Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sonic didn't know what to think when he heard the news. That out of the blue, the Mean Bean was suddenly open again??? 

At first the Wachowski's all hoped that someone new had reopened the shop and just chose to keep the previous name. 

But no, sure enough as Sonic and the rest of his family went inside, they saw Agent Stone standing behind the counter. 

"Ah, if it isn't the Hedgehog Family! Welcome to the Mean Bean! How are you doing today?" Stone said. 

It was strange. His voice sounded pleasant. And his face looked happy. But it just felt so off. Of all people, why would Stone be happy now? Dr. Eggman, his best friend, was gone. 

While the rest of them stood there for a moment in shock, Knuckles was the first to speak up. 

"I'll have you know we are the echidna and fox family as well! ... But we are doing well. How are you, Goat-Milker?" 

Sonic swore, he saw Stone's eye twitching. 

"Splendid." Stone said. But it really didn't look like he was doing that great. Definetly not splendid. 

Still though, Tom and Maddie were in the mood for coffee so they stepped closer to the counter and ordered. 

Tom got an americano while Maddie ordered a latte. Knuckles got a hot chocolate, and Tail got one too, with a few extra pumps of peppermint. 

But Sonic wasn't really in the mood for chocolate. 

"Then can I interest you in some tea?" Stone asked, his fake-pleasent tone sounder faker and faker the longer they were there. 

"Sorry but no can do." Tom said, patting Sonic on the head. "This kids on a zero-caffine diet, otherwise he'll be bouncing off the walls." 

Stone sighed heavily. "The how about a nice vanilla steamer?" 

"A whaaaat?" Sonic said. 

"It's steamed milk with vanilla added, you imb-... I mean, you valued customer." 

"We'll take it." Maddie said, before Tom or Sonic could argue anymore. 

Though Sonic still tried to get one last word in. "Can ya make it with oat milk?" 

"What? Oh, Of course, whatever gets you... wonderful people out of my shop the quickest. My assistant and I will have your drinks out shortly." 

Sonic had no idea who'd work as an assistant for Stone. And Sonic couldn't see the assistant either. The counters were too tall, and he couldn't see around them. But he could hear the espresso machine come to life as their drinks were being made. Beans being ground. Coffee percolating. Milk froathing. 

Sonic wasn't allowed to drink coffee, and he really didn't want to either. But even he could admit that the inside of the Mean Bean smelled amazing! All warm coffee and fresh pasteries. 

And even though he tried to not to think about them, Sonic wondered if Shadow would like it here? Shadow and Eggman had died a few months ago. And Sonic was trying to move on. But every now and again he catch himself thinking about the other Hedgehog. They had just gotten to know one another. And then he was gone... 

He never got to live a normal life... 

Sonic was doing better now, but sometimes it would hit him all over again. Just how unfair it was. 

He went unusually quiet as they all waited for their order. 

Tom's drink was the fastest to make, then came Knuckle's and Tail's. They each took their cups and tried to find a nice table outside. And Tom made the bold promise of taste-testing every single one of their drinks to make sure none of them were poisoned first. Though that might have just been Tom wanting to try all their drinks. But the three of them went outside, Tom stealing a sip from Tails and going in to steal one from Knuckles as well. 

Which left Maddie and Sonic waiting inside for their drinks. 

Maddie got her latte next. She made sure to leave a tip for Stone and his assistant. However, when she took off the lid to her drink so she could stir in some sugar she suddenly paused. Staring down into the paper cup in apprehension. 

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked. 

He was able to see for himself soon enough. 

Lovingly and painstakingly, there was a photo-realistic image of Dr. Robotnik in the middle of Maddie's latte. Etched right into the milk foam. 

"That's... not normal." Sonic hissed uncomfortably, looking down into the cup. 

"It's defiently not healthy." Maddie sighed, looking back towards Stone. "Wait here honey, I'm gonna try talking to him." 

Sonic watched as Maddie carefully approached Stone. He couldn't hear much of their conversation. Hopefully she could help Stone. Sonic knew she helped him a lot, dealing with his own grief. Both for Longclaw and again for Shadow. He saw Stone guide Maddie back into the kitchen to talk a little more privately. 

"And then there was one..." Sonic said, "And it looks like I'm to talking to myself again. Great." 

Sonic was never the most-patient person. He kept fidgeting around, moving from foot to foot. 

He wasn't sure he was even going to like this weird Vanilla Steamer-thing. But Maddie had already paid for it. And he could hear the assistant making it. So it was too late to back out now. 

Thankfully he didn't have to wait long. 

Sonic could hear the milk froathers turn off and a drink poured into a cup. 

He followed the sound of those feet as the assistant walked over to an opening in the counter. He kept wondering who this mysterious assistant could be. You'd have to be completely-insane to work for Eggman. And that included working for his assistants/best friends. 

Of all people though, Sonic never expected to see Shadow the Hedgehog standing there, behind the counter. 

Alive. 

And... dressed like a barista??? 

For a moment Sonic could hardly beleive it. It was as if his mind couldn't even comprehend what he was seeing. This had to be a trick. Or some sick, twisted joke. 

But no, that was definetly Shadow. Same black fur and quills. Same bright red highlights. Same sullen frown and same fiery eyes. 

But he also looked different now. He wasn't standing tall like before. And he seemed lost. Unsure. 

"Order for Son-ick?" Shadow said, looking around in confusion until his gaze settled on the other hedgehog. "Vanilla Steamer? With oat milk? Is that you?" 

Sonic stepped forwards, slowly. As if Shadow might disappear if he moved too suddenly. And as he tried to keep his voice from breaking he felt his eyes burn slightly with unshed tears. 

"Yeah Hot Topic... that's me!"

Chapter Text

"Ok. Here." 

Shadow shoved the cup into his hands and then stalked back under the counter. 

And Sonic was left standing there, holding a paper cup, feeling frozen in place. 

"Uh... what?" 

But Shadow just went right back to where he was before and started working on another drink. From here, Sonic could see there was a step-stool so Shadow could see the counters. He went over to the espresso machine and began grinding some coffee beans, weighing them carefully. 

"If you need anything else just let Stone know... Enjoy." 

Sonic was still trying to wrap him mind around what was happening. 

"Enjoy? After everything we've been through, all you can say is enjoy?!" 

That got Shadow's attention, he turned back towards Sonic. 

"Have we met before?" He asked simply. "If we have, I appologize. I... I've been dealing with some... memory loss." 

He said that final part quietly, but Sonic still caught it. Memory loss. That helped explain things... sorta. It explained why he was acting strange. But it definetly didn't explain why he and Stone were back. Or how the heck he survived that massive explosion!? 

"So you don't remember anything?" Sonic asked. 

"I remember some things!" Shadow huffed. 

"But you don't remember me?" 

For a moment, Sonic saw something in Shadow's eyes gleam. 

"Well, maybe you just aren't worth remembering." 

Sonic didn't know why, but hearing Shadow say that made his heart feel heavy. Like Knuckles was squeezing it. 

But just as quickly, Shadow shook his head. "Kidding. I was kidding. Stop making your face look like that." 

"Like what?" Sonic said. 

"Like that." Shadow groaned, pointing at Sonic'a face. "It was a joke. I wasn't using my serious-tone. I was using my joking-tone." 

"You gotta work on your tones, buddy." Sonic said in some annoyance. He hated to admit that Shadow got to him for a moment there. 

Shadow focused back on his espresso, pressing the grounds into a portafilter and cranking it into the bigger machine to let it brew. "Look, the memory set-back isn't personal. I can barely remember anything. The only reason I can even recall Stone is because he's been working with me every day." 

Hearing that an idea slowly began to form in Sonic's head while Shadow continued. 

"- But it's still so... so... muddled. And I have no idea why I'm telling you any of this. You're just a customer." 

"I'm not just a customer." Sonic argued. "I'm-" 

And he realized then, he wasn't exactly sure what they were. Arch Enemies? Rivals? When Shadow first hurt Tom, Sonic had hated him. But the more they talked, the more he realized how similar they were. They shared an understanding. And they had just begun something new, sharing the power of the Chaos Emeralds. 

But did any of that mean anything now? 

"I'm a friend." Sonic finally settled on. "Your friend." 

Shadow bristled at the word. But he didn't dispute it. 

Stone and Maddie came out of the backroom. But Sonic couldn't tell whether their talk had been sucessful or not. Neither of them seemed happy, but no one was screaming or crying. 

"Ok then, friend." Shadow huffed. "You got your drink. Now you and your family better get going. In case you haven't noticed Stone isn't the biggest fan of you all. For whatever reason." 

Maddie didn't seem that suprised to see Shadow there, Stone must have told her already. But she was heading for the door and gesturing for Sonic to do the same. 

As he went and followed her out, he heard Shadow say, "Have the day you deserve." 

Sonic felt a mess of swirling emotions still. Anger, joy, shock, mostly confusion. 

But turning around one last time, he gave Shadow a smile and fired some finger guns his way. 

"This was fun, let's do it again tommorow! Same Shadow-time and same Shadow-place?" 

Shadow didn't respond, just folding his arms and scoffing. While Stone gave them a polite but cold wave. 

When they were finally outside, Maddie sighed leaning heavily against the door. 

"That man seriously needs to get professional help." Maddie said. 

"He makes a mean americano though." Tom added. 

"Hot chocolate too!" Tails added. 

"Well you guys can't give him all the credit. He has an assistant helping him make all the drinks!" Sonic said. "And you guys will never guess who! It's Shadow! He survived!" 

For a moment Tails, Knuckles and Tim just looked at him, dumbfounded. 

"You're right, Hedgehog. I never would have guessed that." Knuckles nodded. 

"And you're sure it's him?" Tails asked. "And not a hologram? Or some sort of coffee-making android?" 

"No, it's definitely him!" Sonic said. 

"How on earth did he survive?" Tom asked. "I know you kids are tough but still." 

"I'm not sure." Sonic answered. "And neither is Shadow. He said he can't remember a lot." 

"I'm sorry, baby." Maddie said gently. 

"I'm just happy he's alive." Sonic replied. 

"Even if he cannot remember?" Knuckles said. 

Sonic nodded. "Actually, I have an idea on how we can fix that! Shadow said he can remember Stone since he's been around him all the time. So I'm gonna try visiting the cafe every day until he can remember me too!" 

"Do you really think that will work?" Tails asked. 

"It's worth a shot!" 

"And do you really think that is wise?" Knuckles said then, arms folded tightly across his chest. "Not all of his memories are pleasant. And the last time he was around our family, he sent the Doughnut Lord to the hospital." 

"Hey, I'm doing better now!" Tom tried to argue. "And you know what? I bet Green Hills will be good for both of them. Shadow and Stone!" 

"I hope you're right." Maddie said. 

"You usually are!" Sonic added. 

And with that, they all began heading home. 

As they walked though, Sonic realized he hadn't even tried his drink yet! 

It had cooled down, but was still slightly warm as he took his first tentative sip. 

"What do you think Sonic?" Tails asked. 

Sonic smacked his lips, trying to figure out how he felt. 

It was sweet. Really sweet. Almost too sweet for him. And that was saying a lot since he a Knuckles could devour an entire s'mores-stack in seconds. 

But still, it was a drink made by Shadow, and Maddie and Tom paid good money for it, so Sonic took a few more sips just to make sure he didn't like it. 

And he didn't really. It was like drinking melted icecream. But not in a fun way. 

"I think I'll try something else tommorow..." Sonic replied. 

And he really was looking forward to seeing Shadow again tommorow. 

He was already brainstorming a bunch of new drink-ideas. And he was also thinking of all the ways he could try to jog Shadow's memory.

Chapter Text

Shadow was suprised to see that same blue hedgehog waltzing in the next day. 

To be honest he wasn't sure if he'd really show up again. There were only a handful of people that could even be considered "Regulars". And it seemed like Sonic was dedicated to joining that short-list. 

"Hello, hello, hello! Happy to be seen at the Mean Bean!" The blue hedgehog said with a bright smile. "How's it hanging, Shadow?" 

"I'm well." Shadows didn't really feel like anything, not really happy but not necessarily sad either. "And how are you... hanging?" 

"Fan-tastic!" Sonic replied. Unlike most people who came to the cafe, it seemed like he was already bursting with energy. No caffeine needed. 

Still though, it was kinda Shadow's job to get his order. "What can I get for you? Another vannilla oat steamer?" 

That's when Sonic's grin finally fell from his face. If only slightly. 

"Soooo, about that. Don't get me wrong whatever you made for me yesterday-" 

"The vanilla oat steamer?" 

"Yeah, that thing! It was super good. Super yummy. But it was really, really, reeeeeaally sweet... like, it was almost more-sweetness than I can handle." 

"So you're saying it was too sweet." Shadow huffed. "That's fine. I can half the vanilla pumps, if you prefer." 

"I was actually wondering if the chef had anything else on the menu." 

"This is a coffee shop. There is no chef." 

"Oh come on, you know what I mean!" Sonic said, a little exasperated. "You got any other suggestions?" 

"A decaf drink. And not sweet?" 

"Well it can still be a little sweet." Sonic suggested. 

Shadow thought for a moment. He hardly knew this weird, blue hedgehog, but he tried to think of another drink for him. It was a matter of pride as a barista to make every person their perfect drink. 

"Honestly you could make me anything and I'd probably be happy." 

"Alright. London fog." Shadow finally settled on. "Decaf." 

Sonic perked-up at the name. "Oooh! Gonna'make me a london fog governa'?" 

"Is that your attempt at a British accent?" 

"Oi! What'a'you talkin'bout attempts? This me real accent n'all!" Sonic said, sounding more like Dick Van Dyke than a real Brit. 

"Stop it." Shadow dead-panned. 

"Stop? Stop wh'at? I don't rightly know what you goin'on about!" 

Shadow glared at the other hedgehog. "Stop it or I'm kicking you out." 

"Ok, ok! Fine! Back to American!" Sonic relented. "So, what exactly is in a london fog?" 

Shadow explained as he got some tea ready. "Brewed earl grey tea. Decaf, for you. I'll combine that with some steamed milk and a few pumps of lavender-syrup and vanilla... It should be more to your liking." 

"Sounds great. I already love it!" Sonic smiled. 

While they waited for the tea to brew and the milk to froath, Sonic lingered by the counter. 

And after a few moments of quiet, Sonic piped-up again. 

"So do they call it the London Fog cause it was invented in London? Or is this another french-fry situation?" 

"I... I don't actually know." Shadow said looking down at the cup as if it would tell him. 

"Either way, I think it'll take me right back to London. Do you remember being there?" 

Shadow shook his head. "No. I heard about London before. But I don't remember seeing it for myself." 

"Well you probably spent most of your time there either in the crab or at the secret-base. So that makes sense." Sonic replied. "Man, it was so cool! We barely got to visit anything while we were there. We had the whole mission to worry about. Luckily I managed to do a little sight-seeing when I could!" 

Shadow didn't know how exactly he knew what or where London was. When he thought of it in his head, he only got a basic image of a city by the water. A large clock tower, big red buses. Nothing concrete. Nothing personal. And he found himself asking, 

"What did you see?" 

Sonic was caught off-guard by the question. But he was more than happy to answer. 

"It was AMAZING! I got to ride the eye while Tails was hacking that security-system. And up there you really could see everything!" Sonic gushed, reminiscing about the nicer parts of their past-adventure. "And then when I got the all-clear I made a couple detours to check out, Westminister Abbey, Buckingham Palace, strolled down Abbey Road and then wrapped it all up with a quick sprint across London Bridge!" 

While Sonic rambled, Shadow listened as he carefully added a little lavender and vanilla and poured steamed milk over the tea. 

He said over his shoulder, "It sounds like you actually did a lot." 

"Just one of the many perks to having super-speed!" Was Sonic's reply. "You can do a lot in a short time. And I love to travel! Seeing the world. Seeing everything that lives in it. I wish I could get out there more..." 

"Well why don't you?" Shadow asked. "With your super-speed you could go anywhere you want." 

"Well, the super-speed doesn't come with a GPS. Sure, I can get places pretty-fast, but if I don't know where I'm going I usually end up stuck in the woods or tripping into the ocean." 

"Then why don't you bring a map?" 

"Do I look like I can read a map?" Sonic said, before quickly adding. "Actually, don't answer that." 

"You said it, not me." Shadow replied. 

When the drink was finally done Shadow popped a cap over the top and leaned across the counter to hand it to Sonic. 

"Here. A London Fog for the directionally-challenged Hedgehog." 

Sonic took the drink but huffed at the title. "Hey! I'm not directionally-challenged, I know Green Hills like the back of my hand! Annnd, I was able to get around London by myself, just fine!" 

"If you say so." 

"I do!" Sonic said, then he slowly brought the paper cup closer to himself. "Alright,  moment of truth! Does your London Fog manage to capture the true essence of London?" 

Shadow didn't realize the stakes were that high, but he watched as Sonic took a couple sips. Pausing between each one to really get the flavors. 

And then he nodded. 

"Yeah! ... Yeah, that's pretty good! It definetly tastes like you got a little extra London in there!" 

Shadow had no idea what that even meant. But he still took the compliment. 

"I'm glad you're enjoying it." 

Just then, a group of lumberjacks came through the front doors. Heading striaght towards the front counter. 

Shadow gestured for Sonic to step to the side. "We can talk later. I need to handle this order first." 

"No worries dude, I got you!" Sonic replied. Sliding himself and his drink to the other end of the counter, so the other people had pleanty of space to order. 

And as he waited, Sonic hopped onto a barstool, sipped his drink and watched Shadow work. 

Shadow's eyes were calm and calculated as he made each and every drink. Whether is was a plain black coffee or a triple-berry-mocha-frappe, each drink was made with the same level of careful precision. 

It reminded Sonic a lot of how Shadow was before, in those brief moments they saw eachother before their big fight. But something was different about him now. It took Sonic a moment but he soon realized why. 

It was his anger. It was gone. 

That fiery rage he seemed to always be simmering with. It wasn't there anymore. 

A part of Sonic wondered if he should be greatful about that. But deep down he knew this felt wrong. 

Shadow deserved to have his memories. He had lost so much in his life, so much was taken from him, he deserved to at least have his memories, to remember who he was. The people he cared about... 

Eventually, Shadow finished off all the drinks for the lumberjacks. And as they all wandered back to their trucks; coffees, espressos and a triple-berry-mocha-frappe in their hands, Shadow came over to the side so he and Sonic could continue their conversation. 

"Ok so what about you?" 

"What about me?" Shadow asked. 

"If you could choose anywhere in the world to be, right now, where would you go?" 

Shadow tried to think about it. But he honestly couldn't think of any where. So he just shrugged. 

"Seriously? No where?" 

"Nothing comes to mind." Shadow simply said. "It's not like I've gone far." 

When he thought of his past, everything was hazy and vauge. But he got the feeling he didn't get to travel much. 

"Well, I know I saw you in Japan. And London. So that's two places you could revisit! And we really got around when we, uh, when we fought." Sonic said. "That happened so fast, but I remember seeing the pyramids in Egypt. And I think for a moment we were in Greece too." 

Shadow couldn't recall any of that. So he could only take Sonic's word at face-value. 

"I don't remember any of that. All l remember is waking up in a field..." 

"You woke up in a field?" Sonic said. "Dude! I totally woke up in a field too! How crazy would it he if we were actually in the same cornfield and didn't even know?" 

"I highly doubt that was the case." Shadow said. "I made a pretty big impact when I landed. It left a crater. Even you would have noticed something like that." 

"Heh, probably." Sonic replied. 

"And I wasn't in a cornfield. All I saw was grass." 

He also saw a patch of purple wildflowers, he remembered thinking they were pretty. But he didn't want to tell Sonic that. The other Hedgehog seemed to love teasing him, he didn't want him to use that against him too. 

But another thought occured to him. "You said we were fighting before... why?" 

The smile on Sonic's face fell completely then. 

He kept looking down at his coffee cup. Picking at the edges of the cardboard sleeve. 

"There was a lot of stuff going on... and I was letting my anger get the best of me. I'm sorry for that." 

Shadow tried to recall such a thing. But his mind remained infuriatingly stuffy. Nothing felt concrete or clear. 

"Well whatever you did, it didn't leave a scar. So I guess it wasn't that big of a deal." 

"Not a big deal?!" Sonic gasped. "I punched you so hard you flew to the moon! Like literally flew to the moon!" 

"Maybe I'm just built different." Shadow taunted. 

That got Sonic to smile again. At least a little. "I'll say. Punched to the moon, got a face-full of pure chaos energy, and crash-landed back on Earth. And you didn't get a single scar?" 

Shadow nodded. "It seems my only set-back is this issue with my memory." 

"Well you can already remember me! So that's progress, right?" 

"The accident affected my long-term memory. Not my short-term." Shadow huffed. "It's not like I'm loosing my complete memory every day." 

"Oh no, then you'd be like that girl in 50 First Dates. And you'd wake up every day and find out you're dating Adam Sandler! So yeah, at least you life's not like that movie." 

Shadow didn't know who Adam Sandler was, or why he needed to go on fifty first dates. But for now he'd trust Sonic's word that he was at least doing better than those people. 

"Then again, she got to live in Hawaii. And that looked pretty sweet! I'm not a big water-guy, but I could get behind some beautiful beaches, jungles, Oh! And volcanoes!" 

Shadow could picture it in his head then. And the image he saw didn't seem half bad. 

"I'd choose Hawaii." 

Sonic looked confused. "What?" 

"Before you asked me where I'd want to go? I change my mind. I'd go to Hawaii." 

That seemed like a good answer to Sonic. "Well, next time my folks rack-up some travel miles, we'll take you to Hawaii! How's that sound?" 

"That... that sounds nice." Shadow said, before cracking a small smile. "As long as you don't get us lost out there." 

"Oh come on! You really gonna hold that against me?" 

"Maybe if you learn to read a map, then I'll reconsider." Was Shadow's reply. 

Sonic stuck around until he completely finished his drink. And a little longer than that. Sometimes chatting with Shadow, sometimes watching as he made more drinks. 

But eventually it became lunch-time and Sonic had to head back home. 

And Shadow had a lunch-rush to tackle. 

"I'll be back later!" Sonic called out as he headed for the door. "See you tomorrow?"

"You know where to find me..."

Chapter Text

That next week, Sonic kept showing up at the cafe. Every single day.

Some days he'd spend hours hanging out with Shadow. Watching him make drinks. Chatting about everything and nothing at all. Other days he only made a quick visit with his brothers while they were off on some adventure... adventure was a exaggeration actually. 

Shadow learned fast that when Sonic said "adventure", it could really mean something as mundane as going to the library, or visiting the junkyard to look for peices of scrap, or even simply taking a trip through the woods surrounding the town. 

But you could never be too careful, because sometimes when Sonic meant "adventure" he truly meant it. Whether it was journeying across the country to San Francisco or hopping through portals to places like London or Hawaii. 

Over the past few days Shadow had learned a lot about Sonic. He lived with two humans named Tom and Maddie, along with his two other colorful brothers. Tails the fox and Knuckles the echidna. 

His absolute favorite food of all time was chilli dogs. He also loved guacamole. Though he usually enjoyed calling it "guac" far more. And he would often repeat the word if it was said in conversation. He said he liked the way it sounded. 

And yes. He loved to run. Obviously. But he also enjoyed other things as well. Like baseball. Or being out in the wilderness, seeing nature up-close. He also turned out to be quite the bookworm. Sharing stories from the novels and comics he read about. Usually they were stories of high-adventure and fantasy. 

And of course, he adored movies. Any time he and his family watched something, Sonic would always tell Shadow about it the following day. Recounting all the high-points, low-points and "most-quotable" moments. 

It was all surface-level subjects. But it was nice. 

It told Shadow nothing about himself, or who he use to be. But it made him feel better to know more about Sonic. He seemed like a good person, so Shadow couldn't have been awful if someone like Sonic was his friend... At least that's what he really hoped. 

When the next weekend arrived, Shadow had a small suprise for his new friend. 

All week Sonic had been ordering all sorts of drinks. Some days he's repeat his London Fog. Or he'd try the vanailla steamer again, or even try their other flavors. Shadow was careful to avoid anything that could possibly contain caffeine. But nothing seemed to be quite right for Sonic. The London Fog was close, but Shadow wanted to do better. 

He talked to Stone, and within a few days, there was a new drink available at the Mean Bean. 

"Butterfly Pea Flower?" Sonic puzzled. 

"It's a type of tea. You can get it brewed by itself or as a latte." Shadow replied. "So what do you want?" 

Sonic thought it over. "I dunno. What's pea flower even taste like?" 

Shadow repeated what he and Stone had seen written on the box. "It's a light flavor, with a slight hint of florals. It goes well with any sweetener. Lemon too." 

"Let's go with the latte!" Sonic said. "Sounds more fun! Can you add a little honey? Oooh! And what if we use coconut milk?" 

"Sure." Shadow nodded. And then he got to work on Sonic's butterfly pea flower latte, with honey and coconut milk. 

As he brewed the butterfly pea flower tea, he was pleased to see it quickly changing colors. Shadow let it steep until it was a deep royal blue. When he was satisfied that it would be strong enough, he stirred in some honey, poured on some coconut milk he steamed. And he made sure to put this drink in a clear glass, that way Sonic could see all the colors. 

When he turned back to Sonic, revealing the drink, he was happy to see he'd manage to get a reaction out of his friend. 

It wasn't as dark as the tea was when it brewed. But after combining with the coconut milk, the drink had become a brilliant blue, one that was strikingly close to the shade of Sonic's quills. 

And based on Sonic's loud gasp and wide smile, Shadow knew he got it right. 

"Oh. My. Gosh!" Sonic gushed. Eyes wide and hands close to his cheeks. "That's amazing, dude!" 

"I thought you'd like that." Shadow said, placing the cup down in front of the other hedgehog. 

Even then, all Sonic could do at first was just stare at the drink. "Oh man! This is like a peice of art! I don't know if I can even drink this!" 

"You better." Shadow warned. "I didn't waste my time making that drink just so you could look at it." 

"True," Sonic agreed. "Lemme just pick it up... and have a little sip." 

Sure enough, after narrating his own actions, Sonic tried his drink. He smacked his lips as he did, like he was trying to memorize the flavor. 

"You're right, it is pretty light. But I think I like it. It's fun!" 

"And you're not just saying that?" Shadow had gotten a little better at reading the other hedgehog's face. Seeing his "tells" as Stone called them. Still, it never hurt to check. 

Sonic smiled, shaking his head. "Nope! I think it's good! It's all good... and blue..." 

"Blue is a color. Not a flavor." 

"Well I think it's a great color AND a great flavor!" Sonic emphasized. "It's almost as blue as me! Actually, why don't we test that?" 

Before Shadow could stop him, Sonic reached back and plucked out one of his own quills. It took a moment to pull it out. And Shadow noticed how Sonic winced. But eventually he pulled a quill free. And once he did, he swung it around to hold it side-by-side with his latte. 

"Ok! So I think I'm a little more blue, but you totally nailed it, dude!" 

"That looked painful." Shadow noted gesturing down to the quill. 

But Sonic just shrugged it off. "Eh, it was worth it to prove a point. I guess my quills have been way more stiff lately." 

"Lately?" 

Sonic nodded, laughing a little. "Oh yeah, when I was younger they use to fall out like crazy! All I had to do was brush up against something, and they'd go all over the place!" 

Shadow tried to imagine it in his head. And it made him bristle. "That sounds gross." 

"Oh come on! You're telling me you never had to deal with some loose quills?" 

"No. Not that I can recall." Shadow said. As he thought about it, he remembered something Stone told him. 

After finding him and bringing him to Green Hills, Shadow really struggled to adapt at first. Unable to eat or sleep properly. One night after refusing to eat dinner Stone called him out for it. And he warned him, saying if he didn't get enough vitamins and nutrients, that he'd grow weaker... 

And that his quills would become brittle and all fall out. 

Shadow had assumed those were empty threats. But maybe there was some truth there after all. 

"And did you have a healthy diet growing up?" 

For the first time in a while, Sonic frowned. Looking down at his drink, stirring it lightly with a straw. "I mean... I did the best I could, you know?" 

The best he could? That didn't make sense to Shadow. "Haven't you always lived with the Sherriff and the Veterinarian?" 

"Actually, a long, loooong time ago I lived with... uh, I lived with Longclaw." 

"Longclaw?" 

"She was an owl." Sonic explained. "But not like the owls here. The owls from our world." 

"Oh." That didn't really clear things up for Shadow but he didn't want to interrupt his friend when he was finally opening up. 

"She was the best though." Sonic continued. "Longclaw took care of me. She's the one that started my training. And she was super-smart too!" 

"What happened to her?" 

"She died... Saving me." 

Shadow felt hismself tense for a moment. Stomach aching. Hands clenched. His heart felt squeezed, like it was going to come up his throat. 

The strange feeling quickly passed. But Shadow still felt those swirling feeling linger as Sonic kept going. 

"She opened a portal that sent me here. She told me to stay hidden. And to never stop running. So that's exactly what I did! I hid out in the woods, learned to take care of myself. Learned which plants were edible. And whenever I could, I'd sneak into town and swipe some food from people. Their stuff was always the best! But I had to be careful not to take too much. Couldn't risk anyone getting suspicious." 

Shadow slowly processed was Sonic was saying. He had been a child. Alone in the woods. 

He needed to say something. Anything. 

"I- I'm sorry you had to live like that." 

"Oh! It's nothing!" Sonic tried to brush his words off. "Some might say I survived. But I prefer to say that I sur-thrived! And eventually Tom found me, we had our cross-country roadtrip, and I've been living with him and Maddie ever since!" 

Shadow hummed. "Well, that would explain why your quills are doing much better now." 

Sonic, subconsciously felt his own quills. He had never thought about that before. But the more he focused on it the more it made sense. 

"Huh. I guess you're right." Sonic said. "Maddie's always been into being super-healthy. Doing yoga. Eating kale. She always makes sure Tails and I eat all that good-healthy stuff too. And that Knuckles eats more than just doritos and grapes." 

"How... how old were you? When Tom found you?" 

Sonic thought for a moment. But in the end he just shrugged. "Eh, I don't know. Eleven? Maybe? Yeah, i've never been great at keeping track. Birthdays and stuff. We celebrate my Earth day though." 

"Earth day?" 

"Yeah! The day I came to this pale blue dot!" Sonic said proudly. 

Shadow nodded. "I have something similar. Stone said he found some files about me. He said I landed on Earth some point in late October." 

Sonic's eyes lit up at that. "Dude! That totally makes you a Scorpio! That makes soooo much sense! Scorpios are intense and mysterious, and that fits you to a T!" 

Shadow frowned. "I thought zodiac signs only followed your birthday." 

"Well since neither of us really know those, I go by my Earth-Day date instead." Sonic explained. "And since I got here in late June, that makes me a crab! Cancer! So that means I love my family and protect my loved ones!" 

"Most people tend to love their families, and protect their loved ones." 

"Alright then, let's see what the Green Hills Gazette has to say about that!" Sonic declared, reaching across the counter for a newspaper that had been left behind by another customer. He flipped through it looking for the weekly horoscopes. 

And while Shadow was never a superstitious person, he was curious to see what the paper would say... if he even was a real scorpio to begin with. 

Eventually Sonic found the horoscopes, hidden between the comics and a half-finisned game of sudoku. 

"Ok, here! Let's start with you! It says you'll have an awesome week and make a ton of new discoveries about yourself. That's great! Do you think that means you'll get more memories back?" 

"I think it's a vauge statement designed to make you draw your own conclusions." Shadow huffed. "What about yours?" 

Sonic dragged his finger across the paper until he found the fortune for cancers. 

"Alright! So! I will face some opposition this week. But in the end I'll find new outlets to put my time and energy! Ok, I can work with that! That's totally me!" 

"That could be a lot of people." Shadow countered. "Real question is are you going to finish that latte I made for you." 

Sonic look down at the drink with some slight guilt. He'd gotten so caught-up talking with Shadow he nearly forgot about it. It had already cooled down a lot. 

But he still tried a few more sips to be a good sport. As he did an idea came to him. 

"Wait! Earlier you said it's good with lemon too?" 

"Yes?" Shadow replied. "Actually, I heard it does something pretty cool once you add lemon juice to it..." 

Going back to his work-station, Shadow sliced up a lemon and brought it back over to Sonic's drink. Squeezing some of the juice into the latte and stirring it in. 

It only took a few drops to suddenly turn the drink from blue to a bright magenta! 

"WHOA-HO-HO!!! THAT'S WAY PAST COOL!!!" 

A few of the other patron's snapped around to look at them. And Stone gave him a pointed frown. But Shadow found he didn't mind them as much as before. 

Not when he was having fun with his friend.

Chapter Text

Bits and peices were slowly coming back to Shadow. 

Brief flashes of recognition. Sometimes it was just a feeling, or a sudden sense of deja-vu. 

The annoying part was the fact that it happened for the most random things. 

Like when Stone made homemade guac to go with their chips and burritos one day for lunch. Or settling in after a busy night at the cafe and watching telenovelas. Or even hearing an familiar song on the "oldies" radio station. Or some silly old movie on the sci-fi channel. 

It was all random, tiny moments. Nothing that was connected. And nothing that told Shadow anything about who he really was. It was infuriating. 

And Stone was absolutely no help when it came to helping Shadow regain his exact memories. According to him, it would be better for Shadow to relearn things quietly on his own, rather than having others tell him what he should or should not remember. So when Shadow asked him questions, Stone seldom ever gave him a straight answer. 

The worst was when one of Shadow's questions made Stone angry or sad. Shadow didn't know everything but he now understood that Stone lost someone very close to him in that accident. The same accident that Shadow was hurt in. 

Each Thursday evening, Stone attended a grief-sharing group. Everyone in it had lost someone important to them. It helped Stone a little. But he still had rough days. 

On those rough days, when Stone was upset he shut-down. Eyes becoming unfocused, he would just go through the motions. It was like he was barely there. 

But even while struggling with his own grief, Stone did his best to care for Shadow. Making sure he ate and slept enough, (even when Stone himself did not). Playing brain-strategy games with him to help improve his memory. And Stone even homeschooled Shadow, going over important subjects like literature, and history, and math, and science. Science was both Stone and Shadow's favorite subject of them all. 

It became a daily schedual for them: 

Wake up. Have breakfast. Play a memory game or two if they had time to spare. Open the Mean Bean. Serve customers. Sonic would stop by. Shadow would make him try a new drink. Close mid-day so they could have lunch and after that, Stone would tutor him. Stone would reopen again in the evening, and Shadow was free to do what he wanted. Sometimes he'd read a book, or work on some puzzle, maybe play a memory-game or watch a movie. But more often than not he'd just sit in his room letting time pass. Eventually Stone would close the shop for the night, the two would have a late dinner. Go to bed. Try to sleep. And eventually the sun would rise and they'd do it all again. 

And while each day felt nearly the exact same, Shadow could feel something was different each time. Something about himself. It was hard to notice at first but after a few weeks he knew he was having the smallest, tiniest amount of progress. 

And a little progress was better than no progress, Shadow supposed. 

But one night, after another busy week of making coffee, Shadow had a very strange dream. Not strange as in bad. It was actually really nice. 

But it was still weird.

He dreamt he was out in space... 

The Earth was miles below his feet, and he was high up among the stars. 

But he wasn't afraid. 

In fact, he was almost happy. There was a smile on his face and for once he felt lighter than air. 

Surrounded by a warm, rose-golden glow. Flying freely through outer space. 

And he wasn't alone. There was another person with him. Another light. 

This other golden light had far more brass in it. And similarly the figure that was cloaked in the light seemed a little more brass as well. Full of such joy and laughter. 

It made Shadow want to laugh too. Laughing as they danced among across the cosmos. 

Never in his life had he felt so free... 

Even as he woke up that morning in his bed, that weird feeling of warmth lingered on his quills. 

For a moment he still felt light and free. 

But as he got up, the gravity of everything quickly caught up with him. 

He was Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog. He had been through a major accident and was still recovering. He lived with Stone. Together they worked at the Mean Bean. Sonic the Hedgehog was his friend. 

And besides that, he didn't know much... 

Something must have been different though. Becuase as Shadow left his room to join Stone in the kitchen, watching as he prepared breakfast, the man turned to look his way. 

"Someone's in a good mood for once." Stone teased, turning back to his frittata as he pulled it from the oven. "Have a nice dream?" 

"Yes actually." Shadow answered. While Stone never wanted to give away Shadow's memories he often enjoyed hearing about Shadow's progress. So not thinking twice, Shadow continued. "I was with someone. In space. We were surrounded by golden light." 

The knife in Stone's hand clattered to the ground with a harsh CLANG! 

The sudden noise made Shadow flinched. And Stone was frozen. Staring at the cheap tiled-backsplash of their appartment wall. Refusing to look anywhere else. And his hand that had been holding the knife was still tensed. 

But then that moment passed and Stone quickly found himself again. He kneeled-down and picked up the knife. Hurrying over to the sink. Still not meeting Shadow's eyes. 

"That- ... That's very good, Shadow. I'm so proud." Stone said the words, but it didn't really sound like he meant it. His focused seemed to be completely on the knife on his hands. Scrubbing it clean. 

All at once, it dawned on Shadow why Stone was reacting this way. 

"That wasn't a dream. Was it? It was a-" 

"A memory. Yes." Stone rushed to say. Still cleaning. "You're really making progress now." 

A memory... Shadow desperately wanted to know more now. When was that? Why was he glowing? And who was the other light with him? 

But he realized Stone was going through a depressive state now, and pushing the subject would only hurt him more. 

"Why don't you use the spatula and try some of the frittata." Stone suggested. "Goat cheese, spinach and kale. Rich in vitamins to improve cognition. I'll join you downstairs once I get this mess cleaned up." 

Nodding, Shadow did just as Stone suggested. Making himself a plate and carrying it downstairs. The bottom floor of their home was where the Mean Bean operated. And they lived in the little apartment right upstairs. 

Using one hand, Shadow grabbed a chair that they had flipped the night before and set it right-side-up. Taking a seat and setting his plate on the table. 

Just like everything Stone made, the frittata was delicious. The goat cheese adding a nice mix of salt and tang to the eggs, counteracting all the bitter leafy greens. 

When he finished his breakfast he washed his dishes in the sink, and made himself a little cup of espresso to start the day. 

And even though Stone often scolded him for it. Shadow swiped a few espresso beans, munching on them while he made his drink. 

He took his espresso black. Plain and simple. 

It had actually been the first drink Stone had ever shown him how to make. And while he had learned about many other fun drinks, a plain cup of black coffee or espresso was still his personal drink of choice. 

Though he did find it enjoyable to make more complex drinks for others. Especailly Sonic. 

He wondered when Sonic might visit him today. 

Though he also found himself worrying about Stone. Even when the man finally came down, he was in that depressive state again. The one where he seemed to be shut-down. 

For that morning Stone stuck to the counter. Making simple, empty, polite-conversation with any customers that came in. 

Shadow was busy making a salted caramel mocha frappe when Sonic came in. And with the blender running so loudly, he missed part of their conversation. 

But from what he saw, he could pick up a few social cues. 

Sonic looked like he was digging through his satchel, scrounging for some more change. When he pulled out two crumpled dollars and a fist-full of coins, he looked up at Stone with a sheepish smile. 

It looked like Sonic had finally run through the cash Tom and Maddie had given him... 

As he turned down the blender, he heard Stone stiffly say, 

"That's enough for a small black coffee." 

And he turned away before Sonic could say anything more. Though Sonic did manage to shout-out, "Wait! You can do that decaf, right?" 

"Yes. Of course." Stone said with a scoff. 

While Stone stepped away to make some more brewed coffee, Shadow handed out the frappe and took over the register. 

Sonic looked releived to see him come over. Though he still frowned, gesturing to Stone while the man's back was turned. "Yeesh! Someone must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed." 

"Don't take it personally. He has bad days." Shadow said quietly. He hated when people talked about him like he wasn't there, and he had the feeling Stone would as well. 

"It feels kinda personal..." Sonic tried to say. 

"Trust me, it's not." Shadow reaffirmed. "If it were personal, he'd just throw you out. I doubt he'd be willing to serve you a drink." 

"It's not really a drink I wanted though." Sonic said a little meekly. "All I said was I was running low on cash, and he just told me what he was going to make. He was all like-" 

Stone came back over and whatever Sonic was going to say died on his lips. 

Stone gently placed a small mug in front of Sonic. 

"Here. 

"And it's de-" 

"Decaf. Yes." Stone huffed before storming off. "Enjoy, imbecile." 

Sonic was a hero. Willing to fight monsters and monsterous people. 

But even he was smart enough to accept a drink given to him by the Agent Stone. 

"... thanks." He said, gingerly picking it up and sniffing the contents. 

"Ugh, yeah. This stuff looks pitch black." Sonic said, looking down into the mug. 

"I can make you something else if you don't want that." 

"No, no it's ok!" Sonic said. "I mean, I've managed to try everything else at the Mean Bean Coffee Cafe except the coffee. I had to try it sooner or later, right?" 

And with that, he tried to take a big sip. 

He paused for a moment. Really trying to take in the flavor.

Than another sip.

And another pause.

But he couldn't take any more than that. Instead he set the coffee down with a grimace. 

"Bleh! No. That's dirt. That is dirt!" Sonic said, shaking his head like that would get rid of the taste. "And this is coming from a guy whose eaten tons of dirt!" 

"Why would you eat dirt?" Shadow asked. 

"Not on purpose!" Sonic huffed. "Like if you're running in the woods, and trip and fall with your mouth open? You'll probably get a little dirt in your mouth. Or if you challenge Knuckles to a mud-slinging fight? You'll end up with a lot of dirt in your mouth if you do that! And everywhere else too!" 

Shadow was going to reply to that. 

But Sonic just kept talking, hardly letting Shadow get a single word in. 

"Last week we were in the woods and we found this huge patch of mud. Which was really weird cause it hasn't rained recently. Tails thought it might be a old pond that was running dry. But I prefer to think a small little cloud rained just over that area. Like a little sunshower? I love when that happens. I hate when it rains, but sunshowers aren't that bad. Have you ever seen a sunshower, Shadow? Heh, that's like a tounge twister! Sunshower-shadow. Sunshower-Shadow. Sunshower-sunshower-sunflower-" 

"Are you alright?" Shadow said, taking a very visible step back. 

"Yeah, I feel great!" 

"Cause you're talking really fast." Shadow point out, gesturing to the rest of him. "And you're visibly shaking." 

"Relax, I had decaf coffee. So I should be fine." Sonic replied. "I'm bet I'm just jazzed-up for another beautiful day in Green Hills, Montana!" 

Right then an angry customer stormed back up to the counter, handing his mug back to Stone. 

"This stuff hardly tastes like coffee at all!" The man snapped. "Did you give me decaf or something?" 

All at once, Stone realized his great error. Looking over to Sonic in horror. 

"Oh god... what have I done?" 

Sonic laughed nervously. Finally realizing his sudden burst of energy wasn't just his general zest for life. Or being jazzed-up. 

It was caffine. 

"Whoops!" Sonic said. "I think I'm gonna go now. I'll go take a little 100-mile jog and see if I can burn off that coffee..." 

And with that he was gone. Racing around the outskirts of Green Hills until there were bright blue streaks outlining all the major roads. One that also carried a powerful wind strong enough to send hats and umbrellas sailing away if they got too close to Sonic's path.

Chapter Text

"Please?" 

"No." 

"Pretty please?" 

"Still no." 

"Pretty please with extra sprinkles, chocolate sauce and a cherry on top?" 

"It's funny. The more words you say, the less I'm actually listening." 

Sonic crossed his arms with a huff. All morning now he had been pestering Tom. But the man wasn't giving in, no matter how Sonic begged or tried to re-word it 

And Sonic wasn't even asking for a lot! At least he didn't think so. 

"It's just 10 dollars!" He tried again. "Honestly? I don't see what the big deal is." 

"The big deal, is that we've already given you $70." Tom said bluntly. "You are over-budget, my friend. Which I don't understand, because you don't even drink coffee!" 

"They have a lot more than just coffee. Shadow usually makes me something off the secret-menu." 

"And that's worth 70 bucks a month?" 

"What can I say? I'm a man with expensive taste!" 

Tom shook his head, dumbfounded. Turning back to the stove where he was making some scrambled eggs and sausage links for breakfast. 

"Well between your newly-aquired taste, and that public disturbance you caused yesterday, I think you need to spend less time at the Mean Bean." 

Sonic couldn't beleive what he was hearing! 

"But! Shadow-" 

"You know you can hang out with Shadow outside of his work." Maddie pointed out, from the other side of the kitchen where she was buttering several peices of toast for everyone. "He's only in the cafe in the morning. What if you hung-out one afternoon? Or maybe you could invite him over here for lunch?" 

"I tried that before." Sonic sighed. "But he said after lunch, that's when he gets his homework done." 

"Homework?" Tom questioned. 

"Stone homeschool's him. So like all his classwork is really homework." Sonic explained, reiterating what Shadow had told him before. 

"Even on the weekends?" Maddie asked. 

Sonic shrugged. In all the time Shadow had moved with Stone to Green Hills, Sonic had never seen the other hedgehog out and about. The only places he seemed to go was the cafe and the small apartment right above that. 

"He's a pretty reclusive guy." Was all Sonic could think to say. 

"Sorry bud, but my point still stands." Tom replied. "We're not saying you can't go by and say Hi. But we're cutting you off, financially." 

"But Stone doesn't let me hang around if I don't buy something!" Sonic pleaded. 

Tom was hardly convinced. With a joking tone, he said, "Well how'bout this? You go get your own job, then you can waste all your own money on that over-priced cafe." 

Tom said it to be funny. But as the Wachowski's all sat down for breakfast, Sonic found himself seriously thinking about it. 

His own job... Teenagers got jobs all the time! He could totally get one to! Something part-time, that way he'd still have pleanty of time to hang-out or do hero-things. And Tom was right, if he had his own job he'd have his own money to spend at the Mean Bean! 

The more he thought about it, the more he loved the idea. 

After lunch was over, Sonic, Knuckles and Tails all found themselves in the living room, watching as Sonic typed something up on his laptop. 

"Ok! Everyone knows if you want to get a job you gotta have a resume!" Sonic said, typing away. "I found this template that looks really cool!" 

Knuckles frowned, looking at the document Sonic was putting together. It did look pretty cool, with blue boarders decorating the sides and random stripes going across. But there was one empty-area near the bottom that caught his focus the most. 

"It says here to type in your previous work history. And you have none." 

Sonic frowned at that too. "Yeah, I'm not sure what to put there. Maybe just 'Saved the world three times, you're welcome?'... I didn't really have an employer for that though. Or an annual salary." 

"Let's put that under, 'volunteering'." Tails suggested. "In fact, you've done a lot of volunteering. Like that lake-side clean-up? And the charity car-wash? Or that one time we helped plant a butterfly garden at the park?" 

"You're right!" Sonic perked up. 

Moving fast, he deleted the "previous work history" section of the resume, and instead made the "volunteering" section far bigger. 

Over the summer, he and his brothers had helped with several volunteer-projects. Lots of cleaning and helping. So Sonic added them all in, alongside his hero-work. 

"Nice! There's also a section here for personality traits! I'm gonna put in dashing, totally-awesome, highly-charismatic-" 

"You should also add occasionally-irksome." Knuckles nodded. 

"Try to put in traits that would sound appealing to a future employer." Tails suggested, leaning over to type some things in himself. "Like how you're dedicated, hard-working, quick on your feet." 

"Not just quick. He posesses super-speed!" Knuckles countered. 

Sonic tried to think of a few more adjectives. "Uh... creative? Would an employer want someone creative?" 

"I guess it depends on the job." Tails mused. 

When his resume was finally done, Sonic printed out a few copies, putting them in his satchel. 

"So where do you plan to seek employment?" Knuckles asked. 

Sonic hadn't really thought that part through. He really wanted to work at the Mean Bean, but there weren't any "Help Wanted" signs in their wondows. And even if they did, Sonic got the feeling that Stone would probably never consider hiring him. 

But that was ok, there were plenty of other buisnesses around Green Hills. Summer was coming and everyone was looking for extra part-timer's. Sonic was sure he'd find something. How hard could it be? 

With his hands on his hips, Sonic was ready to face the world! 

"Alright, I got a good feeling about today! Here I come, future employment!"

First place Sonic went to was the grocery store down the street. It wasn't as exciting as some of the other jobs, but it was the closest to their house. 

The manager looked him up and down with a grimace. Sonic did his best to ignore that though as he listed the many, many ways he'd be an asset to them. 

"I could stock shelves, and bag groceries, and make those little towers of cans, and-" 

"Can you collect carts?" The manager asked. "Cause that what I really need help with." 

"Yeah, yeah! Watch this!" 

Using his super-speed, Sonic zipped around the parking-lot, collecting as many shopping carts as he could find. And brought them all back to the manager in a nice, neat, row. 

"Ta-dah!" Sonic said, doing jazz-hands. 

Unfortunately, as soon as he let go of the carts, they all went rolling away. The parking lot was on a hill and the carts built up more momentum the further they went. A small family had to dodge out the way. Until they all collided with the entrance-sign. 

Sonic watched with a nervous chuckle. "Heh, heh... I can go get those-" 

"Don't bother."

The next place Sonic looked, seemed a little more fun. Tom's favorite donut shop! They made the best donuts in town, plus it was like a cafe, they served coffee at least. He thought maybe he and Shadow could bond over that. 

At the donut shop however, they had a strict safety policy that all employees had to wear a hair-net to cover their hair. 

Only problem was Sonic had hair covering his entire body and sharp quills on the back of his head and neck. 

The Owner looked at him, perplexed. 

"Maybe I can make uh, a hair-net suit?" 

"Let's just try pulling back those quills." The Owner suggested, reaching over to try pulling a tiny hair-net over Sonic's head. 

He tried to be a good-sport about it. But it felt like it was squeezing his brain. 

"A little... too... tight!" 

In an instant the hair-net snapped, and it went flying across the shop. Making several customer's panic. 

And the owner just glared down at Sonic. 

Sonic tried to rebuf, putting up his hands. "Ok, I'll admit it, I got a big head." 

But the shop Owner hardly looked amused. 

At the burger joint, Sonic started to get hopeful. They even let him go into the kitchen to show off some of his patty-flipping skills. 

"Sooooooo," Sonic tried to say. "What do you think of the burgers here?" 

The Frycook who was with him just shrugged. 

"Meh." 

Sonic tried not to let that get him down though. Clacking a spatula against the grill he tried cooking a bunch of stuff at the same time. Just like they did at those hibachi grills... or Spongebob. 

"Dude. You're like, doing way too much for 10 in the morning." The frycook groaned. 

That caught Sonic off-guard. He looked over at the Frycook in confusion. 

"I can do less. I can do whatever you need, promise!" 

All the Frycook said to that was four simple words. Ones always hated and feared by those seeking work. 

"We'll be in touch."

That turned into the most-used phrase of the day. 

"We'll be in touch." 

Everyone used it. The pet-groomer's. The newspaper stand. The comic-book store. The fro-yo place. The fancy boutique with the chunky jewlery. Heck, even the manager at Olive Garden said that to him! 

But Sonic was starting to suspect that when some people said, "We'll be in touch" they really didn't mean it. Based on their tone and the uncomfortable look in their eye, it seemed like they were really trying to say, "Please leave my store". 

And by the end of the day, Sonic was left feeling rejected, dejected, and no closer to having a job than when he started this morning. 

And the worst part? He still had no Mean-Bean-money! 

Groaning, he slumped down, sitting on the curb while Tails and Knuckles watched. 

"You're accepting defeat?" Knuckles pondered. "That's not like you at all, Hedgehog." 

"I'm not accepting defeat!" Sonic huffed. "I just... I'm not sure what to do now! I've gone to every buisness in Green Hills that was looking for extra help. And none of them wanted me!" 

"Then perhapse it is time to seek employment outside of Green Hills." Knuckles suggested. 

Sonic thought about it. There were a couple cities and towns nearby. The Hill Top, Pumpkin Hill, lots of hills really. They were each nearly half an hour away from Green Hills, by car. 

"What about this?" Tails suddenly piped-up. 

Over on the community board near the park, there was one flyer posted that caught his eye. It was decorated with stars and planets and little rollar-skates. It was also half-burried under several other posts, so Tails had to move them all aside so they could all get a better look. 

Tails read the top of the flyer outloud. 

"Get ready for an out-of-this-world summer at Astro Extreme: The only Arcade-Lasertag-Rollar Skating-ultimate fun-zone in the State of Montana." 

That all sounded cool, but the part that made Sonic the most excited was written near the bottom of the flyer. 

"And they're hiring teens for the summer?!" Sonic cheered. "We gotta go! Where is it?" 

"I've never heard of such a fun-zone in Green Hills." Knuckles pondered. 

"That's because it's not in Green Hills." Tails added then, deflating slightly. "It's in Windy Valley. That's nearly an hour away!" 

It was. Though... if Sonic used his super-speed? ... It'd only take a minute at most! 

Later that day, he pled his case to Tom and Maddie. And they let him go to ask about the job. However that came with a few conditions. 

He had to have his fully-charged phone on him at all times, and let them know when he got to Windy Valley. Knuckles had to come too. And they had to come back to Green Hills as soon as they were done. No exceptions. 

Simple enough. Sonic and Knuckles ran to Windy Valley to invesitage this so-called Astro-Extreme. 

Finding it was easy. There was a huge warehouse near the downtown. Painted bright purple. 

Inside they met the owner, Ripley. 

Ripley seemed nice enough, she offered the boys each a free slushy on-the-house. Astro-Extreme's signature treat, the black cherry limeade. 

And yes. It was out-of-this-world. Knuckles made an impressed-noise as he sipped his slushy. Meanwhile, Sonic and Ripley began discussing what the actual job would entail. 

"I'm gonna warn you right off the bat, if you're expecting to just eat pizza and skate with cute girls, you better leave now." Ripley said gruffly, crossing her arms. "I've had that problem every summer. Kids who apply for the job thinking they can slack off." 

"I promise, I'm no slacker!" Sonic said, handing Ripley his resume. 

Ripley took a quick glance at his resume. Humming. "You've never worked before?" 

"I... uh... no. But! I've done a ton of volunteering! I can clean pretty much anything! And- and I'll take this job deadly-seriously!" 

Ripley almost laughed. "Don't worry, the job's pretty fun most of the time. But I'm telling you now it takes a good amount of elbow-grease to keep this place up and running. You think you'll be able to keep-up?" 

"I'm a pro at keeping-up!" 

Ripley thought for a moment before shrugging. 

"Alright. A talking-hedgehog would hardly be my craziest hire. You're in, kid!" 

Sonic's eyes lit up. "Really!? You're not just gonna be in touch?" 

Ripley shrugged. "We can start on-boarding now actually... When's your availability?" 

With that, Ripley got Sonic set-up with his first ever real-job. And Sonic couldn't be happier!

Chapter Text

That weekend, Sonic began working at his first-ever, real job! 

On paper, his official title at Astro-Extreme was "Floor Crewman" but Sonic soon learned everything that job really entailed. 

Turns out it was quite a lot. In just one day Sonic found himself jumping from the rink, to the arcade, and nearly everything else inbetween! 

The front desk was by-far the most-boring part of the job. All you did was check people's id's, run the register, and worst of all: clean all the old rental-skates. Sonic swore some of those skates stank so bad they made his eyes burn. 

"Are we allowed to recommend these people go see a doctor?!" Sonic actually said out-loud at one point. 

But Ripley was hardly phased. "Think of it as a rite of passage. Just hit'em with extra sanitizing spray and try not to breath through your mouth." 

After that horribleness, Ripley had him work at the snack-station. Which actually kinda worked for the better since Sonic had 0 appetite after cleaning all the smelly, old skates. 

Next came the Arcade. Sonic had some fun with that. Handing-out prizes, managing tokens and tickets. Ripley even showed him how to reset the pinball machine in case anyone tried to cheat. 

Then finally came the part Sonic was the most-excited for, the rollar rink itself! Ripley showed Sonic how to be a proper "Rollar Patrol", making sure everyone was skating safely. Showing beginners some basic moves to get started. But the most important part though was being able to step-in if anyone was in danger. 

"Everyone comes here to have a good time," Ripley had explained. "But as soon as you see someone get hurt, about to get hurt, or just getting overwhelmed, it's your job to get in there and give them a clear-path off the rink. Got that?" 

"Got it!" 

And Sonic actually got the chance soon after to put his "Rollar Patrol" skills to the test. As soon as Ripley set him loose, Sonic spotted a little girl clinging to the side-door and struggling to stand. Sonic was quick to skate to her side, grabbing her a "rink walker" to help her balance, and showed her how to properly push forward and break. 

And for the most part he just coasted along at the rink. Keeping his head on a pivot, watching everyone else. He honestly felt like a life-guard, but minus the pool. And no David Hasselhoff either. 

The craziest though was a group of 5th-Grade boys trying to play a game they called "Chicken Fingers". Which involved one kid putting their hand on the ground and everyone else had to skate by as close to that hand as they could. Suffice to say those knuckleheads were not only kicked off of the rink, but out of Astro-Extreme entirely. And for extra measure, Ripley banished them from her fun-zone for a whole month. While Ripley seemed like a relaxed person, she took safety at the rink super-seriously. 

Ripley had Sonic and the other teens working take turns running each of the areas of the fun-zone. It was a little overwhellming at first but Sonic soon got the hang of each zone. And it actually helped keep things interesting! 

The only thing Sonic didn't get to do was manage the laser-tag arena. And when he asked why Ripley got a cold, haunted look on her face. 

"The kids who go into that arena... they're maniacs." 

Sonic couldn't believe it. "Really? Even more than the Chicken-Finger gang?" 

"Trust me, the Laser-kids make those idiots look like Nobel Prize winners." Ripley said with a shudder. "Forcing you to deal with Laser tag on your first day would be down-right cruel." 

"And making me clean some grandpa's gangrene-infested skates isn't?!" Sonic snapped. 

Ripley just laughed at that. 

And at the end of the day, Sonic went home with the knowledge that he'd get his first-ever pay check! ... in two weeks. But the good news was, he got to take home his share of the tips from his time at the snack-stand. It was split with the two other kids working the zone that day so he only got like 12 bucks. But that was more than enough for a drink or two at the Mean Bean so Sonic was happy! 

He couldn't wait to finally step back into the cafe, now with his own hard-earned cash! 

And he couldn't wait to tell Shadow all about his cool new job...

It was a few days since Sonic drank black coffee on accident. And he still hadn't shown back up at the cafe. 

Shadow hated to admit it, but he was starting to worry. 

What if Sonic had gotten sick? Or what if he was grounded now? Or worse, what if Sonic was banned from seeing him at the cafe? Or what if his family couldn't afford the coffee and he was too embarrassed to say anything? 

Seeing Sonic each day had become a part of Shadow's daily schedual. And when he wasn't there, it always made Shadow feel like something was missing. His day was incomplete. Plus that day Sonic had to get decaf coffee, Shadow had actually found a new recipe he wanted Sonic to try. It was one Shadow thought he'd really enjoy too. 

But besides that... Shadow honestly just missed the other hedgehog. Making him his fun little drinks. Listening to him ramble about everything and nothing... 

When he finally saw Sonic waltzing in the next morning, he hoped his face didn't look too suprised. 

"Your back." Shadow said quietly. 

"And better than ever!" Sonic boasted, doing a little spin as he walked in. "In fact, you're looking at the latest edition to the Astro-Extreme Crew!" 

"What is... Astro-Extreme?" 

Sonic grinned, "Only the coolest summer-job in the world!" 

And Sonic proceeded to tell Shadow the whole story. First about searching fruitlessly for a job in Green Hills, with Tails and Knuckles helping him. Then finding out about Astro-Extreme a few towns over. And once he got there, Sonic told him everything about the fun-center. The good, the bad, and the smelly. 

"... I think my favorite shift is the rollar patrol. Being out and about with folks." Sonic explained. "Running the arcade's a close second though. And the snack stand! Our drinks aren't nearly as good as yours, but the slushies are fun. Ripley promised to show me how to make those this week!" 

"Your job sounds very complicated." Shadow said with a frown. "All I have to do is make coffee. That's it." 

"Yeah, but that's the fun of it! Hard to feel bored when your running all over the place!" 

"I guess that makes it the perfect job for you then." Shadow mused.  

"Speaking of your awesome drinks, what's on the menu today?" 

Finally, Shadow had been waiting to share this new recipie with Sonic for days now. 

"Are you familiar with turmeric?" 

Sonic thought for a moment. "Like the yellow-stuff in curry?" 

"Yes." Shadow said. "It's a root-based spice, similar to ginger. I came across some recipies online that use tumeric to create a non-caffinated drink." 

"So it's like a curry-latte." Sonic tried to imagine it. 

"People prefer to call it Golden Milk." Shadow explained. "It's not weird." 

"I never said it was." Sonic tried to argue. 

But Shadow continued, "I'll add some honey and cinnamon to it as well. Care to try?" 

"You know it!" Sonic smiled, hopping up and leaning over the counter to watch Shadow work. 

While Shadow steamed the oat milk and whisked the honey and spices though, something seemed off about it. Sonic was use to seeing Shadow work with slow, precise movements, but today he just seemed slow-mo slow. He almost knocked over the cup when his hand brushed up a little to close as he moved around. 

And strangest of all... Sonic swore he saw Shadow struggle to hide a yawn! 

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me," He couldn't help but say. "Or is the Ultimate Lifeform looking a little sweepy today?" 

"If you have to know, I haven't been sleeping well." Shadow admitted with a huff. "I've been having... strange dreams." 

"Really?" Sonic asked. "Like nightmares?" 

"Not in the traditional sense." Shadow shrugged. "Sometimes they actually seem nice." 

"Nice?" Sonic tried. He wondered if maybe these were Shadow's old memories finally resurfacing. 

But Shadow shook his head. "Yeah... But every time it happens I keep getting this bad feeling that something is wrong. Like I need to wake up and escape. Which doesn't seem right. If it's a nice dream why would I want it to end?" 

Sonic thought about it, wondering why that would be the case. "Is it like those horror movies where the scene starts out normal? But then there's a sudden jumpscare?" 

"No. It's just... nice things. Like stars. Rollarskates? Fairy lights and pillowforts? Nothing's wrong." Shadow sighed. "Just me." 

"Shadow the Hedgehog, there is nothing about you that is wrong!" Sonic was quick to say. Before he could even think to stop. 

He also said it a little louder than he expected. Several folks in the Mean Bean all turned to look at them. Before awkwardly going back to whatever they were doing. 

"I appreciate the sentiment." Shadow finally said. "Hopefully these weird dreams stop soon. It's getting in the way of my memory-recovery." 

"Maybe... but what if that is the memory-recovery?" Sonic suggested. 

Shadow wasn't sure what to make of that. "I think I'd prefer something more concrete. Instead I just get these little moments." 

"Well you know some folks say it's the little moments that matter the most." 

Shadow didn't respond to that. At least not outloud. Instead he handed Sonic his Golden Milk latte. 

"Here. For the painfully-optimistic hedgehog." 

Sonic took his drink with a smirk. "Thanks..." 

Just like Shadow promised the drink was sweet and earthy, swirling with spice and something a little sharp. He let it sit on his tounge for a moment. 

"Well?" Shadow asked. "How is it?" 

Sonic smacked his lips, trying to figure it out. "It taste like... i'm drinking parsnip soup?" 

"Fine, let me try something else." Shadow scoffed, trying to reach across the counter. 

But Sonic just hopped away, taking another sip. "No! It's my soup now!" 

"I can redo it if you want." Shadow argued. 

"Nope! I like it just the way it is!" Sonic countered. 

Shadow relented aftet that, letting Sonic finish the rest of his tumeric latte in peace. 

As he continued to sip his drink though, a thought occured to Sonic. 

"You should come visit me." 

Shadow glanced over at the other Hedgehog. "What?" 

"At my job! I always come here to bother your while your working. Now you can come bother me!" Sonic said. "My family's coming to Astro-Extreme this Friday. You and Stone should come too!" 

"You're serious?" Shadow asked. 

"Yeah! It's a ton of fun. You skate, right?" 

"Yes." Shadow said. At least he felt like he could. "I think so?" 

"Well even if you don't remember, I could show you how!" Sonic said. "Plus there's a bunch of other things you can do too! It's awesome! Promise you'll visit?" 

Shadow wasn't sure what to say exactly. He'd only left the cafe a handful of times since moving here. Let alone going to another town miles away. What if something happened? 

But Sonic looked so excited and hopeful. 

So with a sigh, he finally relented. 

"I can't promise anything... but I'll ask Stone." 

Sonic jumped up and down then. Telling him again about all the fun, cool, awesome-sauce things they'd do at his new job. 

And yet the only thing Shadow could feel was a budding anxiety. The same, sinking feeling he got from his dreams...

Chapter Text

As each day became closer and closer to Friday, Shadow's worries became worse. 

He'd never been that far away from the Cafe. Somewhere he'd never been before. And he'd be surrounded by humans the whole time. Humans that weren't Agent Stone or the friendly customers of Green Hills. He knew Sonic would be there, but he'd be working the whole time. Shadow was sure he'd hardly have any time to really be with him.

Sonic's brothers would be there too, but he sensed a certain apprehension every time Tails or Knuckles would come by to visit. Like the friendly air Sonic had with him didn't extend to his brothers. Like they knew something about him that he didn't. And just like Stone and everyone else in this damn town, no one wanted to come right out and say it. Not even Sonic. But Shadow still knew, even if he didn't know completely yet. 

That was honestly the worst part in all of this. At first it was just a small, fleeting feeling. But as time went on and his memories began to return it just kept getting bigger. He knew something wasn't right. But whatever happened, his memory of what that was exactly still alluded him. Blocked was probably a better word for it by now. 

When he first woke-up after the accident, there was a grogginess that clung to his mind like smog. Not knowing where he was, or even who he was. And having no way to help himself remember anything.

Even now he still knew there were gaps in his memory. Major gaps. Things he knew he should know. But he had no idea what it was, or how to get it back. 

Feelings though, those stuck with him. Like the mutual calm he felt from Stone, that told him that he could be trusted. Or the unbridled joy he felt from Sonic. But then there was other people, and other feelings. Feeling that felt like rocks in his gut or lumps in his throat. And he got those same feelings more and more as he really began to regain his memories. 

And as much as he desperately wanted to have all his memories back. Completely. He was also starting to fear what he may find. Sometimes if he even just thought about it too much his hands would clench into fists and his heart would race... 

But it was Thrusday now. Sonic's little get together was tommorow night. 

And he still hadn't asked for Stone's permission to go. 

Like a coward though, Shadow had held off asking all day at the cafe. Or even when they took a break for lunch and tutoring. 

But he needed to ask, Sonic was expecting him. 

Later that evening, right as Stone went to grab his coat and head over to his Greif-Share Group, that's when Shadow finally worked up the nerve to ask. 

"Before you go, Sonic asked us to come see his new job. He's working at a rollar rink a few towns over. It's an hour away from here." 

"Oh!" Stone paused, turning back to face Shadow. "Is that happening tonight?" 

Shadow shook his head. "No, tommorow night." 

"Sounds like a date then!" 

Shadow was surprised. "You... you really think we should go?" 

"I don't see why not." Stone replied. "We can talk more when I get back, alright? There's lentil soup in the fridge you can heat up for dinner. See you in a bit!" 

And with that, Stone was gone. Off to his Grief-Sharing Group. 

Damn, he was kind of hoping Stone would say no. At least then he'd have a good excuse for not going. And not simply because he was acting like some scarred child.

Grumbling, he grabbed a small cup-full of espresso beans to snack on. And flipped through the TV, eventually settling on season one re-runs of "La Última Pasión". 

It certainly was odd to see all the actors looking so young. And it was almost comical how simple and mundane the plots had been in the beginning. Gabriella was a just a childhood friend to Pablo and his brother Juan. No season-long plots for revenge or fighting to the death. Even at the beginning of the show though, Shadow felt Gabriella deserved better. It seemed people were always trying to control her, whether it was her Grandmother, her Boss, or any of her dumb romantic partners. 

Watching it put his mind off his current worries. 

Eventually though, Stone came back a few hours later. Immedietly side-eyeing the cup of espresso beans as he came through the front door. 

"Did you eat any lentils or just espresso?" 

"Espresso's a bean." 

"Seriously?" Stone asked. Hands going to his hips. 

Shadow felt his ears fold back when he heard Stone's disapproving tone. So he at least admitted. "I didn't feel well. My stomach..." 

Which wasn't entirely a lie. Thinking about the skate-night and his memories often put a pit in his stomach. 

"How about I make us a nice pot of mint tea then?" Stone replied stepping into the kitchen and grabbing his trusty-kettle. "It can help settle the stomach. And calm the nerves." 

He huffed at that last comment. Though he still did get up off the couch and joined Stone over in the kitchen. Pulling up a barstool by the counter as Stone filled the kettle and set it on the oven. While that began to heat up he pulled down a jar of his favorite mint tea-leaf blend, delicately spooning out enough for two teacups then setting everything aside. 

"There, that should be ready in a few minutes." Stone said, sitting down and turning to face Shadow directly. Hands folded together in front of his face. "And while we wait, we can talk." 

Crap. Shadow really didn't want to talk. 

But it looked like Stone was going to push the subject anyway. 

"Why don't you want to go see Sonic? I thought you liked that other Hedgehog." 

"I do." Shadow admitted. "But... it's complicated. My memories-" 

"I don't see how your memories would be a problem here." Stone said. "While you may not be back to 100% recollection, you know Sonic well, right?" 

"I- Yes." 

"And you've told me before you'd like to spend more time with him." 

"I mean, I guess. But-" 

"By all accounts this sounds like a great oppertunity for you to get out a little more." Stone reasoned. "In fact, I think this could be very helpful for you. Triggering more memories." 

"And that's what I'm... I..." 

Stone gave him a patient look. But Shadow couldn't finish that thought. 

He was Shadow The Hedgehog. The U.S. government literally called him the Ultimate Lifeform. Stone told him he was one of the most powerful beings on the planet. He wasn't afraid of anything. 

Except apperently himself 

"Everything I'm learning now is bad. It feels bad." Shadow finally said. "What if something happens? And I'll be too far from the cafe. And the inhibitors-" 

"I'll be sure to recalibrate your inhibitor rings, before we go tommorow." Stone said. "And if anything goes wrong I'll be there. And Sonic will be there too." 

Shadow couldn't tell if that made him feel better or worse. 

On one hand, being around Sonic often made him feel a little better, strangely enough. 

But on the other, he hated the thought of Sonic seeing him like that. He was one his only friends and he didn't know what he'd do if Sonic started treating him differently too. If he started looking at him with apprehension like so many others. And what if- 

Whatever his train of thought was, it came to a grinding halt when the kettle suddenly made a high pitch whistle. 

It seemed that Stone's mint tea was almost ready now. He watched as Stone poured hot water in each cup, swirling the mint leaves. 

Over his shoulder, Stone asked. "Any honey? Sugar?" 

"Black's fine." Shadow grunted. 

"Alright then, to each their own. I know I always take a spoonful of honey in mine." Stone replied. When both cups were finally ready, Stone carefully brought them over. Placing one cup delicately infront of Shadow. "Here you go Shadow, drink up! But be sure to blow first, this tea's piping." 

Following Stone's advice, Shadow did just that before taking a small, careful sip. 

Closing his eyes he just took a moment to taste the tea. The bitterness and the warmth, all with a sharp touch of mint that seemed to get stronger with every sip. 

And Stone was right, it did help calm his stomach. He hated when that man was right all the time. 

"So about tommorow," Stone continued. "If you'd rather not go, that's entirely your decision. I won't force you to go rollar skate with your friends if you really don't want to. But this really seems like something that could be good for you. And I'd hate to see you miss out..." 

Shadow sighed. Once again, Stone was putting this decision directly in his hands. Just like everything else about his recovery. 

Sensing his reluctance, Stone continued. "Worst case senario? You can always go, decide you don't like it and go back home. And we can try again another time. If Sonic's as good of a friend as he seems I'm sure he'd understand. You'd do the same for him, right?"

Sonic was always such a good friend to him. 

It made Shadow want to try harder. 

But was it really worth the risk? 

"Ok fine. I'll go." 

He certainly hoped so...

Chapter Text

When Friday finally came, Sonic was grinning like a doofus all afternoon. 

Even while cleaning the smelly, old rollarskates. 

Ripley watched him with mild amusement. "I think those fumes are finally getting to you, kid." 

"Nah, I'm fine!" Sonic laughed. "I'm better than fine! I got my brothers coming over later. Shadow too!" 

"Oh, that's always nice." Ripley nodded. "Just don't forget we have a huge party booked. You can say hi to your buddies, but I need everyone on their A-Game tonight, got it?" 

"Capiche!" 

"Good! Cause I heard the birthday girl's sweet, but their little sister's a menace." Ripley replied. "When you're done with the skates let me know. I could use an extra set of hands to help restock the arcade prizes." 

It looked like it was going to be another busy day at Astro-Extreme. Not that Sonic minded. Especially when he knew it was going to end with him finally spending a little quality time with Shadow. Outside the cafe!

When Friday finally came, Shadow's stomach was tied in knots all afternoon. 

It was finally happening. He was going to Astro-Extreme. He was going to leave the cafe, and hang out with Sonic, and he was going to have fun. 

This was supposed to feel fun and exciting. 

And yet, as Stone changed out of his work clothes and into his "casual friday fit" and Shadow put on one of the graphic tee's Stone got for him, it felt more like he was getting ready for a medical exam. Or maybe an execution. 

And it didn't help that his damn quills weren't sitting right. He liked the way they curled upwards at the tips, but whenever he turned his head they'd bounce around way too much. He kept trying to fix them, to style and re-style them. Standing in front of the mirror and tilting his head side to side. But no matter how much gel he used, his quills just kept bouncing and wiggling. He swore sometimes they had a mind of their own. 

"They look fine, Shadow." He heard Stone say. Watching from the doorway. 

"I wish they wouldn't move so much." Shadow to scoffed, trying and failing one last time to get his quills to stop bouncing before giving up. "It looks rediculous." 

"It really isn't that noticeable." Stone tried to say. "And once we're at the rollar-rink it will be darker inside. And everyone will be so distracted I doubt they'd even care about something like that." 

Shadow hoped he was right... 

And while he normally would never tolerate it, he let Stone take his wire-comb and brush out a few loose quills. And following the pattern Shadow styled, even if it did bounce too much at the ends. 

Once Stone was done, he walked away and Shadow thought that would be the end of things. But then he heard something rustling just outside. 

Shadow stepped out of the bathroom to see Stone holding something in his hands. Something black. Made with a patchwork of different materials. As Stone held it up for Shadow to see he realized what it was. 

A jacket. 

A leather jacket. 

One with tattered patches and flashes of red painted onto the leather. Clearly well-worn and well-loved. 

And it was in Shadow's size. 

"No pressure." Stone said, for once sounding a little unsure. "But one former-goth to another, I thought you might like something a little fun for the occasion..." 

Cautiously, Shadow stepped forward and took the jacket. Feeling it in his hands. It was a little heavier than it looked. But the red fabric lining the inside was soft. 

As he continued to inspect it, Stone continued rambling. "Now, I had to do a little resizing, so if the armpits are too tight or anything else just let me know. I'm afraid the hood won't really fit you. If I had more time I would have redone that portion entierly to accommodate your quills. And if you don't like the patches I can take them off. I've had this jacket since high school, I doubt half those bands even exist anymore-" 

"It's fine." 

"And we- ... What?" 

Shadow went and slipped the jacket on. "It's fine just the way it is." 

It felt nice actually. 

Looking in the mirror, Shadow and Stone took a moment to look themselves over. Stone look pretty much the exact way he always did. Minus the apron and plus a purple polo. And Shadow admired the way Stone's old jacket looked on him. 

He did think it looked nice, especially with the graphic tee's layered underneath. He hoped Sonic thought so too. 

"I think we're looking pretty good." Stone said. "You ready to head out?" 

This was it. Nodding, he took a deep breath. 

"Yeah... I think I'm ready..."

By the time the Wachowski's, Shadow and Stone got to Astro-Extreme, the open skate-night and birthday party were all in full-swing. It was a big night for the fun center so Sonic had to keep his eyes pealed as he skated along the perimeter of the rink. 

He saw his brothers first as they skated out onto the rink to say Hi. 

"Sonic! We made it!" Tails waved, trying his best to keep his feet on the ground and not use his twin-tails to cheat. 

"Yes! And we have aquired the rolling-shoes." Knuckes replied, seeming even shakier on his skates. "As you can see this is no struggle for me, I- Whoa!" 

Sonic sped over just in time to keep Knuckles from falling. "Yeah, great to see you too, buddy! Now let's get you a rink-walker before you break something." 

He grabbed a walker for his brother, showing them both some basic skate moves. Like how to push forwards and how to brake. And then he sent them on their way, promise to hang out more once he was on his break. But when he was on his "Rollar Patrol"-shift he took it pretty seriously, he didn't want anyone getting hurt on his watch. 

Plus he liked getting to skate a little but with everyone, trying to match their energy for a little while before moving on the next skate-group. He even got to skate with the Birthday Girl herself, her name was Stella and her family came all the way from Pumpkin Hill to celebrate her birthday here. And that apperently made her younger sister incredibly jelous. 

"She sucks at skating though, so hopefully she'll spend the whole time just pouting in laser-tag and stop trying to ruin things." Stella said, hardly seeming concerned. 

Sonic couldn't imagine thinking of Tails or Knuckles that way. Then again, he wasn't sure how or even why someone would even want to ruin a birthday. So he just assumed it must be like a human, girl-thing and left it at that. 

When Ripley asked him to go grab a few more rollar-walkers from the back storage, Sonic managed to say Hi to Tom and Maddie while they hung-out at the Snack Stand. 

"Ok I'll admit it. This is a pretty cool summer job." Tom said, admiring the fun-zone. "Nice work!" 

"Thanks!" Sonic replied, spinning in a circle and strinking a pose just for fun. "So, have you two heard from Stone yet?" 

"Yes, he said they'll be arriving any moment now." Maddie said, taking a quick glance to check her phone. "Just looking for a parking spot. And that was from a couple minutes ago." 

As Sonic grabbed the extra walkers, he kept looking back to the main entrance. Hoping he'd catch spot Shadow coming through those doors. 

When he finally did, Sonic couldn't help but skate directly over the squiggly-striped carpet to go over and greet them. 

"Ok, now it's a party, now that Shadow's in the house!" Sonic shouted. "Love the jacket by the way! It's very hot topic of you!" 

"Thanks?" Shadow said, hands slipping into his jacket pockets. "We can talk another time, you look pretty busy." 

Sonic was about to ask why when he remembered. Oh yeah, his arms were full of walkers. 

"Right. I gotta go drop these off." Sonic said. "But why don't you head over the the check-in desk and get yourself some skates. I'll be out on the rink whenever you're ready!" 

And with that, Sonic zipped away. Off to go finish another task for Ripley. 

Following Sonic's directions, Shadow and Stone went over to the main desk so he could get a pass for the night, and pair of skates to rent. 

"I'm going to go say Hello to the Wachowski's." Stone said, point to the couple over by the snack stand. "Hollar if you need anything!" 

And just like that, Shadow was on his own. 

Luckily the rink wasn't too far away. Though he did have to grit his teeth, fighting to ignore all the annoying beeping noises and flashing lights of the arcade. 

He could do this... it was only a few hours... He could do it!

Meanwhile as Stone approached the Wachowski's, he noticed them already talking to another man. 

"Wow, a sweet sixteen? Those are the days!" Tom said. "And Stella's a nice name too." 

"Thanks." The man gruffed. "My wife's from Jersey so we had to go with the classic names. Stella's a good kid, wish I could say the same for her little sister, Mars-bar, though..." 

Maddie was the first to notice Stone, happily waving him over. "Oh good, there you are. Parking was ok?" 

"We had to go a little further than I would have liked." Stone said simply. "I didn't realize it was going to be so busy tonight." 

He knew Shadow wasn't the best with crowds. Sometimes even the lunch-rush at the Mean Bean was a bit much for him to handle. But Stone tried to stay optimistic. Shadow chose to come here. And it wasn't like he'd be alone, Sonic was here. As was the rest of the Wachowski-clan. 

Everything would be fine...

Once Shadow had on a pair of rental rollar-skates. He tentativly made his way out onto the rink. 

This was the nerve-wrecking part. He didn't actually know if he fully remembered how to skate... 

But once his foot touched the smooth, polished floors he felt his muscle-memory kick in. And he glided out onto the floor with ease. 

It actually felt nice. A lot like his air shoes, but he felt more of a connection as his feet touched the ground. 

Sonic cheered for him. Racing around the corner to come skate at his side. 

"Whoo-hoo! Way to go, Shadow! You're a natural!" 

"Learned from the best..." He said with a small smile. He didn't know exactly who that was. But he at least knew whoever it was they did a good job. 

But he didn't want to think about the past. He wanted to live in the present. Skating with one of his best friends, under a galaxy of flashing lights. 

It wasn't exactly the same as his dreams of dancing through space. But it felt pretty damn close...

But soon it seemed, that happy moment came to an end. 

Sonic spotted something. Someone breaking the rules. 

"Shoot. I better go handle that." He said, skating away. 

Shadow decided to follow him, curious to see what was going wrong. 

One of the human girls, a teenager, was trying to skate with a big styrofoam cup in her hands. 

"Hey! Stella!" Sonic shouted. "Stelllaaaaa! You know the rules, no food or drinks out on the rink! It even rhymes!" 

Stella for her part looked annoyed. She whined, "But it's a Blood-Orange Slush! If I don't drink it now it's gonna melt like crazy!" 

"Yeah! Relax, dude!" One of Stella's friends said, skating over to their group. "It's her birthday! Can't you guys just-" 

As she got closer, the girl lost her footing, stumbling on her skates. And knocked into Stella. 

Who knocked into Shadow. Dupping her entire slushy onto him in the process. 

"Oh crap!" Stella said, rushing to help Shadow back up. "Crap! I'm so sorry, let me just-" 

Snarling, Shadow pushed the girl off him and got up by himself. Grimacing down at his jacket, now drenched in slush. 

"Annnnd that's why we don't have food or drinks on the rink." Sonic frowned. "You ok Shadow? Aw man, your jacket-" 

"It's. Fine." Shadow said through grit teeth. 

"I better get this mess cleaned up. I can show you where the bathrooms are, maybe if we rinse that under some warm water it will get all that slushy out before it stains." Sonic offered. 

But Shadow shook his head. "No. I can find it on my own. You need to clean this up before someone else falls." 

"Yeah, you're probably right." Sonic sighed looking down at the massive red spill now staining the floor. "Do you want me to get Stone or-" 

Shadow didn't even respond to that. He just skated away from everyone then. And when he got to the edge of the rink he kicked off his rental skates. Hurrying to put on his regular airshoes and find this stupid bathroom. 

"Great..." He grumbled to himself, looking down at the mess on his shirt... and Stone's jacket. They were ruined! "This is just great!" 

A little bit had even landed in his mouth. The taste so sickingly sweet it was nauseating. He need to wash his mouth out with water to get rid of that taste.

The worst part though was how cold it was. It clung not only to his clothes but to all the fur underneath. Leaving him with this freezing, sticky, bright red mess. 

If he could just find the bathroom, then at least he could rinse this syrup out of his fur. But he had no idea what to do for the jacket. And he had no idea how he'd break it to Stone. He'd only had Stone's jacket for a few hours, and he already managed to ruin it. 

Just like he ruined everything. 

And of course the bathroom was impossible to find. Everyone said it was on the south-side of the arcade, but Shadow couldn't seem to find it. It felt like he was just walking around and around in circles! And he could feel his irritation rising. Especially with the constant stream of mechanical beeps and alarms, and flashing lights, and screaming children. 

It all felt like too much. 

And yet... it also felt familiar. The cold, red, liquid clinging to his fur... they cryo-pods were always freezing... 

Everytime he managed to gain a few seconds of consciousness, he remembered how cold the cryopods felt. 

Then the guards would up the dosage of whatever drugs they had him on and he'd be pulled back into that fitful, seemingly endless sleep. 

He kept fighting to wake up. To not get sucked in to all those memories his mind kept feeding him. 

Just a constant state of suspension... for 50 years! 

He... he could remember it now. 

How horrible it had felt... being trapped... being unable to move... barely even being able to think... 

Just reliving those same memories, over and over. 

When he finally had escaped he felt like an empty shell of a person. 

He was hurt. And he wanted to make them hurt. 

The people who did this to him. 

The people who ruined his life...

The night was already off to a rough start. A big party, tons of people over-crowding Astro-Extreme, spilled slushies. 

That was all rough enough. 

But all hell broke loose when out of nowhere the industrial-doors to the Laser-Tag arena were kicked wide open and an army of men came crashing through. 

Children were screaming. 

The men had their weapons drawn. Ready to shoot anyone in sight. 

And Shadow's blood went cold. 

G.U.N... G.U.N. was here. They must have found him! 

Shadow knew these people. They were monsters. They'd kill anyone who got in their way! 

And Shadow refused to let them hurt any more innocent children! 

"CHAOS CONTROL!" 

Tapping into his chaos energy, Shadow teleported directly in front of the G.U.N. agents, hands raised and summoning all the energy he could muster. Ready to destroy these agents once and for all! 

"SHADOW! NO, NO, NO!" He heard someone yell from behind. "WAIT! STOP!" 

It was Sonic, he was speeding in front of him now. Standing inbetween Shadow and the humans. Blocking his way with a mop and bucket. 

What was he... 

Shadow remembered then that he was in Astro-Extreme. Sonic had probably been cleaning up the spilled slushy. 

This wasn't a G.U.N. facility. 

When he looked past Sonic, truly looking at his so-called enemies, his heart sank. 

Kids... 

They were all just dumb kids... 

Dressed in stupid costumes, playing with toy guns... 

The head-agent in front of him was nothing more than a little girl, her hair in little pigtails, and a look of utter terror on her face. 

Shadow felt like he was going to be sick. If he hadn't stopped himself he could have seriously hurt these kids. All because he lost- 

"MARIA!!!" 

Maria? 

Just hearing the name made Shadow feel like he was being stabbed right through the chest. It clawed at his heart. 

Oh god... Maria... 

He couldn't breath. He couldn't think. 

And all those eyes were on him. Watching him fall apart. 

In an instant Shadow felt something in him click. He needed to get out of here. So he found the nearest exit and just ran. 

He didn't care where he ended up, or how he got there. 

All he knew was he needed to get out of this place. 

Now. 

And he kept running. Until all the beeping and flashing and the eyes were gone. 

Until his hands were touching soft grass in a field. 

And the only light came from the gentle glow of the moon...

Chapter Text

"Maria Barone Lombardi, have you lost your absolute mind?!" 

Miss Maria's father reprimanded her loudly in front of the entier rollar rink. 

Maria for her part actually did look remorseful. Tugging nervously at her braided pigtails and looking down at her shoes. 

Stella Lombardi stood next to her father, gloating. Though she wasn't entirely innocent either, the Fun-Zone took food and drinks on the rink very seriously. And her slushy had caused a huge accident. It seemed that both the Lombardi girls would be gearing-up to be banished. 

The rest of the rink was slowly piecing itself back together. But Sonic felt stuck between trying to manage the panicked humans, and desperately wanting to go after Shadow. 

He almost didn't even realize it when the broom was taken out of his friends. He looked over to see his boss, Ripley, now holding it across her shoulders. 

"You better go find that other Hedgehog." 

"But, the rink-" 

"I can handle the rink." Ripley said. "I appreciate your concern but you really should go get that friend of yours back. He's one of our customers too and it's not safe to be out there alone at night." 

Having the all-clear to go, Sonic didn't hesitate to run to the same door he saw Shadow speed towards. 

"And take a emergency pack with you!" Ripley called out.

They had several emergency packs hidden all around the fun-zone. Filled with the usual things like bandages, a first aid kit. Plus waters and a juice box for any guests who got dehydrated or had low blood sugar. So Sonic grabbed one by the door on his way.

Once he was outside Sonic wasn't sure where to begin. His eyes scanned rapidly across the parking lot looking for any sort of clue. 

He finally got an idea of which direction Shadow went when he saw a rather abrupt-looking break in the bushes. Like they had suddenly been knocked to either side by a strong wind. And a path had been cut through the middle. There was a small trace of chaos energy that still sparked across a nearby powerline. 

It was Shadow. It had to be. 

Tapping into his super speed, Sonic followed the trail. Keeping a careful eye out for any places where the ground was compressed or a tree had become warped. 

The trail seemed to follow a random path. Sometimes making random cuts to the right of the left. Eventually though Sonic followed the trail to a clearing. Shadow's path becoming so faint it was only a slight depression in the grass. 

But there, in the distance. Sonic finally spotted Shadow. 

He was sitting alone, in the middle of a feild. Sitting on the ground with his head in his hands. 

"Shadow!" He breathed, "There you are! Oh my gosh!" 

He wasn't sure what sort of mental state Shadow would be in once he found him. But the absolute remorse on Shadow's face made him pause for a moment. 

"Sonic... I'm so sorry! I can't beleive I almost- Is she ok?" 

"That girl? She's fine. And so are those other little punks." Sonic said, moving to sit down next to Shadow. The grass out here felt soft. "But I think she and her sister are gonna be banished after this. After all the craziness they caused." 

"You mean the craziness I caused?" 

"Shadow, you did literally nothing wrong!" 

But Shadow just shook his head. "No, I almost hurt those people!" 

"Almost, being the key word here." Sonic tried to say. "You were able to stop." 

"Only because you were there to stop me!" 

"I just helped you take a moment to pause." Sonic countered. "The rest you did on your own. And I promise, no one back there blames you for how you reacted." 

"How can you say that?" Shadow asked. Almost sounding disgusted. "After everything I've done to you, to your family!" 

Oh... Oh! 

It dawned on Sonic then just how much tonight must have triggered Shadow's memory. 

"So, you remember-" 

"I REMEMBER EVERYTHING!" 

Sonic froze, unsure whether to stay or go. 

And Shadow continued. "I remember it all. The Professor, and you and your family. Tom and the Eclipse Cannon and... and Maria-" 

He cut himself off them. Hands going to his face, curling up tighter and sinking into the ground, almost trembling. 

Sonic's hand slowly inched forwards. Until it gently landed on Shadow's head. His whole body tensed for a moment. But eventually is relaxed again as Sonic began to gently pet at his quills. 

But the shaking didn't stop. 

"Maria... I swore I'd never forget her. And then after the accident everything was gone. It... it's like I lost her all over again!" 

Sonic wasn't sure what to say then. He didn't think he'd ever gone through anything quite like that. He tried to imagine what he'd even do if he woke up one day without any memory of Tom or Maddie. Or Tails and Knuckles. Or Longclaw? 

"But you have those memories back now." Sonic finally said. "And they aren't going anywhere. Neither am I." 

"Why?" Shadow ended up asking. "After everything I did to hurt you. You and your brothers could have died. And I almost killed Tom. You should hate me." 

"I don't hate you." 

"Why? Cause for the past three months I've been some brain-dead dolt?" Shadow scoffed. "Serving you coffee with an absent-minded smile?" 

"You weren't brain-dead." Sonic countered. "You were just... confused. And you never gave me coffee! The only one who did that on accident was-" 

"Stone." Shadow nodded, pausing for a moment. "... he really beat himself up for that. And after for the rest of the week he'd triple-check every order we made to make sure they were made with the correct coffee." 

"See? It's all in there." Sonic said. "It's all of you." 

Shadow looked down at his hands, clenching them for a moment. "... all of me..." 

They sat there in silence for a little while longer. Slowly, peice by peice, Shadow began visibly relaxed. Breathing becoming clamer, and in small increments he leaned a little further onto Sonic's side. When Sonic reached out an arm, wrapping the other hedgehog into a warm hug, Shadow didn't stop him. In fact, he learned over even more. 

They just sat there in the grass. Looking up at the shattered moon, and the beautiful array of stars behind it. 

"Sometimes Maria would sneek me out of the base." Shadow said out of the blue. 

Shadow needed to talk through his thoughts, so Sonic let him. For once trying to stay quiet and just listen. 

"We never went far. Just to the fields near the observatory." Shadow continued, gentky reaching out to touch a patch of wild flowers growing close to his side. "There were these little purple flowers there. Just like here... I saw them when I first woke up too. I didn't have a clue what they were, but they made me feel safe..." 

"They do look pretty nice." Sonic admitted. "Maybe they're a sign. That things will be ok?" 

"I suppose." Shadow said. As he spoke though he had a sudden rasping cough. 

And it was then that Sonic remembered his emergency-pack. "Hey, do you need anything? I have some juice? Water?" 

"Water would be nice actually." He grimaced, rubbing his tounge across his teeth. "That girl's slushy got everywhere. Even in my mouth." 

"Oh yeah, no. I'd be inconsolable if that were me. Here." Sonic rambled a little, handing the small waterbottle over the Shadow. 

"Thanks..." 

He ended up downing the entire bottle in a few gulps. That at least got that gross taste out of his mouth. And helped that parched, dry-feeling he'd gotten while running away. 

Though it did nothing to help his clothes. The spilled slushy seemed to just get stickier as it dried out. 

What a mess. 

"Hey do you want to head back soon?" Sonic asked. "I could bring you to the staff bathrooms. And we could figure out how to get all that crap off your jacket." 

"I just want to go home." Shadow sighed. Pulling off his shirt and jacket, rolling them up and hugging them tightly to his chest. 

As he looked around, Sonic relaized Shadow planned on running back to Green Hills. Right now. Alone. 

"Don't you think we should head back to Astro-Extreme?" Sonic asked. "Stone was worried like crazy. I know he'd want to see that you're alright." 

"... but won't he be upset about his jacket getting ruined?" 

"Dude, Stone's like a total sewing-wiz! He custom-made all of Robotnik's old outfits. I bet he knows like a ba-jillion different ways to get those stains off that jacket!" 

Shadow thought about it. Sonic did bring up a vital point. "Yes, but I still destroyed his jacket..." 

"I think he's more worried about you than some old coat. Even if it is literally the coolest jacket ai've ever seen." Sonic pointed out. "Plus it was that girl's fault. So if anyone's gonna get evil-revenge-points it's those girls." 

"He really could do that..." Shadow sighed. Even before his full memory-recovery, he had seen Stone do more than a few duplicitous things... all while still being a wonderful roomate, manager and teacher. He treated Shadow kindly. But for everyone else, there was always the chance that Stone might do something malicious, but only if he was provoked. "We better go back, make sure he and all the others are alright." 

Getting up first, Sonic offered a hand to Shadow. 

He hesitated a moment. Just looking at his hand. But after taking a deep, grounding breath, Shadow reached out and accepted Sonic's hand. 

And he pulled him up so fast the pair nearly fell back into the grass, both having to make some quick side-steps to stay upright. Almost like doing a small, awkward dance. 

With the stars and moon glowing down on them, Shadow couldn't help but think how beautiful this moment was. 

If it hadn't been for everything that happened before, he might have considered this a perfect night... 

Getting back to Astro-Extreme wasn't as easy as running away from it. But eventually Sonic and Shadow were able to find their way. 

When they got back, Shadow could see Stone out in the parking lot with Sonic's family. He was pacing back and forth. But when he spotted Shadow, he went running. 

"Shadow! Thank goodness! Are you alright? What happened?!" 

"I... I'm fine." He said. "But I think I had some huge recollection in my memory." 

"Oh Shadow, I'm so proud." Stone sighed. "I'm just sorry it happened back there, that it happened like that. If I had been closer by I could have seen that." 

Shadow shook his head. "No, I'm the one whose sorry." 

"Shadow, you have nothing to feel sorry for." 

Unfurling the jacket and his shirt, Shadow turned away from Stone. "I let this happen to your jacket. Surely that's something to feel sorry about." 

"It most certainly is not." Stone almost chuckled, but held it in. "I should be able to get that all cleaned up once we go home." 

Home... Shadow wanted nothing more. 

Before he left though, Shadow turned back to Sonic. 

"Thank you." And before he could think against it, Shadow pulled Sonic into a tight hug. "For being my friend. And for everything else..." 

Sonic just stood their for a moment. Not even processing what was happening. But soon his mind caught up with his body and he hugged him right back. Not even caring about the gross slushy-juice getting into his own fur. 

"See you tomorrow at the cafe?" 

Sonic swore he heard Shadow laugh then. "You don't have to come every single day. Not now that I have all my memories back." 

"I mean, yeah." Sonic asked. "But what if I just want to come by and annoy you anyways?" 

"... than I guess you can still stop by."

Chapter Text

After that fateful night at Astro-Extreme things were slowly but surely beginning to calm back down in Shadow's life. 

His memories were back. All of them. Some still hurt, like knowing that Maria was gone. That her Grandfather and her Cousin Ivo were gone as well. And he was at least partially to blame. It was his powers the fueled the ecplipse cannon. The world had nearly been destroyed because of him. 

He at least took some comfort in the fact that he still had Agent Stone. And depite everything the man never blamed Shadow for what happened. Not even once. In fact, they seemed to share in eachother's greif. Shadow began joining Stone at his group therapy sessions every Thursday evening. 

But not every memory Shadow regained was bad. 

He remembered all the good times with Maria. Getting to remember all the fun times they had together. Causing trouble at the military compound. Hiding away in pillow forts, watching scary movies and strumming on the guitar. He remembered the love she had for the world. He realized then that those memories were the ones that helped him stay sane while he was trapped for decades in cryogenic sleep. 

He did his best to hold onto all of those happy memories even now. To remember Maria's hopes and dreams. To really remember how good life on Earth could be. 

Sonic certainly helped with that. All bright smiles and dumb jokes. 

True to his word Sonic still showed up most mornings at the cafe, even though Shadow had all his memories again. At first Shadow assumed that eventually the blue hedgehog would get bored of him. But it never happened. In fact, he showed up even more. And he also managed to talk Shadow into leaving the cafe every now and then. 

He joined Sonic and his brothers on their little trips to the woods, or over to the library to get more books. Shadow was able to find some extra material for homeschooling with Stone. Plus he actually managed to find some old books by Ray Bradbury that caught his interest. He and Sonic would take turns checking out books and reading them. Shadow with his sci-fi and Sonic with his high-fantasy. And then they'd talk about what they thought of each. 

The only place Shadow didn't go with Sonic was back to Astro-Extreme. Sonic had offered a few times. And Shadow really did want to go back, he missed skating more than he'd like to admit. But each time Shadow was tempted to say yes that was exactly when he'd remember all the flashing lights and yelling and the feeling of that freezing-cold, gross slushy in his fur and thought against it. 

If it upset Sonic he never said. But Sonic would bring it up in conversation a few times, so it was clearly something he still thought about too. 

For now they both seemed content to continue their budding friendship. 

Though Shadow had one more secret he hadn't shared with Sonic... 

He knew now for certain that he and Sonic had shared the Master Emerald's energy, turning golden and fighting off that hoard of eggbots, used their own bodies to try blocking the beam from the eclipse cannon. He also remembered the quiet moments just before on the moon. 

He remembered how in that moment, Shadow had never felt closer to any other person in the world. The only one who had been was Maria, but his feelings for the blue hedgehog felt different. 

At first, Shadow just assumed that the feeling he had was friendship, which was a rare thing for him. 

But after spending weeks together at the cafe, Shadow realized his feelings for Sonic went beyond an ordinary friendship... 

He'd get this strange fluttery-feeling in his chest whenever he saw Sonic come bounding into the cafe, or when he'd smile as he sipped the drinks Shadow made for him, the way his green eyes would shine as they talked. 

The feeling felt even stronger that night at Astro-Extreme. When they got to skate together. 

Or when they stood together under the moon. 

He doubted Sonic felt the same way though. And even if he did, what would a relationship between two alien hedgehogs with powers beyond comprehension even look like? It was probably too risky. 

So instead, Shadow tried to remain content with the wonderful, peaceful life he'd somehow stumbled into. 

Things were finally ok... 

Nothing needed to change...

"Hey Sonic! Wanna change?" 

Sonic looked over his shoulder to see one of the other teens by the edge of the skate ring. She had short red hair with a few feathers ironed in. 

"Yeah sure, Elise!" Sonic called out, gliding her way. "Let's switch!" 

He had been out on the rink as the rollar patrol for a while now. And while it was still one of his favorite jobs at Astro-Extreme, he didn't mind switching with Elise and working the prize-booth at the arcade for a little bit. 

However, he relaized soon-enough why Elise suddenly wanted to switch when he saw the pile of unopened-cardboard boxes on the counter. 

It looked like it was time to restock all the prizes. 

Sonic spun around to glare at the other teen. "Are you serious, Elise?!" 

But Elise just smirked, skating away after shrugging her shoulders. 

Oh well, restocking prizes shouldn't be too-bad. 

Sonic used one of his loose quills to cut through the tape of the first box and got started. Inside were a bunch of plastic rings and clip-on earings, so he got to work putting them all into the "35-ticket" prize bins inside the display counter. 

While he set them up, he heard Ripley come over, leaning onto the counter. "Got scammed into restocking?" 

Sonic looked up to glance at his boss. "It's not a scam if you're having a nice time." 

"Whatever you say, kid." 

Sonic went back to filling up the prize bins, thinking that would be the end of things. 

But Ripley stayed where she was, drumming absentmindedly on the coutner. "So, you're brothers have come by a few more times, but I haven't seen your little friend around." 

"You mean Shadow?" Sonic asked, grabbing fidget spinners for the 50-ticket bins. "Yeah, I don't think he's ever gonna come back here. No offense." 

"He's knows he's not the one who was banished, right?" 

"Don't worry, I made sure he knew that." Sonic explained. "I just don't think he liked it." 

"He seemed pretty happy when he was out skating with you." 

Sonic got a little whistful smile on his face remembering that. That night had been so much fun... at least right until everything went sideways. "Yeah... but he said it was too loud. Plus all the screaming? And the flashing lights? The slushy-spill didn't help either. I think it all brought back some bad memories for him." 

Ripley nodded, thinking for a moment. "Well, in that case maybe he'd enjoy seeing us on one of our sensory-friendly days." 

Sonic looked at his boss in suprise. "Our- what? I didn't know we- ... when did we start doing that?" 

"They're the first and third Wednesday of each month." Ripley replied, handing Sonic a flyer before hopping over the counter. "Can you can pass that along to Shadow and his Dad for me? See if that's something they'd be interested in? I'll make sure you have that day off, that way you can actually hang out with your buddy." 

While Ripley left, Sonic took a moment to glance at the flyer. It was just like Ripley said: sensory-friendly skates twice a month. Where the crowds would be reduced. The music would be quieter. The flashing lights would be off. All the arcade games would have their extra light fixtures turned off and music lowered. 

Everything would be calmer. 

He knew Shadow liked skating. He literally had air shoes modled after roller blades. But everytime Sonic had brought-up coming back to Astro-Extreme, Shadow had politely declined. 

But these wednesdays would be different. 

And he wondered if Shadow would like that too...

Shadow and Stone were just about to close for the afternoon when Sonic came racing in. 

"Got time for one more order?" 

"Fine. As long as it doesn't require a blender or the cold-foam maker, I just finished cleaning those." Stone replied, hands going to rest on his hips. 

"Fair enough." Sonic admitted. "I think if someone asked for a rainbow-ribbon slushy after I just finished a deep-clean, I'd probably go nuts." 

"Why don't I make something simpler?" Shadow thought. "Maybe a tea?" 

Sonic frowned a little. "As long as it doesn't have any caffine. Remember that time I tried matcha?" 

That had been a mistake neither of them wanted to repeat. Luckily, Stone had shown Shadow a few more caffine-free options for tea. 

"Raspberry Hibiscus then?" 

"Ooh yes please!" Sonic gushed, jumping over to a barstool by the counter. "With a little dash of honey?" 

"Of course." Shadow replied. He already had the jar of honey in-hand. Sonic seldom ever got the same drink every day, but Shadow had learned a few of the other hedgehog's drink preferences. He preferred his hot drinks with oat milk, and iced drinks with coconut, and if he was drinking tea he preferred it with a big dallop of honey. 

The raspberry hibiscus tea turned a beautiful magenta color once it was done steeping. Then Shadow stirred in some honey and served it to his friend. 

When Sonic reached out to grab the cup from him their fingers brushed for a breif moment. And he got that soft smile on his face as he happily sipped his tea. 

"Aw yeah, that's the good stuff! Thanks Shadow!" 

"Any time." Was Shadow's replied. 

Stone was over by the sink washing dishes before closing. And Shadow went about his own closing procedures wiping down all the tables and counters. As he did though, Sonic followed him around, drinking his tea. 

"So, got any plans after work?" 

"Just catching up on some studies." Shadow replied. "And finishing the R is for Rocket collection." 

"Oh, so you're not up for an adventure after work?" 

"Not today at least." Shadow answered. "Another time?" 

"Yeah man, of course!" Sonic said. Before he continued on to what he really wanted to talk about, Sonic needed a moment to brace himself. And then, before he lost his cool he blurted out, "So Astro-Extreme-" 

"Your job?" 

"Yep! My job... Yeah... I know the last time you were there it wasn't... great?" 

"That's an understatement, but go on." Shadow gruffed. 

"Well, my boss told me about these events they put on. Actually, event isn't the right word." Sonic said, slowly talking more to himself than Shadow. 

Sonic saw how the other hedgehog cringed when he said 'event', but no better word came to mind. 

In the end he just handed Shadow the flyer and let that do all the talking. 

Shadow looking at the flyer carefully, eyes scanning every word. 

"A sensory friendly skate?" Shadow frowned. "What does that mean?" 

"It means they make everything easier on the senses." Sonic tried to explain. "Less flashing lights and loud noises? And the crowds would be a lot smaller too." 

Shadow tried to picture it in his mind. 

With less distractions he'd probably have a far-more enjoyable time skating. And it really had been so long since Shadow got to really skate for fun... 

"There won't be any slushies on the skate-ring, right?" 

"I promise, if anyone tries that again I'll keep you and your super-cool-jacket safe!" 

Shadow did something funny then. He quickly exhaled out his nose, and as he breathed back in he... he was laughing! It was a light little noise, but he was totally laughing! 

Sonic's green-eyes went wide as he realized what was happening. 

"Wait! Did I just make THE Shadow the Hedgehog giggle!?" 

Shadow quickly stopped the noise with a grunt, rolling his eyes. "That wasn't giggling. And don't expect it to happen again." 

"That sound that was totally-not-a-giggle?"

Shadow gave him a pointed glare then. And Sonic thankfully let the subject go, jumping right back to the topic of Astro-Extreme. 

"Soooo according to that flyer the next Sensory-Friendly Skate is this Wednesday! Wanna come with? Pretty please with extra sprinkles, and chocolate sauce and a cherry-" 

Shadow huffed, pratically pushing Sonic out the door. "Fine! I'll be there!" 

And only after he closed and locked the door did he realize what he'd commited too. 

Stone watched with an amused look, drying one of the ceramic mugs before putting it away. "I think this will be a great oppertunity for you!" 

Shadow sighed, going wipe-down the windows next. And doing his best to ignore the blue hedgehog still grinning like a fool on the other side. 

He certainly hoped Stone was right. 

And he hoped Sonic was telling the truth about this Sensory-Friendly Skate being less overwhelming...

Chapter Text

True to his word, Astor-Extreme was much easier to navigate during their "Sensory-Friendly Skate". 

For one, there was far less people there. Less screaming and shouting. Shadow got to meet some of the kids who were there and they seemed very sweet for the most part. And while they were very curious about Shadow and Sonic they and their parents still were considerate enough to give them space to skate. 

And no one brought any slushies with them onto the skate rink. 

The flashing lights were gone too, so Shadow could look out and see everything in the Extreme Center without getting an eye strain, or feeling on edge. 

And being there with Sonic at his side certainly made things easier. 

The pair spent most of the evening on the skate rink, going round and round on the polished wooden floors. Sonic took the oppertunitu to show-off all the "moves" he'd mastered while working here. He even began to show Shadow how to do a few. 

"Ok once you squat down, stick out one leg! Right in front of you! And touch your toes!" 

Shadow tried to do what Sonic said. As he lowered himself he straightened one leg directly in front of him while grabbing his foot. "Like this?" 

"Yeah dude!" Sonic cheered, "And that's how you Shoot the Duck!" 

"I still don't like that name." Shadow frowned. 

"Well you look great doing it! Here I'll help you up!" 

Reaching down, Sonic grabbed both of Shadow's hands. Hoisting the other hedgehog back to his feet. 

But much like before, the pair stumbled a little as they tried to regain their footing. 

Only now they found themselves slipping and sliding across the open rink, quickly holding on to one another for support. 

Though once they were both fully upright, they still didn't let go of one another right away. 

They drifted apart some, but they still held hands. All they way over to the arcade, to the vintage pinball machines. 

"Ooh, wanna play Pinball Wizard? And let's make it interesting, whoever gets the highest score gets a free drink?" 

"You're on." Shadow smirked, arms folded across his chest. 

While Sonic put in a few tokens to get the game started. Ripley came by with a friendly wave. 

"Hey Blue! Having fun on your day-off?" 

"You know it, Ripley!" Sonic said, eyes focused on his game. 

Ripley turned to nod at Shadow too. "And it's nice to see you again. For a while I was afraid we'd seen the last of you." 

Shadow gazed around the room, already feeling much better than his first time at the extreme center. "I'll admit this place has been growing on me. And it's much easier to tolerate today." 

That made Ripley actually chuckle. "I gotta put that on my next batch of ads... easy to tolerate..." 

Still laughing to herself, Ripley went off to go check on the prize booth. 

Though as she left she said something that caught both Hedgehogs off guard. 

"Alright then, you kids have fun on your little date!" 

... Date? 

Slowly, Sonic and Shadow turned to one another. A look of terror on their faces. 

A date? This wasn't a date. It would be amazing if it were, but this wasn't a date. It couldn't possibly be. 

Right? 

He was so distracted, Sonic's last ball fell past the paddles, and his game over. 

Thinking fast, he switched positions with Shadow, pushing him infront of the pinball machine. 

"Yeah looks like you have a date. A date with destiny! My score was so low you'll totally win!" 

And Shadow certainly did. They played a few more rounds of pinball, and skated around the rink for a few more songs before calling it a night. 

As they stepped outside Astro-Extreme, it reminded Sonic a lot of the other night. It was a calm night. The moon hung low in the sky, filled with a canopy of stars. 

And it seemed tonight his friend was in a much better mood. 

Shadow had changed a little since regaining his memories. Yes, some of those memories hurt Shadow. There were days were he hardly left the cafe. But he had a fire now, burning brightly from within. Before it had been uncertain embers, but now it shined through. He knew exactly who he was. 

And Sonic loved to see that in him. 

There were a lot of things Sonic loved about Shadow, but if he thought about it too long he was afraid he might say something stupid. 

So instead, he nudged Shadow a little, nodding towards the open road. 

"Race you back to the cafe?" 

Not even waiting for a response, Shadow sped off. Giving Sonic sly smile as he took a sudden head-start. 

Sonic was quick to catch-up though. 

The two were neck at neck as they wove through the woods. Moving so fast they only appeared as brief flashes of blue and crimson light to the naked eye. Zipping through space, faster than sound. 

Sonic was just begining to gain some ground, steadily passing Shadow when they reached a clearing. The same clearing as before. Sonic felt himself falter. 

But at the completley wrong moment. Shadow collided with him, and the pair went tumbling across the grassy field. 

"Ughhhhhh..." It felt like Sonic was still spinning even as his body came to a stop. 

What little breath he did manage to get back left with a sudden wheeze as Shadow fell on top of him. 

"Sh-Shadow!" Sonic gasped. "Are you ok?" 

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Shadow huffed, pushing himself off of Sonic to sit-upright. "Or what's wrong with you..." 

"Sorry." Sonic gasped, finally able to catch his breath. Gazing up into the still night sky helped. "I remembered being here. The other night." 

Shadow's anger fizzled away. As he recognized this space too. "Yes..." 

And Sonic sat up too he felt all sorts of grass and flowers clinging to his spikes, he tried shaking, managing to get a few of them off. 

Shadow watched with mild amusement before rolling his eyes. "You're such a goof. Here." 

Reaching forward, Shadow pulled a couple purple flowers away from Sonic's hair. Hands brushing his cheek gently as he did so. 

And the pair found themselves staring into on another's eyes. 

Electric Green and Smoldering Red... 

And in that moment, Sonic couldn't keep pretending anymore. 

"Hey Shadow? ... What if it was a date?" 

"Today?" 

"Yes." Sonic continued. "And the other time too. What if they were dates? Would... would that be ok?" 

Shadow inched back a little. Saying nothing. 

And that just made Sonic feel like he had to talk even more. Rambling. 

"Ok. I mean, I feel like I just need to get this out there. But I really, really, really like you Shadow. And, it's totally ok if you don't feel the same way. I bet this is totally coming out of left field here. And we're just good friends. And-" 

Sonic's thoughts came to a sudden halt as Shadow's face suddenly collided with his own. His forhead and nose stung. Teeth clanking harshly against eachother. 

Falling back into the grass he winced with another groan. 

And Shadow looked mortified. When he stumbled through an apology he sounded emberassed. 

"I... I'm so sorry. I thought that... That's always what..." 

"Always what?" 

Shadow couldn't even look at Sonic, gazing uncomfortably at the ground, rubbing his own forehead. 

"... that's always what they do in telanovelas. When words alone can't allow people to express how they really feel..." 

All it once, everything clicked for Sonic. 

And he started to laugh. 

Laughing so hard it made his stomach hurt. 

And Shadow joined him. 

The pair found themselves collapsing back into the grass, full-belly laughing. 

"We're being ridiculous, aren't we?" 

"Eh," Sonic shrugged, once he could speak again. "Honestly? I think this is just the right amount of drama for us... you really feel the same way?" 

"Of course I do!" Shadow groaned, bringing his hands to his face. "Damn, I can't beleive I ruined my first kiss!" 

"You mean our first kiss?" Sonic said. "I mean, that barely counted. That was more of a head-butt. Wanna redo?" 

With his encouragement, Shadow moved back closer towards Sonic. And went in for a quick peck. It was over before Sonic knew what was happening, but it was real. And didn't end with a minor concussion either, so that was a plus. 

Getting back up, Shadow helped Sonic back up to his feet. Being careful to brush the rest of the grass and flowers out of Sonic's quills once he was standing. Though he did save one flower, and tucked it next to Sonic's ear. 

Subconsciously, Sonic's hand reached up to touch the flower, fingers brushing its soft petals. 

"So... does this mean we're dating now?" 

Shadow smiled. "If you want to." 

"Don't worry, I do." 

The two continued their run back to Green Hills after that. Beams of red and blue light now seeming to dance around one another as they zipped across earth. 

Until coming to stop right in front of the Mean Bean. 

"Do you... want a drink before calling it a night?" 

Sonic didn't need to be told twice. 

Hand in hand, Shadow brought Sonic into the cafe. Pulling him along until they were at the counter, and situating themselves how they normally were each morning. With Sonic standing at the counter, and Shadow standing behind it. 

"So what will it be?" 

Sonic brought a finger to his chin, humming while he thought. 

He honestly had no clue what to get. He was still pretty sugared-up from the slushies and black cherry limeade he had earlier. If he had any more sugar, he might as well be up all night. 

That thought gave him an idea though. 

"Well, I know caffeine speeds me up... got anything that'll slow me down?" 

Shadow frowned. "What?" 

"You know," Sonic tried to say. "Something that calms people down? Like that sleepy-time tea with the little bear on it?" 

"We don't have that." Shadow said. "But we do have a chamomile blend that Stone swears by." 

"Oooh sounds fancy!" Sonic said. 

For a while Sonic was happy just watching Shadow, his boyfriend now, prepare some tea. 

But he noticed Shadow was only making one mug. He wasn't making any for himself. 

"You don't want anything?" 

Shadow shook his head. "I'm not really in the mood for tea. I'll probably make myself something later." 

"Oh..." An idea came to him. "Wait! Can I do it?" 

Suprised, Shadow glanced back. "... you want to make a drink?" 

"Yeah!" Sonic nodded. "I still owe you a free drink from earlier." 

"But you've never worked as a barista before." 

"No, but you could show me what to do! Please?" 

Shadow didn't seem convinced just yet. 

But Sonic was never one to gove up so easily. "You always make the best drinks for me. Now I wanna make something for you! For my boyfriend?" 

Shadow looked at Sonic, thinking it over before he finally relented. 

"... fine." 

That was all Sonic needed, speeding around the cafe he pratically lept over the counter. Joining Shadow for the first time ever, on the barista-side of the Mean Bean. 

Putting on a truly horrible french-accent Sonic continued. "Prepare yourself, mon ami, you are now at Chez Sonique! Where I make only the finest of cappuccinos!" 

"I actually don't like cappuccinos." 

"Wait, for real?" Sonic asked, horrible accent already forgotten. 

Shadow nodded. "Too much foam. I prefer just espresso... but it's late. If Stone finds out I had caffine now, he'll never let me hear the end of it." 

"Alright, then what can I make you?" 

Shadow thought for a moment, before answering. 

"... Cocoa. But not too sweet, use the dark chocolate blend." 

"Got it!" Sonic nodded, but when he turned towards the massive shelf of different syrups his mind went blank for a second. "Where's the blend?" 

Shaking his head, Shadow joined him over by the shelf, pointing it out. "There. Bottom left corner, next to the sweet mocha and the white." 

Step by step, Shadow guided Sonic through making the drink. The only time Shadow wasn't looking over his shoulder was when Sonic insisted on adding a "secret ingredient", forcing the other hedgehog to turn around while he picked something out. But after that, Shadow helped Sonic add the dark chocolate to the bottom of the mug first then steaming the milk. 

Sonic had fun with that part. Carefully watching the milk begin to bubble and froath. All while the thermometer kept ticking upwards until it reached the perfect temperature. Then Shadow had him pour a little milk into the mug, just to melt the chocolate, and stir in the rest. 

"Annnnnnd there!" Sonic said proudly, presenting his own drink to Shadow. "One hot cocoa, for the greatest headghog around!" 

Shadow smiled, presenting a cup of his own. "And here's a cup of chamomile tea... for the hedgehog who saved my life." 

Grinning, Sonic traded cups with Shadow, taking a long, happy sip of his tea. It tasted nice. In a warm, flowery way. His eyes stayed locked on Shadow though as he took a small sip of his own drink. Waiting to see his reaction. 

"Soooo, figured out the secret flavor yet?" 

Shadow didn't even need to think before answering, "Hazelnut." 

Sonic looked at him with wide eyes. "What?! How did you-" 

"You're forgetting that I'm the ultimate lifeform." Shadow said, in that joking-tone Sonic had learned to recognize. 

"Does that comes with photographic memory in your tastebuds?" 

"Maybe." Shadow said. 

Sonic saw the faintest hints of a smirk on the other Hedgehog's face. 

"It tastes nice, you did a good job." 

"You mean WE did a good job!" Sonic corrected. 

"Yeah... we..." 

Time drew on, and Sonic's tea began to work. It wasn't a dramatic change, not like when he drank caffine. But little by little, Sonic could feel himself calming down. Content to just sit quietly with Shadow as the night drew on outside. 

But Sonic knew he'd have to go home soon. Tom and Maddie let him be pretty independent but even they had rules. And Sonic had already missed his curfew four times this month, he didn't want them to worry any more than they did. 

And yet Sonic felt so reluctant to get up and go. 

Not without doing something first... 

He saw the perfect opportunity when he spotted a bit of milk foam on Shadow's upper lip. 

Before he could second-guess himself, Sonic blurted out, "You got to have your movie-moment earlier. Mind if I try something?" 

Shadow seemed confused, blinking owlishly. But he still nodded. "Sure. What?" 

"You got a little something here." Sonic said, reaching forward to brush his thumb across the other Hedgehog's mouth. All before leaning in for another smooch. "And here." 

This time was definitely less jaring than before. Sonic was a fast-learner, he made sure to tilt his head to the side, and moved forward carefully so they didn't bonk into eachother. 

Meeting in the middle for a soft, gentle kiss. 

It was still pretty awkward. Sonic only had the vaguest idea how this stuff worked. Mostly from what he'd seen in books and movies. But it felt nice. So he just kept going till a little voice in the back of his mind said it was time to pull back. 

He didn't even realize he'd closed his eyes, until he was moving away and opened them again. 

Sonic found Shadow doing the same thing. And it was funny, Sonic swore the other's cheeks almost looked green. 

"Better?" 

Shadow didn't answer right away. Simply looking at Sonic with wide eyes. 

But eventually he found his voice again. "That... that was alright." 

Sonic grinned. 

"I thought so too!" 

And before he completely missed his curfew, Sonic stepped away, heading for the door. 

"So, uh... see you tommorow?" 

Shadow smiled softly. "You know where to find me. Goodnight Sonic." 

"Night, Hot Topic!" 

Giving his boyfriend a quick salute and a wink, Sonic sped away into the night. 

And Shadow watched as the other hedgehog ran off. Thinking quietly. 

He never imagined this could have been a possibility for him. Even before Maria died. He always thought he'd exist alone. One of a kind. After Maria passed that assumption went even deeper. He feared he was too dangerous, that he didn't deserve anything like the roamtic stories he heard about. 

And yet? Shadow somhow found himself in a romance of his own. With Sonic. 

A strange, awkward, sweet romance. 

With someone who understood. Who knew who he was. Knew everything he'd done. 

And who still loved him anyways. 

And as he looked out into the night, eyes on the stars, chocolate and chamomile still lingering on his lips, Shadow knew he didn't want it any other way!

The End!