Maria.

Chapter Text

It’s almost eleven by the time Shadow makes it back to Westopolis. He finds Stone on the couch when he comes back in, the man looking over when he hears Shadow enter.

He frowns at the hedgehog, “Where have you been?” 

Shadow turns his back to him, heading for his room, “None of your concern.” 

Stone sits up straight before standing, “You know what? No, it is my concern. This is my house, and if you’re going to stay here I need to know where you’re going.”

Shadow stops, turning to face Stone. He blinks at him, as Stone has never spoken to him like that before. Shadow’s brows come together, a frown settling on his face.

“What?” 

Stone crosses his arms over his chest, his jaw strongly set, “You heard me.” 

Shadow’s head slightly jerks back, “What if I don’t tell you? What are you going to do about it? Kick me out?” 

Shadow is digging in his heels. Sure, he trusts Stone, but there’s a knot in his chest and a lump in his throat that’s keeping him from telling Stone about Sonic. Maybe it’s the history, even if he doesn’t know exactly what’s transpired between Ivo and Sonic, between Stone and Sonic. And with the fierce dedication Stone held towards Ivo, the dedication he clearly still holds, Shadow really isn’t keen on taking his chances that Stone has no negative feelings towards Sonic.

Stone’s eyes dart off to the side momentarily before returning his gaze to Shadow, “Maybe…maybe I will.” 

The hard line of Shadow’s shoulders drop, but his face remains hardened despite the slight widening of his eyes, “You wouldn’t.”

Stone tightens his arms to his chest, shifting his weight foot to foot as he takes a deep breath through his nose. 

“If I have to.”

Shadow looks him up and down, a slight curl of his mouth, “Do it then.” 

Stone works his jaw for a couple moments before sighing, shaking his head as his shoulders drop, “It’s late, let’s finish this discussion tomorrow.” 

Shadow remains rooted to the spot for several moments, before turning on his heel and continuing to his room. There’s a strange, sick feeling reverberating from his chest, that whole interaction leaving a sour taste in his mouth. Stone has never acted this way before, but Shadow realizes that his actions haven’t exactly been consistent either. 

What’s the worst thing that could happen should Stone find out? It’s not like he would be able to hurt him in any way, at least not physically. He doesn’t actually think Stone would kick him out, no shot. The man is tender-hearted where it counted, and Shadow likes to think he’s found his way into the man’s good graces and onto that very short list of people he dares care for. 

But there’s something about the look in his eye, it made Shadow a bit concerned. As far as Shadow knows he’s been sleeping, but he has no real way of knowing. He’s seemed like his usual self, but how well does Shadow really know him?

Shadow shakes all of his off, blaming the late hour before climbing into bed, pulling his knees up to his chest. There was still that sickly feeling in his chest, and a sort of dread for whatever tomorrow might bring.

When tomorrow does come, Shadow finds himself hesitating to leave the room. The kitchen is right across from his bedroom door, and he can hear the subtle clangs of pots or pans, alerting him to Stone’s whereabouts. He sits on his bed as he listens, waiting for the noise to stop. For a moment he chastises himself for cowering like this, that after all of the things he’s survived and gone through he’s suddenly hesitating in the face of his guardian being disappointed in him somehow. 

But in the weeks they’ve lived together, Stone has become a sort of family to him, and the last thing Shadow wants is for him to turn his back on him. He watched Gerald do it once, he doesn’t want to relive that again.

When the sounds in the kitchen stop, and he hears the slight creak of the floor, Shadow gets off his bed, going towards the door. He listens for a moment more, and he hears the faint sound of the TV from deeper in the house. So Shadow opens the door, straightening up and walking into the kitchen. He climbs up on the counter, grabbing a cereal box which is being kept on the back of the counter against the wall. Shadow then sits on the counter, eating out of the box. He can see the living room from here, but Stone isn’t in there. 

So he keeps eating his cereal. Eventually Stone emerges from a backroom holding a laundry basket. 

He notices Shadow, and he gives a look that Shadow can’t quite decipher. He walks past Shadow, bringing the laundry basket into his room before walking back into the kitchen. He doesn’t say anything, instead reaching over Shadow and grabbing the coffee bean bag from the cabinet. 

He steps back, shaking the bag in front of Shadow, “You want some?” 

Shadow nods, putting the cereal box to the side and cupping his hands. Stone shakes some of the beans in his hands. Stone then closes the bag and goes to the opposite counter, leaning against it. He watches Shadow eat, the hedgehog feeling like he’s being studied again.

“Are you ready to talk about where you were at yesterday?” 

Shadow swallows what’s in his mouth, and he just shrugs.

Stone hangs his head, taking a couple breaths before looking back up at Shadow.

“I don’t understand what the hold up is, Shads. I’m concerned for your safety, and frankly I’m just suspicious of where you could be going that requires this much secrecy.” 

“Maybe it’s none of your business, have you ever considered that? Maybe I just want this thing to myself without you or anyone else interfering. Would that be so hard to believe?”

Sonic is his, and if no one knows about him, they can’t take him, simple as that.

“I can’t accept that. You’re a kid living in my house, and when you’re leaving the house, that no longer is simple privacy. And if you’re not going to tell me, I have ways of finding out.” 

Shadow looks over his shoulder, at the badniks floating ominously over in the living room. Anger bubbles up in Shadow’s chest. 

“Keep those things away from me or I’ll destroy them.” 

Stone’s voice is even and cold as he speaks, “I watched the Doctor build hundreds of them, I have the plans, I’ll just build more.” 

They stare each other down, now in this stalemate. There are a couple of ways this could end, but based on how Stone has been acting lately, Shadow isn’t exactly banking on Stone remaining calm about where Shadow has been going. So if he does or doesn’t tell, it won’t matter. It’s a lose-lose situation.

So Shadow raises his head, refusing to be intimidated by this man.

“I went to the Wachowski’s home.”

For a moment Stone’s expression doesn’t change, but his back straightens. 

“Wachowski, as in Tom Wachowski, Sheriff of Green Hills?” 

Shadow wasn’t certain what Tom’s rank was, but he did know the man was a police officer. 

“Yes.” 

Shadow could see Stone’s tongue push against the inside of one of his cheeks, his eyes looking between the handles on the cabinets. 

“You’ve been talking to the blue hedgehog then, I take it.” 

He says it without looking at Shadow.

“I have.”

Stone’s eyes then settle on the cheap linoleum under his feet, and he remains that way for a while. A lot longer than Shadow knew what to do with. There was a moment there where Shadow wasn’t even sure the other man was breathing. But then he takes a deep breath, looking up and past Shadow. 

“I think it would be best if you went back there. And stayed.” 

Shadow’s shoulders drop, something akin to ice flooding his veins. Stone’s voice was calm, and if he were saying anything else Shadow would even say he sounded pleasant. 

“You’re kicking me out?” 

He’s still not looking at Shadow when he speaks, “I need, I need you out of this house. Out of…you need to go.” 

At the end of his sentence he does finally look at Shadow, but his eyes were glazed, and he seemed kind of frantic.

Not wanting to argue, Shadow stands on the counter, looking down at Stone with his usual frown and pinched brow, “Fine. Enjoy your solitude.” 

With that Shadow blips himself out of the house and out onto the lawn. The sun was now high in the sky, and the warmth of it felt wrong as it seeps into his fur. Not having anywhere else to go, Shadow once again makes his way to 55 Plymouth Drive.

When Shadow knocks on the door of the Wachowski residence, no one answers. His frown deepens as he knocks again, but harder. When that doesn’t get results, Shadow decides to walk around the house until he reaches the backyard, finding Sonic and Tails mid-construction of an obstacle course. He stands to the side and watches them for a while, arms crossed as they lightly squabble over where to put different pieces. 

Eventually the fox notices Shadow off to the side, jumping slightly as they make eye contact. Sonic follows Tails’s line of sight, and breaks out into a grin.

“Hey, Shadow!” 

He zips over to him, and his smile falters a bit as he looks at Shadow. Or maybe it’s him realizing that he’s shown up to their house in the middle of the day uninvited.

“Everything okay?”

Shadow looks over Sonic’s shoulder to see Tails looking over at them, clearly curious. Shadow then looks back at Sonic, voice low, “Stone kicked me out.” 

Sonic’s expression drops completely, “You’re kidding.” 

Shadow aims his frown at Sonic, who scratches the back of his neck while saying, “Obviously not.” 

Shadow sighs, “Would you mind if I…?”

“Stayed? Of course not! You’re always welcome here, man.” 

His comment was punctuated with a light punch on Shadow’s shoulder. Shadow nods, and Sonic just gives him another, albeit slightly smaller, smile.

Sonic then jerks a thumb behind him, “Tails and I are working on this super awesome obstacle course if you want in.” 

“I’ll just watch.” 

Sonic shrugs before zipping back over to Tails. Shadow walks further into the yard, looking around. He finds a plastic lawn chair, and sits in it while Sonic continues talking a million miles a minute with the younger Mobian. It’s then that Shadow looks towards the roof, seeing Knuckles perched atop of it. Shadow just shakes his head and instead focuses back on Sonic, letting that familiar, comfortable warmth spread through his chest and stomach.

“Where’s Tom and Maddie?” 

Shadow asks it as the four of them pile into the kitchen, each assembling their own preferred lunches. Sonic has oh so graciously offered to put together Shadow’s. 

Sonic puts mustard on his sandwich, “They both work, so they’ll be home later.”

“Do you think they’ll mind me being here?” 

Sonic waves a dismissive hand, “No of course not. Taking people like us in is kind of their thing.” 

“Pretzel Woman and the Lord of Donuts are very gracious hosts and tribe elders.” Knuckles says, taking a bunch of grapes out of the fridge. 

Tails puts his bowl on the kitchen table, “Yeah, and if I’m remembering correctly I don’t even think we asked to stay with them, they just kind of loaded us all up in their car and drove us here.” 

Sonic puts the bread on top of both his and Shadow’s sandwiches, walking them over to where Shadow has perched himself on the counter, “Yeah, my moving in was a bit more formal, but they just brought these two home and immediately made room for them in the attic. Oh! I’ll have to see if we have any extra mattresses.”

It’s in that moment that Shadow realizes what actually happened between himself and Stone. He likes the Wachowskis, and is obviously more fond of one of the family’s members, but he didn’t really want to live with them. Not long term, anyway. It makes Shadow’s skin feel ill fitting, like he really shouldn’t be here. But where else would he go? It’s obvious that he can’t return to Westopolis, and he suddenly feels kind of lost. 

“I don’t think that will be necessary.” Shadow says as he looks down at his sandwich.

“Well you can’t sleep on the floor, tough guy. I’m sure we’ve got something, maybe I can get away with stealing some couch cushions.” 

“I think they’d notice, Sonic.” Tails says, a smile on his face.

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out.” Sonic says before jumping up on the counter himself, sitting next to Shadow. They’re shoulder to shoulder, and if Shadow leans into the other hedgehog, so what. 

After finishing their sandwiches, Sonic takes both of their plates and puts them in the sink. 

“You know, I don’t think you ever got to see my room. I wanna show it to you real quick.”

Shadow slides off the counter, “Okay.” 

“I’ll meet you guys outside!” Sonic calls over his shoulder as he starts walking towards the stairs. Shadow follows, climbing up into the attic of the house. Once inside, Sonic pulls the door (and by extension the stairs) up behind him. Once the floor was in one piece, Sonic quickly approaches Shadow and kisses him on the cheek repeatedly. 

Shadow scrunches his nose and closes his eyes as Sonic covers his face with kisses.

“You tricked me.” Shadow says, though he does nothing to stop the onslaught. 

With one final press to Shadow’s forehead, Sonic leans back, “And you fell right into my trap.”

Shadow opens his eyes, but keeps them narrowed. 

“Aaaaanyway welcome to the attic! My bed is the super cool race car one, Tails’s the plane one, and the other one is Knuckles’s. I’m sure we could make room for you somewhere around here…maybe over there a bit closer to the wall?” 

Sonic has his hand under his chin, finger tapping against his cheek. 

Shadow rolls his eyes, “I’m not living here. I just, need somewhere to stay for a short while. That’s all.” 

And Shadow meant that. He wasn’t completely certain where he would go, but maybe in the couple days he’s allotted himself to stay with the Wachowskis he’ll be able to figure something out. Maybe Stone will have finished whatever breakdown he’s having, though he’s not sure he would even want to go back there just on principle. If he wanted to kick Shadow out, then fine, but he better be ready to live with that decision. 

Sonic puts his hands on his hips, shrugging, “Doesn’t hurt to have something ready just in case.”

His persistence in keeping Shadow around is almost endearing.

Instead of letting him continue to come up with any more plans, Shadow begins looking around the room, noticing the sheer amount of stuff the Mobians have collected. It was nothing like Shadow’s room, well, his old room now. Here they had an assortment of trinkets and collections, odds and ends that reminds Shadow of Maria’s room in the lab. Especially the fairy lights. Seeing them sends a dull ache panging through his chest and up his throat. It felt like a bunch of teenagers lived in this room, messy but carefully curated. 

Shadow’s ears droop, falling onto the top of his head. This sucks.

Seeing Shadow’s change in posture, Sonic comes up behind him, leaning against him.

“Everything good?”

Shadow looks away from the lights and instead at Sonic, where the lights are reflected in them. They looked like stars. 

“Yeah. It is now.” 

They eventually end up back outside, Shadow shouting his criticisms of the construction of the obstacle course. Once it was completed, Shadow ended up racing Sonic through it, and it was while they were arguing in the yard of who crossed first that Sonic’s ear twitches towards the house. 

Sonic holds a hand up, “Hold that thought, cheater.” 

Shadow scoffs, “Cheater? I think you’re the only cheater around here!” 

“I said shush!” 

Sonic zips to the edge of the backyard, looking into the front. Shadow crosses his arms over his chest as he waits.

Sonic zips back, “Maddie’s back.” 

Tails perks up, “We’ve gotta show her what we built!” 

“For sure, pal! Why don’t you get a head start?” 

Tails looks between Sonic and Shadow before shrugging and flying inside.

Sonic watches Tails go before turning to Shadow, “Why don’t you stay out here, I’ll go talk to her, let her know the sitch.”

With that, Sonic zips back into the house, leaving Shadow alone in the yard. Knuckles was no longer on the roof (or in the tree, where he had taken to while refereeing their races). So he waits, his eyes tracking a bird as it flies between trees, chirping all the way. 

Eventually Sonic appears at the backdoor, waving Shadow inside. So Shadow walks in, seeing Maddie with her hair tied back and wearing scrubs. She gives Shadow a small smile when she sees him.

“Hey buddy, Sonic told me what’s going on. Are you okay?” 

Shadow’s face hasn’t moved out of its default frown, “I’m fine.” 

Maddie gives a couple slow nods while her lips were pursed, “Okay, well, you can stay as long as you need. In the meantime, I’m going to take a shower before I start dinner.” 

She runs a hand over her face before walking off in the direction of her and Tom’s bedroom. Sonic then looks over at Shadow with a slight smile before his whole face lights up. Immediately Shadow doesn’t trust whatever thought just entered the other hedgehog’s mind.

“So, a little birdy told me you’ve never heard of Keanu Reeves.”

Everyone had already started eating dinner by the time the front door opens. Maddie gets up from the table, making her way over to the front entry.

“You’re home late.” She says before kissing Tom quickly. 

Tom hums, “We had to break up a fight, well, it was more of a heated argument, over a parking space.” 

He sounded tired, and Maddie walks him into the kitchen. It seems to take him a moment to even notice Shadow, as he places his belt on the island before making eye contact with Shadow and freezing. 

“Oh. Hi.” 

“Hello.” 

Sonic puts a hand on Shadow’s back, getting up on his knees excitedly, “Shadow is going to be staying with us for a few days.”

Tom reacted similarly to his wife; slow nods. 

“Okay. What’s for dinner?” 

Conversation flowed easily as Tom sat to eat with them, much more so than the last time Shadow was here. He went largely ignored, which he appreciated. Most of the inclusion he received was from Sonic, and Shadow responded with one word answers. 

When dinner was finished, most of the family dispersed, Tom following Maddie into the laundry room, Tails and Knuckles headed towards and through the living room. Shadow once again felt lost, not having a nighttime routine like everyone else. Sonic, however, doesn’t let him tread water for long.

“Come on, Shadow, let’s play some Mortal Kombat.” 

So they go into the living room, Sonic rapidly running through the basics of the game, how it works, who he plays, the ‘epic’ parts of it and why Shadow should also find it super cool. Shadow is sitting on the couch, occasionally nodding when Sonic looks over at him. He wasn’t really paying attention to the majority of the words coming out of Sonic’s mouth, instead just watching as he excitedly rambles. Shadow thinks he would have found his boundless energy and constant movement obnoxious before, when the world was nothing but broken promises and dead ends. When Shadow arrived on earth he was afraid, unsure of what laid in store for him at the hands of those scientists, those strangers. But Maria had shown him that life could be beautiful, that there was more to it than what he could do for others. 

Sonic has shown him something similar, that his powers didn’t interest him, not really. He wanted Shadow to like the same stuff he did, including him. 

And then there’s a controller being pressed into his hands, and he realizes he maybe should have paid a bit more attention.

“Ready?”

No, “Yeah.”

Like the racing game, it takes a couple rounds for Shadow to get a handle on how it works, but once he does, he starts to wail on Sonic. Sonic, slowly, gets more and more frustrated. Sonic starts pushing against Shadow, and Shadow pushes back. Of course, Shadow had that swell of competitiveness, but he couldn’t help the smile that creeps across his face as he beats Sonic again.

“Argh! Rematch!”

“Maybe tomorrow, bud.” Tom says as he moves to stand in front of the TV.

“Dad no, I can get him this time I just need one more go!”

Tom shakes his head, “The game will still be here tomorrow.”

He then reaches behind the TV and pushes power, the screen falling black. Sonic groans, throwing his head back against the couch. Tom walks up to them, and Shadow holds out his controller. 

Tom takes it, “Thank you. Come on, Sonic, it’s bedtime.” 

“It’s not like we have anywhere to go early tomorrow morning, we can stay up.” 

Tom holds out his hand, brow raised, “I’m not dealing with grumpy Sonic tomorrow, hand it over.” 

Sonic huffs, putting the controller in Tom’s hand with a bit more force than necessary. But Tom only smiles at him.

“Thank you.” 

He puts them away, and Sonic gestures towards the stairs with his head, “Come on Shadow.”

“Ah ah ah, Shadow is staying in the guest room.” 

Sonic whips around to face Tom again, “What? Why?” 

“Because we don’t have a bed for him upstairs.”

“We can make one!”

“Maybe tomorrow. Maddie has already made up the guest bed for him.”

Sonic frowns, and Shadow isn’t sure if he feels relieved or not at having a room to himself in this unfamiliar house. Tom starts herding them towards the stairs, and once they reach the top Tom gently pushes Sonic up the attic stairs while he gestures for Shadow to go around them. 

“Wait!” 

Tom stops with a sigh, and Sonic hops off the two steps he managed to climb. He then goes up to Shadow and whispers in his ear, “Teleport up to the attic in like twenty minutes.” 

Tom clears his throat as Sonic steps back, “Are you scheming?”

Sonic acts affronted, “Me? No, I was just warning him about something I heard in the vents the other night.” 

Tom furrows his brows at him, “What did you hear?” 

“Not important, okloveyougoodnight.” 

Sonic then races up the stairs, and Tom rolls his eyes with a smile and the shake of a head. 

“Love you, too!” He calls up after him. He then turns back to Shadow, “Alright bud let’s get you set up.” 

So Tom takes him into the guest room, which Shadow can tell is hardly more than a glorified storage room. There are boxes stacked in the corners, and the distinct scent of lingering dust. But there’s abstract art on the walls, and a picture of Tom, Maddie, and their dog sitting on the nightstand. Maddie was fluffing up some pillows on the bed, and she turns when she hears them enter.

“I hope this is okay, I just washed the sheets so they should be nice and fresh.” 

“This is perfectly fine.” Shadow says as he runs his hand over the material. 

“You’re not much of a talker, are ya?” Tom says.

Shadow climbs onto the bed, “I don’t always find it necessary, no.” 

Shadow can see the way Tom is suppressing a smile, “Fair enough.” 

“Well if you need anything, feel free to bug us.” Maddie says.

“Thank you.” Shadow says, now just looking between them. 

“Any time.” Maddie says as they start to back out of the room. They both wish him goodnight, shutting the door behind them. Now Shadow was alone with his thoughts in this unfamiliar place, and he immediately wonders if Sonic meant that twenty minutes for a reason. 

But still, Shadow remained, hands folded together in his lap as he watched the clock on the wall. However, when he notices neither hand moves, Shadow frowns. He counts to sixty, and when both plastic arms remain still, Shadow huffs. He flops back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. The blankness of it crept through his mind, and he felt…strange. Wrong, somehow. He runs through the events of his relatively short life, wondering how he got in this situation. He’s not in a bad place, in fact he’s surrounded by kind people who were willing to help and care for him. 

But this isn’t where he’s supposed to be. He’s supposed to be in Westopolis, not Green Hills. He’s supposed to be in a plain room with a lone man sleeping in the one down the hall. 

He’s supposed to be dead. 

He shouldn’t have survived the explosion of the Eclipse. He tried to get away last second but he didn’t actually think it would work. He’d lost everything before, and a very large part of him at the time didn’t want to rebuild. What would be the point? With Maria and Gerald gone, what did he have? 

But then he ended up on that cliff in the middle of nowhere Montana, a familiar blue form coming through the darkened tree line. This spot of light he didn’t expect to ever see again let alone so soon. 

And then there was Stone. The poor bastard caught in the middle of all of this. Shadow appreciated everything the man did for him, and he knows he’s hurting but he doesn’t know how to help. That’s not really his wheelhouse. Maybe he can get Sonic to talk to him, he’s good at the whole pep talk thing. 

Speaking of, suddenly Shadow hears a couple knocks from above the ceiling, causing Shadow to sit up. There was a moment of silence, and then another set of knocking. Shadow is almost certain it hasn’t quite been twenty minutes, but he has a feeling he knows who is doing all the knocking. 

So Shadow uses his chaos control to get into the attic, blinking against the darkness. There he sees Sonic scramble to his feet and to greet Shadow. 

“I didn’t know morse code or else I would’ve used that. You got the message though so it doesn’t really matter.” Sonic whispers. 

Shadow looks around, seeing the lumps representing the other two Mobians. 

“Are they asleep?” Shadow whispers back.

“Yes.” Comes Knuckles’s reply. Sonic just rolls his eyes, grabbing Shadow by the arm. 

“Ignore him. Anyway I thought it would be better if you got to sleep up here with me. Us.” 

Shadow looks around again, ignoring Sonic’s slip, “And where exactly am I going to sleep?” 

“Uhh, oh! We can share my bed.” 

Sonic pulls Shadow a little closer to the car bed in the middle of the room, and Shadow pulls back slightly.

“There is no way we’ll both fit.” 

Sonic waves his hand dismissively, “Sure we will. It’ll just be a little tight. Here.” 

Sonic lets go of Shadow and pulls back the blankets. He then kneels on one side of the bed before motioning for Shadow to sit on the other side. Once he’s done that, Sonic lays on the very edge of the bed, leaving some room for Shadow. With a sigh, Shadow copies him. There is very little space between their noses now.

“This is not comfortable at all.” Shadow says.

Sonic draws his mouth together as he thinks, then his eyes dart away from Shadow’s, “Well, maybe we’ll just have to get a little closer.”

Sonic’s voice has gone up slightly, and he’s avoiding any and all direct eye contact. Immediately Shadow knows what he’s getting at, and the thought makes something warm and honey-heavy slide around his torso. In an attempt to get some control over the situation back, Shadow wiggles a little further onto the mattress and then reaches a hand behind Sonic until he can pull him flush against himself. 

“Is this what you had in mind?” 

They were forehead to forehead, his eyes crossing as he tries to look at Sonic. 

“Uh, yeah, um, yeah something like, like this. This is good. I’m just gonna.” Sonic sits up to grab the blanket before pulling it over them both. Sonic then lays back down, immediately snuggling back into Shadow. Shadow tentatively puts a hand around Sonic, draping his arm over the other hedgehog. It was warm, and while they’ve taken naps against each other before, it was nothing like this. They were pressed front to front, Sonic lowering his head so the top of it was against Shadow’s cheek. Both of Sonic’s arms were pinned between their chests, and it only took a few moments before Shadow could Sonic’s breathing even out.

Shadow, on the other hand, doesn’t think he’ll be able to sleep at all like this. Not because he’s uncomfortable, but just due to the sheet overloading of sensation being fed into his brain. Shadow isn’t exactly one for contact, outside of the casual touches from Maria (those of which he hasn’t experienced in fifty years), and any contact he did receive was usually either extremely brief or in the form of violence. So this casual, loving contact ranging from his socked feet all the way up to his head is sending his brain and heart to places he’s never been. 

He still attempts to sleep, closing his eyes and slightly tightening his grip on Sonic, but his brain is spinning, uncertain what to do with the pleasant buzzing feeling that’s bouncing around his chest. 

He must pass out eventually, because the next thing he knows he’s being awoken by the bright sun, and the gruff clearing of someone’s throat. Sonic is still next to him, and he groans before sinking further into Shadow, mumbling, “Five more minutes.” 

Shadow blearily blinks at the figure looming over them, recognizing Tom in his sheriff outfit. 

“No, Sonic, you need to get up now.” He then looks at Shadow, “You too.”

Shadow doesn’t move, and Sonic just groans again before sitting up, displacing the blanket. Shadow then sits up too, both of them looking up at Tom.

Tom has his arms crossed, and Sonic stands, stretching his arms over his head.

“What’s up with you this morning? I haven’t even been up long enough to do anything.”

Tom points at Shadow as Shadow stands, “He’s supposed to be downstairs.” 

“And I invited him upstairs. It can get lonely down there all on your own, you know.”

“Sonic you can’t,” Tom sighs through his nose, pinching the bridge of it for a moment, “you guys can’t be sharing a bed, especially one this small.” 

Sonic’s brows come together, “Why not? That’s not fair.”

“It’s perfectly fair and it’s because I said so.”

“Just un-say so then. It’s not that big of a deal, we both slept perfectly fine. Right, Shadow?” 

Shadow crosses his arms over his chest, “No comment.”

Sonic frowns over at Shadow, speaking out of the corner of his mouth, “Come on man, back me up here.” 

“Sonic, I said no, and that’s that.” Tom says.

“You haven’t explained why, though. You’re being weird.” 

Tom opens his mouth to speak, pauses, and looks between the two. He then closes his mouth, and gives one, jerky nod, “I’m going to get Maddie, I can’t have this discussion by myself.” 

Sonic looks at Shadow, and then back at Tom, “What discussion?” 

But Tom is already at the opening to the attic, calling down to his wife. Shadow’s not entirely sure what’s got the sheriff in a twist, and if it would prevent such meaningless conversation Shadow will just agree to stay downstairs (as much as he doesn’t want to). 

Eventually Maddie pops up from the floor, and Tom gives her a hand up. Maddie apprehensively looks around and then at the two hedgehogs. 

“What’s going on?” 

“Shadow spent the night up here, with Sonic, in the race car bed.” 

“Okay…” 

Maddie looks at the spot between them for a moment before grabbing Tom’s shoulder and turning him. They whisper to each other for a while, Sonic impatiently tapping his foot while they talk. 

Shadow doesn’t understand what the big deal is, and quite frankly he’s really damn hungry and wants breakfast. 

Eventually they turn back around, these false stern expressions on their faces. 

“Okay. Like I said before, you guys can’t be sharing the bed like that. If Shadow really wants to be up here, we’ll get something temporary set up, but no sharing.” 

Sonic frowns again, hands on his hips, “Why not? You guys share, so why can’t we?” 

They both start speaking at the same time, “Because we’re-”

“Married,” Tom says at the same time Maddie says, “Adults.”

They look at each other for a moment before Maddie says, “We’re married adults. It’s different.” 

Sonic crosses his arms, scoffing with a slight smile, “Hardly.”

“Sonic.” Tom warns.

Maddie puts a hand on Tom’s arm, “We’re not saying you can’t snuggle up or anything, but just at night, separate beds. Okay?” 

Sonic groans, his head falling back dramatically, “Ugh fine.”

Tom seems to relax some, “Okay, great. Who wants pancakes?” 

Shadow stays with the Wachowski’s for a little over a week, and in all that time Shadow still hasn’t figured out what he wants to do or where he wants to go. Right now the only other option he could think of is just going out and roughing it in the wilderness, but what good is that?

So he stays here, and slowly he becomes accustomed to this louder way of life. They ended up dragging a twin mattress that was on the trindle under the guest bed up the attic stairs, and Shadow has been sleeping on it since his second night there. It’s a bit bigger than Sonic’s bed, so the two of them have been using it to sit together and watch movies and shows on the tablet. Shadow finds himself relaxing into his life here, something that is often accompanied with guilt.

He often wonders what Stone is up to, how he’s doing. After his fourth night away Shadow ended up sneaking back in the middle of the night, if just to see how the henchman was doing. By Shadow’s observations he would say not well. He was up, working on something. Shadow wasn’t sure what it was, but it certainly wasn’t a badnik. There were metal pieces all over the ground, and sparks were flying as Stone welded some of them together. How many days straight had he been working on that? How many more days would he go before he hurt himself in his exhaustion? 

Shadow considered going in, talking to him, telling him to go to bed. But then he remembers that look in his eyes, the tone of voice that left no room for argument. His downfall would not be on Shadow’s head, and Shadow could only hope Stone saw it coming before it happened. 

Shadow had stuck close to Sonic the next day.

In the week that he’s been there, he’s learned to do things on his own, and when he just needed a quiet moment he would run the family’s dryer, watching the clothes get tumbled around, making the same dull thumps over and over and over again. It was soothing, in a way.

It was almost two weeks into his stay with the Wachowski’s that there was a knock on the door during dinner. Tom and Maddie look at each other, with raised brows before Tom pushes his chair back and goes to the door. Shadow, along with everyone else, turns in their chairs to try and get a look at who could possibly be at their door.

“Can I help you?” 

“I need to talk to Shadow.” 

Shadow knew that voice, but he hasn’t heard it in nearly two weeks.

Agent Stone.

Chapter Text

Ever since Sonic has entered his life, Tom has gotten used to strange things just happening on a whim. He feels like he should be more alarmed at the fact that a strange man was standing on his front porch, but this isn’t the first or even second time this has happened since he met the little blue hedgehog, so all he can do is mentally sigh and ask what he wants. The man at his door looks terrible. He has dark bags under his eyes, and the dress shirt he’s wearing is wrinkled while his tie is loosened and askew. Tom’s eyes dart down and he notices that he has slowly healing, thick, jagged slashes on his arms as well. 

“Can I help you?” 

“I need to talk to Shadow.” 

The voice was vaguely familiar, but Tom wasn’t quite able to place it. Which puts him on edge.

Sometimes Tom feels like he’s a different person now than he was a little over a year ago. His priorities have shifted like crazy and he’s doing things he never ever thought he would. He also feels like he’s become a lot more defensive, or maybe it’s more protective. 

“You’re not a different person, you’re just a parent now. That’s parenthood you’re feeling.” Maddie had told him when he voiced this late one night. He turned his head on his pillow to look at her, and not for the first time he wonders how he got so lucky.

“I feel it too. I think you're struggling with it because it was just kind of thrust upon you, upon us. It just kind of happened without us meaning for it to.”

He suddenly felt guilt wash over him, realizing that he didn’t just throw himself into the deep end of all of this, but threw her in as well. “But you’re okay with it, right?” 

She scoffed at him, “Of course I am! I love Sonic, and I love what we’ve built together.”

She sounded like she meant it, and looking in her eyes he could tell it was the truth. 

Tom loves his boys, he loves his wife and his dog, he loves his life and his job, and he feels powerless to protect any of it. He thought when Robotnik had gone the first time that they were safe, that there wasn’t anyone or anything that had any interest in this small family in Montana. But Robotnik came back, and then came back again, nearly getting Tom killed in the process. 

Which brings Tom’s mind to Shadow. 

He knows that Shadow didn’t mean to hurt him, very clearly upset with Walters and not Tom himself. Tom wonders how that interaction would have been different if Tom had turned off his cloaking earlier, if Shadow had seen Tom for Tom. 

Who knows.

Not that Tom has an overly strong investment in what Shadow thinks of him, instead he is much more interested in how he thinks of his son. 

Finding out that Sonic had been sneaking out in the middle of the night to meet Shadow had been a shock to say the least. After everything everyone had been through because of him, partly at his own hands, Tom was surprised Sonic even wanted anything to do with him, let alone date him. Though, as odd as it sounds, Tom was kind of relieved it was Shadow, another alien hedgehog, and not some random boy Sonic knew. Tom wonders how differently that conversation would have gone, though it might have still ended with the other boy’s guardian at his door. 

Tom just never thought Sonic or any of them would ever date, and it was something Tom was kind of relieved about. It’s one of those parts of parenthood no one really wants to talk about, and no one has the foolproof answer on how to deal with your teenage kids dating, especially when they’re not even high school age. After Sonic had run off, Tom and Maddie had a long and serious conversation.

“It’s not like we can stop him. He’s his own person, Tom.” Maddie said.

“I know.” Tom said into his hands. He had his elbows on the table, his entire body feeling heavier than it had in a long time. He didn’t want to stop Sonic from seeing him, not if he made him happy, but he couldn’t help but worry about him. It’s not like anything he’d ever felt before, and it was eating him up inside. 

Sonic had grown a lot, both as a person and just physically. When Tom first met him he was so much smaller, his features rounded out and soft. Sonic was slowly growing, maturing and coming into himself. He’s more confident, and his heart has grown along with him. Tom trusted him to make the right call. 

And after getting to know Shadow a little bit, Tom realized he’s just as much of a lost kid as Sonic. There was a voice in the back of his head telling him to keep him, to wrap him up and add him to the household so Tom would always know he was safe and cared for and loved. As scary as he can look, Tom can’t help but see a grumpy teenager. 

Which was why seeing them sleeping in the same bed sent Tom’s stomach into his gut. He only knew to come up because Tails had told him. Tails was an early riser, not quite as early as Knuckles, but he and Tom got up around the same time, so they’ve taken to eating breakfast together, Tails becoming Tom’s early morning buddy. Sometimes they talk, sometimes they don’t, but that morning Tails was as chatty as ever.

“...and I don’t think Shadow likes me very much.”

Tom put down his toast, “I’m sure he likes you plenty, he’s just…a little prickly.” 

“Did you do that on purpose?” Tails said with a slight smile. Tom laughed.

“No, but my point stands. I hope he slept okay, do you think he sleeps in like Sonic?” 

Tails hummed, “Well, he’s still sleeping, so I doubt it.” 

Tom’s smile had gone a bit crooked as he looked at his youngest, “How do you know he’s still asleep?”

Tails jerked his head backwards, “He’s still asleep with Sonic upstairs.” 

Tom’s smile had faltered completely by then, and he opened and closed his mouth a few times before actually speaking again.

“What do you mean ‘with Sonic’?” 

“Like Shadow fell asleep in Sonic's bed last night, and he’s still there.” 

Despite having three in his home, Tom is no expert on how their culture or biology works. Maddie has a better understanding of it, with the help of her background veterinary knowledge, and outside rudimentary first aid, Tom was clueless. Maybe it’s normal for them, and even if it wasn’t, sharing a bed isn’t a bad thing and it doesn’t mean that anything untoward happened. But suddenly Tom was being put in the position of ‘dad who wants to protect his kid who is dating the scary bad boy’ and he got a little worried. 

Shadow’s a good kid, and if he had bad intentions they would have noticed. But his dad brain kicked on and he stood from the table, telling Tails he would be right back. He thought maybe Tails had misremembered, maybe seeing Shadow on the floor next to the bed instead of actually in it. 

But then Tom got to the top of the stairs, and he saw exactly what he was told he was gonna see. So Tom got fully into the attic, seeing Sonic and Shadow cuddled up and facing each other, still sound asleep. Tom shoved his fist into his mouth, and he took a couple deep breaths. There was no need to over react. They’re literally just sleeping.

They looked comfortable, and Tom almost felt bad waking them up. But he needed to talk about it with Sonic, though this was one earth custom/idea that Tom was less than keen to talk about. But it had to be done, and after getting the boys up, he tried to be firm.

He could do this.

“Sonic you can’t, you guys can’t be sharing a bed, especially one this small.”

“Why not? That’s not fair.”

He couldn’t do it.

He talked around it a bit, hoping that he could make this a problem for his future self, a future self that wasn’t being stared down by Shadow the Hedgehog, but Sonic would not let him get away with it. So he called in some backup.

“What’s going on?”

Tom ran her through the situation, and he could immediately see the wheels turning in her head. They’d talked about these kinds of situations before, though it was mostly just them saying how lucky they feel that they would probably never have to deal with something like this. But here they are, staring down at their kid while his boyfriend sits beside him. 

Tom then felt Maddie grab his shoulder and turn him. They huddled together, and Maddie whispered, “What should we do?” 

“I, I dunno. I mean, it’s not like they were doing anything, and I don’t wanna have the talk with him with Shadow here.”

“I agree.” 

Tom sighed, “I really don’t want to have the talk at all but, at this point it’s probably inevitable. But in the meantime, what should we say?” 

“Just let them know they can’t share, house rules.”

“Okay.”

“Do you think this is like, a normal Mobian thing?”

Maddie gave a half shrug, and Tom returned the gesture before they both turned around. 

Tom tried to appear stern, wanting to make sure this conversation ended as quickly as possible, “Okay. Like I said before, you guys can’t be sharing the bed like that. If Shadow really wants to be up here, we’ll get something temporary set up, but no sharing.”

Sonic frowned, hands on his hips, “Why not? You guys share, so why can’t we?”

The last thing Tom wanted to explain to him at that moment was why Tom shared a bed with his wife and why Sonic couldn’t share one with his boyfriend. 

They both started speaking at the same time, “Because we’re-”

“Married,” Tom said at the same time Maddie said “Adults.”

They looked at each other for a moment before Maddie said, “We’re married adults. It’s different.”

Thankfully Sonic dropped it, though it was reluctant. During that entire thing, Shadow remained eerily silent, though that seemed to be the theme when it came to him. The whole thing only made him think about the whole situation a little harder; Shadow is Sonic’s boyfriend. Sonic has a boyfriend. Sonic is an alien creature with an extraordinary power, but Tom can’t help but see the little kid he found in his garage. But he was still in his early teens then, even if his baby face didn’t give that away it doesn't make it any less true.

So Tom had to quickly get himself right with it. Which included a short come-to-Jesus moment where Tom had the sudden and brilliant realization that Sonic was gay, or at least partly, and he wondered if any of those forums parents of gay kids go to would even be able to help him support a hedgehog. Then there was the horrifying addition to that realization that as much as he loves Green Hills and all the people living here, he knows there are some less than kind people mixed in to the population, and he’s not sure he would trust his own actions should someone say something to Sonic or Shadow (or any of his kids should Sonic not be the only one). 

It was kind of a frightening thing to learn about yourself that you’re willing to punch an old lady if she said anything to your kid.

All this to say, Tom wasn’t overly trustful of the disheveled man asking to talk to one of the kids residing in his home. 

Tom looks over his shoulder, seeing a couple of colorful heads looking around the corner. Tom can see them whispering to each other, and Tom sighs before turning to the man again. 

“Let’s talk outside.”

The man’s face settles, his jaw tensing for a moment before speaking again, “I need to talk to Shadow.”

Tom lowers his voice, not quite whispering, “Well I’ll have to ask him if he wants to talk to you, but I need to figure out who you are first.”

The man breaths out of his nose, and then steps backwards. Tom steps outside, softly closing the door behind him. 

Tom crosses his arms as he settles his gaze on the man in front of him, “Okay first things first, who are you?”

The man raises a single brow, “You don’t know?”

Tom looks off to the side for a brief moment, but when his memory comes up empty Tom slowly shakes his head, “Sure don’t, pal.”

The man looks Tom up and down, a slightly smug smile settling on his lips, “I used to live here, you know.”

Tom’s brows come together, “What, here in Green Hills?”

The man nods, “That’s right.”

“When?”

“Handful of months ago.”

Tom frowns now. He’s not gonna say that he knows every single person in town, but he’d at least recognize them if they showed up at his door. 

“For how long?”

“Oh, at least six months.”

Tom now had to know why he didn’t know this guy, or why he’s never seen him before. At least, he doesn’t think he’s ever seen him before. 

“Did you work around here?”

The man gestures to the side of him with his head, “Down at the Mean Bean on the corner of Main.” 

That’s why Tom didn’t know him. Tom never went in to the Mean Bean, always preferring to brew his own coffee at home or down at the station. Wade really liked it though, and he moaned about its destruction for a couple weeks at least. 

Tom snaps, “Yup, I’ve never been there.” 

The man’s jaw tightens again, “Yeah I know. Can I talk to Shadow now?”

Right, he’s here for Shadow. 

“Well hold on a second. I don’t even know your name.”

Now he seems to hesitate, as if unsure he wants to say. The several moments it takes for him to answer immediately raise Tom’s heckles. 

Eventually, he answers, “Stone.” 

Stone. Tom has heard that name before, and it only takes a moment to remember the name Shadow had said the first time he came to dinner. Stone. Robotnik’s henchman. 

Tom pulls his shoulders back, “What do you want with him?”

Stone leveled Tom with an annoyed look, “It's really none of your business.”

“I think it is my business because he's been staying with me for the past two weeks because last I heard you kicked him out. So you kind of gave up any right to access to him.” 

Stone’s expression turns a bit wounded at that, which suddenly makes Tom curious about the exact nature of Shadow’s ‘removal’. He's never really asked, though frankly Tom doesn't think it's any of his business. The only thing he needs to know is if Shadow is safe going with this guy. God only knows what this guy is capable of. 

Stone sighs, hands on his hips and hanging his head, “I know, I know. But I just, at least let me apologize to him. Please.” 

Despite his almost hostile attitude before, Stone’s demeanor has now become one of almost desperation. Tom’s immediate reaction is to give in, but if there's one thing he's learned about Robotnik, it's to never get too comfortable. 

Tom sighs, tapping his fingers against his bicep, “Alright, I'll ask him, but I can't guarantee anything. And if he says no, you get off my property. Understood?” 

Stone looks up at him, his tone flat as he says, “Understood.” 

Tom holds up a finger, “Okay just stay right here.” 

With that Tom goes back inside, shutting the door behind him. Once the latch could be heard, three aliens come towards him, “Well? What did he want?” Sonic asks

Tom looks above all of them and at Shadow, who was sitting next to Maddie at the table. 

“He wants to talk to you, bud.” Before a Shadow could respond, To, adds, “But you don't have to. I told him to beat it if you say no.” 

Shadow looks between them all before sighing through his nose. 

“I'll talk to him.” 

“Are you sure? You really don't have to.” Tom says. 

Shadow slides off his chair, “Yeah, it's fine.” 

He walks towards the door, stopping next to Sonic. 

“What do you think he wants?” Sonic asks. 

Shadow looks at the door, “Not sure.” 

“Well whatever happens, we're here for ya.” Tom says. Shadow looks over at him, and gives him a single nod. 

Shadow then heads for the door, opening it and stepping out, and then closing it behind him. 

Chapter Text

When the door closed behind Sheriff Tom Wachowski, Stone was sure it wouldn’t open again. Why would it? If Stone was Shadow he wouldn’t want to talk to him either. Stone hadn’t been exactly sure how much time had passed between Shadow leaving and now, Stone locked in a strange sort of haze where day and night didn’t really mean anything. He remembers seeing daylight, but then the next time he would look up it was dark. The house had been eerily silent, and Stone was harshly reminded of the last time he was left alone like that. When you center your life around someone, you seldom find time for yourself, and for Stone, he seldom wanted it. 

The first time, Stone had no idea what happened to Robotnik, but he knew deep in his gut that he was out there somewhere, and he knew that he wouldn’t just disappear and not tell Stone. And he would’ve heard if they found him dead somewhere. All he knew was his last known location, and so he spent over half a year in this stupid, dumpy town, waiting. 

And he was rewarded for his patience, for his loyalty. He was no longer employed by the government (it was more a refusal to return than any kind of termination. He couldn’t bear to be around people who were thankful for the Doctor’s disappearance, as if they understood anything about him). But this time he saw what happened, heard his final goodbyes, both of them knowing the fate that awaited him. Stone had been hollowed out on that street in London, and he’s been carrying that emptiness ever since. 

Stone is staring out at the trees surrounding the house when the door opens behind him. He turns, expecting the Sheriff, but instead he has to look down at Shadow. He steps out, closing the door behind him before looking up at Stone expectantly.

Stone wonders if that frown and downturned brow is permanently etched onto his face.

“You look terrible.” Shadow says, tone as serious as ever. Stone huffs a surprised laugh, looking down at himself.

“Yeah, I suppose I do.” 

Shadow sniffs the air a bit, and his mouth curls in obvious disgust, “When was the last time you showered?” 

Suddenly embarrassed, Stone tries to smooth out the wrinkles running down his shirt, “I’m sure it’s only been a couple days.” 

Shadow rolls his eyes before focusing back on Stone, crossing his arms, “What do you want?” 

Stone shoves his hands in his pockets, “I uh.”

What did he want? He wanted to apologize, maybe in an attempt to absolve some of the guilt that has been gnawing on whatever is left in his chest. He also wanted Shadow to come back to the house, missing his presence, however slight it might seem at times. 

He also wanted to warn him. Robots really were more Ivo’s thing, maybe it should have stayed that way. 

However Stone thinks that’ll ruin the moment, so he decides that can wait. It’s not like they’re in any immediate danger or anything, a couple more minutes isn’t going to get anyone killed. Probably. 

So Stone takes a deep breath, looking Shadow in his abnormally large eyes, “I want to say that I’m sorry for, for everything. For kicking you out, and for the way I acted right before that. You didn’t deserve that.” 

Shadow is still just looking up at him, and Stone swallows, not sure how well his apology is being received. Shadow then looks out down the driveway, taking a deep breath of his own. He then walks past Stone and sits on the steps. Stone decides to follow his lead, sitting next to him. 

Stone thinks part of his anger came from the fact that it’s Shadow here next to him, and not Ivo. They were both up there on that canon, and yet only one came back. And while Stone would never wish for any ill will towards Shadow, if it was between him and the doctor…

God. He came here to apologize and here he is thinking that way.  

“I understand.” Shadow says. Stone looks at him, brows drawn together.

“What do you mean?” 

“I understand what you’re feeling. This is all because of Ivo Robotnik, isn’t it?” 

Stone kind of wishes Shadow would tell him what he means by ‘this’, but Stone understands enough. You could say, though, that everything he’s done in the last however many years has been because of Ivo Robtonik. Stone didn’t have any other family, something that allowed him to throw himself into his work, allowed him to provide almost round the clock protection for someone who honestly didn’t even really need it (or want it). So yeah, Ivo Robotnik was a big motivator for most of the decisions Stone made in recent years.

“I guess you could say that.”

“Those Robotnik’s sure have a way of getting to people.” 

Stone looks at Shadow, uncertain what he means. Perhaps Gerald and Shadow were closer than Stone realized.

“I guess so.” 

Stone looks at Shadow. It’s obvious he’s faring much better than Stone has been, and he wonders how disappointed Shadow was when Stone showed up on the Wachowski’s doorstep. Maybe he really is better here, away from Stone and his pension for distrust and anger. Because that’s what he’s been these last few days (weeks? Stone is sure Wachowski said it had been two weeks), angry and sad and simply gutted. He knows he can’t ask Shadow to come back today, not with the way he basically destroyed every room in the house except Shadow’s. He’s sure there’s still glass on the floor of the bathroom. 

Stone feels tears pricking the corners of his eyes. It wasn’t fair. He was supposed to die in the line of fire for Robotnik, not the other way around. Stone never imagined a world where he was the only one left standing, as that would mean that he failed his life’s mission. For Stone there were no alternatives, so to suddenly be trapped in what was only supposed to be his worst nightmare left him stranded without any visible path forward.

“Being alone only makes it worse, you know.”

Stone looks to the gravel at the base of the stairs. The corner of his mouth twitches upwards, “I don’t have anyone else. I had him. And I…”

Stone knew his relationship with Ivo Robotnik was unconventional. And Stone knew that his feelings for him ran deeper than simple servitude and loyalty. There’s a pit in his chest, a gaping wound that aches, spreading that hurt throughout his entire being. He was never a hundred percent sure where he stood with the Doctor at any given time, outside of the fact he knew he would never be replaced. He knew the Doctor held some sort of affection for him, in that he kept him around as long as he did, and turning to him in his times of need. He trusted Stone, and by the end, well, Stone was smart enough to read between the lines.

“I loved him. I still do.” The words were forced from his throat, ripped and raw as they hang in the air. Stone covers his face with his hands, trying to hide the tears that now flow down his face. What the hell is he supposed to do now? Where is he supposed to go? He’s lost everything. 

It’s odd, sometimes his brain tricks him into believing that Robotnik was just out. He’s not sure why he would believe that, since Robotnik hasn’t gone anywhere without Stone in a good long while. 

Stone sees Shadow shift his weight, swaying a bit, wringing his hands. Stone feels a bit remorseful about putting Shadow in this position, but Stone didn’t think he would break down like this. He figured he’d exhausted himself at the house, and he could now talk to the hedgehog in a collected manner. 

“Love is…love is hard. Especially when that person isn’t around anymore. But the love you had for that person is more powerful than the grief you may feel for them.” 

Stone looks at Shadow, that now familiar tightness in his eyes. His expression is amused as he looks at Shadow, “Where’d you learn that?” 

Now it was Shadow’s turn to look away, “A friend. Well, he’s a bit more than a friend but.”

That seems to snap Stone out of his revere. “A ‘more than a friend’?”

Shadow turns his signature frown on Stone, “This isn’t about me.” 

Stone is now weakly smiling at the black and red hedgehog, “I think it should be.”

But Shadow doesn’t engage any further. Instead he just stares at Stone, who eventually drops his shoulders. They both look out to the yard for a bit longer, before Shadow asks, “What happened to your arms?”

Ah.

Knowing he won’t be able to stall anymore, Stone raises his arms so they can both see them clearly.

“Yeah, about that.” 

They’re still red and agitated, and Stone is sure they’re going to scar, especially since he tried to take care of the wounds himself. They hurt like a bitch, too.

Shadow is looking at him expectantly, and Stone searches his brain for the right words.

“I’ve been uh, working on something. Ever since we moved into the house, it’s all I’ve done besides the general chores and making sure you were comfortable. I wanted, and honestly still want, revenge. I wanted revenge for everything, but especially for him. I wanted to get back at the one who ruined my life. It’s why I kicked you out, and it's why I have these.”

He loosely gestures to his arms, and Stone can see the confusion on Shadow’s face. 

“I built something, it was big, and complicated, but I did it. And now I’m thinking I probably shouldn’t have.”

“What was it?” Shadow’s tone was impatient and irritated. 

Stone takes in a deep breath and lets it out before speaking. He looks back out at the yard, unable to look Shadow in the face.

“A robotic replica of Sonic. One designed to be his equal. I had mashed some of the Doctor’s old plans together, filled in the gaps myself. I thought about nothing else for weeks.”

Suddenly that dull ache left him, and he feels the hollow emptiness he’s grown accustomed to in Robotnik’s absences. All emotion has drained from his voice.

The same cannot be said for Shadow, however.

“You what?!” 

Stone doesn’t address the creature in front of him, “It would’ve worked, too. I’m very good at following directions, I could build anything he asked me to, and I have. But that’s because he knows what works, took the time for trial and error until it was perfect. What I built was new, and coded by someone who let their emotions take over. Something went wrong and it attacked me. Before I could shut it down it escaped. I tried to shut it down remotely but I have no idea if it worked. The badniks haven’t been able to find any trace of it either.”

Stone then looks down at Shadow, the hedgehog frowning intensely at the ground. Stone thinks about when the red eyes of that robot had settled on him, and while there was a moment of glee at his invention working as planned, it was quickly replaced with fear that this thing he built to kill was coming at him. He’s not even sure what triggered such a reaction, though god only knows how many typos he could’ve made, how many small errors in his grief induced frenzy. He’s pretty sure there’s still blood splattered on his dresser, and a dripping red trail leading from his bedroom through the living room. The carpet is going to be a pain in the ass to clean.

Shadow eventually looks up at Stone, his muzzle wrinkled as he basically scowls at Stone. Shadow then grabs the man’s pant leg and starts dragging him back towards the front door.

“Woah, where are we going?” 

“Inside. Sonic will know what to do, he’s dealt with you people before, but I’m not the one telling him about this. You are.”

An uncomfortable weight settles in his stomach. Stone knows he’s outnumbered, and he’s now wishing he brought at least one badnik with him. 

Shadow opens the door, Sonic stumbling as his support was removed. 

“I wasn’t listening!” He chirps defensively. Shadow just rolls his eyes and pulls Stone into the house.

“Uh, what’s he doing in here?” Sonic asks, following beside Shadow. The rest of the Wachowski family is standing on the edge of the living room, looking at Shadow and his new companion.

“I’m wondering the same thing.” the Sheriff’s wife says, crossing her arms over her chest. Shadow lets go of Stone and then moves to stand with the rest of the family. Sonic looks between Stone and Shadow before joining his friend.

Shadow also crosses his arms, “He has something to tell us.” 

Everyone looks from Shadow to Stone, who shoves his hands in his pockets. Being inside with the entire Wachowski clan is a lot different from dealing with one at a time. He liked the fox well enough, the sheriff and his wife were fine if not dull. He hated the echidna, almost as much as he hated the blue one. 

However, suddenly being put on the spot like this, Stone isn’t entirely sure what to say. He knows the sheriff has a bit of a temper, or at the very least prone to throwing punches when upset. 

“I had been going through some of the Doctor’s plans and-”

Then comes Sonic’s grating voice, “Wait, are you talking about Eggman? The guy known for building bad stuff that is surprisingly easy to break?”

“Sonic-” Tom tries.

“I’m just saying! Everyone looks grim right now, Eggman really wasn’t that big of a concern then, why would he be now?” 

Stone, suddenly feeling like someone took a hot fire poker to his last nerve, takes a step forward, “You have no idea what you're talking about-”

But then Shadow is stepping in front of Sonic, glaring up at Stone.

“Don’t.” 

They stare each other down for only a moment before Stone puts his hands up, feeling that week old guilt well up in his chest again,  “I wasn’t.” 

He then looks at Sonic, who is looking at him from over Shadow’s shoulder. The blue menace sticks his tongue out at Stone. He’s starting to regret coming here.

“What was Shadow talking about, though? What should we know?” Tails asks.

Shadow doesn't look away from Stone when he speaks, “He built something, something dangerous. Its sole purpose is to take out Sonic.” 

Well, it did have a secondary mission to take out the echidna too, but he didn’t need to agitate the situation any further. 

There’s a collection of gasps and ‘what’s, but the sheriff’s was the loudest. 

“Are you kidding me?” Tom asks, his tone no longer friendly or inquisitive. The man had also stepped forward, as if on instinct, coming to stand just behind Shadow, the two of them practically blocking Sonic from Stone’s view. His blood cools incredibly fast, and he suddenly just feels so tired. 

Stone pinches the bridge of his nose, and closes his eyes briefly, “Yeah, I built it, okay? I’m working through something.” 

“And you thought the best way to work through that was by building some kind of death machine?” The wife says. Stone should really figure out what her name is.

He levels her with an unimpressed look, “Do you know who I spent years of my life with? Largely alone? It can warp your idea of what you would consider healthy coping skills.”

“How can we stop it?” Tails asks.

Stone drums his fingers against his thighs, “That’s where I’ve run into some problems. I think I shut it down remotely, but there is quite literally no way for me to know. Which is already a red flag if I can’t tangibly connect to it remotely, who's to say it’s even still on the network at all.”

“English, please.” Sonic says, looking over Shadow’s shoulder.

“Until it shows up, it’s Schrodinger’s android.” 

“I dare that foul contraption to show up here, it will be handled swiftly, as all of the Doctor’s inventions have.” Knuckles says, holding a fist in the air. 

“It isn’t just another badnik, it was made with Sonic in mind, specifically designed to counteract him.” Stone replies, that familiar blip of irritation at hearing Knuckles speak to him.

“Well who cares? It’s not like I’d fight it alone, and you’ve only got the one right?”

Stone nods. 

So Sonic waves a dismissive hand, blowing a raspberry, “No biggie! There’s no guarantee it’ll even show up, and if it does,” Sonic moves around Shadow, putting his arm around the other hedgehog’s shoulders and pulling him close, “I’ve got my team here to help me out.” 

Sonic smiles at him, and Stone realizes who Shadow’s “more than a friend” is. Shadow is relaxed in a way that Stone has never seen him before with Sonic beside him like that, and he seems happy. Though, it’s kind of hard to tell with him since his face is, well, like that. But from the time Stone has spent with him, he appears content.

Maybe he really is better off here.

The Sheriff and his wife look at each other.

“Yeah, that makes sense. It’ll be totally fine. Nothing to freak out about.” The wife says, though her tone isn’t overly confident. 

Tom nods at her, expression tight, his tone matching hers, “Absolutely.”

Stone’s expression remains the stoic, “I’m glad you’re all so confident.” 

Sonic puts his hands behind his head, his elbows poking out. He takes wide steps out in front of everyone, “Well, we have a pretty good track record for these kinds of things, so I say we’re pretty set. Especially since there's four of us now.”

He winks at Shadow, who just rolls his eyes. Through the windows, Stone can see the sun starting to set, and his shoulders feel as though they weigh a hundred pounds. He makes eye contact with the wife, whose expression turns almost pitying. Something Stone thinks is worse than any disdain he could be hit with.

She wipes her hands on her pants, “Okay, boys, why don’t you go either finish eating or clean up, I’m going to help our friend here.” 

Stone frowns at her, but so does Tom. 

“You are?” Tom asks.

Stone looks from him to her, “Yeah, no I’m fine you don’t have to-”

She holds a hand up, “Ahp! No, silence. Those cuts clearly haven’t been cleaned properly, and we need to have a chat.” She says the last part while gesturing between the two of them.

“Tom, can you help the boys please?” She says.

Tom opens his mouth, closes it, looks from her to the kitchen, and then back to her, “I’m sure they can handle it.” 

She gives him a ‘don’t argue with me’ glare, and walks towards Stone. She puts a hand on his shoulder, and starts guiding further into the house. 

“Let’s get you cleaned up.” 

She takes him to the master bedroom, and she gestures for him to sit on the edge of the bed. She then goes into the attached bathroom, leaving Stone to look around. It was pretty clean, only a couple small heaps of clothes on the floor near the overflowing hamper, one of them being the sheriff’s uniform. Stone looks behind them and sees a large photo of the slightly younger couple, a full color picture of them dancing at their wedding. Under it is a handful of drawings that have been taped to the wall; one is Sonic with the two of them, each crudely drawn person holding an ice cream, then there’s one with the three space creatures, each of them striking a different pose. Then there’s one of the entire family (including the dog), and one on a slightly bigger piece of paper of the five of them playing baseball. 

It’s then that the wife comes back, wet cloth in one hand and a first aid kit in the other. She comes to sit beside him, one leg folded on the bed while her other foot rests on the ground. She holds her hand out, and Stone sticks his arm out. She grabs his arm, and starts wiping it down none too gently, causing Stone to hiss.

“So, you wanna tell me your name?” She asks, her eyes remaining on his arm. 

“Stone.” 

Her eyes flick up for a moment with a slight smile before looking back down, “Stone what?” 

“Just Stone.”

“You don’t have a last name?” 

“Stone is my last name.”

“First name then.”

“I do.”

“You don’t wanna tell me?” 

Stone shrugs, “Only two people knew my first name, and they’re both dead.” 

He sees her cock her head to the side for a moment, “Okay then.”

She reaches for the first aid kit, “So, Shadow’s been living with you, huh?” 

Stone ignores the slight stinging in his arm as she starts disinfecting an already festering wound, “He was. Though I’m starting to think he’s better off somewhere else.” 

“Oh I dunno, you’d have to ask him.”

“Maybe before the whole, this.” Stone says, gesturing to the arm she’s working on. 

She clicks her tongue, “Yeah, well, can’t say I’m all too happy about that either but you know.”

They’re silent for a moment, and Stone can hear dishes clanging from the kitchen. This house looks and sounds like a home, something lived in, something a family has lived in. Stone has never had that, and to see it first hand like this, he decides it’s not really for him. But maybe that’s what Shadow needs, maybe he needs more than the working silences Stone has grown to prefer after years at the side of a workaholic. 

She takes out a roll of bandages, and starts putting gauze over the cuts before wrapping them. 

“Other arm, please.” 

He complies, and she continues to talk, “So, tell me about yourself. Where are you from?” 

“All over.”

His first instinct is to conceal, it’s his training telling him to keep as much information to himself as humanly possible. But he doesn’t work for them anymore, and he doesn’t exactly have a whole lot to lose anymore. 

“Do you have any family?” 

“No.” 

“Hobbies?” 

“Not unless you count everything I did for Robotnik as a hobby.”

She hums, “I’d say no.” She pauses, her voice becoming softer as she continues to work on his injured arm, “You two were really close, huh?”

Stone swallows a lump that’s suddenly formed in his throat, “Something like that.” 

He hates that. Stone knows they were close, Stone knows that he’s going to be the person that misses him the most, and probably is the only person that’s going to miss him, he doesn’t need people reminding him. 

“So what happened between you and Shadow?”

Stone straightens slightly, “I uh, found out he was coming here. I had kind of a breakdown about it.”

She shrugs one of her shoulders, “Understandable.”

Stone scoffs, “Yeah right.” 

She pauses her movements to look up at him, “I’m serious. Can I…can I tell you a secret?” 

Suddenly Stone feels like he’s in elementary school again, a girl he’s never talked to before suddenly deciding he’s trustworthy because he doesn’t talk to almost anyone.

Stone doesn’t answer, but she seems to take his silence as a sign to continue, “I wasn’t happy that Sonic was hanging out with Shadow at first. I mean like, I didn’t like or trust him at all. He was trying to hurt my kids, and then he almost killed my husband. And for a moment, I hated that little rat boy. We were happy, and he was trying to ruin it.”

She wasn’t looking at Stone anymore, and her fingers kept flexing where they were gently grabbing his wrist. She gives a sad smile.

“Sonic would talk about him sometimes, say he really wasn’t so bad, and he hoped he was okay. Little things like that. I’d agree with him out loud even if in my head I hoped we never heard from him again.” her smile drops, “And then Sonic had a breakdown in our kitchen because he thought we’d be mad about him seeing Shadow. I never want him to feel like he can’t come to us, and I can’t remember the last time I cried myself to sleep that hard. Forgiveness is hard, and after getting to know Shadow, I feel horrible for the things I used to think about him.” 

She refocuses on the task in front of her, and for some reason Stone feels like crying himself. He knows almost nothing about Sonic outside of what Robotnik had told him. He’d never even met the creature until he followed Stone’s motorcycle back to the crab. 

“How’d you get over what he did?”

She sighs, putting her tools back in the kit, “Part of it was learning he didn’t mean to hurt Tom. The other part was realizing that he’s just a scared kid. One who needed help, one who just wanted to be loved.” She puts down the gauze and grabs the wrap, “That, and Sonic liked him. Seeing how happy he is around him, it melts my heart.”

She secures the bandage, but keeps a hold of his arm, “I hope you can find that in you somewhere.” 

It’s been so long since Stone has experienced genuine kindness like this that he doesn’t really know what to do with it. He knew how to take and respond to Ivo’s particular brand of ‘affection’ (though most of Stone’s reactions would not have been deemed appropriate by any definition of that word), but this was…different. There’s a woman in front of him that he doesn’t even know the name of, tending to wounds he inadvertently gave himself by being an idiot, and asking him to find it in him to be kind back. 

“I’ll think about it.” 

Shadow stands in the entree way, looking down the hall. He wonders what Stone is saying, what Maddie is saying. Stone had looked terrible, and it made Shadow concerned about the state Shadow had left him in for the last two weeks. Even with that stupid decision to build that android, he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to him. 

“Heeeeey buddy, you okay?” Sonic asks as he slides up beside Shadow, gently hip bumping him. Shadow grumbles as he sways.

“Yeah.” 

Sonic moves in front of Shadow. “Are you sure?” 

Shadow thinks he’s fine. Though, he can’t help but worry about what happens next. Where do they go from here? Is Stone going to take him back to Westopolis? Does Shadow want him to? Shadow likes Stone, he understands him in a way. He doesn’t want to leave him on his own either, but Shadow isn’t sure he wants to leave the Wachowski’s home. Sonic’s home.

Shadow heaves a heavy sigh, this whole situation annoying and exhausting him. 

Sonic seems to notice the change in Shadow’s demeanor, because Sonic looks from side to side before stepping a little closer and then pulls Shadow into a hug. Shadow tenses for a moment, not quite expecting it while also fully aware that anyone could see them. However, Shadow feels himself relaxing against the other hedgehog, and he slowly raises his arms and wraps them around Sonic.  That familiar warmth blooms in his chest, and Shadow suddenly feels weak in the knees. 

“Sonic! Shadow! Do you want pie?” Comes Tails’s call from the kitchen. 

Sonic takes a half step back from Shadow but keeps his hands on his shoulders, which Shadow was thankful for as he nearly stumbled when Sonic’s body wasn’t propping him up, “Yes, please!” 

Sonic’s hands move off of Shadow’s shoulders, but one of his hands grabs a hold of Shadow’s, “Have you ever had french silk pie?” 

Shadow allows Sonic to pull him towards the kitchen, “I…don’t think I have.” 

“Oh! You’re gonna love it!”

So Shadow allows himself to be tugged, and he sees Tom cutting the pie into slices, explaining what’s in it to Knuckles. Sonic asks Tom about the brand, which then becomes a conversation between Sonic and Tails about which company makes the best ones. Tom walks around them with an eye roll and a smile as he brings a plate with pie and a fork to Shadow as Shadow climbs onto a chair. 

“Here you go, bud. Give it a try.” 

Shadow picks up the fork, and cuts through the end of the pie and takes a bite. Sonic is leaning on the table with his elbows and holding up his head, looking at Shadow expectantly.

“So, what do you think?” 

It was really, really good. Not quite as good as coffee beans, but it was up there. Shadow swallows the bite in his mouth before speaking.

“Good.” 

Sonic’s head falls to the side, seeing less than impressed with Shadow’s reaction, “That’s it?” 

Shadow raises a brow at him, “What more do you want from me?” 

Sonic slides back, sitting fully in the chair, “I dunno, maybe a bit more enthusiasm. This is a modern marvel!”

Shadow just takes another bite, and Sonic sticks his tongue out at him. 

It’s then that Maddie and Stone reenter the room, Stone now sporting white bandages running almost to his elbows. They both seem at ease, and Tom perks up when they enter the room.

“All good?” He says.

Maddie smiles and walks towards him, “All good.” 

Stone stays at the edge of the kitchen as Maddie walks up to Tom, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder. Tom easily puts an arm around her waist, and with his free hand gestures to the half eaten pie.

“Do you want a slice, Mr. Stone?” 

“Uh no, I’m good. I actually think I’m going to head out, now.” 

“Oh. Okay.” Tom says. There’s an awkward silence, and Shadow wasn’t sure if he should get up and go or not. He liked life with Stone, liked how easy and quiet it was, and he enjoyed spending that time with Stone, someone who cares about him. But then he also really enjoys being with the Wachowski’s, not having to sneak out to talk to Sonic, falling asleep during movie nights as he leans against the arm of the couch. And yeah it was sometimes kind of loud and Shadow would find himself shutting himself in the spare bedroom for a moment alone, but it was worth it. Sonic and his family helped Shadow shut his brain off from time to time, and sometimes that’s something he really needs. 

Stone drums his fingers against his thighs, “Okay then.” 

Stone starts to turn on his heel, but before he could get all the way around, Shadow speaks.

“Wait.”

Stone stops, looking over at Shadow. Shadow stands from his chair and walks over to Stone, who looks down at him. So Shadow looks up at him, and says without any question in his voice, “I’ll be back tomorrow.” 

Stone’s brows furrow, “Back…?” 

“Home. If that’s okay with you, anyway.” 

Stone blinks at him, and for a moment Shadow worries that he’s going to turn him down again. But then the corner of Stone’s mouth upturns, and his eyes soften a bit.

“That’s perfectly fine with me.” 

They look at each other for a moment more, and then Stone awkwardly steps back again, heading for the door. Once it was closed again, Shadow’s pretty sure he heard a sigh of relief from Tom.

“I think it’s time for bed.” He says.

“I’m gonna miss you, Shads.” 

“Don’t call me that. And it’s not like I’m never going to see you again.” Shadow says as he looks over his shoulder at Sonic who is jumping on the spare room bed Shadow has been using. 

Sonic jumps one last time before landing on his butt next to Shadow. “I know, but I like having you here. I guess our love was meant to be forbidden, separated by these arbitrary town lines.”

Sonic then sways dramatically and puts all of his weight on Shadow. Shadow just huffs with a small smile on his face, lightly shoving Sonic.

“Quit.”

“Oh when will my husband return from the war?! Life is so cruel.”

Shadow shakes his head, “You sound like Stone’s soap operas.” 

There’s a knock at the door, “Boys? Lights out.” 

It’s Tom on the other side, and both of them know that means that Sonic has to go back up to his own room. Shadow’s found he prefers it down here, quiet without the sounds of the others snoring or rustling. 

“Coming! Good night, my sweet prince.” Sonic says, grabbing Shadow and kissing him on the mouth. Shadow sighs into it, and when Sonic tries to pull away Shadow follows him. They kiss for a few moments more before there’s another knock on the door.

“Now, Sonic.” 

They finally part as Sonic groans towards the door, “Okay, okay! I’m coming.” 

Sonic presses one last kiss to Shadow’s cheek before going to the door and seeing Tom standing there with his arms crossed. 

“You’re so impatient.” Sonic says, and Shadow watches Tom roll his eyes with a slight smile of his own.

“Uh huh.” He then grabs the door handle, looking at Shadow, “Good night, I’ll see you in the morning.” 

“Night.” Shadow responds. 

The door clicks shut behind him, leaving Shadow alone. There’s a certain melancholy to knowing that this is his last night in this room before he goes home, but he knows this isn’t his last night ever here. Shadow suddenly felt…not excited, but hopefully at the future ahead of him. He’s not locked into any monotonous routine, he has places to go, people who care about him, people who aren’t scientists who want to stick him with needles and stickers. He’s found love, though it’s not something he had ever anticipated, he’s pleased about it all the same. 

Maybe Sonic can help fill his room in Westopolis with things that fit Shadow’s personality, like Sonic has filled his own room. Or maybe Shadow will fill it with things that remind Shadow of Sonic. Maybe Shadow can one day walk into his own room and think ‘home’, like he had in the lab with Maria. 

Maybe everything is going to be okay. Shadow can work with maybe.