Archive of Our Own ^beta

After countless battles, countless fights, and of course, many cheeky responses Sonic had always put the time in to brawl with Shadow.

The two had crossed in the battle, but it was meant with a moment of silence. Shadow waited for Sonic's words, but was only met with a THUD then, huffing and then wheezing. His ear twitched, slowly he turned to look at the hedgehog behind him who was on the grassy floor, holding himself up by his arms.
‘wheezing?’
‘Sonic doesn’t wheeze.’

A sweat went down his face, which contorted in confusion, then anger, before he lifted his head with worry. Slow steps came to the blue hedgehog. Shadow walked carefully, as if he had stepped too close to Sonic. He would blow away with the wind. He settled somewhat towards Sonic's frontal side.

The hedgehog did not lift his head as to hide from the shadow's expression. He had been holding his chest, gasping for air. Shadow looked for the words to say to the blue hedgehog. The moment had been so quiet that you could hear leaves fall into the grass if not for gasping.

Shadow settled by placing one of his knees down on the ground before holding Sonic's shoulder. He tilted his head, trying to get a better look at the hedgehog‘s face as the motion of Shadow getting closer forced the blue hedgehog to lift his eyes. His nose was bleeding, yet there was a smile plastered on his face. His eyes unfocused.

When Sonic looked at Shadow, Shadow had quickly realized what had become of the hedgehog.
It was as if freedom had become recklessness, as if it had become a decision to let go.

Sonic tried to wipe the blood out of his nose. His forced smile became hitched higher up when he lifted his head, and when he finally opened his mouth to say something, the act had finally pulled him under. Shadow yelled for Sonic when he flopped over into the soft warm grass. Finally has one of them has a word for their wordless exchange.

The next time Sonic opened his eyes, he could not see, like his vision was made of static. He tried to force his eyes open and desperately to rehydrate his vision. When it finally happened, He had realized that he did not recognize the ceiling above him. Sensation came flooding back to him, he realized that he did not recognize the bed he lay in. He quickly lifted his body upward before the weakness in his body had forced him back downwards with a “FLOP.”

He turned his head and there sitting next to him the wide-eyed hedgehog known as Shadow, disfigured with worry. A somber chuckle left Sonic‘s mouth causing Shadow to reanimate “I won’t tell the others what happened, but you need to rest hedgehog.” He said.

Sonics' eyes squinted at Shadow “You know they need me out there.”
“And you need your rest.”
A scoff left Sonic “…worry doesn’t suit you, Shadow.”

“..And exhaustion doesn’t suit you.”

Sonic expression gloomed he shut his eyes to think to himself. He knew Shadow was right however he felt rest wasn’t in the cards for him.

Two days turned into three, four weeks into five, and then a month had gone by. Sonic pulled disappearing for several months frequently, of course people wonder where their hero went but they knew he would come back because he had to.

The people close to him displayed the most worry since he had disappeared, Shadow didn’t comment on it unless he was specifically asked, a question that only got rewarded with “He’s safe.” When he had been around, people noticed Sonic how he dragging his feet.

For that first month, it was filled with awkwardness and silence. Shadow had found himself on a few occasions needing to take Sonic back to bed. In the times that he didn’t, Sonic was found sitting in bed loudly tapping his foot on the ground, restlessly.

The second month had been worse, he had stopped fighting rest but he had stopped doing anything at all. Shadow started to wonder if he did the right thing, then thought about whether Sonic had been going through this every time he had gone.
Chilldogs lay wasted on the desk next to the bed but Shadow kept the room clean.

After several days of no longer showering and a rotting on Shadows' sheets, he decided that Sonic needed more support than he was supplying now.
“Sonic. I’m going to move you so I can clean the bed.”

Silents.

Shadow had gently taken Sonic, putting Sonic's arm over his shoulder and using his hand to support him so that he could be seated on a chair in the room.
Sonic was almost corpse-like but Shadow knew that he needed someone to be strong in his moment of weakness. He took the sheets off the bed and hand washed them. They were clean but needed to be hung up to dry.

When Shadow came back Sonic had not moved. Shadows' eyes drifted into the bathroom, he would have sighed if he had not known it would have made Sonic feel like a burden.
“Sonic. I’m gonna take you to the bathroom while the sheets dry, ok?”

No response.

So Shadow lifted Sonic and carried him to the bathroom sitting him down in the bath. He turned the warm water on and let it wash over Sonic's quills for a few moments. He took a toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed Sonic's teeth the best he could trying to avoid Sonic's dull green eyes.
He moved on to shampoo and soap. Use the shampoo in a more general way and soap to get any trapped dirt and debris out. He bushed Sonic quills. Maybe a different person would have been humming in this moment but Shadow enjoyed the sound of running water.
The last thing he did was clean Sonic's ears using a soft cloth to wipe away any buildup.
He had rinse off Sonic when done, wrapped him in a towel.

“I’ll be back.” Shadow spoke.

He quickly retrieved the sheets, hot suns and cool winds had ensured that they dried them quickly and were warm so he re-sheeted the bed, the pillow, and the blanket. When he came back into the bathroom Sonic had his face covered with his hands but any visible part of his face was red and puffy. Shadow finished drying Sonic off and set him back into their bed.

Lying him down made it more obvious that Sonic had spent the moment that Shadow was out of the bathroom crying, but Shadow knew better then to ask.

Sonic was fast asleep when placed in bed. Shadow took a silent breath, tired himself and left the room. Flopping down on the couch, warm under a blanket, Shadow too rested for the day.

The third month that came, Sonic had been improving, he began to do things on his own. His more cherry demeanor returned to him more naturally and they both began to have banter again.

Sonic stretched ready to go out again and play hero some more.

So he went out. With Sonic on the outside and Shadow on the inside of the hedgehog home, Sonic turns back.
“Let's do this again sometime, Shads!” giving him a thumbs up, before running off on another adventure.

And Shadow let out a sigh of relief.