Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sonic was fast. This wasn't news to anyone. The blue blur had spent his whole life running to and from danger at a pace faster than the speed of sound, and he wouldn't have it any other way. It was exhilarating; in the blink of an eye he could be halfway across the world and back, and he almost made it a point to never stay in the same place for too long. People had described him as a sort of enigma, that kind of speed making him far too difficult to even comprehend. His relentless protection of the planet and its people had earned him the label of "hero," but Sonic continued with his life as normal, trying not to let the attention and fans bother him that much.

Since Eggman had been arrested a couple months prior (the justice system finally having done something about the robot obsessed maniac), Sonic found his life had been a lot more peaceful than he'd ever experienced. He never got bored of running, that could entertain him and keep him occupied to the day he dies and probably even after. Nothing could ever compare to the feeling of the wind in his quills, the world blurring into streaks of colour with his feet thumping hard yet somehow barely touching the ground at the same time. He relished in the way his lungs burned in his chest and how his stomach did flips while going through a loop-de-loop. Waited to hear the satisfying screech when he finally skidded to a stop.

Even so, he found himself getting agitated in this new nemesis-less life. Don't get him wrong, he was all for being happy and comfortable (just ask Tails. He had found his brother sleeping in the strangest positions and places only for Sonic to still claim he had the best nap of his life), but without the threat and promise of a good fight at any time, Sonic felt he lacked the normal excitement that came from the spontaneity of years prior.

And could you really blame him for a little discontent? For almost his whole life he had been protecting the world and the people he loved (to his own detriment at certain points). He had been so young when Eggman had first began causing trouble, then finding and basically raising Tails not a long while after. But Sonic doesn't complain. He loved the way he had lived his life and doesn't regret any of the choices he's made over the years. There's been hard times, yes, but he can't deny that they had a heavy hand in making him the hedgehog he is today.

Nevertheless, he couldn't help but mourn the source of the motivation that had kept him going since he was a child; to protect. He didn't really have that now. His friends had always been self sufficient in their own ways but he felt even more that they had always been becoming stronger, many of them now completely independent from their previous identities that were attached to the man who wanted nothing but harm for their world. Speaking of which, that was another thing Sonic no longer had to be fiercely protective of. Eggman wasn't around to force little flickies into his machines or poison the planet yet again. No raising of ancient powerful beings or messes for Sonic to clean up.

At first, Sonic had never felt freer. When after a long battle that Eggman would soon come to understand was rigged, G.U.N. had shown up with weapons and electrified hand cuffs, finally taking the egghead into custody where he had remained ever since. Surprisingly, he hadn't fought as much as expected when being taken in. Who would've guessed the guy reliant on robots and machines of his own creation wouldn't be of much use in a fist fight? Although, Sonic guessed, to be fair on ole' Robotnik, he was getting old. He didn't know the exact number but in comparison to Sonic who was now in his mid twenties (24 to be exact), it was honestly impressive that he put up any amount of fight, sans robots, at all.

The first week or so, Sonic was over the moon. He was ecstatic at his accomplishment. It felt like the culmination of his life's work; like an artist proudly showing off a painting that had taken years to perfect, or a writer finally able to share their fantastical story that required edits upon edits and adjustments to get the wording just right. At his proudest, he even made the comparison to a parent watching their child as they take their first steps into adulthood. Of course, his friends were right there with him. Tails could finally put all his energy into the betterment of science rather than making weapons all the time. Knuckles could leave Angel Island without the persistent looming dread that came with leaving the master emerald alone for more than 5 minutes. Amy was able to help out with charities in the community, and started teaching women's self defense classes when the Restoration reeled back their services, having fixed most damage after just a couple of months with no Eggman. And of course, more than a few parties were held in celebration in various locations by various people (but mostly Amy). 

It had felt like all the birds were singing a beautiful harmony at the same time and Sonic let his already high appreciation and wonder for the world he lived in somehow grow even more. He couldn't help but smile at even the thought that the world was finally safe. The animals, anthropomorphic and not, could roam freely without fear. Not of being shoved in a mechanical nightmare, or of their towns being stormed by said mechanical nightmares. Sonic could've sworn even the grass seemed a bit greener and the sun a bit brighter. As if the earth itself knew the momentous and historical occasion unfolding. For those few weeks, Sonic felt as if he had no more burdens, no more weights and no more frantic thoughts racing around his head like they tended to do. For once, maybe the first time in his whole life, Sonic felt he could truly slow down, relax and let things just be.

This however, didn't last very long. 

Obviously, Sonic was still grateful and happy that Eggman was finally locked away where he belonged. Like he said earlier, he wouldn't change any of the decisions he's made thus far. 

...However...

...Sonic found himself feeling conflicted. Without the weekly, and sometimes even daily disruptions giving him a boost of adrenaline, he was restless. He had the need to move and while running was always a great option that reset his hurtling mind, he noticed it was becoming less and less effective; needing to take more and longer runs just to pass the days by. Sonic didn't have a conventional home, per se. If you asked him directly he would just say the world was his home, spending many nights sleeping in grassy fields or tall trees, but it was common knowledge that more often than not, if Sonic needed a place to crash, it would be with Tails. Normally, Sonic had made a point to let Tails know when he was dropping by at least 10 to 15 minutes in advance (hey, that was a long time-frame for Sonic okay?) but more recently, he had been falling short on this habit. instead showing up unannounced or even sneaking in to Tails' guest bedroom (which at this point was really just Sonic's room) window late at night when Tails was asleep and leaving again at ungodly hours of the morning.

Unfortunately for Sonic, Tails had in fact noticed his brother's strange behavior.

"Hey could you at least make your bed the next time you try and sneak around without me knowing?" Tails ended up asking after a month or so of this strange new routine.

"Wuh-huh?? The next time I what?" Sonic almost choked on his cereal (which he had drowned in an appalling amount of milk) at Tails' sudden question. He had stayed over last night, feeling rather proud of himself when he managed to not only show up at a reasonable time (8:30pm) but also send Tails a message on his communicator a full 7 minutes in advance of him showing up on his brother's doorstep. Sonic really had been trying to get better with his unfortunate new routine, but he did also think he had been keeping his secret visits a bit more, you know, secret.

He hadn't meant to keep Tails in the dark about it, he mainly just felt bad knowing his brother would feel guilty in the morning if he had known Sonic had appeared and he wasn't there to spend time with him. It was different now, with Tails being in university, it seemed he and Sonic were able to spend less and less time together. Sonic figured his course must be pretty hard and advanced if even Tails, the kid genius himself, was struggling sometimes. So, Sonic made the decision to let Tails focus more on his work. Of course they still saw each other almost daily and there were no major shifts of closeness in their relationship (other than actual physical distance, with Tails having moved from Green Hill to Station Square in order be closer to campus, but that wasn't nearly an issue for Sonic), it still sucked not being able to spontaneously drag his little buddy on big adventures to explore the world or spending days together to work on a project to test Sonic's speed.

"Sonic, you know what I'm talking about, come on, I'm not eight," Tails quickly snapped Sonic away from his train of thought, his namesakes swaying a bit behind him. Right... Confession time I guess...

"Ughhhh okay fine! You know I really didn't think I was that obvious," Sonic groaned dramatically, dropping his head onto the kitchen table they were sharing their breakfast at.

"Sonic, you of all people should know by now how horrendous my sleep schedule is," Tails retorted, snickering slightly at his brother's antics. "And you're also just loud. I think even if I had been asleep you'd wake me up anyway."

Sonic lifted his head up from the table to give a disapproving glare to the fox. "Okay, first of all rude, I am not that loud," he emphasized his point with a pointed finger in Tails' direction, "and second, how many more times are we gonna need to talk about this buddy?! You need to sleep at a normal time you're-"

"-'a growing boy who's age doesn't excuse him from the effects of sleep deprivation,'  yeah, I know Sonic you've given me this speech like ten times just this month! And we're not even half way through!" Tails rolled his eyes as he interrupted the blue hedgehog in font of him.

"Because it's important! And I'll say it for an eleventh, a twelfth, a twentieth, however many it takes to get through your fuzzy head that sleep is actually a good thing!" Picking up his (milk filled) bowl and walking over to the sink where the dish will be forgotten for however long, Sonic ruffled the fur on Tails' head to punctuate the sentence while Tails playfully swatted the offending hand away.

"Sonic!" he exclaimed through little giggles. As much as Tails claimed he was grown up and mature now, Sonic would always see the little kit he ran into being picked on and who he wasted no time in defending. Funny how a spur of the moment decision would change his life in the best way possible even so many years down the line. "You're getting off topic!" As Sonic sat back down, Tails forced himself to regain his composed and serious demeanor. "Why wouldn't you tell me you're staying over? You know I won't mind no matter the situation right?"

Sonic took a deep inhale and began to talk, careful not to sound too unhappy with the way things are. "Well you know how great things have been since Egghead's been put away?" he paused for Tails to give an understanding nod. "Well... I guess I've just been feeling... not that great," Sonic paused again but Tails only looked confused.

"Sonic you're gonna need to elaborate, I'm smart but I'm not a mind reader" Tails deadpanned.

"Haha, right, yeah sorry buddy." Sonic raised a and to scratch the back of his neck, noticing his quills were slightly raised. "So, I guess the past few weeks I've been... not bored but it's like I have nothing to do? And I know there's probably a lot I could do but its more like nothing is... satisfying? Enough?" Sonic looked back at his brother who's confused expression had been replaced with one of understanding and patience. Tails knew Sonic wasn't the best at putting his thoughts to words, or at feelings in general, so he was appreciative that the fox was willing to give him the time he needs to string together sentences that make at least a bit of sense.

"It's like, I need more energy but I also have too much of it. So I run and that always helps. I can kinda clear my head you know? But I feel like now it only really does anything while I'm running, and when I'm not, its just... not enough?" He wasn't sure when scratching his neck had turned into fidgeting with the quills on the bottom of where his head met his neck but it was grounding in a way, so he kept his hand where it was.

"So I've mainly been dealing with this by just running like, all the time. There was one day last week I'm not even sure I ate anything other than one chili dog for lunch. ONE" Tails knew how big of a deal this was. Sonic never had just one chili dog. Two, maybe but never only one. "Soooo, yeah. I promise I wasn't avoiding you buddy, I just didn't wanna bother you while you're so busy. I know you're working on a lot right now." 

"Sonic don't feel bad about talking to me, you know I love you bro." Tails reassured with a smile, "And now that I know what's bothering you I can try help!" He said as he got up and placed his own dish in the sink, ready to be neglected. Sonic knew there was no point in refusing the help, as Tails was ever the product of being Sonic's younger brother; his main love language was acts of service. Sonic was mainly just happy it didn't turn into a big heart to heart therapy session, as Amy probably would've made it. He never really enjoyed those.

Standing up, Sonic followed Tails into his dedicated workshop room where he kept a large whiteboard. Perfect for jotting down brainstorming sessions full of sporadic ideas. Tails picked up a blue pen and started writing in the middle- a title for a mind map Sonic assumed. Although it was a bit inaccurate as Tails had initially scrawled "Cures for Sonic's Boredom!" 

"Hey now, I'm not bored I'm just... restless!"

With a roll of his eyes the two tailed fox amended the whiteboard to say “Cures for Sonic’s ‘Restlessness,’” and with that, the brainstorming began. 

3 hours later, the two had a grand total of three ideas on the board. This isn't to say that was all they came up with, no, Tails had had many good ideas in his opinion. Most of these however had been rejected by Sonic. These refused proposals included learning how to swim, going shoe shopping with Amy, stealing the master emerald, learning how to swim, getting a job, and learning how to swim again because CHAOS, TAILS, DO YOU NOT HAVE ANY OTHER IDEAS?! ("IT'S A USEFUL SKILL SONIC"). 

So far, the best they had accomplished was: 

1. Run to a part of the world where he hadn't been before and explore. 

2. Tending to the chao in the Chao Garden. (The exact idea had originally been to build them a luxury resort of sorts, but Tails had doubted the blue hedgehog's construction abilities and sadly, Sonic had to agree.)

and 3. Listen to music.

The last one had seemed a bit silly to Sonic at first. He wasn't much of a music guy; sure he listened to the radio sometimes when he was chilling in the house with Tails, or stuck in some earphones while on a run (though they tended not to cope with his speed and normally fell out at some point or another. He should probably invest in wired ones), but he'd never had the emotional attachment to music he heard a lot of people talk about. Maybe he had just never had the time before now to appreciate it- what with constantly being on the run and battling various villains (but mostly just the one) hell-bent on destroying or ruling the world. It was for this reason he didn't outright reject the idea, keeping a slightly open mind to it. He didn't think it would do much which was why it was placed at number three on his list of things to do.

He had faith in the first two ideas. They were both quite normal activities for Sonic to do in his day to day. While he had been to many, if not most, areas of Mobius he had no doubt there were still many places he could find new excitement and wonder in. He was sure this would work as it was something Sonic took the opportunity to do at any chance he got, especially in the times where free time was rare. 

He had also realised that in the state of mind he had been in for the past while, he hadn't visited the Chao Garden nearly as much as he had done previously, so the blue blur figured he was long overdue a nice long day relaxing and taking care of the cute little creatures that inhabited the little area of the forest. Sonic was sure that if exploring and doing what he did best didn't bring him piece of mind, the faces of the chao who lit up whenever he entered the garden, would.

"Well Tails, this seems like a good little to-do list! Don't you think?" Sonic asked his brother with his signature grin.

"Although it could have been much longer, I think we've been quite productive!" Sonic didn't miss the small jab Tails directed at him, but nevertheless, fist bumped the younger fox and energetically jumped out of the stool he had pulled over. He knew that at least one of these would work, so he was hopeful for the days ahead. 

The brothers walked into the main house and said their goodbyes, with Tails reassuring Sonic that he could always talk to him, and Sonic smiling at the gesture letting, Tails know he would be back soon with another ruffle of Tails' head fur. They shared a short hug, and just like that, Sonic was off. One with the wind once more as he shot through Station Square.

A couple days later, Sonic found himself on his way to the Chao Garden. Surprisingly, idea number one didn't do much for very long. After a couple hours heading away from Station Square, Sonic ended up in Spagonia. While he had been there before, he figured it would be a great opportunity to learn more about the country and admire it's scenery, since the last time he was there he'd been a bit, uh, preoccupied, what with the whole world being split apart thing.

It was an interesting trip! He'd spent a few hours roaming the various towns and villages, visiting many different local markets, historical landmarks, even found a few quiet secluded fields where the wind was soft, blowing the grass in a way that just slightly brushed at Sonic’s ankles rhythmically. It should have been everything Sonic had been hoping to achieve in terms of internal peace for the last few months. Yet, he still felt the thrum of energy under his skin, as if it was trying to escape.

Sonic continued to wander Spagonia for another day or so, until he deemed idea number one a lost cause. So much for doing hat he did best. So, off to the Chao Garden he ran.

Sonic was excited on his way there. He probably would have dropped by whether idea one had worked or not; he missed the little guys and had been severely lacking in recent visits. The chao were always so cute and welcoming, Sonic couldn’t help but feel protective over them. He had always noticed how they were so expressive and all their little differences in personalities and quirks. They were like their own type of people, which endlessly endeared Sonic.

Upon entering the hidden garden, Sonic decided to announce his presence, still halfway through the opening of the area.

“Hey guysssss, guess who’s backkkk!” his sing-song tone of voice already alerted several chao, running and flying over from different corners of the garden. Sonic laughed as two flew up, sitting on his head, grabbing hold of his ears like handlebars, two more fluttering around him, and three others at his feet, holding his legs as if they were toddlers asking for a parent’s attention.

Sonic almost melted from just how fucking adorable they were.

“Awww did you guys miss me?” this was met with many coos of agreement, as well as his ears being tugged and one chao moving from fluttering to trying to make itself at home in Sonic’s quills, although he quickly turned around and stopped it before something truly tragic could occur, instead moving to place it on his shoulder.

Moving further into the garden, careful not to trample any of the chao still clinging his legs, Sonic started with his normal routine he fulfilled whenever he stopped by. He went round every little crevice of the grassy garden making sure all the chao were aware he was there and seeing if any of them needed help with anything. Whether this was with moving their eggs from place to place, or resolving conflicts, or moving large obstacles that blocked certain pathways, he was always happy to do whatever they required.

Today however, it seemed the chao were managing just fine by themselves, so Sonic sat against a large rock and watched as the chao played or continued to cuddle into him.

As he observed the small creatures before him, he felt his thoughts start to wander in his mind that apparently kept up with his slogan of “gotta go fast!” as well as his legs did. He noted the scenery of the garden, with grass greener than even Green Hill, and the many little pools the chao swam in, from which although Sonic trusted the chao immensely, he made sure to keep his distance.

Sonic always found it intriguing how much the chao loved water. He didn’t understand how they could find so much joy in something that caused him so much fear. But he guessed that was one of the beauties of life; all the differing views held by every individual creature, making every single one incredibly unique and impossible to find anywhere else.

Hell, there were probably millions of people who didn’t even like running! And Sonic lived on running!

Which now that he thought about it, he could really go for a run right about now. He knew it hadn’t been long, but he already missed the burning sensation in his legs and the adrenaline of-

 Oh, Chaos. Idea number 2 had failed as well, hadn’t it?

Here he was in the chao garden, and yet he couldn’t keep his mind off running and the suffocating need to move for five damn minutes?

Realising how zoned out he was, Sonic once again looked around at the chao, but instead of finding the three that had remained by his legs when he sat down, the space was empty, and he noticed his feet had been tapping against the ground for who knows how long.

With a sigh, Sonic stood. Brushing the dirt off his fur, he looked over to see a small group of chao setting up for a race, lighting up and quickly jogging over to referee. As they lined up at the start, Sonic did his best sports announcer voice and spared no dramatics when introducing and starting the race. After the chao set off Sonic silently scolded himself for wishing he could be the one having a race- although it wasn’t like anyone could keep up with him anyway.

With a cute little light purple and yellow chao winning the race (which had accumulated a small crowd of other chao while Sonic was doing his thing), Sonic excused himself, heading to the opening of the garden to leave and bidding his goodbyes to the chao.

As soon as his shoes had touched the familiar dirt outside of the Chao Garden, Sonic was off, the familiar energy welcoming him as he shot through the forest. He didn’t have a destination in mind- rarely ever did- it didn’t matter to him, as long as he was moving somewhere.

 When Sonic was running it felt like he could actually breathe. He didn’t have trouble breathing at all, not unless he had a particularly bad cold, but when he was stationary the air had a different feeling to it, almost as if it was as stagnant as he was. When he was running, it felt so much fresher. Cleaner.

His elation however was short lived, as although he had finally achieved some morsel of peace of mind, he couldn’t stop himself being disappointed that neither of his two amazing fool proof ideas had worked. Was he really that dependent on running and fighting to keep him feeling sane? How long has it been since he had a good battle with Eggman? Four? Five months? That’s barely anything! And it had passed a lot faster than he expected it to, as well!

Had Sonic been so preoccupied with seeking any sort of adrenaline that he had let the days blend together that much?

Wow, I sound kinda sadistic, don’t I?

His whole life, going from running and fighting, fighting and running, each evil scheme becoming more extreme that the last. Was the thrill the only thing keeping him happy?

No that doesn’t make sense at all! Despite his busy and constantly fast paced life, he did find time for the smaller joys. Relaxing at the beach with his friends while adamantly refusing to get in the water. Showing others around in places that were unfamiliar even to him. Having an all-nighter movie night despite knowing he’ll be exhausted the next day. Lying in a grassy field while the sun beat down on his fur, finding enjoyment in the simple action of being there. His favourite foods, colours, places, people.

What had happened to that?

None of it had gone anywhere, really. He could call his friends and hang out at any time. Take a tour around the world. Eat the world’s finest most delicate cuisine (a chili dog obviously).

It hadn’t gone anywhere. But maybe it was changing. Maybe that was what Sonic couldn’t grasp. The lack of assuredness that ‘yeah, tomorrow Eggman’s probably gonna show up with all his robots ‘cause I said his moustache looks like grass’ or ‘you’re saying I have to help clean up another city?? How many of those things did that guy trash??’

Everyone else seemed to be coping with the sudden complete change of the status quo just fine, even happy to move on while their lives. Sonic was happy at first, but now he guessed it was because he wasn’t thinking of himself (and when did he ever unless it was to joke about his ego?), but rather he thought about how good it was for everyone else.

You would think of all people Sonic’s opinion would be the most enthusiastic about the way things had ended up, due to being Eggman’s main target and sworn enemy.  But that was his life’s purpose was it not? What was Sonic the Hedgehog if he wasn’t the beloved Hero of Mobius?

He guessed in the last few months, he hadn’t really tried to find out. That could be an explanation to how on edge and dissatisfied he felt. That would make sense as to why his attempts over the last few days haven’t worked. They were things that were attached to protection, but with nothing to protect he was aimless.

The last time he was in Spagonia had been during the Dark Gaia/ werehog incident. He was protecting all of the different areas of the world from being split apart and destroyed. While he had enjoyed his time there, it didn’t feel quite right with his prior experience being so impactful.

Normally, he checked up on the chao because they were adorable yes, but mainly to make sure there was nothing wrong. No danger that threatened their peaceful way of life. This time, Sonic knew they were fine, so it had felt like there wasn’t as much weight to his visit.

Sonic slowed his pace to a stop when he realised that not only had he come across a beautiful field littered with gorgeous tiny flowers, but that it was night and the moon was out. He took a moment to admire the view. The colours weren’t the easiest to see in the dark, but the moon lit up as much as it could, giving the small flowers a light blue shine that only made them seem extremely soft and appealing to Sonic. Sitting down, it seemed his suspicion was correct, taking a moment as the grass lightly sat against his fur, almost welcoming him on the ground.

And Sonic was never one to deny such an invitation, so despite the loss of the view of the breathtaking landscape, Sonic laid down, his quills flattening and spreading out under his head. He’d probably need to pick out an atrocious amount of grass and flowers from them the next day, but right now, he couldn’t bring himself to mind. Instead he focused on the bright moon and stars dancing across the sky.

It was like the stars had their own language, eagerly trying to tell him a story as they softly flickered from their place in the night sky, one he only wished he could start to understand. He guessed there were some things no one was supposed to understand, least of all him.

The thought reminded him of an earlier thing he didn’t understand. He recalled his conversation with Tails when the fox had brought up the idea of listening to music to help Sonic. It wasn’t like he disliked all music, but he’d just never had an emotional attachment to it. What he didn’t understand was how other people could hear the lyrics of a song and relate to it so deeply that it made them feel anything other than mild amusement.

He thought song lyrics could be confusing a lot of the time. He didn’t get why so many artists insisted on using such vague metaphors that Sonic would need to both look up online, as well as have it explained in depth for him, to even understand. He could acknowledge when a song or artist was technically good (as in being skilled) but he didn’t ever have the need to listen to more of it. Even so, it was on the list, so he supposed he should at least be able to tell Tails he tried.

Turning on his communicator screen, which Tails had recently installed, and pulling out some (wired) earphones Tails had lent him, he opened the message Tails had sent him with a playlist he had made for Sonic to listen to, should the need arise. When the playlist had loaded, Sonic doubted his brother had actually made a brand new hand-picked playlist purely for this unlikely circumstance, as it was quite long and looked like it contained most of Tails’ favourite songs (Sonic could recognise these due to how frequently Tails would blast them on full volume either from his workshop or even just around the house with Sonic there).

The first couple songs that played, Sonic didn’t like very much. He knew the kind of music the fox listened to, so he knew this was bound to happen at some point. He just didn’t know it would be right away that he felt the need to skip through the songs before they were even half way through.

Tails had a mixed bag of a music taste, in Sonic’s opinion. He was mostly into older songs, 70s and 80s to be precise. Sonic didn’t actively dislike this type of music, but he felt they all sounded quite similar. At a certain point, all the songs that were playing blended into each other and Sonic wasn’t able to tell when one song ended and another began, often only realising near the end of a song that a different one had even started playing.

But then there were some complete wildcards. Most of these caught Sonic’s attention more as it was actually something with variety, but he still found himself not being invested. Some were probably just for the humour (Sonic giggled at a song called “What Does the Fox Say?” because of course Tails would find immense enjoyment in that), but some were just plain bad.

There was one song that caught his attention more positively, however. When it first started playing, Sonic had thought Tails added it by accident. It was so different to the entire rest of the playlist and Sonic hadn’t heard him listen to anything like this before. It started with nothing but an electric guitar playing a simple riff, which wasn’t that unusual, but unlike most other songs that Tails had accumulated in the playlist that all had a generally positive vibe, this was in a minor key and the instruments had some kind of distortion, instantly intriguing Sonic.

It wasn’t long until a bass guitar and drums kicked in, picking up the pace of the song in a way Sonic didn’t expect, and he closed his eyes, relaxing further into the soft ground. He found himself getting lost in the intense beat of the drums. Behind his closed eyes, he could almost see the instruments as he focused on all the different parts and layers. Harmonies syncing up and clashing in a way that scratched an itch Sonic didn’t know he had.

He was surprised when that was only the intro to the song, the sound becoming much smaller but no less impactful as the instruments made way for the vocalist to start the first verse. It was a different style of singing to everything on Tails’ playlist (much like the rest of the song). It felt much less perfected and synthetic but still with a great level of skill that left Sonic in awe. It was incredibly expressive, sounding like a mixture of singing and speaking that still kept a strong sense of control in the tone.

When the chorus started and the beat picked up again, Sonic found himself tapping his feet against the ground and nodding his head to the beat. Sonic had heard rock before obviously, but again, his main exposure to music has always been Tails, who he didn’t exactly share a music taste with. Although to be fair, until now Sonic didn’t even know what his music taste was.

He shot up at the thought, opening his eyes and turning his communicator screen back on to start his search. At least he knew one thing; he really liked this one song. He turned on the option to loop the song as he searched the artist who made it. Other than just “rock,” he found that they were associated with other genres like alternative and metal.

Finding a random playlist of said genres, he un-looped the song and listened to more as he continued down the rabbit hole he found himself eagerly walking into through researching even more genres and artists.

For once, Sonic ended up actually paying attention to the lyrics as well as the melodies and instrumentals. He was still a melody-first guy, but he found that now he gave himself the chance to actually appreciate them, the lyrics could be incredibly artful and deep. Don’t get him wrong, they were still confusing as shit but he realised, its not about understanding the specific words being said, as long as you can still feel the emotion being portrayed through them.

As he continued to listen, Sonic discovered he tended to prefer the songs with more aggressive melodies and angrier moods. Even if the song wasn’t about being angry, Sonic really appreciated the intensity and how it always seemed that every layer was so complex. The speed was also an added benefit. But mainly, he finally began to understand how people could relate to music.

Again, Sonic didn’t totally understand the lyrics most of the time, or the hidden meanings behind them, but it seemed like the heavier, angrier songs had found a way to please the part of his brain that had been so unnervingly loud for the past few months. He wasn’t sure if the music had quietened his hyperactive mind, or if it had simply rose to the same volume, but either way, it was as if they were interacting, conflicting but in a way that made a discordant harmony that was satisfied with a resolution of a chord that almost could iron out all the wrinkles that had been causing Sonic problems.

On the flip side however, Sonic had also become keen on the less heavy side. Songs that weren’t as serious or maybe were but were hiding it behind fun instrumentals and an upbeat tone, still never losing the harsh sound of the distorted guitars and distinctive style of singing. With these, he could get much more lost in the technical side of things, not paying as much attention to the lyrics but rather the harmonies and everything going on in the background that added so much depth to the seemingly simple melodies.

With these, he could feel himself hopeful for getting out of whatever this funk was. While the heavier songs reflected Sonic’s current state of mind and his frustration with himself, he felt the poppier ones could allow him to let go of that frustration, just let himself be while appreciating his light-hearted positive outlook on most things. It was one thing Sonic really liked about himself. The fact that he could so easily make a bad situation seem so much brighter.

These songs made him excited to get back to being that person; the one who lights up a room simply by being himself, rather than the one who no one hardly sees anymore since he’s too busy literally running himself dry to satisfy his rapidly moving mind and body.

After all his research had ceased and Sonic flopped back onto his incredibly comfy makeshift bed for the night, he had fallen asleep before he knew it, strangely comforted despite the loud and harsh sounds directly in his ears. When he woke up, the music was still playing and the sun was shining brightly. He knew if removed his earphones or paused the music, he would probably hear birds happily chirping, but he didn’t want to do that just yet. Feeling energised and optimistic, Sonic began the journey back to Tails’ flat to tell him the good news.

Chapter Text

  After three weeks, Sonic could easily admit he was hooked. After more research and a lot more listening, Sonic had successfully built up his own playlist with handpicked songs containing his new favourite artists and genres (he found himself particularly fond of metal, hard rock and pop punk). When he had reported his findings to Tails the day following his mind opening night, the two tailed fox admitted to only adding the song that had initially gripped Sonic’s attention so harshly because he had asked their friends for advice. Knuckles of course had only suggested songs that he himself enjoyed, with the end of the playlist (which Sonic had never actually gotten to) being full of different rap songs. Tails must have taken a similar approach as the echidna which would explain why the whole first half of the playlist was just Tails’ songs.

But when it came to Amy, Tails admitted she had actually taken longer to respond to his message (around 30 minutes, he reported) evidently having done her own research, taking Sonic’s personal preferences into consideration. It seemed she must have known how he would appreciate the speed and intensity of the music, and he thanked her for it. He was sure that if Amy had tried the same strategy as their other two friends, to just indoctrinate him into her own music taste of preppy, sickly sweet pop songs, Sonic would still be wallowing in that field.

He figured Tails must have told them about Sonic’s unfortunate predicament, which he didn’t mind. He was just glad it meant they had all put in some sort of effort to help Sonic. And he was even more glad that Amy took that extra initiative to know what Sonic needed in that moment. It was largely thanks to her that for the past three weeks, Sonic was feeling like himself again. Running not because it was the only part of his life that still felt right, or because he was running away from anything either literally or metaphorically, but because it was just something he enjoyed.

Over the past three weeks, Sonic had been listening to music constantly. He didn’t know how he’d never seen this side of it before! Suddenly it was very hard for him to believe that this was ever something he lived without and was just fine with it. Unless he was either with his friends, who he had been seeing a lot more of recently, or running (as even despite having wired earphones now, courtesy of Tails, they still refused to stay in his ears while moving at high speeds), he was listening to music. He just couldn’t stop being in awe at how the sounds acted as a way to channel everything in his head he failed to put into words.

The heavily distorted, loud and aggressive instruments changed his brain in a way he found therapeutic, weirdly calming him while simultaneously giving him something to move to, both with his body and his mind. The intricate weaving layers helped move and organise his thoughts and the heavy beats let him tap his feet or nod his head, giving him a physical outlet much different from what he normally tended to appreciate.

It was when he had a lunch with Amy that he thanked her and expressed the many new sensations he was experiencing. His relationship with the pink hedgehog had been a weird one for a while. He wasn’t ever sure how to deal with the constant declarations of love or how she seemed to follow him around in a similar fashion to Tails (although it was much, much different resulting in Sonic being slightly uncomfortable). He really admired the way she’s changed over the years, becoming much more of her own person, no longer attached to Sonic or the idea of him being her boyfriend. It happened in such a natural way that almost nothing had changed between them, which Sonic was extremely grateful for. If anything, they’d gotten closer. While Amy had been previously overbearing, he did always appreciate the genuine bond he had with the other hedgehog, cherishing the moments they were able to just enjoy the other’s company.

Now, Sonic wouldn’t hesitate to call Amy his best friend (next to Tails of course) and he knew she was the same. Not her crush or self-proclaimed “boyfriend,” but a person she had a close connection with, in many ways other than romantic. Sonic really admired her ability to notice her own flaws and make a conscious effort to overcome them.

Bringing himself out of his reflections, he ordered his lunch (a chili dog, what else would you expect?) and took his attention back to Amy sitting across from him in the small café and having ordered right before him.

“So, I take it you’ve been enjoying the music I picked out for you?” she asked him with a self-righteous smirk, knowing she was the only one who’s suggestions had reached the blue blur.

“Yeah! Gotta hand it to you Ames, you hit the nail right on the head!”

“I know,” Amy looked extremely happy with herself at this, continuing her bragging with “I can’t believe those other two had actually thought you would just like exactly what they do. Not surprising from Knuckles, but I expected more of Tails, you know?”

“I think he just really wants me to like that one band from the 70s he’s always got on,” Sonic chuckled to himself at his brother’s innocent hopes.

“To be fair Sonic, it is a bit insane you don’t even like a single song of theirs. They’re like a cultural treasure!”

“Yeah, yeah whatever. I mean, I didn’t even like much music at all before the other week! How did you know I’d like rock?” Sonic asked, intrigued to know the pink hedgehog’s answer.

“I have a friend who likes that sort of stuff.” Amy, never losing her smug demeanour brought her elbow onto the table and in turn, rested her chin on her hand.

“Oh cool! Do I know this mysterious friend of yours?”

“Nah, I don’t think you would. I met him at a Sabrina Carpenter concert.”

“Sabrina Carpenter?”

Those things didn’t add up in Sonic’s head. First of all, Amy having a friend he didn’t know? But Sonic knew, like, everyone! Also, when did she even go to a Sabrina Carpenter concert? Theres no way she would have kept that from Sonic, as he knew she would be gushing for at least a month after, but there is also a very likely possibility that she had told him about it and Sonic just didn’t pay attention. Secondly, Amy had a friend that not only did Sonic not know, but liked Sabrina Carpenter enough to both go to a concert of and meet Amy there (who no doubt was right near the front given how much Sonic knew she loved the singer), and on top of all of that, liked rock music? Like the same kind of rock that Sonic liked, type of rock music? The stuff that borderline berates your ears and is so incredibly intense compared to the pop singer?

“Yup! He’s kinda weird and has a strangely wide range in music taste, but his favourites are pop and rock. Sabrina Carpenter was his first gig, so he kinda just stuck by me even after we were in the line. Oh, and remember that Hot Honey concert I went to?” Sonic did in fact remember the concert in question, as again Amy gushed about it non-stop afterwards. “He’s the one who bought me the tickets as a birthday present.”

“Huh. Interesting. How come I’ve never heard of this guy?” Sonic found himself unbelievably curious about the stranger his friend had just revealed the existence of.

“He’s not much of a people person,” Amy shrugged and paused as she saw a waiter walking over to the table with their food, resuming once her strawberry shortcake (ew) was placed safely in front of her and she had thanked the waiter.

“Trust me, I’ve tried many times to get him to hang out with us, but he never really wants to. I think his job keeps him quite busy as well.”

“Hm. So, he’s not a people person but he likes concerts? Where he’s surrounded by people?” Sonic pondered out loud as he took a bite into his first chili dog.

“Yeah, I don’t really get it either. He says that me being there helps but I know he goes to rock ones that I don’t listen to without me.”

“Oh right, back to the rock stuff!” Sonic could tell that both him and Amy were slightly amused by him getting so distracted wanting to know about this person he hadn’t met.

“So, do you just like, know specific songs he likes? How does he have anything to do with recommending me the exact right thing?” he leaned forward over the table slightly, still intrigued to know whatever Amy had to say about this mystery person.

“Haha right, back on topic. Well despite what you probably think, you two are quite similar, so I ended up just asking him what songs would be a good introduction to rock music. It was quite funny actually; he thought I was finally getting into it at first before I explained to him that it was just for my blue buddy having an existential crisis.”

“Hey! You told him about my existential crisis?! I don’t even know the guy!” Sonic pointed an accusatory chili dog (the second one, which was already halfway finished) in Amy’s direction as she laughed at his exasperation.

“I’m sorry!! I didn’t give him details; I just maybe said the words ‘hard time’ and ‘cry-baby.’”

“AMY!!”

Despite Sonic’s annoyed tone, he wasn’t genuinely upset, more so enjoying the banter with Amy as she teased him. And while it was a bit embarrassing to know a stranger was aware of his unfortunate predicament, he didn’t mind as much, since he’d probably never meet this guy anyway. That, and he knew Amy was probably exaggerating things a little to get a reaction out of him.

Recovering from the laughter that had caused both of the two to double over, Amy continued her explanation.

“Seriously though, I just said you weren’t having a good time, and he gave me a bunch of songs to recommend. That’s it. He actually seemed quite pleased with himself when I told him you enjoyed it.”

“Well then, make sure he has my thanks!”

“Will do!” Amy replied with a smirk and a salute.

The conversation shifted as they continued to eat and when they were finished, they paid for their food and left the café. Not wanting to end the get together, they headed for a walk around the nearby park.

Sonic loved the way the conversation flowed so naturally with Amy. They could talk about anything and everything, and trust them, they tested that limit frequently. He guessed that’s what happened when you took two social butterflies and made them best friends. For someone who could keep up a discussion with almost anyone, it just made sense that talking to Amy would be as easy as breathing to Sonic. He would not be able to count all the different topics they switched through, but he knew they were all amazingly worthwhile.

As the day dragged on and the sun got lower in the sky, with Sonic and Amy at one point sitting down on a bench to continue talking and get a good view of the sunset, Sonic found himself appreciating the scenery as the discussion slowed. Rather than constant blethering, they would both look out at the sky in comfortable quiet, instead opting to talk to the other every couple of minutes whenever their thoughts drifted to something that deserved to be vocalised.

During one of their quiet moments of staring at the soft gradient in the sky, Sonic felt a buzz from his wrist and looked down to see a message on his communicator from Tails. It was a link to a social media account. Opening the link Sonic found it was the account of his favourite band and almost jumped out of his seat when he read the full post.

“OH MY CHAOS!!” Never mind, he did jump out of his seat.

“GAIA, SONIC WHATS WRONG!?” startled from Sonic’s sudden outburst, Amy too jumped out of her seat on the bench, manifesting her hammer that she still made sure to keep on her at all times, clearly thinking there was some sort of danger.

“Shit, sorry Ames! Nothing’s wrong I just got really excited there!” Sonic sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, guiding Amy back down to the bench, who hesitantly complied and set down her hammer.

“Excited? About what?”

“Look!” Sonic shoved his wrist in Amy’s face, far too close for her to read, but it turned out she didn’t even need it as Sonic told her anyway.

“Crush 40 is going on tour and they’re playing in Station Square! Next week!!!”

Over the past three weeks, Sonic had made pretty much everyone he knew aware of his love for the band. They weren’t the initial one that caught his attention, but his playlist was absolutely plagued with their music, very quickly achieving the spot of Sonic’s favourite.

“What?! Oh my Chaos, Sonic, you have to go!” finally snapped out of her stupor, Amy became almost as excited as Sonic, grabbing his hands with wide eyes and smile as she just about bounced in her seat.

“I don’t know, Ames, I’ve never been to any of that kinda stuff before…”

“I’ll go with you!” Amy enthusiastically replied.

“You don’t even like rock music though?”

“I don’t mind! I’m down for going to just about any concert anyway,” she smiled as she reassured the other hedgehog.

“Theres a first time for everything, so, this can be a new experience for both of us! OH, and you can meet my friend! I’m pretty sure he’s had a ticket to that for at least a couple mo-”

“YOU KNEW THIS WAS HAPPENING AND DIDN’T TELL ME???”

“No! Sonic, calm down! This is the first I’m hearing of this as well! I just know that his favourite band is also Crush 40. Here, I’ll even ask him right now if he’s going.”

She turned on her own communicator, Sonic leaning over to see the message she was typing out, also hoping to catch a glimpse of this mysterious friend’s name, the fact that Amy had not yet mentioned it not escaping Sonic. To his disappointment, Amy only had an (admittedly funny) nickname saved for the person.

To “Swiftie in Disguise” at 19:23

Amy Rose: Hey! Just heard about Crush 40 coming to Station Square! You going to that?

Luckily, they didn’t need to wait long for a response, the other only taking mere seconds to start typing and send his reply.

Swiftie in Disguise: Obviously.

“See, Sonic? You’ll have me, your absolutely amazing, wonderful friend, to keep you company, you’ll meet someone new who enjoys the same things you do, and most importantly, you’ll be seeing your favourite band live! There is no reason for you not to go!” Amy triumphantly declared once she had read the message. Sonic couldn’t deny that the confident look in her eyes made him feel much more sure of himself. And anyway, since when was Sonic the Hedgehog afraid of new experiences?

“You know what, you’re right Ames, let’s do this!”

“Hell yeah!”

With that, the two hedgehogs fist bumped, and Sonic eagerly bought his ticket. He had offered to buy one for Amy as well, but she had insisted on buying her own, even if it meant having to wait a couple of days until she was paid, to buy them. Either way, the two were excited for the new experience they would be having, and after a while, with the sun having now fully set, they parted ways.

As Amy walked away, having bid goodbye to Sonic, she realised that through all the excitement, she had failed to notice a second message from her other friend, that must have been sent during the unnecessarily complicated process of buying Sonic’s ticket. She eagerly opened the message, excited to tell him about the new development of her day.

19:26, Swiftie in Disguise: Why?

20:42, Amy Rose: You’ll seeeeeeeee!

Swiftie in Disguise: Spill it, Rose.

Amy Rose: Ok, fine! You’re no fun!

Amy Rose: I’m gonna come too!

Swiftie in Disguise: Again, why? You don’t even like Crush 40?

Amy Rose: Can’t a girl try some new things? Anyway, it’s not for me

Amy Rose: Remember that friend I told you about? He’s going and wants some company

Swiftie in Disguise: Gaia, is this guy your boyfriend or something?

Amy almost tripped where she was walking, conscious of the other people around her meaning it probably wasn’t socially acceptable to burst with laughter.

Amy Rose: HAH, nope, just a close friend!

Swiftie in Disguise: Alright then.

Swiftie in Disguise: I suppose you’ll want me to look out for you?

Amy Rose: Nah that’s alr, I can find you when we’re there

Swiftie in Disguise: Okay.

Taking that as his polite way of ending the conversation, Amy switched off her communicator and finished her walk home, excited for the week ahead.

It was finally the day of the concert and Sonic was so excited that it had been the only thing he had been thinking about for the past 6 days. Which had also been the entire length of time he was even aware of the concert. His mind had been bubbling with so many thoughts as he frantically prepared himself.

Thoughts such as: ‘what am I gonna wear? Should I wear anything? I mean no clothes is my norm so it’s not exactly strange, but should I put in more effort?’

Or ‘maybe I should bring a camera and that way I can take videos or pictures? Is that even allowed? That feels like it wouldn’t be allowed. Where would I even put it? Okay definitely wearing clothes.’

Along with, ‘should I just run there, or will Amy be wanting to arrive together? What if I get there first but then we can’t wait in the line together if more people get there before her? Is that a thing? I should probably ask Amy-’

His ruminating, however, was interrupted by a buzz on his wrist when he received a message from none other than the pink hedgehog herself.

13:16, Amezzz: Hey Sonic, I am so so so sorry, but I can’t make it to the concert tonight :(

If Sonic had a drink, he would have spat it out.

Blue Blur: WHAT?????

Blue Blur AMES??!1!?

Amezzz: IM SORRYYYY

Amezzz: Vanilla had an emergency at work, and I was the only one available to look after Cream!

Blue Blur: BUT U WERENT AVAILABLE THO??

Amezzz: I actually was… I hadn’t bought my ticket yet. I was getting paid today…

Curse Amy Rose and her responsible maternal nature. Curse capitalism. Curse Vanilla’s job. He didn’t know what she did, but he knew it probably sucked. And no, he wasn’t sour or projecting because of the situation, that would be absurd.

Blue Blur: she couldnt have gotten like vector or knux to do it?

Amezzz: Chaotix are out of town on a job

Amezzz: And are you really saying you trust Knuckles with childcare?

Blue Blur: fair point

Blue Blur: still, isn’t cream what 14 now? she can handle taking care of herself at this point surely!

Amezzz: She’s 13, and that’s still not old enough to spend an entire day and night by herself!

Amezzz: You’ll be fine Sonic, trust me. And even if you’re not, my friend will look after you

Blue Blur: ugh fine i’ll trust u ig. but could u at least tell me this guy’s name before I spend an entire evening with him??

Amezzz: I guess he’ll just have to tell you himself ;)

“Amezzz” is offline

Blue Blur: booooooooo >:(

Sighing heavily, Sonic turned off his communicator and flopped onto his bed, in the room in Tails’ flat he had finally officially claimed as his. He figured he should check how much time he had before he should get ready. Not that it would take very long for the fastest thing alive, but more to quell his nerves. 13:34 was the time displayed on the sad little alarm clock by his bed that never saw any use of its intended purpose. The doors didn’t open until 7pm, but Amy had said it would be best to arrive at least an hour and a half early, so he can get the “full concert experience.” By this she had of course meant getting a spot in the crowd close to the front, while leaving room to get merch and any drinks they may want before the support acts began their sets.

Sonic wasn’t one to deny his friend’s advice, so he made a mental note to stick to this schedule, knowing Amy was probably correct about this being the best course of action. So, given this time frame, Sonic had around 4 hours to either get ready and wait, stewing in the anticipation, or do fuck all before getting ready in the last possible minutes before he became late for his imaginary deadline. Neither option was very appealing to Sonic, as he knew neither would take his mind off the pure excitement, he had for the evening to come. While this did now have an underlying layer or anxiety, it was easily overpowered by the feeling of the awaiting adventure. At this point, it had been nearly six whole months since he’d had a new experience remotely similar to this, and Sonic was going to cherish it as much as he could.

With a new determination, he all but threw himself off the bed, walking over to the large wardrobe housing clothes that rarely saw the light of day, deciding to get ready sooner rather than later. He knew he needed to fit the vibe of the music with his outfit, so he came to one conclusion: Sonic needed to look cool. In his opinion, he always looked cool; can’t beat sharp blue quills and sleek red shoes! But today, he had to look even cooler than he normally was.

Dark colours. They were cool right? They certainly fit the mood of the event. He pulled out all of the black or dark clothing he owned and laid them out on the bed, along with a couple white shirts for contrast. He decided he should build the outfit one step at a time, so going with the easiest option (as that is what he owned the least of) he focused on… the pants. Sonic had never been particularly fond of pants. He’d found most clothes tight and restricting but especially with pants, he felt he simply couldn’t move. He was born to run but they always trapped his legs, the fabric moving in the most awkward ways.

Due to this, Sonic only owned four pairs of pants. Two sets of joggers, one formal pair of trousers he had worn a grand total of one time, and one pair of loose ripped jeans. All of which were black, save for one of the joggers which was red. He quickly vetoed the formal trousers and red joggers, knowing he would not be able to make an outfit with them that fit his specific current requirements. That left him with two options; black joggers, or black ripped jeans.

He knew he would be more comfortable in the joggers, yet he found himself much more drawn to the jeans. He liked the idea of having just the right amount of blue fur poking through the holes at the knees, and knew they would go with a lot of his wardrobe and had the exact energy about them he was looking for. Having made his decision, he picked up the jeans and put them on. Interestingly, they were much more comfortable than he remembered, solidifying his decision even more.

The next step of the process went similarly. Shoes. Did he even have other shoes from the ones he wore daily? The answer was no. No, he did not. Well then, that’s that sorted. He briefly considered going out to buy a new pair, but decided against it as he knew it would only contribute to his indecisiveness.

The shirts was probably the most difficult step. Not even focusing on how they looked yet, Sonic had to consider the style he would wear. He loved the spikes that protruded off his back, they were one of the things he thought helped him look so cool. But sometimes, they did make things needlessly complicated. Sometimes, he was able to buy shirts specifically made for hedgehogs that accommodated this, but most of the time, they were either uncomfortably squished down under the fabric or ended up ripping through it entirely if it was thin enough. He decided against the shirts that had been torn through, coming to the conclusion that holes only looked good in clothes if they were there on purpose.

That left him with the choice of either uncomfortable flattened quills, or the very few shirts that allowed him to proudly show them off. He decided to actually look at the individual shirts, and just dealing with whatever style he ended up with. Examining the pile he had accumulated on top of his bed, he decided he didn’t want to wear a t-shirt. That would be too constricting, and more likely to rip through fabric even if hey were the specially designed ones. A hoodie would be too warm; he knew enough about concerts to now he would be constantly moving so he needed not only a full range of movement, but something that would allow him to stay cool. Temperature-wise this time.

And then the idea hit him that Sonic would’ve sworn caused a light bulb to appear above his head. A button up shirt! He could leave it unbuttoned, either partially or fully, either would work, and most of his button ups were hedgehog made, giving him all the freedom he could ask for in a garment. After some more thinking, he decided on a dark blue shirt that complimented and didn’t clash with the colour of his fur. Taking a step back from the bed to view the full outfit in the mirror, Sonic caught a glimpse of the time in his alarm clock. 17:28. Chaos, had it really taken him that long to decide on an outfit?

Somewhat belatedly, Sonic’s eyes shot wider as he realised what it meant. He was almost late for his imaginary schedule! Sonic was no stranger to being late for things, but part of him still wanted to uphold the effort of Amy’s planning before she had been oh, so, rudely taken from him. Well, it was a good thing he was the fastest thing alive.

Stuffing a small digital camera into his jean pocket and dashing through the flat, he quickly waved goodbye to Tails, reminding him to better be asleep by the time Sonic gets home, and finally made his way to the ever-anticipated concert venue.

Shadow was exhausted. Even despite the Eggman situation being well and truly dealt with, it seemed G.U.N. had only been intent on making Shadow’s life harder, giving him more and more missions as the months went on. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised that the organisation would take advantage of his lesser need for food and sleep, but even so, ‘lesser’ didn’t mean ‘non-existent.’

Every day, he considered the option of leaving. Hell, he knew that if anything, he should never have joined the government agency to begin with. Why should he be serving the people who had taken so much from him? He shuddered at the thought of his 50 years spent in stasis, and the events that had preceded it. Even afterwards, when the technology acting as his prison had malfunctioned, allowing him a brief sense of clarity and enough consciousness to somehow successfully escape, it had taken him so long to come to terms with even the idea of his existence. G.U.N. had only provided a sense of routine, and a reassurance that Shadow had still been honouring her.

Maria was in every part of Shadow’s being. From the moment he woke up, to the second his mind drifted to unconsciousness. Even making appearances in the in between moments of his dreams. He held her memory close to him, as well as her love and hope for the world. For him. It was the one thing that had kept him going early on. Managing to find beauty in every crevice of the world she had never got the chance to fully appreciate. So, if he had to think of a reason he was still with G.U.N., it would be her, as was everything else. This way, he kept his promise and could keep them in check when the organisation fell out of line.

Today was like most. He had been on yet another mission for the past few days, but it would thankfully be over soon. What irritated him most about this mission, was that it was not even high stakes, yet his commanders had treated it like solving world hunger. All they were doing was picking up after the Restoration’s lousy attempts to safeguard an old Robotnik base. The majority of the mission had actually been finding the damn thing, as it had turned out, their intel on the location had been incorrect, so Team Dark had to go in blind, only knowing the vague direction of their destination, being given very little guidance for how to move forwards.

When they had finally found the base (the correct one; Omega had accidentally barged into multiple retired bases — turned storage units) Shadow wasted no time in shooting a chaos spear right through the centre of the door, leaving a large enough hole for the three to enter through.

“Rouge, Omega, let’s keep this quick. I don’t want to be late tonight.”

“Agreed. Don’t forget I also have plans for tonight, Shadow.”

“AS LONG AS I GET TO DESTROY SOMETHING, I WILL BE SATISFIED.”

Shadow smirked to himself at his friends’ responses as they walked further into the abandoned base. Their connection had been a strange one, and certainly not something he would have expected after coming out of stasis, but he was eternally grateful for them. It had been hard at first to let them in, his emotional walls far too high and far too fortified to even think about breaking down. Even so, they had wormed their way through the cracks before he had even realised, and once they were in, he couldn’t imagine kicking them out.

Shadow had met Rouge first, before either of them had joined G.U.N. funnily enough. They had both been chasing after the same chaos emerald, running into each other a month or so after Shadow woke up. At the time, Shadow was very hateful, stuck in his grief for Maria and wanting nothing but to hurt anyone who came too close to him. And so that was what happened, initiating a fight with Rouge that Shadow quickly won after almost tearing her wing. He took the chaos emerald and chaos controlled out of the bat’s sight and even despite his strong first impression, he started noticing her more and more frequently. She now insists she wanted to simple steal back the chaos emerald an get some form of payback, and maybe that was how it began.

But over time, the two would have actual conversations with each other and slowly but surely formed a strong bond. Rouge had been the one to help Shadow process his grief and he helped her in return. Shadow wasn’t the best at emotional comfort (he probably wouldn’t even go far enough to say he’s good at it), but to Rouge, his presence provided all the comfort she needed. He didn’t meet Omega until he decided to join G.U.N. and coincidentally was paired with Rouge as well as the robot who G.U.N. had also recently employed after he was (somehow) not destroyed in the aftermath of him turning against Eggman. He wasn’t as easy to talk to, but Shadow appreciated him nonetheless.

Team Dark paused when they reached the centre of the forgotten base. Their objective was to neutralise any potential dangers, such as left over badniks or unattended weapons, as well as securing the building in order for G.U.N. to reasonably claim it as their own. No point letting it go to waste Shadow guessed. The base was rather large and had four seperate hallways branching off from the main area they currently stood in. Shadow volunteered to take the first and second, with Rouge taking the third, and Omega, the fourth.

The first hallway was uneventful. It was long and straight with no rooms other than the one at the very end of the hallway, which was mostly empty, save for some scrap metal parts and a single non-functioning badnik. Deeming the room safe, he made his way to the next hallway.

This one was much more winding, narrow with random turns and corners but once again, nothing of note. The room at the end of the long path however, at least had something interesting. A large screen with a keyboard below was displayed at the far back wall, with even more scrap metal littering the floor. Shadow walked over to the screen, curious to see whether it would turn on and if he could collect any useful information once he did. There were no visible plug sockets in any walls nor could he make out any stray wires in the dark room.

The wiring must all be internal to the building. He thought with a sigh. He’d have to report this to G.U.N. later, meaning that despite having the evening off, this mission would not end within the next hour like he’d hoped. That’s not even to mention all the added paperwork it would cau-

Shadow was brought out of his analysing when he felt a hard force behind him knock him to the ground. There was a slight pain in his left arm, which had taken the brunt of his weight as he collided with the cold floor, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. Quickly turning around, he was met with the sight of a rather large badnik, dishevelled from the months of disuse but functional nonetheless. Well, not for long. While it was bigger than the average badnik, it still wasn’t much taller than Shadow himself, so he found it easy taking it down. He delivered a swift punch before chaos controlling to teleport just above the badnik’s head, bringing down a heavy kick reinforced by the weight of his air shoes, effectively finishing the robot off. After one last scan of the room, and finding nothing else of note, he returned to the main area to meet back up with Omega and Rouge, eager to leave and get the mission over with.

When he arrived back at Team Dark’s shared apartment, he wasted no time in throwing on the outfit he had pre-planned on wearing a whole two weeks in advance. The lack of buzzes from his communicator told him that everything must have been going well on Amy’s end. They had agreed to meet in the line of the concert at around 5:30pm. Shadow had already been planning on showing up around this time, but it was nice to know his friend would finally be joining him at a concert a bit differently paced than their normal pop. He wasn’t looking forward to meeting whoever this new friend was, but tried to keep an open mind. Amy had said he get along with him, so who was he to reject her attempts at getting him to socialise?

Glancing at the clock in his room, (17:25) he made sure his ticket was secure in the pocket of his leather jacket, and said goodbye to his friends before speeding off to the concert.

While it may have been 5 minutes before his planned arrival time, he wasn’t worried about making it there on time. He mainly decided to skate to the venue as it was enjoyable and built up his anticipation for the night, as if the release of energy from his air shoes left room for even more, purely reserved for the gig. And if he was concerned about being late, he knew he could just teleport to the venue, which was one he was familiar with, having been there a few times already. Spotting the large sign with letters reading “CRUSH 40, TONIGHT, SOLD OUT,” he slowed his pace to a walk, and quietly joined the end of the line. Processing the information on the sign, he thought abut how lucky Amy and her friend must have been to receive tickets not only at such short notice, but for a sold out show, no less.

Speaking of whom, he figured he should check in with Amy to see how she’s getting along and to know when to start looking out for her. He had arrived bang on 5:30pm, so he imagined he had not yet arrived, but wouldn’t take long to make an appearance. He lifted his wrist up to turn on his communicator and- what? It wasn’t turning on. There’s no way it was dead, Shadow’s communicator ran off low amounts of his own chaos energy. Inspecting it further, Shadow noticed a small fracture on the underside of the device, and then it hit him. The base. It must have broken when that god damned badnik jumped him-

SMACK-

Chaos, was Shadow ever going to get to finish a fucking sentence?? Turning around to see whatever imbecile had just run full speed into his back, Shadow spotted a frantic looking blue hedgehog, breathing heavily but looking incredibly pleased with himself.

“17:33, YES!!” the blue hedgehog cheered, oblivious to Shadow’s deadly glare.

“Watch where you’re going idiot,” Shadow made sure to spit out the word ‘idiot’ as if it were a slur.

“Oh, shit, sorry man! I didn’t see you there, hah!”

“Clearly,” Shadow muttered under his breath, but with no less venom than he had used previously. What was it with him and getting run into today?

“This the line for Crush 40?” the blue hedgehog breezed on with a smile, as if he hadn’t just severely worsened the hybrid’s mood.

“Yes,” he gave as dry of a response as possible, hoping it would get the hedgehog to stop talking to him.

“Heh, not much of a talker, are you?” Shadow didn’t dignify this with a response, simply continuing to glare before moving to turn back to look ahead of him, focusing instead on the length of the line, and how long he supposed it would take to get to the front of once the doors opened.

“Sooooo, what’s your name?” Shadow sighed as he turned back around to look at the blue annoyance, unsure if he was purposefully continuing to talk to him to get on his nerves, or if he was just dense.

“Why must you know?”

“Uhhhh, because I wanna know your name?? I’m tryna start a conversation here dude!”

“Can’t you bother someone else?” Shadow replied exasperatedly.

“Well, no, no one’s behind me yet,” the other hedgehog said as he gestured behind him, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world (which it maybe should have been).

“You don’t have friends to occupy yourself with?”

“Nah, I kinda got ditched,” the blue hedgehog sheepishly admitted while rubbing he back of his neck, before changing his expression to that of a small dog. “Bit unfortunate if you ask me. This is my first concert.”

“Sucks for you.” Shadow allowed himself a small smirk at the hedgehog’s lack of response, most likely stunned at the black hedgehog’s dismissal to his not-so-subtle pleas for sympathy.

He actually felt quite proud when this had in turn, shocked the imbecile into silence, and Shadow turned away again, with the newfound bliss from the other’s high voice no longer constantly grating on his ears.

That was until he spoke up again, eliciting a sigh as Shadow’s reprieve was cut short.

“I’m Sonic by the way!”

While Shadow didn’t care at all for the blue hedgehog- Sonic, he now knew- he briefly considered the pros and cons of giving his own name. While he knew it would be incredibly rude to not offer his own, he couldn’t bring himself to care. Sonic had been plenty rude to Shadow, so why should he care? He shouldn’t, that’s why. While Shadow prided himself in his manners, he wasn’t afraid of not giving others that luxury who he deemed did not deserve it. Sonic was definitely one of those people.

On one hand, if Shadow refused to give his name, that may result in the blue hedgehog finally taking a hint, but with how much he’d seen of his personality, even in such little time, he figured that wouldn’t be the case. So, against all his better judgement, he reluctantly answered, in the hope that it would placate the hyperactive hedgehog.

“Shadow.”

This was met with a wide smile along with a nod of acknowledgement from Sonic.

“Nice to meet ya!”

“Sure.”

Shadow wasn’t sure how one person could physically smile that much. Was it not hurting him? His eyes held such a child-like wonder that Shadow briefly wondered if the other were, in fact, a child. It wouldn’t be that hard to believe, although Shadow wouldn’t pin him to be any younger than 18. Maybe his own age (25), at most.

“You been to many concerts before?” Sonic said, rudely interrupting Shadow’s thoughts.

“Why do you keep talking to me?” Shadow said with a growl, running a hand down his face in an attempt to contain his irritation.

“Gotta pass the time somehow! And if this is my first time at one of these things,” he took a step closer to Shadow with an unnervingly cocky expression, “I figured someone should at least let me know what to expect!” This earned Sonic a harsh shove from Shadow, careful to avoid the people who had joined the line after the blue hedgehog who had been slowly building in numbers as the minutes passed.

“If I entertain you for now, will you leave me alone once the doors open?”

“Sure!” The statement wasn't very convincing to Shadow, but he figured that was as good as he was going to get in terms of having a definite moment to escape the headache he somehow had found himself stuck with.

“Fine. Yes, I go to gigs frequently.”

“Cool! Do you always go by yourself?”

“Not all the time. Sometimes I have a friend with me. She’s supposed to be coming tonight but my communicator is broken, so I can’t exactly contact her to find out when” Shadow let out some frustration by smacking the said broken communicator when he mentioned it. Whether he was more mad about the broken device itself, or Amy’s lack of appearance, Shadow didn’t know, but he didn’t give it much thought.

“That would be funny if we both got ditched right?”

Shadow once again glared at Sonic. No, it wouldn’t be funny, because then I would have less of an excuse to get away from you. He thought bitterly.

“Do you like it better when you’re by yourself?”

“Sometimes. I generally prefer my own company over others.”

“Hah, emo.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing, Hot Topic!”

Not holding back this time, Shadow punched Sonic in the side, slightly regretting it as it earned concerned looks from the people around them in the line. Although he couldn’t think about this for long as his attention was quickly drawn by Sonic, who was not writhing in pain, or trying to get away from Shadow as the intended effect had been, but he was laughing. The only evidence that Shadow had even touched the blue hedgehog was the fact that he was lightly gripping his side, and slouched over a little, though this easily could have been from the laughter. Shadow wanted nothing more than to interrogate Sonic on what was going through his mind, to not only not seem even the least bit scared of the hybrid, but to also enjoy his presence? No, that can’t be right. He must have just been getting a kick out of publicly humiliating Shadow, the attention of the others in the line being the only reason he had not yet throttled the other, much more annoying, hedgehog.

Shadow was only left to stare in befuddlement as Sonic’s laughs slowly quietened to a soft chuckle, collecting himself and straightening up, removing his hand from his side after rubbing it slightly.

“What is it like?”

“What?” His quick recovery had shocked Shadow slightly, having to take a double take at Sonic’s words.

“Concerts. Like I said, I’ve never been to one before.”

“Why don’t you just wait and find out” While Shadow had considered giving a proper answer as he processed Sonic’s seemingly genuine tone and question, he was far more amused by giving the blue hedgehog a little bit of his own medicine by winding him up and avoiding his inquiry, but unknowingly piquing the other’s curiosity.

“Dudeee, stop being a party killer Shads, I just wanna get hype!” Shadow scowled at the nickname.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Oh what, you prefer Hot Topic?”

“How about you stick to my name”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Shadow wanted so bad to wipe that smirk off Sonic’s face. Preferably with the floor. He couldn’t really remember the last time he was this agitated at someone’s mere existence near him, but it was all he could think about. How did he get on Shadow’s nerves so easily? It was as if the blue hedgehog had peered into his brain and somehow found every single sensitive area that would elicit the reaction of anger (which to be fair, was most of Shadow’s reactions to just about anything). Oh, how he wished he could show Sonic the true meaning of being The Ultimate Lifeform, of course via method of obliterating him in a fight.

“Still waiting on an answer over here dude.”

“…” Shadow continued his silence as he glowered at the other hedgehog, not seeing the point in telling Sonic about the experience that he would have in just a short amount of time, while also knowing that even if he wanted to answer, there would never be the right words to do it justice.

“Fine if you’re not gonna tell me that one, what about why you like concerts?”

Sonic leaned forward again as he stopped teasing Shadow. He really couldn’t understand the blue hedgehog, and how he would so easily flip between presenting as the most insufferable being he had ever encountered, with an ego the size of the sun, yet showing hints of genuine curiosity for Shadow’s answers. He momentarily thought he caught glimpses of authentic interest in his green eyes, and something about that made Shadow loosen up a bit for whatever reason. He gave a vague answer; one that was accurate and well thought through by the black hedgehog, but unspecific enough to leave the other confused. Some well-deserved payback, in Shadow’s opinion.

“I like feeling the music. Sometimes it’s not enough to just hear it.”

“Uhhh what does that mean? ‘Cause I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about bud” This was clearly demonstrated in the quirk of Sonic’s brow and the small tilt of his head. Is he sure he’s a hedgehog and not a dog?

“You will”

With that, the conversation slipped into a strangely easy pattern. Sonic would ask Shadow questions that Shadow occasionally answered, they’d each take jabs at the other escalating to points of physical aggression, which neither seemed to mind. If Sonic was in Shadow’s personal space, it was because he wanted to provoke him, clearly testing the limits of the black hedgehog’s temper. If Shadow was in Sonic’s personal space, it would be because the latter had succeeded in pushing the former past said limits.

If Shadow was honest, he wasn’t sure how or why he had tolerated the other for this long. He was frustrating, idiotic and air-headed, face in either a permanent smile that no doubt hurt his face, or a shit eating grin that Shadow wanted to smack right off. He couldn’t stand when he looked at him like that, as it normally meant he was mocking or riling up the black hedgehog in whatever form, whether it be childish name calling or insults that Shadow had to take a second to process that it had ever left the other’s mouth. He found himself counting down the minutes until the doors would open, freeing him from this blue burden.

Around one hour until the doors opened, with Shadow and Sonic having been in the line for around 30 minutes, Sonic’s fidgeting had reached an incredibly irritating level, clearly not enjoying standing in the same place for so long. At some point, he had noticed others further up in the line who had sat down on the hard pavement, either in small circles as they talked amongst themselves on the ground or leaning against the long wall of the venue. When Sonic had realised this was something he too, could do, he wasted no time in begging Shadow to sit on the floor with him, to which of course the hybrid adamantly refused. That was until Sonic decided to quite literally take matters into his own hands, grabbing Shadow’s arm just above his inhibitor ring and swiftly dragging the two to the ground. Shadow immediately moved to get up with a look of disgust towards the other hedgehog, but this only caused Sonic’s grip to tighten on the red striped arm, causing Shadow to relent, realising it would be much more embarrassing to fight over this than to just accept his fate.

More time passed, with Shadow and Sonic now on the floor. Increasingly aware of the time, Shadow couldn’t help thinking about Amy’s absence. He knew she had not shown up without him noticing, as he had been very vigilant over the last hour or so, watching for any hint of pink or short groomed quills. It was now ten minutes until the doors would open and Shadow was forced to face reality; Amy would not be coming. Ever the nuisance, Sonic noticed Shadow’s disappointment as he came to his conclusion.

“What’s up Shads? Getting sick of me?”

“I’ve been sick of you for the past hour and 20 minutes,” Shadow’s eye twitched as he snapped at the other hedgehog, “But no, its not that. It seems I have also been ditched.”

“That’s rough buddy. But hey! Maybe we could stick with each other!”

“Absolutely not”

“Not even for a little bit?” Sonic said, plastering back on to his expression the puppy dog eyes he had used earlier.

“Have you forgotten the only reason I am tolerating you is the promise of you leaving me alone?”

“Wow, I can’t believe it, you’re gonna leave me, a poor lonely hedgehog to fend for himself with no one to turn to”

Shadow rolled his eyes at the dramatics before simply replying “Yes.”

“What if I get trampled and die in there huh? All because you didn’t protect me”

“Then I’ll die happy”

“You being happy? That’s a new one. I didn’t think your face had another setting that wasn’t ‘emotionally constipated’” Sonic looked particularly proud of himself at this comment, swiping his thumb under his nose. The cocky bastard.

“Don’t push it hedgehog”

Breezing past the threat, Sonic returned to the original conversation topic. “I think I might have been double ditched.”

Shadow looked at the other hedgehog, raising a brow in confusion.

“Well, when my friend cancelled on me, she said there would be someone she knew looking out for me, but uh, I don’t see anyone around here searching for a handsome blue hedgehog”

“Handsome??” Shadow repeated incredulously.

“C’mon Shads, don’t deny it, I know how many people can’t resist me”

“You wish” Shadow bitterly replied. Of course, Sonic would be the type that’s delusional enough to think he’s desired by many. Shadow really shouldn’t be surprised at this point.

Shadow’s thoughts were interrupted as people around him stood up, including Sonic who looked as if he was about to burst.

“OH SHIT, ITS 7, THE DOORS ARE OPEN SHADS, GET UP!”

Accepting the hand offered by the blue hedgehog, Shadow allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, quickly moving with the line getting closer and closer to the doors. For possibly the first time that night, Shadow let himself show the smallest, most unnoticeable hint of a smile, as he felt his anticipation kick in. he had been to many concerts, yes, but they would always be exciting for him, eager to experience the music that could be done in no other form but live.

Sonic clearly shared this sentiment, as he was practically about to take off, with the amount he had been bouncing at the sheer excitement of what was to come. Shadow was relieved he at least collected himself enough to be calm for getting his ticket checked, having it scanned from his communicator. Shadow suddenly felt extremely lucky that he had opted to buy a paper ticket rather than a digital one. Normally, he just enjoyed having a physical souvenir of the gigs he went to, even having a dedicated section of his bedroom wall to tickets of previous shows he had attended, but he was struck with the realisation that if he hadn’t, and his ticket had been on his now broken communicator, he would not have been able to even enter.

After having his glove stamped with the washable ink of the venue’s logo, he and Sonic made their way into the building, Shadow finally letting himself breathe knowing he would no longer have to put up with the other hedgehog and could now just focus on enjoying himself.

“Farewell, hedgehog.”

“Yeah, see ya Shads!”

The blue hedgehog gave a wave, but did not move, so Shadow simply shrugged to himself and started walking towards the stage.

That was until he heard that stupid, grating, annoying voice again.

“Buttttttt, you know, since neither of us have anyone we know here, maaaybe I could stick with you still?” Sonic said, sounding far too smug for Shadow’s liking.

“Hedgehog, what about ‘stay out of my quills’ do you not understand?”

“Oh, I understand it just fine! I just mean we could probably both use the company!”

“No” Shadow didn’t even want to entertain the idea of spending his night with this blue imbecile for a second.

Sonic took a breath as if preparing himself for what he was about to do. Whether mentally or physically, Shadow didn’t know.  “Please Shadow, I’m begging you man, I’m gonna be so bored in between acts if I have no one to talk to. I’ll probably be even more annoying than if you’d just said yes. Like seriously, I can talk a lot like I just normally have a lot of energy generally, but I am great at talking- “

“FINE JUST SHUT UP!” the black hedgehog ceased Sonic’s endless rambling with a sharp yell, a slight growl evident in his voice.

“I knew you’d come around Shads!”

“It’s Shadow.”

“I know.” Sonic winked before he walked away, the same shit eating grin spread across his muzzle as Shadow could only sigh.

This was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

As he walked further into the concert venue, Sonic felt as if he was going to burst from his sheer excitement. He walked ahead of Shadow, but made sure not to lose sight of him, knowing the brooding hedgehog would likely try to escape if he noticed Sonic had gotten far enough away. In all honesty, Sonic didn’t just want to annoy Shadow some more (although he was having plenty fun with said activity) and that wasn’t the reason he was continuing to stick by him. Admittedly, Sonic was still slightly nervous about the upcoming evening. Before, he hadn’t given it much thought as he believed he would be with Amy the whole time, but now that she wasn’t here with him, he couldn’t help feeling slightly unnerved at the new environment. Don’t get him wrong, he flourished in social environments and his excitement vastly outweighed the small twinge of anxiety in his chest but even so, he couldn’t ignore the unease at the new experience of being in a room full of people he didn’t know, with hardly any room to himself, as hundreds of people stood expectantly in the area below the stage.

Still, he knew once he was there for maybe half an hour, an hour at most, he would fall right into his comfort zone of being in the middle of all the action. He just needed to wait out the preliminary anxiety. Hence, Shadow; the perfect distraction for the blue blur— and if he could push him far enough­— his 101 guide on how to concert, filling the role that Amy had left. Sonic would also be lying if he said he wasn’t the slightest bit intrigued by the other. He took Shadow’s rough exterior and propensity for violent outbursts as an invigorating challenge, with the ebony hedgehog’s temper evidently being incredibly short, but he seemed to have more of a grasp on his self-control (though, whether that was because he genuinely didn’t want to be hostile or if he was simply saving face in the presence of the other people waiting in line, Sonic didn’t know), so during their time waiting, he made it his mission to see just how far he could push the other.

It was entertaining to say the least, trying to decipher what each little ear twitch or glare truly meant other than just ‘shut the fuck up,’ and by the time rolled around that they were walking into the very large room complete with a stage and more lights and speakers than Sonic could count, he decided it was a mystery he would not be solving that night. He had other things to focus on now.

Such as, what the hell is he supposed to do right now? Amy had suggested the first thing they do should be buying merch and drinks, but Shadow seemed to be in no hurry to do that. And Sonic wasn’t particularly eager to stand still for however long it was until the first support band came on to the stage. Noticing he had stopped walking to inspect the situation, and that Shadow had since continued walking and was now in front of him, Sonic zipped back to his striped counterpart to figure out their next course of action.

“Soooooo, what do we do now?”

“Wait. Although I know patience must be a foreign concept to you.”

Sonic feigned offence as he put one hand on his heart and leaned back a bit. “Ouch. I can be patient. I just feel like there should be more to do right now than just, you know, standing around?”

“Like what?” Shadow shot the blue blur a confused look. Clearly baffled as to how one could so severely lack the ability to stand still for fifteen minutes.

“Well, I don’t know! You’re the one who goes to this kinda stuff all the time!”

“I don’t go ‘all the time’ hedgehog, I just said I go frequently”

“Dude, those words mean the exact same thing,” Sonic felt himself becoming slightly irritated at Shadow’s almost seemingly intentional misunderstanding. “My point still stands though, you’re more experienced than me so surely you should have some suggestions?”

Shadow took a deep inhale as he brought his fingers up to massage his temples, before reluctantly answering, looking back to Sonic. “I normally prefer to just save my spot in the crowd but now is also normally the best time to buy merchandise or fulfil needs such as hydration or going to the bathroom. However, you could also—”

“Great, let’s go!”

Shadow looked back at Sonic perplexed but with a hint of annoyance in his expression, contrasting the bright smile on Sonic’s own face.

“What—?”

“Let’s go do that stuff you said! Obviously not going to the bathroom ‘cause that would be weird, but Ames said something about getting merch and stuff so—”

“—I’m not going anywhere with you. And stop rambling its embarrassing.” Shadow interrupted, scowling at Sonic

“Suit yourself,” Sonic shrugged as he walked away towards the merch table to the left-hand side of the venue. He guessed this was probably a good way for it to go, as if both him and Shadow had left their unofficial claimed spot, it would most likely be quickly filled by the dozens of people steadily flowing in through the doors.

As he waited in line, he took a minute to appreciate the new atmosphere he found himself in. The room was big, though not too big that he wouldn’t be able to see anything. He noticed the balcony where a few people were looking over at the half full standing area. He had known there were seated tickets, but it barely registered in his mind when he was ordering his own standing one, as Amy had been dead set on the fact that its much less fun if he were to be sitting down, especially at a rock concert. Sonic felt he had no room to argue so let Amy continue and quickly forgot about it in the midst of their ticket buying confusion. At the edge and peering over the small wall of the balcony, he noted there were a couple wheelchair users and smiled to himself at the fact that the venue was accessible enough that anyone could be here to have a good time and enjoy the music.

He brought his attention back towards the main focus: the stage. Every second he spent staring at it, he felt the adrenaline build in his veins. Red spotlights filled the room, all pointed towards the back wall, a banner with the words “CRUSH 40” in a cool font plastered across it. There were so many things on the stage that Sonic had trouble keeping his eyes on just one. Multiple backstage crew workers dressed in black were walking around adjusting wires, between numerous drum sets, guitars and small black boxes on the ground Sonic wasn’t sure the purpose of. One of the backstage crew was fixing the height of a microphone stand while another was seemingly tuning one of the many guitars dotted around the large stage.

There was a loud noise that startled Sonic, as he glanced over to see someone accidentally slamming the door as they must have knocked the door stopper away. The action caused him to draw his attention back to the crowd and where Shadow was still standing. It was a bit harder to find him as many more people had filled in the space behind him since Sonic had left, but his eyes eventually settled on black and red quills, their distinct shape drawing his attention. Shadow seemed to be fiddling with his communicator, maybe trying to magically bring it back to life after he had mentioned that it had broken at some point. It must have been a fruitless effort, as he soon gave up placing his wrist down at his side and looking back up at the stage. Sonic couldn’t help but notice how comfortable Shadow looked at that moment. He seemed like the type of person who would hate this environment, especially with his aversion to Sonic, although that very well may just be an issue with how he feels about Sonic himself.

Turning his head away from the other hedgehog and back to scan the selection of merch, he abruptly realised he was very close to the front of the line. Second place, in fact, and would be buying his next. He very quickly regretted not having looked at the catalogue beforehand, as he found there were much more options than he had initially expected. The items were also far more expensive than he had first thought they would be. It was a good thing Amy insisted he bring more money than he needed, otherwise he wouldn’t have even been able to afford a poster.

When he reached the front of the line, he decided not to get a shirt since he knew he wouldn’t wear it nearly enough to justify the price, so quickly settled for the poster he can, in fact, afford. He thanked the person behind the table after handing over his rings, and made his way back to Shadow, carefully stuffing the rolled up medium sized poster in his quills, hoping to Chaos he wouldn’t accidentally rip it.

There were a lot of people around Shadow now, with around 10 minutes having passed while Sonic was waiting for merch, meaning the space around Shadow was very quickly filled. Although, as the blue hedgehog awkwardly squeezed his way through the crowd and back to Shadow’s side, Sonic didn’t miss the fact that the ebony hedgehog was taking up slightly more space that necessary, and definitely more than he’d taken up in the line, shifting his weight and moving to his side every so often in a feeble attempt to keep space for Sonic.

“Awww, were you saving a space for me?” Sonic exclaimed and batting his eyelashes teasingly when he got close enough for Shadow to hear him, though still needing to yell due to all of the talking mobians around them and the quieter background music playing through the large speakers.

Shadow looked up and rolled his eyes, but notably still moved over so Sonic could comfortably stand to his left. “Pfft, you wish.”

“Are you sure? ‘Cause that looked a lot like you making room for me to stand here.”

“I just pity the fact that you were abandoned by your friend at your first concert.” Shadow retorted and brought his attention back in front of him to the stage, a task Sonic made difficult by ignoring the moody hedgehog’s attempts at disengaging from the conversation.

“Hey, don’t act like you’re any better off here, you’re also suspiciously friend-less right now!” Sonic taunted by pointing a finger to Shadow’s chest, which he tried to move away from, but found himself trapped due to the large crowd around him. So instead, he settled on growling at the blue blur until he pulled the offending hand away.

“Whatever. The first support band is going to come on in five minutes anyway, so I suggest you learn to shut it.” Shadow responded once he collected himself.

“Woah, really? That quickly? I thought we’d have to wait longer than that!” Sonic bounced enthusiastically as he felt his excitement bubble to the top once more.

Until a more powerful wave of confusion hit, “Also wait, how do you know the time? I thought your communicator was broken?”

“I had a watch in my pocket, dipshit.” True to his word Shadow held up his other wrist, now displaying said watch as Sonic let out a soft “Ohhh…” before he continued. “And yes, normally at larger events, there would be a longer waiting time between doors opening and the first band, but since this venue has a smaller capacity, there’s less people to account for.”

With his confusion and slight surprise that Shadow had entertained his question was gone, the blue blur found himself once again bouncing in place, the anticipation taking over his entire body as he now knew that at any moment, his waiting would be over and his new experience would officially begin. Sure, he was already in the venue and technically he would have to still wait much longer for the main band to start playing, but he could go to any busy place and get the same claustrophobic crowd experience. And as for the headliner band, he was extremely ready to see them play, but right now he was mainly focused on how he would finally know what it’s like for the world to melt away and just focus on live music for the first time.

“Alright!!”

After he stopped teasing Shadow, Sonic had mostly kept his eyes on the stage in front of him, mirroring the black hedgehog’s gaze, but as he let his excitement show more with his quick shout and fist in the air, he noticed Shadow’s sharp glare shift slightly out the corner of his eye. He could’ve been making it up, or maybe it was a trick of the dark unclear lighting, but he could’ve sworn he saw something in Shadow’s expression soften if even just by a fraction.

He didn’t have long to dwell on it however, as soon the lights cut out and speakers became louder, no longer playing random background music but something deep and atmospheric. People around him were cheering and clapping and he joined in. He wasn’t sure what was going on specifically, but he knew this must be the start of the first act. And Sonic was ecstatic. The low bass notes slowly became something more, as the lights rose up and a drummer and a guitarist walked on stage, bassist and singer following shortly after.

The low drone never stopped but seemed it was being added to, with long eery guitar notes as the singer walked up to the microphone stand.

“How are we doing Station Square?”

A loud roar of the crowd, followed by the bass cutting out before the drummer started counting with a shout of “1,2! 1,2,3,4!” and suddenly everything came to life. The guitar was heavily distorted, and Sonic jumped slightly at how loud it was, although he quickly got used to it. The drums were heavy, and the bass had a quick varied pattern that he could feel blooming in his chest while the harsh percussion echoed in his bones. His bouncing never stopped, but now it had a rhythm. People were still cheering, and as the singer took their mic out of its stand, walking towards the end of the stage to sing, Sonic realised how wide he was smiling. This wasn’t technically the band he was here to see, and they had only been on the stage for 30 seconds at this point, but Sonic new that he was already obsessed with the sounds, and the feeling he was unsure of how he’s gone so long without.

The band’s set wasn’t long, maybe around 35 minutes with 7 or 8 songs, Sonic wasn’t counting, but he quickly found himself addicted to the electric energy in the air. The band’s performance was so captivating, and although Sonic didn’t know them or any of their songs, he felt every single emotion pouring out from the stage and instruments. He even heard a few people around him singing along, although it wasn’t many. Most of the crowd seemed to be in the same position as the blue blur; unfamiliar but immensely enjoying themselves, nonetheless.

Amid his shouting and jumping, he glanced over at Shadow a couple times. He wore the same seemingly uninterested expression on his face but there was something different about it. It looked more like he was trying to keep up the act of being annoyed than anything genuine, as Sonic constantly found little cracks in his façade through the slight nod of his head and occasional softening of his brow.

Even more intriguing than the ebony hedgehog though, was the small group of people in the middle of the room. From his and Shadow’s spot closer to the right side of the stage, in the centre, Sonic could occasionally see something very interesting. It only really started halfway through the set and only for a couple of songs, but whenever it happened, the blue hedgehog’s eyes were glued to the small clearing of the crowd and the people running into it, as well as each other. It looked slightly violent, but Sonic was no stranger to that and ended up fascinated by the action.

The band finished strong, and eventually, the house lights returned as well as the background music. Sonic’s ears felt very muffled with such a dramatic change in volume, but didn’t pay it much attention as he turned to Shadow, beaming.

“Holy shit, that was awesome!!!”

The striped hedgehog replied rather bluntly, but Sonic didn’t miss how his face seemed much more relaxed than it had previously. “They were… adequate.”

“‘Adequate’ my ass, you enjoyed yourself as much as I did,” the blue blur smirked at the other hedgehog who turned away with a “hmph.”

The rest of the break between acts passed in relative peace, with Shadow mostly staring into space, occasionally fiddling with his broken communicator as if it would magically fix itself, or checking the watch placed on his other wrist. Meanwhile Sonic would ramble on about everything he enjoyed about the previous band, from the intricate lighting patterns to the way he felt the room shake with the sheer volume of the sound. After around 15 minutes of this, Sonic’s mind kept trailing back to the crowds and the actions he didn’t quite understand. Having it burning on his mind for so long, Sonic finally asked Shadow the question, which he was sure the disturbance would be to the other hedgehog’s dismay.

“Hey Shadow?” This earned the faintest grunt and a side glance from the ebony hedgehog. “What were those people doing in the crowd?”

Finally turning to face him, Shadow looked at the blue blur, expression bemused and unimpressed.

“You are going to have to be more specific than that, hedgehog, I’m not a mind reader.”

“Well, I don’t know, they were like, pushing each other! Why were they doing that?”

“Have you seriously never heard of a mosh pit?” Shadow’s face morphed to show his absolute judgement of the blue hedgehog’s ignorance.

“Nope,” Sonic replied, popping the “p” and rocking back on his heels with an uncertain smile.

“Tsch, you call yourself a rock fan, but you don’t even know what a pit is?” Shadow smirked, evidently pleased to finally be the one taunting the other.

“Hey! Are you forgetting the fact this is literally my first concert ever?”

“Whatever, faker.”

“Faker? Hold on I just met you dude, how do I know you’re not the faker? You could just be making up words to confuse me!”

“What? Why the fuck would I—

Before the hedgehogs’ banter could escalate, the lights shut off marking the beginning of the second (and final) support band’s act, and Sonic very quickly forgot about the petty argument, eager to be enraptured by the music once more. Even if said argument had been incredibly entertaining.

The second band went very similarly to the first; Sonic having his full attention held hostage to the stage aside from the occasional glances at the “mosh pits” in the crowd or the dark hedgehog to his right, and Shadow similarly analysing the stage yet still pretending to not enjoy himself as much as he clearly was, with the small bounces on his heels, nod of his head, even the faintest, barely-there smile from time to time­.

The main difference was that this time, there was even more than just mosh pits happening —although thankfully now, Sonic at least knew the basics of what was going on. A couple songs into the set, the lead singer had asked for the people below them to start crowd surfing (eventually followed by telling everyone off at the end of the song when there were only a couple who fulfilled the request. There were many more during the next one, seeming to please the band) and during the whole duration that Sonic was watching them, he couldn’t get the thought out of his head that that looked like the most fun thing he’d seen in months.

When the lights came back up and the mobians around him continued chatting amongst themselves, Sonic came to the conclusion that he was going to do that. He wanted to be right in the middle of the action. He was going to crowd surf and he was going to mosh… pit… he wasn’t quite sure what the verb for mosh pit was but whatever it is he’s going to do it!

Not eager to sit in silence again, especially with his newfound determination, he turned to Shadow, keen to understand what exactly a mosh pit actually is.

“How’s that definition coming along?” Sonic smirked as he saw Shadow’s fed-up expression settle comfortably on his face once again as soon as the blue hedgehog began talking.

“Elaborate?”

“Dude, come on. Mosh pits,” he emphasised his impatience by snapping in front of the dark hedgehog’s face, much to his aggravation.

“Get that hand out of my face before I break it off your goddamn arm” Shadow practically snarled, stepping much closer to Sonic in intimidation, despite his threats for the opposite, Sonic snatching his hand back in response, the tactic clearly being effective.

“Jeez, alright, sorry” the blue blur replied with an uneasy grin.

After some awkward silence and a long sigh from Shadow, the striped hedgehog finally stepped back to his original spot and complied with Sonic’s request.

“Normally in a mosh pit, the centre of the room clears out. Theres a lot of pushing involved which is why I tend to gravitate towards the left or right of the floor,” with this Sonic became more conscious of how they were, in fact, further away from the middle of the room, and off to the right, with Shadow standing nearer to the wall. It hadn’t even crossed Sonic’s mind that it could’ve been a conscious decision.

“This will normally happen during an intense or faster paced section of a song,” Shadow continued, “if the right energy isn’t there then people won’t feel the need to clear a pit.”

“That’s nice and all but it still doesn’t explain anything to me,” Sonic interrupted, impatient as always.

“I’m getting to it, hedgehog,” Shadow growled back. “The pit will be cleared a bit before the moment in question, sometimes requested by the artist. Once the beat drops and the section begins, those who want to partake in the pit will run in and push each other around until they get tired and leave, or until the song or specific section ends.” Shadow finished, crossing his arms at his chest.

“Woah sounds fun! Have you ever been in any?” Sonic asked, curiosity and intrigue piqued.

Shadow sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time that night as he started to reply, but Sonic couldn’t help how Shadow seemed to become more and more open to answering Sonic’s questions with each one, despite his attitude.

“Sometimes I do join in yes. Although I tend to stay away as they can get a bit violent and overwhelming. Mostly I’ll join if I need to release some anger or have been having a generally bad time. There are multiple types of pit. They have different names, one you’ve probably seen people doing is a circle pit,” Shadow continued his explanation, and while Sonic would love to say he was paying full attention, he would be lying. He listened enough to know the basics such as mosh pit: pushy pushy, circle pit: does what it says on the tin, wall of death: pray you don’t get trampled. But the specifics were very much being tuned out by the blue hedgehog. What he found much more interesting was the one he was (not so unintentionally) ignoring.

Well, ignoring may have been an inaccurate choice of words. Sonic was in no way pretending the other hedgehog wasn’t there or disregarding his presence. More so just the words he was speaking, as Sonic found it strangely difficult to pull his eyes away from the darker hedgehog. Instead of listening he found himself analysing how the current red colour of the spotlights perfectly reflected and complimented the stripes on his quills, as well as the fittingly similarly coloured lines down his sleek black leather jacket. Were his quills dyed or were they just like that? He’s heard of quill dying before but hadn’t seen it very often due to how difficult the spines can act when it comes to actually retaining the colour past the first wash, as opposed to fur which was much easier to stain. He also noticed similar markings around his eyes, wondering if they too could be natural or if it was just makeup. He mentally gave him a lot of credit if it were the latter, as it seemed like a lot of effort just to put into his appearance.

As he was watching Shadow’s face, Sonic continued to notice every little mannerism as the other hedgehog carried on talking, seemingly oblivious to the blur blur’s lack of attention. But Sonic really couldn’t help how he was so endlessly intrigued by the idea of catching the other with a smile, and deciphering all the tiny changes and micro expressions the other had to offer. He wasn’t even sure why he felt so magnetically pulled in towards the other. They had only just met a few short hours ago and most of that time spent, Shadow seemed like he wanted to kill Sonic —perhaps justifiably but Sonic wasn’t about to admit to his nagging having that much of a negative impact. Maybe it was the fact that Shadow was just so different from anyone else currently in his life. All of his friends were, well, his friends — kind, open, if not a little moody at times (looking at you, Knux) and while he definitely had his fair share of befriended former rivals, none of them had felt like a puzzle who refused to be solved, the key locked tightly inside with only a 3 word clue as any guidance, the words also changing any time he was at all close to figuring out what they could mean. While punching him.

The furrow of his brow was another new word, the twitch of his ears a latch with nothing to attach it to, the downturn of his lips a thousand different keyholes, to which Sonic only had a single one that was half broken. It was then that he decided tonight, even if he no longer had much time, he would find out everything about Shadow that he could. His main objective to keep in mind was of course still the concert itself, but what was wrong with taking a little side quest every now and then?

He was busy admiring Shadow’s ear piercings when something else caught his attention. In the inside of the other hedgehog’s ears, he could see small black pieces of what seemed to be plastic. They weren’t another piecing, but he couldn’t figure out what else they could’ve been. Deciding to chance it, since he’s done much worse and not been killed (yet), he vocalised his wondering, not realising he was interrupting Shadow’s own ranting.

“What are those things in your ears?”

“I— what? Have you even been listening? And do you mean my piercings?” Shadow said as he crossed his arms over his chest and gave Sonic the most horribly incredulous glare he had maybe ever seen.

“Uh— yeah, I’ve totally been listening! Hah, what kind of question is that?” Sonic scrambled for personal space while he fumbled his words before remembering, oh right, he was at a concert. That didn’t exist.

“What’s a mosh pit then?” And of course, just as Sonic had been talking about how mysterious the dark hedgehog was, Shadow had to give him a look that was way too sassy for how mad he was supposed to be.

Sonic cringed as the only response he could think of was the half-second mental note he’d made five minutes earlier, “Uhhhh… pushy pushy?”

“Oh my Chaos, I’m stuck here with a fucking idiot,” Shadow buried his face in his hands and groaned under his breath.

“Anyway, you’re focusing on the wrong thing here, I’m not talking about your piercings I mean the like, plasticky things” the blue hedgehog interrupted Shadow’s turmoil, eager to change the subject from his inattentiveness.

The dark hedgehog raised his head to reveal an expression Sonic wasn’t sure how to name. There was that same hint of distaste he always seemed to harbour when he looked at Sonic, but now it had a mix of tentativeness and perhaps openness before he straightened fully and swiftly averted his eyes away from the blue blur.

“None of your business, faker,” he spoke much quieter than he had earlier. Sonic had to strain his ears extra hard to hear it over the constant chatter surrounding them, “But you won’t take no for an answer, will you?” he faced Sonic again, face settling back to his usual antagonising glare.

“Aw he’s learning!” Sonic teased.

Shadow gave a warning growl before he replied. “They’re earplugs.”

Huh. Interesting.

“Why are you wearing ear plugs at a concert? Don’t you want to hear the music?” Sonic asked again, genuinely curious.

“Do you ever stop asking questions?” Shadow interrogated, clearly not wanting to answer and seeming like he wanted to tear his own quills out. Or maybe Sonic’s. Perhaps both.

“Dude, why are you so defensive about this? I’m literally just curious! Is that a crime?”

“Maybe it should be!”

“Fine, don’t answer. I just wanted to know more about you, ‘cause you seem kinda cool. But sure, whatever.” Sonic finally let it go dejectedly. He turned back to the stage and silently prayed that the lights would go down and he wouldn’t have to continue this interaction because if they kept standing here in silence for much longer it would start getting really awkwa—

“They block out background noise.”

“Wh— Huh?”

“I can still hear the music. It just… stops me getting overwhelmed. They also prevent hearing damage which is a plus.” Shadow had turned back to face Sonic, fidgeting with the bottom of his jacket with one hand. Sonic’s smile returned as he realised Shadow must have either felt bad for causing Sonic’s more negative mood, or he finally understood that Sonic wasn’t asking out of any malicious intentions.

“Oh cool! That’s actually a good idea; wish I had thought of that!” Sonic beamed and he could’ve sworn he saw the corners of Shadows mouth tilt up for a split second.

This intermission was taking much longer than Shadow had hoped for. After the whole uncomfortable earplug situation, Sonic had started to ramble about some irrelevant thing he ended up mostly tuning out. He couldn’t comprehend why the blue hedgehog had been so adamant with his questioning, or why he even entertained answering truthfully, let alone actually doing so. He was in two different mindsets. The first (much larger) part was the pessimistic, realistic part that told him it was just Sonic being annoying as was the pattern the entire evening prior. There wasn’t any logical reason Sonic actually wanted to learn about Shadow himself. He’d probably just use it as leverage for even more petty insults and comments.

However, the other part was more hesitant in its reasoning. Could the blue hedgehog be asking from a place of sincerity? His downcast expression before Shadow confessed told him maybe. Maybe there was more to this guy than what was on the surface. Shadow had learned to take people’s personalities and how they present themselves with a grain of salt. That normally being a perceived hint of negativity. It was hard to trust people, especially as a G.U.N. agent with his background, so it made sense he saw this overly charismatic, snarky hedgehog and was immediately hostile. Someone like that was normally using the persona as a front— to hide something. But the one time he set aside that belief to try to understand the other hedgehog’s motivations, finally complying to his nagging, he felt his resolve start to crumble.

The way Sonic perked up immediately after Shadow broke their minutes long silence, his brows raising and eyes brightening, he thought perhaps for once there was nothing to read into. Just a hedgehog with endless energy and curiosity.

As his internal battle continued, Sonic continued droning on to his left, and needing a distraction, Shadow checked his watch. The hands showed the time 9:10 meaning 30 minutes had passed since the previous band’s set ended. What was taking so—?

Just like that, the lights faded, and the room erupted into screams. Shadow winced, adjusting his earplugs, but not after long he began clapping along. He could see Sonic hollering out of the corner of his eyes, which he proceeded to roll dramatically, despite knowing the hyperactive hedgehog wouldn’t be able to see.

They watched with baited breaths as different people walked on stage, the crowd only roaring louder with each one. Next to him, Shadow noticed that not only was the blue hedgehog putting in a good effort to rupture his lungs with how loud he was shouting, but he also was jumping higher than he thought was possible.

When the lead singer finally entered the stage and the first song properly began, Shadow all but forgot about the persistent headache of a person he’d been standing with, as the familiar chords rang through his eardrums and the beat rattled in his ribcage. For the first time that night, he let a genuine unashamed smile grace his muzzle. People around him sang along and even though Shadow had warmed up to Sonic’s chaotic presence ever so slightly, he was nowhere near comfortable enough to let the latter see the hybrid follow suit, so he kept his mouth shut, opting to simply nod along.

It was a difficult effort at first— normally he did not need to bother with holding back his interest in the bands he liked, but then again, there wasn’t normally a blue ball of energy hell-bent on disturbing him. It wasn’t that he cared what Sonic’s opinion of him was. He knew it was likely very negative, which only gave him more determination not to add fuel to the fire; it was pure spite really. He hoped he’d at some point see the blue hedgehog fumble his words out of struggling for a creative insult rather than his clear social ineptitude.

Wait… hold on—no. He wasn’t thinking about Sonic right now. Why the hell would he do that when Crush 40 is right in front of him? He wouldn’t which is why he wasn’t.

That was weird…

Oh well. He didn’t have time to dwell on that, as soon the singer was announcing the fourth song of the set. Shadow’s favourite song. Like ever, not just of the band. Try as she might, Amy couldn’t get anything to top this song. It was like a spiritual experience to him. Clearly many in the room felt the same way (which wasn’t too out of the ordinary, as it was one of if not the most popular songs in the band’s whole discography) as the building filled with rapturous cheers and applause. It was one of those songs that were clearly made for a concert setting, with a repeated hook almost like a chant, that the singer holds the microphone out to the audience for, letting them fill in the gaps and feel that much more a part of the whole experience.

It was one of the qualities Shadow favoured most about concerts in general. So, to be here, with his favourite band, playing his favourite song, doing one of his favourite things there are to do at a concert? He may as well just pinch himself to make sure its real. Turns out he didn’t have do, as there was a harsh shake of his left shoulder, causing him to almost knock out his aggressor, until he realised that he really shouldn’t be surprised as to who it was.

“THIS IS MY FAVOURITE SONG!!” Sonic shouted over the deafening noise of the room.

Guard dangerously low, Shadow entertained the blue hedgehog with a genuine response, “MINE TOO!”

He swiftly turned back to look at the stage mentally preparing himself to join in with the chant-like singing for the first time that night, but he didn’t miss the stars in Sonic’s eyes after he replied.

When the song finally got to the chorus, Shadow simultaneously felt like nothing else existed but the music and so apart of the crowd that it was hard to even hear his own thoughts. As he finally let himself yell and cheer, he realised how silly it had been for him to be so hesitant of this at all. He wasn’t sure how he’d let himself forget the sense of community that bombarded him and filled the space to the very brim. In that moment he truly did forget about any particular blue annoyances. He was just another person in the sea of all the other people who were all there for the same thing.

It hadn’t been long after the song finished that Shadow noticed more and more people clearing out the pits and travelling towards the stage via crowd surfing (separately of course. No one wanted to be dropped in the large gap in the centre of the room). It seemed Sonic had come to the same realisation as he abruptly turned to Shadow, leaning into his ear so the hybrid could hear.

“COULD YOU HOLD THIS STUFF? THANKS!” Shadow was left perplexed as Sonic —without leaving any room for a response from his question— quickly shoved a handful of belongings he must have been holding in his pockets into Shadow’s arms and ran off much faster than he had expected towards the centre of all the chaos. He very quickly lost track of the blue head of quills which Shadow couldn’t bring himself to mind much, if at all. He was more so just peeved that he was lobbed with the responsibility of keeping the excitable hedgehog’s stuff safe as if he was a doting partner or something, bleugh. He begrudgingly stuffed the various knick-knacks in his own pockets, not giving the individual items too much thought.

With Sonic gone, Shadow felt much more in his element. He was far more comfortable knowing he was no longer being scrutinised and watched with every little choice or movement he made. He supposed that was a feeling left over from the Ark, but he didn’t need to think about that anymore. Absentmindedly he noted that he’d been the same when he first met Amy. It seemed he cared very little about how strangers perceived him, but if there was even a hint of acquaintance, he was much more uncomfortable. Not self-conscious, but a weird in between kind of feeling. It had taken him an entire 3 and a half concerts to become comfortable chanting when with Amy, yet never had any issue when attending by himself.

So of course, as the minutes passed, he gradually began shouting the lyrics along with everyone else, participating in chants and even jumping on occasion. And every so often, normally at the end of a song, he would catch a glimpse of blue quills in the middle of the room; somehow always gravitating back to the general direction of Shadow, even though he knew Sonic knew he’d end up all over the place within the next 30 seconds. Sometimes his head would still be glued in the direction of the stage, or smiling at the people around him, but sometimes he’d look back at Shadow giving him that same beaming grin he just couldn’t understand. Sure, this was fun but there’s no way he was that happy from the experience alone. There was even less of a chance that the expression was due to Shadow himself, so he simply chalked it up to the hedgehog being a bit strange. Very unsurprising if you asked him.

It was nearing the end of the set; Shadow could feel it. He hadn’t been counting the songs, and he hadn’t looked at the time, but he knew from the way the air in the room had become hot and his legs started to ache. He didn’t always love this point in time of a concert. The feeling of being tired, run down and maybe slightly overwhelmed, all the while never wanting the night to end. He appreciated when things were simple, so all the dichotomy of the situation did for him was make him minorly annoyed.

Speaking of annoyances, he hadn’t seen the now familiar flash of blue in a while. Maybe he’d gotten tired, or maybe he finally decided sticking by Shadow wasn’t entertaining him anymore, and he found someone else to piss off. Though, neither of these options seemed very likely to the hybrid, especially considering Sonics disturbingly persistent energy displayed throughout the night, and the fact he’d handed off seemingly everything he was carrying to Shadow. Chaos, he really hoped he wouldn’t need to be stuck with these random things in his pockets for much longer.

As expected, the band soon announced that they would play one last song and there wouldn’t be an encore, meaning it genuinely was the final song of the night. Shadow held back his disappointment in the night ending, instead remaining excited as the music started up for the last time. It had gotten to the point that there were too many crowd surfers to count, and so many people had been joining in the pits that anyone could be at the risk of a harsh shove at any time, making Shadow much more wary of his surroundings.

He mostly ignored the crowd surfers. That was unless one passed over him and he had to help pass them round to the front of the room, but other than that, they blended into the background of the crowd. Halfway through the song, Shadow was getting fed up of the constant pushing and drew his attention to the crowd for what felt like the first time the whole set, ready to give a poisonous glare to whoever was responsible.

What he was met with however, was a streak of blue, standing out against the dark crowd and red flashing lighting. Sonic was hollering as much as he was before, soaring above the crowd as if he weighed nothing. He was twisted around by the hands below him to face away from the stage and emerald green locked onto crimson red. Shadow kept gazing at the blue hedgehog across from him and somehow, Sonic never seemed to lose sight of him. His grin was just as wide as it had been the whole night, perhaps even more so.

Perhaps it was just the way the light perfectly contrasted and bounced off his sharp quills and soft fur. Somehow Sonic took a little control over his motion, despite drifting closer and closer to the stage and away from Shadow, twisting so he was facing the dark hedgehog even more. Right before he went over the edge of the barrier, he held up a tan arm, throwing a peace sign in the air and Shadow’s vague direction and— was that a wink??

As quick as it started, Sonic was over the barrier out of Shadow’s sight as the moment ended. Shaking off his confusion from the interaction and his strange state of temporary paralysis, he put it out of his mind and just let himself enjoy the last minutes of the concert.

It ended loud and big with many instrumental solos and even some confetti. The house lights faded up and Shadow was weirdly content with how the night had turned out. He didn’t bother to check for Sonic’s presence before he turned to leave. He just wanted to get away from the hundreds of mobians filing out of the small doors, many of whom no doubt were very much drunk, and Shadow did not want to deal with that.

The cool breeze of the night greeted him as he stepped out of the venue, taking a deep inhale of some much-needed fresh air. As much as he loved concerts, he would always hate the muggy, sweaty feeling of being at one for too long. His peace however was interrupted as he’d made it not three steps out of the building before a flash of blue once again tarnished his line of sight.

“DUDE! You didn’t tell me it was going to be like that, that was insane!”

It seemed it was a very good thing that Shadow wouldn’t see any more of Sonic after tonight, as he continued to never understand the meaning of the blue hedgehog’s words.

“Your words and facial expressions are very conflicting right now. You state a negative implication, yet you are smiling.” Shadow pointed out confusedly.

“Hah, no man, I’m saying it was insane as in, insanely good!” Sonic answered with a shrug.

Shadow nodded in understanding despite still not fully getting it. He’ll maybe ask Rouge about it later.

“Man, this was so fun. I’m gonna have to do this a lot more.” Shadow gave a hum of agreement as really couldn’t deny how much enjoyment he got from nights like this. Sonic of course, took this as an invitation to continue talking.

“Hey maybe we should swap numbers and we could go to more of these together! The friend I would have had tonight doesn’t even like rock anyway,” the blue hedgehog finished with a sheepish laugh, completely oblivious to the hybrid’s mortification at the suggestion.

“Absolutely not, I don’t want to spend another second in your presence, faker. Besides, my number is useless now anyway.” Shadow held up the wrist with the broken communicator.

“Ohhh, right I forgot about that. Whelp, can’t blame a guy for trying! See ya Shads!” with that, Sonic looked as if he was about to leave. Shadow looked away only for a split second to collect Sonic’s things from his pockets, yet as he looked up, starting to say the other hedgehog’s name, no one was standing beside him. The space the hyperactive hedgehog had been taking up on the pavement completely vacant.

He wandered around the venue for a few minutes to see if he could still catch him before he was too far away, yet he was no where to be found.

Strange.

Grumbling at the notion of now having to somehow track down the location of the other hedgehog to later on return his belongings, Shadow pulled his chaos emerald from his quills and quickly chaos controlled back to his shared flat.

Rouge had been peacefully reading a book when there was a thump at the other side of the relatively large flat. Well, she says “book”, but could one really call a gem and diamond magazine fine literature? She argues yes, but she knows most wouldn’t agree.

She closed the thick pages as a very annoyed looking black and red hedgehog made his way into the living room to sit near her on the couch.

“Woah there handsome, what’s happened to get you so pissed off?” she asked mischievously. Her best friend was laughably easy to set off, so it made for quite a fun game to guess what exactly it had been this time. She’s currently winning against Omega, three to one.

The hybrid let out a dramatic sigh as he flopped stiffly next to her on the couch, “What didn’t happen,” he scowled venomously. “First of all, Rose didn’t show up. Second, there was this blue asshole who came into the line after me and made it his mission to make my night miserable.” Shadow grumbled, slouching deeper into the couch as he vented his frustration.

Rouge, on the other hand, was very amused. “Oh hun, didn’t you see Amy’s texts?”

“No, because my goddamn communicator is broken!”

“Yeah, I figured. Rose called me asking to tell you she couldn’t make it since she couldn’t get a hold of you, but you’d already left.”

Shadow did nothing but stare at the bat in disbelief.

“Why didn’t you just come and tell me?!”

“I was very busy!”

“With what??”

“Just a certain red echidna.”

“Oh my Gaia,” Shadow groaned as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and sinking his face into his hands in exasperation. Rouge did nothing but giggle at the display, clearly proud of herself for frustrating the hybrid even more.

“Anyway, tell me more about this ‘annoyance’ from the line.”

“He wouldn’t stop asking questions. And insulting me! And he was the one who ran literally head first into me!”

“My, how tragic, Shadow.” Rouge cooed at the dark hedgehog, still unbelievably amused at her friend’s dramatic distress.

“That’s not even it, he gave me his stuff out of no where then just forgot about it! I still have this idiot’s things!” he exclaimed as he emptied his pockets. Out fell a small digital camera, a few crumpled receipts, a dice, and a small picture of a blue hedgehog and a young yellowy orange fox.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this random stranger’s stuff?!?” Shadow near shouted as he held all the items.

“Hun, why don’t you check your backup communicator? He might not be as random as you think.”

Shadow had been confused at the suggestion but complied anyway. In all the years of knowing her, he’d learned it was better not to fight Rouge on her true intentions when she was being cryptic as it would not get him very far.

Stepping into his room, he looked through a couple of boxes in his cupboard to find the standard G.U.N. issued back up communicator he hadn’t touched once since it was given to him. For convenience, all back ups had the same number as the main communicator should it break or be compromised, so he was easily able to check the missed messages from Amy once he found the object in question.

14:32, Amy Rose: Hi Shadow, I’m really, really sorry to do this to you so last minute and I know you’re probably on a mission rn so don’t feel obligated to reply right away but I cant come to the concert tonight :(

Amy Rose: I got asked to do some emergency babysitting and no one else was available, I hope you understand

Amy Rose: If its not too much trouble, would you mind still looking out for my friend? He’s a blue hedgehog and his name is Sonic. Probably won’t be too hard to find, he has a pretty loud personality lol

16:26, Amy Rose: Shadow?

16:43, Amy Rose: Are you getting these?

Well then, Shadow thought, guess that solves one problem.