Archive of Our Own

Work Text

Sonic raced across the south lawn of Green Hill University, Redbull in hand. Barely a week into the semester and he was already running late to everything, as per usual. It didn't help that his next class—home ec—was literally across campus from his dorm. He checked the time on his phone as the humanities building finally came into view—only ten minutes late, not bad.   
Sonic's feet finally slowed as he burst through the front door. He wandered through the maze of halls, trying to remember the room number on the schedule that he had barely glanced at since registering. He hadn't planned on going to college, really, but the university had offered him a track scholarship and Tails had almost begged him to come to Green Hill with him, not wanting to be alone in college at the age of 13. Sonic could never refuse Tails anything, so he relented, filling his schedule with easy-sounding gen-ed courses and hoping to just coast by until he was forced to choose a major. What he was really here for, anyway, was track. Green Hill's track team was the best in the region. Past members had held most of their records for almost a decade—fastest 100m dash, fastest laps, most matches won in a single season—and Sonic wanted to break all of them.
 
After giving up and pulling out the schedule on his phone, Sonic finally found the classroom—105. He pulled open the door, the creaking interrupting the haggard-looking professor in the middle of his lecture.
 
He turned towards the source of the noise. "Oh, nice of you to finally join us, Sonic," he droned, voice dripping with dry sarcasm.
 
Sonic winced sheepishly in lieu of a response. Now probably wasn't the best time for one of his usual quips. Ducking into the room, he quickly scanned the room for a place to sit. The small ancient looking classroom was a kind of kitchen-class hybrid, with one side presumably for the home and the other for the ec. Almost every seat was full.
 
Only a lone desk in the back of the classroom remained empty. Without thinking twice, Sonic strode towards it. He plopped down unceremoniously into the stiff plastic chair, sparing a passing glance at the kid beside him. He looked older than Sonic—dark red eyes and black fur. His arms were crossed tightly at his chest and his lips were turned downward into a seemingly-permanent frown. His dark quills were slicked back, sharp streaks of red running through them, and thick gold bracelets encircled his wrists.
 
Sonic leaned over to him as the teacher continued, offering the gloomy boy his biggest smile. “Hey,” he whispered, “I’m Sonic.”
 
He offered nothing but a side-eye and a sneer in response. 
 
Sonic didn’t take the hint. “So what have I missed?”
 
The brooding hedgehog broke the icy silence with a biting voice. “Listen, kid. Please. Don’t talk to me.”
 
Sonic felt the venom in his glare. He blinked, startled, and sat back in his chair. He tried to turn his attention back to the professor’s droning lecture, something about food prep or family care. But it all turned to white noise as his mind wandered to his next track meet—how he could improve, whether he should replace his lucky Soap shoes with newer Nikes, how hard he should train before the next meet.
 
Eventually, the rustle of backpacks being gathered and everyone leaving in a mass exodus startled Sonic out of his daydreams. He snatched up his half-empty Redbull and turned towards the mysterious boy beside him. Maybe now that class was over he would respond with more than an icy stare.
 
But he hurried off before Sonic could say a word, leaving him open-mouthed and stupefied.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Shadow skulked across campus towards the library, hands in his pockets. Home ec was his last class, and he had no further obligations for the day. He’d prefer to spend the rest of it in peace. He was entering his 7th semester, a senior. Yet he still wasn’t used to the noisy influx of freshmen that came each fall. Worse yet, being stuck in a gen ed course with mostly teenagers was sure to be a headache. Even though he was a Biochem/Molecular Biology major, Shadow was still required to take a few General Education courses to graduate. He had thought he’d satisfied all those inane requirements already, but it seemed he’d have to waste more of his time and money on an antiquated Responsible Living course. Why universities required students, who just wanted to get on with their own already time consuming careers, to waste a whole semester learning how to bake cookies or do laundry, he’d never understand. And honestly, a college level Family Consumer Science course? In this day and age? How passé. He found his usual spot at the back of the GHU library, among all the dusty and forgotten academic journals. Not too many students found their way back here, save the occasional giggling couples eager to see what they could get away with. Figuring he’d get a head start on the semester’s work, he pulled out his notebook and Organic Chemistry textbook, and started taking notes. For the 7th semester in a row, he had scheduled a hefty 18 hour course load, so he figured it would behoove him to get ahead where he could. Shadow didn’t have too many friends at school, so his free time was dedicated to his undergraduate degree. To him, a university was a place of higher knowledge, and had no room for trust-fund babies who were satisfied with coasting on the average and partying their semesters away. He hated hearing freshmen celebrate their own lack of direction. Seeing a fair share of them either choosing a basic business degree they’d never really use or just dropping out a few weeks in. That utter lack of responsibility for their own life annoyed him. A buzz came from his backpack, distracting him from his work. It was a message from Rouge, a long time friend of his. “ Heya shadow, wanna get a drink tonight 🍻🍾🥂 ?? It’s friday night and we should celebrate your last year!!! 😉😘❤️ ”  Rouge was always looking for some excuse to go out. “ Not really my idea of celebrating. Find another wingman or go it solo”  She knew that Shadow was the kind of person to lock himself away until finals, and wasn’t about to let that happen. “ Nope, I’m not nearly sad or desperate enough to drink by myself, hon!! (at least not yet)
Besides, drinks on me!! I’ll be swinging by your place at 8, so don’t keep a girl waiting!!”
 Shadow let out a deep, heavy sigh. Rouge has always been there for him, through the bad times and the worse. Even if he couldn’t express it properly, it meant the world to him. But sometimes her “friendly” pushes for him to step out of his comfort zone just made him want to retreat further in. “...1 hour, and no more, alright?”   “Cross my heart!! See you then!! And maybe wear something a little more pleasant than a scowl tonight 😜 ”  Carefree and bitingly honest as ever. Rouge had opted to skip out on university; said that sitting in a stuffy classroom listening to some asshole was no way to learn, so why pay them to waste her time? Said that learning came best from experience. Honestly, she had enough natural wit and charm to take her anywhere. Shadow had no hope of being able to concentrate on his work now; time to prepare for social interaction instead. Not really his strong suit. Packing up for the afternoon, the gloomy hedgehog headed for his motorcycle, and made his way home.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Tails was already hunched over his desk when Sonic arrived back at their dorm room. The kid had rocketed through school, passing both middle school and high school years before anyone thought possible. When he had applied to GHU last year at the tender age of twelve, the admissions department had almost laughed him away, but how could they refuse entry to Emerald Hill’s token boy genius? He was basically a local celebrity at this point, dabbling in building and inventing, showing them off to whoever would listen. Hell, the kid already had an internship lined up with a local IT company.
 
Most people envied Tails—his smarts, his ambition—but Sonic had been his closest friend since childhood, and he saw past the boy genius shtick. Tails was, after all, still just a kid—a kid who liked to laugh, play around and make dumb jokes. He didn’t need another person fawning over his intelligence—he needed a friend, and Sonic was there. “You’re stuck with me now,” Sonic joked once, “couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.” Tails’ laugh and beaming grin afterwards was one of Sonic’s favorite memories.
 
Tails turned from his impossibly-thick engineering textbook as their creaky front door swung shut. “Oh, hey Sonic,” he greeted with a smile before going back to his reading. “How was class?” he asked without looking up.
 
Sonic let out a small, self-deprecating laugh. “Well, I was late to almost half of them. But only by ten minutes this time!” He said the last part as if it was a major accomplishment.
 
Tails gave him a knowing look. “Well, maybe you wouldn’t have been late if you and Knuckles hadn’t stayed up playing ‘Tomatopotamus 6: The Next Generation,’ which is objectively the worst of the Tomatopotamus series.”
 
Sonic let out a gasp, putting a hand to his chest in mock-offense. “How dare you. Tomatopotamus 6 is a classic!”
 
Tails sighed. They’ve had this argument almost weekly for the past two years. “It’s not even finished! The game glitches out until it’s basically unplayable! And the plot—utter nonsense. Why did they feel the need to give Tomatopotamus a

human

girlfriend?”
 
“But in the end, it was all just a dream, Tails—that’s the genius of it! They completely shatter your expectations and flip the script!”
 
Tails deadpanned. “You’re wrong, but okay.”
 
Sonic pouted. “You just don’t see the beauty that is Tomatopotamus. Knuckles would defend me.”
 
“Knuckles always defends you on this. He has terrible taste too.”
 
On cue, Sonic’s phone dinged from his bedside table. He used it as an excuse to forfeit this never-ending debate and checked the notification—a text from Knuckles.

“Hey, bro. I heard about this new bar down in Station Square. Looks pretty sweet. Wanna come?”

Sonic and Tails had met Knuckles in high school—a junior when Sonic was a freshman—and the three became fast friends. They were always seen together, even when Knuckles had graduated, and many made the cliché joke that they were attached at the hip. And, honestly, they might as well be.
 
Sonic smiled as he tapped out a text.

“there’s tons of bars around town. what makes this one so great???”

There was barely a pause before Knuckles replied.

“They have pretty great chili dogs.”

“darn, my one true weakness! okay, I’m there.”

“👍”
 
Sonic turned back to Tails, who already had his nose buried back in his textbooks. “Hey, me and Knuckles are going to a hang out at a bar in Station Square. Wanna come with?”
 
Tails winced, hesitant. “Normally, I’d say yes, but I really don’t wanna fall behind on my homework.”
 
“Tails, you’ve never been behind on homework in your life! You do assignments months before they’re due. C’mon, have a little fun once in a while.”
 
Tails was quiet for a moment, considering.
 
Sonic pouted. “C’mooooonnn, Tails.” When Tails said nothing, Sonic resorted to pleading. “Please. Please. Please. Please,” he repeated, punctuating each “please” with a poke to Tails’ face.
 
Tails huffed and playfully swatted Sonic’s hand away. “Alright, Sonic, you win. I’ll come with you.” Tails tried his best to look annoyed, but his façade quickly cracked and he broke into a smile.
 
This was a familiar routine—Sonic would want to go out, Tails would refuse, and Sonic would pester him until Tails finally relented. They balanced each other out—Tails made Sonic slow down and Sonic reminded Tails not to let his life slip by so quickly
 
A text from Knuckles broke the silence; Tails and Sonic headed out the door.
 
In a flash of conversation and banter, they arrived at the Dry Lagoon. It was a cozy, dimly-lit place with dark wood furniture and chairs in various shades of forest green. Tall stools sat around the bar and a live band played on the small stage in the corner. Sonic glanced at the name on the pulsing bass drum—Crush 40. Must be some local band.
 
It was packed. It seemed everyone at GHU had heard about this place. Between the band’s mediocre rock music and noise of conversation, the place was almost vibrating with sound.
 
Sonic leaned over to Knuckles. “So, where are those chili dogs you were telling me about?”
 
Knuckles threw his head back in a laugh. “Hang on, I’ll go order you one. You babysit Tails.”
 
Tails let out an offended “hey!” but Knuckles was already swallowed by the crowd.
 
“C’mon, Tails, let’s go find a table or something,” Sonic said, jerking his head towards the sea of tables Tetris’d into the bar.
 
Sonic, grabbing his hand, led a pouting Tails through the mass of people, quickly slipping through the gaps between bodies, scanning the place for an empty seat.
 
Finally, his eyes landed on a small, out-of-the-way booth, blessedly unoccupied. As soon as he saw it, though, two figures slid into the cushy seats—a curvy bat girl with an outfit that left little to the imagination and a sullen looking black and red hedgehog who looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here. Sonic stopped. Was that—
 
“What’re you lookin’ at?” Knuckles’ voice suddenly asked from behind him, almost making Sonic jump.
 
Knuckles followed his gaze as he handed Sonic his chili dog.
 
“Well, we almost got a table, but those two beat us to it.” Sonic, obviously upset at losing his race for the booth, pouted as he went for a bite of his precious chili dog.  
 
“Huh, I think I know that guy,” Knuckles said, glancing towards the moody hedgehog who had stolen Sonic’s booth. “That’s Shadow. I had some college lit class with him last year. Never said much, but I think he’s a medical student or somethin’. He seems really dedicated to that whole edgy and mysterious attitude,” Knuckles punctuated that last point with a small eye roll. “I dunno, he always struck me as the asshole type.” He turned to Sonic. “Do you know him?”
 
Sonic, meeting Shadow's sullen eyes, took a bite of his chili dog in lieu of a response.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Yoo-hoo, Shadow! It’s Friday night and about time we set this bitch off! Now get down here!”
 
Rouge, with zero regard for anyone in Shadow’s apartment complex, hollered for him at about five till 8:00. For one so liberal with her life, she was always surprisingly punctual.
 
Shadow, doing his best to prepare, had spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning his apartment, rearranging his living room, occasionally watching television or working on crochet, doing his damndest to quell his anxiety. He was less the "going out" type and more the "burrowing deeper into his bed" type.
 
Rouge had told him to try and look nice tonight, but for him that equated to brushing his quills and putting on a simple grey t-shirt and one of his nicer sweat jackets. He didn’t own too many clothes, and especially none bright enough to stand out.
 
Shadow assessed himself once more before heading out. Sometimes he considered trying a little harder to look nice, but it seemed a waste to him. He was a quiet, dower guy, and knew it. If he tried any harder, he’d stand out, and standing out meant getting people's attention. And attention meant interaction, and interaction meant—
 
“Shadow! Are you rearranging your whole fucking house again? Get out here or so help me, I’ll rearrange your face!”
 
Always so direct. It helped.
 
He stepped out into the warm evening air, and locked his apartment. Rouge was leaning against her car, dressed in attire that let everyone know she ruled this town, and more importantly, that she knew it. Giving Shadow a light smile that only just reached her eyes, Rouge beckoned him into a hug.
 
“Oh hon, we do not see each other enough! How’s prison?”
 
“You know, not everyone can fly through life as easily as you do. Some people need higher education to reach their goals,” Shadow said in a semi-serious tone.
 
“Yes yes, I’m aware most aren’t on my level; some people need the help,” she scoffed in an overly posh tone. Shadow couldn’t help crack a small smile at this.
 
They got into her car that Shadow knew had to cost more than his tuition for the past 4 years—maybe even double. Rouge was right; it had been an awful long time since they had last actually hung out.
 
About a year ago, Rouge had evidently been promoted to a position with a much higher pay grade and much larger time investment. She rarely had a chance to catch her breath. Rouge, however, was nothing if not flexibly meticulous. Bullshit was something she had no time for, and it helped her in attaining her goals. In a way, Shadow envied that amount of sheer charisma and confidence she had. “

Honey, I promise you, confidence isn’t something a person is just born with. Sometimes you gotta fake it until even you believe it.”

That’s what she had told him when he questioned her. He’d never truly been able to wrap his head around it.
 
They were now cruising their way toward Station Square, the city glow just off in the distance.
 
“Soooo, senior year just started for you, hmm? Seeing the finish line yet?”
 
“Hmph, hardly. I may be finishing up the undergraduate part of my degree, but I still have years of med school, more Bio-chem and advanced mathematics courses. Honestly, I’m only just now getting to the ‘fun stuff’,” he said with exaggerated air quotes.
 
“Wow, how exciting,” Rouge said, yawning in semi-fake boredom.
 
“Well... sometimes you need to sacrifice what’s fun, for the sake of others.”
 
“Honey, I do plenty for the ‘sake of others,’ and have a blast doing it.” She almost sang the words.
 
“Will you ever be able to tell me what it is you do, exactly? With how secretive you are I’m inclined to think you’re either some government assassin or a really well-paid dominatrix.”
 
“Ooh, so close, but no cigar. A girl’s gotta have some secrets. Though I will say, assassin-dom would be right up my alley....”  She gave the idea a look of genuine consideration.
 
“At least it’d be an honest living,” Shadow said in a dry yet slightly sarcastic tone.
 
“Ya know, your skills would probably come in handy where I work, actually. We employ many doctors for a wide range of circumstances.” Rouge cast a side glance his way.
 
“... Are you.... actually some kind of government agent?”
 
“Guess you’ll have to wait and find out for yourself. Just let me know if you ever need a job; I’ve got your back.”
 
“... I’ll still pretend your a dom,” Shadow said in a cold voice.
 
Rouge laughed. “Who says I’m not? I could make you into the greatest dominator in all of Mobius! Though, you strike me more as the submissive typ—”
 
“Not to digress from this lovely conversation, but where exactly are we heading?” Shadow abruptly steered the conversation before it had a chance to derail into the personal. They had reached Station Square, and were now navigating its bright and bustling nightlife.
 
“Aw, you are just too cute when you blush! I miss teasing you.” Rouge dabbed away a tear so as to not smear her make-up. “There’s a new bar that just opened up here called The Dry Lagoon.  It sounded like a nice, chill place to grab a quiet drink between friends.”
 
“Here’s hoping. The last thing I want right now is any unsolicited social interactions with a bunch of tipsy assholes.” Shadow spat the words out, slumping further into his seat.
 
“Oh, don’t be such a sour puss, you won’t meet anyone with that attitude,” she said, patting his head in a somewhat condescending, yet endearing way.
 
“Rouge, we’ve been over this, you know I’m not the dating type. There’s just no time for it anyway,” is what he said.
 
What he meant was he didn’t want to bother. Dating… meant interaction. Having to put yourself out there for someone else to judge. Or being used by someone looking to get off on their own self satisfaction. He’d rather just stick to the whole loner schtick he had going: less anxiety and less pain at the end of the day.
 
“Shadow, you can not keep this up. You act like you’re okay being the lone wolf type, but I’ve known you too long for that shitty excuse to work on me,” Rouge coldly called Shadow out. He hated when she did that.
 
“Ugh, Rouge—”
 
“Ooh, there it is! I hope they have valet parking,” she said, stopping this potentially heated conversation in its tracks.

Noise. Pure, eardrum shattering, noise.
 
“A chill and quiet drink, hmm?” Shadow practically shouted this, staring daggers at the sea of twenty-somethings spilling out of the bar. Everyone was shouting, or singing along to whatever band was playing on the stage. So many people, squished together like sardines.
 
This sucks. Everything that Shadow feared had manifested itself. In the most obnoxious way.
 
“You know. Coming to a bar, newly opened, on a Friday night… might have been bad planning on my part,” Rouge said matter-of-factly. Still, she was completely unfazed. She thrived off of crowds. Shadow, on the other hand, wilted.
 
“Please, can we just go somewhere else?”
 
“Nope. I just paid for the valet, and I intend to get my money’s worth!” she shouted toward Shadow, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him into the deep end.
 
Shadow kept his head ducked down. Crowds were always annoying, yet Rouge navigated them like a tank pushing through enemy lines.
 
It reeked of sweat and liquor, the noise bounded off each wall, hitting Shadow squarely in the head. It was horrendous. Rouge had better buy him something strong if he was even going to consider staying here another minute.
 
“Ah ha! Target located!” Rouge kicked into high gear, dead set on an empty booth at the back of the club. It seemed a little quieter over there, at least less densely packed with people.
 
Practically falling into the booth, Shadow and Rouge scooched into opposite sides of an oversized booth. It was probably shitty of the two of them to sit in a booth clearly meant for larger parties, but neither of them could even begin to care.
 
“Woo-hoo, what a rush! Man, I miss my party days,” Rouge said with an air of nostalgic enthusiasm.
 
“Miss them? Did they leave?” Shadow squished himself as deep as he could into the booth, hoping to escape the thick club atmosphere.
 
“Eh, work gets in the way. Now I only have the odd weekend to myself,” she sighed in mock despair.
 
“Such a tragedy,” he replied dryly.”Well, you’ve got 40 more minutes of my time. Use them wisely.”
 
“Oh, don’t be like that! I know you hate it here, but look on the bright side. I’m buying!”
 
“Then please, get me something strong. Inebriated Shadow might actually tolerate this place if you hurry,” he said with a wince; he was starting to get a migraine.
 
“That’s the spirit! BRB.”
 
With an enthusiastic little jump, she was off. No doubt she’d flirt with some wide-eyed suckers on the way. Without fail, she could always end up with at least 5 free drinks in a night, without even trying.
 
With a moment to himself, Shadow let out a deep, heavy sigh. He propped up his head on his hand, and looked on at the scene before him. What seemed like hundreds of people, roughly his age or younger, were either dancing to the band performing or shouting at their friends over drinks. The band was playing some song about learning from your past mistakes, and living on for ‘what if’s’? Pretty sloppy in the writing department, but certainly catchy.
 
He never really got the whole night club scene. Why would anyone willingly come here for fun? It felt like a place of sickening excess and vapid pleasures; nothing but shallow young people drinking away their insecurities and sorrows, trying to feel like they have some sense of meaning in their lives.
 
It felt like Hell.
 
Rouge returned, bursting with energy.
 
“Alright, I ordered you an Old Fashioned, and I have a dozen or so drinks that we can split headed my way. It’s amazing what some folks will do for a little eye candy!” Such a dangerous woman. She could empty your wallet in a heartbeat, drain you dry, take you down the road of bankruptcy, and you’d still say it was worth it.
 
“So, back on topic—your love life.” Rouge was back at it again, attempting to coax Shadow out of his shell.
 
“I’m not interested,” Shadow said in a detached voice, looking off into the crowd.
 
“Shadow, I get that you’re pretty devoted to your future and all that, we all bow before you, oh holy one,” Rouge sarcastically bowed toward Shadow. He was unamused.“And diligence is a good trait to have, to an extent. Even Maria would want you to take some time for yourself! You know, actually live your life!”
 
Maria. Shadow softened at her name. His sister was the reason for his doctoral pursuit. She was his purpose in life.
 
“Please, let’s not get into this now. I’m too sober to be getting this sad.”
 
“You’re always sad. And that’s why you should maybe break out a little more! Come on, let’s give it a try. Anyone here catch your eye? “
 
“Rouge…”
 
“What even is your type? Is it maybe someone like... her?” Rouge said this pointing at a purple haired mongoose girl. Not unattractive, per say, but too...spunky for his liking.
 
“No, Rouge, I don’t date. I don’t even think I have a type,” Shadow said in a sheepish tone, focusing his gaze on the table.
 
“Hmm...how about him?” she pointed then at a bigger crocodile guy sitting at the bar. Probably attractive to most, but still too...much.
 
“Rouge, please just leave it be.” Shadow was rubbing his temples in frustration, blushing in embarrassment.
 
“Ooh, now I don’t know about you, but that one is definitely

my

type!” She pointed out a group of three guys looking towards their booth. Rouge ever so sweetly waved them over.
 
“What are you—” he stopped mid sentence, looking where Rouge had pointed. There stood a red echidna, a yellow fox (who looked way too young to even be within 100 feet of this bar) and a blue hedgehog, eating a chili dog, with a dumbfounded look on his face. Staring right at Shadow.
 
God, that blue hedgehog again, of all places. He was that freshman asshole who kept showing up late to home ec. His name… escaped Shadow, and the last thing he needed tonight was to deal with some douchebag. Especially if he had to see him after this.
 
“Yoo-hoo, why don’t you boys come on over here and join us for a little while?” Rouge called them over, clearly missing Shadow’s pleading look.
 
“Rouge, I swear to god, I will walk home right now,” Shadow harshly whispered, trying to avoid eye contact, ready to vacate the booth.
 
“Too late honey, looks like they took the bait. Come on, play the field! Let’s see what happens! Maybe we can get a little more than drinks tonight,” Rouge said, a devilish twinkle in her eye.
 
Shadow, filled with dread, shrank even further into his side of the booth.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Sonic took his time savoring his bite of chili dog—honestly, he’d had better. As the town’s self-appointed connoisseur of chili dogs, he knew his shit, and this was a subpar chili dog, at best. The chili was a bit heavy on the tomato and the hot dog itself was a bit overcooked. But even the worst chili dog was still pretty good, and Sonic never turned down free food.
 
Swallowing down another messy bite, Sonic turned to Knuckles. He was about to give him the awkward answer that no, he didn’t know this ‘Shadow’ guy, as much as he had tried, when a call from the booth before them made them all turn their heads.
 
“Yoo-hoo, why don’t you boys come on over here and join us for a little while,” called the bat Sonic had spotted earlier. She smirked as she caught their attention and threw them a wink with a perfectly-lined eye.
 
Sonic threw a glance at Knuckles, mouth agape, too quick to be enticed by any woman who would look his way. He had watched Knuckles fall for a string of pretty girls in high school,  dating them—or trying to date them—all for about a week before moving on to the next thing that caught his eye. It seemed this friend of Shadow’s was no different—she seemed to know

exactly

how to use her body to her advantage, and Knuckles had fallen right into her trap.
 
Knuckles was smarter than most gave him credit for, but in this way he was as stereotypically immature as ever.
 
“I dunno, do you really wanna sit with them?” Tails questioned. He too knew Knuckles’ weakness to painted lips and short skirts, and he did not want to endure another night of listening to Knuckles’ attempts at flirting. If he could stop it before it started, he would. “You did just say you didn’t like the guy.”
 
“Hey now,” Knuckles said, quickly backtracking, “I never said I didn’t like him. I just said he was an asshole.”
 
“Yeah, but isn’t that the same—”
 
“And it wasn’t him that invited us over. It was his...objectively-better-looking friend, and it would be rude to ignore her.” Knuckles paused, glancing around at the packed bar. “Besides, it doesn’t seem like we have much of a choice here.”
 
Tails looked between the two of them, silently begging Sonic to back him up, but, honestly, Knuckles was right—if they wanted to sit somewhere, this seemed to be their only option.
 
Sonic shrugged noncommittally.  “Alright, sure. It’s better than standing here all night.”
 
Knuckles grinned, barely holding back a victorious fist pump, and smoothed down his spines before striding towards the booth. Sonic threw a sighing Tails an apologetic glance before following just behind.
 
The sullen-looking hedgehog—Shadow, Sonic reminded himself—seemed to be trying his best to become one with the darkness of his namesake as the three approached and slid onto the stiff cushion lining the seats. His friend, meanwhile, seemed to preen in the sight of the new company, leaning forward and tilting her head enticingly.
 
Knuckles took the opportunity to slide in beside her, leaving Sonic and Tails alone next to Shadow.
 
“Glad you decided to join us,” she practically purred. “The name’s Rouge. That ball of sunshine over there is Shadow.” She tossed her head to where Shadow was staring down at the wood grain of the table, resolutely refusing to meet the eyes now turned on him. Her penetrating gaze drifted over the three newcomers, silently sizing up each of them. When she was satisfied with whatever she found, her honeyed voice spoke again. “And who might you boys be?”
 
Knuckles was quick to speak for the group. “Theses are my friends, Sonic and Tails,” he said, jabbing a thumb towards each of them in turn. “And

I

am Knuckles.” He leaned in and gave his best smile, puffing out his chest in one of his signature ‘lady catcher’ moves.
 
Rouge coolly ignored the obvious show for her attention in favor of turning towards the other two. “Sonic, huh?” She let her eyes linger on where Sonic was scarfing down the last of his chili dog. “Seems like you can suck down those sausages pretty fast. I’d love to see what else you can do with that mouth of yours.” She curled her lips in a flirtatious smirk and chuckled; Sonic, practically choking, was stunned, turning beet red.
 
Her gaze found Tails next and she gave him a sweet smile. “And aren’t you the cutest thing? What are you, like 10?”
 
Tails frowned, flushing with embarrassment. “Thirteen,” he said indignantly, pouting and crossing his arms over his chest, which was doing nothing to help his efforts to seems more mature.
 
Rouge laughed flicked her gaze back up to Sonic and Knuckles. “Don’t worry, I’ll try and keep myself PG for the kid.” She winked mischievously at Tails, only making him sink lower into his seat.
 
Before she could turn her biting tongue on anyone else at the table, an overworked-looking bartender came over carrying a tray laden with drinks. “The gentleman at the bar told me to send these drinks over to, quote ‘the thick bitch with the wings’,” he droned. “Half the bar, actually, said something to the same effect.”
 
Sonic’s eyes widened—

half the bar?—

but Rouge only widened her seductive grin, seemingly unfazed. “Perfect. Thank you so much, handsome. I’m just dying of thirst.” She pulled out a wad of money from her chest and placed it in the bartender’s free hand. “For you, sweetie. Treat yourself to something nice.”
 
As soon as the drinks were placed on the table, Rouge smoothly slid one over to each of them, never letting a drop of liquor slosh over the edge. “Drink up, buttercups,” she said immediately taking a big swig of some mysteriously dark drink.
 
Knuckles downed his shot in one go, a blatantly obvious attempt at impressing Rouge. She let it slide and appeased him with a pseudo-impressed look of approval.
 
Sonic eyed his drink dubiously. For as much as he prided himself on his cool, laid-back image, he actually wasn’t a guy that drank that often, and he had no idea what Rouge put in front of him.
 
Rouge seemed to catch his hesitance immediately and pinned him with a look. “Aw, come on kid, don’t be shy. I had to do a lot of flirting to get those drinks. It won’t be that bad.”
 
Suddenly, Shadow broke his vow of silence. “Rouge, stop. You don’t need to scare the kids.”
 
Blue eyes met red as Rouge threw Shadow a surprised look before quickly recovering her cool demeanor. “Oh, nice of you finally stop sulking, Shadow. Have you decided to join us in the land of the living?”
 
Shadow sneered in response.
 
“Anyway, I was just teasing. Learn to have a little fun.”
 
Shadow’s gaze only hardened.
 
Rouge rolled her eyes. “Alright, spoilsport. Since I’m obviously doing something wrong, you entertain them.” Stunned, Shadow opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off, smiling mischievously. She had the upper hand once again. “

I’m

gonna go and dance.” She turned to Knuckles, offering her hand. “Care to join me?”
 
“Oh, hell yeah,” Knuckles said, taking hold and following her through the crowd and onto the packed dance floor.
 
The silence she left behind was cold and Sonic didn’t dare break it. He knew where trying that with Shadow would get him. So instead he opted for quietly swirling around whatever was inhabiting his glass, watching the dark liquid mix in a small whirlpool before becoming still again. Tails, looking more tired than uncomfortable, decided to go get himself a more age-appropriate drink. “Well, I’m going to get some...water, or something.”
 
And then, there were two.
 
Curious, Sonic took the smallest sip of his drink. He immediately wanted to spit it back up. The bitter flavor made his tongue curl and he tried to look for something, anything to chase away the taste.
 
He was so caught up in his disgust that he didn’t notice Shadow’s deep sigh until his annoyed voice sounded from beside him.
 
“Here,” Shadow slid a glass of something red and fruity-looking over towards Sonic, “It’s sweeter.” Not about to question Shadow’s sudden act of kindness, Sonic immediately gulped it down. He let out an audible sigh of relief as the sweet cherry flavor washed over his tongue, overpowering any lingering flavor from the previous drink.
 
Shadow looked down at his own drink and surprised Sonic for the third time that night by speaking again. “Sorry about Rouge. She’s...” Shadow searched for the best way to put it, “...Intense. This wouldn’t be my first time being stuck with damage control.” Taking a swig, Shadow continued to avoid Sonic’s eyes, preferring to eye-up his drink instead.
 
“Nah, it’s okay, don’t sweat it.” Sonic tried awkwardly to keep him talking; he hated uncomfortable silences, and who knew if Shadow would open up again. “You two seem to get along pretty well. How long have you—”
 
Shadow raised a hand in protest. “You don’t have to fill the silence. I appreciate the effort, but I’d prefer to spend the rest of my evening...” Again, he paused, looking for a diplomatic response. “...in solitude.”
 
“Oh.” Sonic, put off by this, backed off. “That’s fair.”
 
They sat alone together, in a stiff silence...for approximately 30 seconds.
 
“Um, so, what was it I drank exactly? I don’t really drink, but it tasted nice.” Sonic, ever impatient, questioned the ever-annoyed Shadow.
 
With a heavy sigh, he replied, “a cocktail. I don’t know what it’s called, but it looked like a Cosmopolitan.” Again, he found better company in his glass. “If you don’t drink, don’t force yourself.”
 
Sonic, ever optimistic, tried his hand at cracking Shadows tough exterior once more. “Oh, thanks! Ya know, I actually kinda liked that one. What are you drinking?”
 
Visibly defeated, Shadow relented. His drink had eased his headache some, and he figured it’d be easier to just humor the guy. “It’s called an Old Fashioned.”
 
“Huh, fitting,” Sonic bluntly stated. Shadow cocked an eye at Sonic, finally looking at him, at least a little. With the most shit-eating of grins, Sonic leaned in on his hand, eager to hear Shadow’s response.
 
“Hmph. And just how, might I ask, do you figure that?” Unamused, Shadow folded his arms in Sonic’s direction.
 
“I dunno; you’re all quiet, edgy and stoic looking. Plus you act like you’re older than me, and you’re willingly taking a home ec class. Pretty ‘Old Fashioned,’ if you ask me,” Sonic shrugged.
 
“...You’re bluntness would give Rouge a run for her money…” Shadow muttered.
 
“Well, life’s too short to beat around the bush. Best to say what you really think. Saves time in the long run,” Sonic pointed out, sniffing out the drink he’d tried before. “Man, what even is this?”
 
“You don’t have to humor me, Kid,” Shadow started turning away, looking less annoyed, more guilty. “I’m fine being alone. Go chat up someone who can appreciate it. You’re young. Do whatever it is young people do.”
 
“Alright, first off, my name is Sonic, not kid,” Sonic counted off with a light air of indignation, “Second, you’re only like, what, a couple years older than me? And third, I’m not humoring you. I’m trying to get to know you! I mean, we have a class together. It’d be nice to have someone I can actually talk to.”
 
Shadow gestured towards Sonic’s friends—Tails at the bar, Knuckles on the dance floor attempting to keep Rouge’s attention. “You seem to have a lot of people you could ‘actually talk to’,” he said dryly.
 
Sonic shrugged. “Yeah, but right now I wanna talk to

you

.”
 
Shadow, looking a little pained at this, nursed his drink. “Sonic, then?”
 
“And you’re Shadow, right?”  
 
Shadow balked. When had he ever told the kid his name?
 
Sonic laughed. “Rouge took the liberty of introducing you while you were sulking,”  he clarified. “But Knuckles actually told me who you were. You know him, right? He said you had a class together.”
 
Shadow eyed the naive-looking echidna, red spines flopping as he attempted to bounce to the beat with some semblance of rhythm. He didn’t recognize the guy, but he was sure he’d probably seen him somewhere. Shadow didn’t make it a point to get to know his classmates.
 
Sonic, however, seemed to go out of his way to know everyone he could. He had the bright-eyed energy and friendliness of someone half his age. Shadow almost pitied the kid—life would break him down one of these days.
 
Sonic refused to let the conversation end there. “So what are you doing in a home ec class, anyway? Doesn’t seem like your kind of...thing.”
 
Shadow side-eyed him. “That’s a bit judgemental. ” Sonic winced at that. “It’s just a gen-ed course I need to graduate. Trust me, I would rather be getting in more biochem courses.”
 
Sonic noticed the chink in his armor and went right for it. “Oh, so you’re a biochem major? That’s rad! Honestly, all of that stuff just sails over my head. But Tails is wicked smart, I’m sure you guys could talk about that stuff for days.”
 
Shadow bit back a groan. He had said too much and now he was trapped in this conversation. Desperately, he tried to turn the subject away from him. “And what, dare I ask, are you studying? College doesn’t exactly seem like ‘your kind of thing.’” He threw Sonic’s own words right back at him.
 
For almost the first time that night, Sonic got quiet. The awkward silence only hung there for a moment before Sonic laughed and spoke again, like he hadn’t missed a beat. “Honestly, you’re not wrong! I didn’t wanna go to college, but all my friends were going and the track team offered me a full ride, so here I am. Really, all I wanna do is run. I haven’t even declared a major yet! I mean, why would I want to waste my time sitting in classes? Just slows me down.”
 
Shadow had to restrain himself from punching Sonic. Throwing away a free education just because he didn’t care. Just to run around in circles with his friends. He’d never understand how hard Shadow had worked to get here. How many decades he would be spending paying off the student loans for medical school.
 
Kids like Sonic were the exact reason he hated undergrads. At least in his Masters program, people would actually be more focused and dedicated.
 
Emboldened by his drink, Shadow wasn’t about to let this slide. “Let me get this straight. You are wasting university funding, doing as you please, taking classes you don’t even need and wasting everyone’s time, JUST so you can literally run in circles?”
 
Sonic hadn’t expected this. Shadow, showing his first signs of emotion, looked visibly pissed at Sonic. “Hey, calm down man, it’s not my fault I’m required to take 15 hours of useless courses just so I can do what I actually want to do!”
 
“But  you don’t actually

know

what you want to do, do you? You’re no different from half the kids here—coasting by, with no sense of obligation to actually improve or be responsible for your own future.” Shadow knew he probably should have shut up at this point, but he had the courage of whiskey on his side and he was on a roll.
 
“Oh please, and you think you’re better than me because

you’ve

decided to waste

your

own life studying molecules?” Sonic, whose laughably low tolerance gave out, was on the offensive. “Just because you’re gonna be a doctor or something doesn’t mean you can look down on me! You don’t have to act all high and mighty; you may think you’re above all these ‘kids,’ but you’re as immature as the rest of us. Pouting and brooding, just because we aren’t like you.” Slurring at least half of his words, Sonic didn’t look ready to give up.
 
“Immature? Just because I’d rather focus on what’s important to me? I don’t plan to be as selfish as you. Have you ever even thought about anyone other than yourself?” At this point, Shadow was done with trying hide his true feelings; he couldn’t. “If you’re going to be so puerile, then why don’t you just do us all a favor and drop out?”
 
“Oh, fuck you dude, I KNEW you were the type of stuck up snob to just throw out big words to sound smarter than everybody,” Sonic laughed, unable to contain how funny he found Shadows edge-lord shtick.
 
“No, fuck you. It’s not my fault your lexicon is as limited as a Speak & Spell, you obnoxious reprobate,” Shadow spat out, infuriated by Sonic's douchebaggery.
 
“Boys, boys, I enjoy the show, but please; get a room.”
 
Rouge, along with an out-of-breath Knuckles, had returned.
 Unbeknownst to either hedgehog, in the heat of their argument, they had closed the space in between them—inches apart, their breath, grazing one another’s cheek. 
Shadow, clearly embarrassed backed up, turning away before anyone could see how much redder he’d become. Sonic, still in a giddy, liquor-fueled state, just fell over in rapturous laughter.
 
“Aw, don’t be like that Shadow! It’s not that often I get to see you actually emote,” Rouge whined as she slid back into the booth. Shadow, trying to resume his silent reverie, didn’t want to give Rouge the satisfaction of acknowledgement.
 
Knuckles, trying to catch his breath, noticed they were one party member less. “Where’s Tails?”
 
Wiping away his tears, Sonic attempted to catch his giggles.“Dunno; think he was going to get a drink for himself?”
 
“And you let Tails, the minor, go alone. In a packed bar. With all these strangers.” Knuckles, who had quickly gone from flirt mode to mother hen mode, said this to Sonic in the most sobering tone.
 
“... Oh shit.” Making a 180 from manic to terrified, Sonic bolted out of the booth to go searching for Tails.
 
“Welp, I think that’s our cue to leave, before they call security on us.” Knuckles let out a noticeable sigh of regret. “Thanks Rouge, let’s do this again sometime,” He said as he handed her his number, scribbled on a bar napkin.
 
“Aww, so soon? I was just starting to have fun,” she purred, grabbing the napkin seductively. “Well, see you around, Knuxie,” blowing a kiss his way.
 
With the doofiest of grins, Knuckles stumbled away after Sonic.
 
A moment of silence hung in the air as Rouge stared down Shadow who was lost in his empty glass. She was not about to let Shadow get away with his earlier display.
 
“Hmm, you know I think I’ve figured something out,” she said in a declarative tone, grabbing ahold of one of the nearby blue cocktails.
 
“...What?” Shadow looked up some, but not enough to grant Rouge actual eye contact.
 
“‘Stuck up snob’ and ‘obnoxious reprobate’ would make great pet names for the two of you.” Rouge took a long drink of her cocktail, knowing it’d be her last of the night.
 
“I’m done.” Shadow threw up his hands in frustration, and began his retreat.“Your hour is up.”
 
“Hey, look on the bright side! You survived a night on the town! More or less, “ Rouge called after him, knocking back one more drink for the road.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Speed

. The world around him passed in a blur as Sonic pushed himself to go faster. The only things he could hear were his heaving breaths and the sound of his shoes against the track. This is what he loved about running—the rush. The energy. As soon as he shot off, his mind went quiet and his only focus was chasing the finish line. For a moment, nothing else mattered.
 
Sonic.

The track.

The thrill.
 
The click of a timer broke through and Sonic slowed to a stop. He glanced behind him to the other panting runners, and felt a swell of pride. He had outrun them all.
 
As the runners heaved their lungs out, Sonic, taking a hearty swig from his water bottle, turned towards the track coach standing on the sidelines—a large purple and white cat who everyone seemed to just know as “Big.”
 
Sonic had laughed, “C’mon, what’s his

actual

name?” The rest of the team had just shrugged. People had questioned the same thing before and never gotten a straight answer—Big the cat was an enigma. A large, sandal-wearing enigma.
 
With his wide eyes and slow, bumbling speech, most assumed Big wasn’t smart enough to pass the fifth grade, much less receive enough education to secure a faculty position at a semi-respected university. Sonic didn’t mind the guy, though. He was nice enough, and if his coaching would lead the team to more wins, then that was all Sonic cared about.
 
“Good job, everybody,” Big congratulated, clapping his gloved hands. “Your times are getting faster.” Big paused, visibly thinking through his next sentence. “Now, let’s—”
 
The sharp sound of a skateboard on a rail cut off Big’s instructions before they began. Everyone’s eyes went to the green bird grinding down the rail of the stairs to the stadium where the track was.  Landing with a perfect kickflip, he caught his board in one hand while sliding up his tinted goggles with the other.
 
Piercing blue eyes scanned the crowd and his mouth curled up in a cocky smile. “What’s up, fuckers,” he said, pointing obnoxious finger guns towards the crowd.
 
Sonic sneered at the sight.

Jet the hawk.

Sonic had heard about this guy before he even came here. Only a sophomore, Jet already had a reputation for being the fastest one on the team, setting most of the recent records in the league. He was good—and he knew it. He walked around with an air of self-importance, always sporting a sickening grin.
 
He had given Sonic a patronizing grin as soon as they met. “Oh, how cute. Are you the new waterboy?”
 
Immediately, Sonic had went on the defensive. “Actually, I’m on the team,” he said dryly. “And I’m on the fast track to being the star runner of this team.”
 
Jet had eyed his thin form, his old, worn Soap shoes. “Uh-huh,” he’d drawled. He snapped his eyes back up to Sonic, ever-present smirk already spreading. “Good luck, kid. You’ll have to beat me, first.” He’d laughed in Sonic’s face before turning on his heel and striding from the room, still chuckling.
 
If Sonic had hated this guy before, that interaction had only strengthened it. Sonic officially had a vendetta. He would shatter every record this guy had ever set, one by one.
 
“Jet, you’re late,” Big observed unhelpfully.
 
“Oh, good job, big guy. I’m surprised you know how to read a clock.” Jet’s voice was dripping with sarcastic astonishment, but any subtlety went over Big’s head.
 
Big just smiled. “Well of course I can, Jet. When the big and the little hands high-five each other on the 12, that means you’re late!”
 
Jet didn’t dignify this with a response, kicking his skateboard over towards the bleachers and striding over towards the other runners, seemingly oblivious to the annoyed glances being thrown his way. He eyed Sonic as he stepped up, challenge flashing in his gaze.
 
Sonic’s glare only hardened.
 
Big clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Alright, everyone, let’s work on getting  our mile times faster. Everybody in position!”
 
Sonic took his place at the starting line, Jet shoving his way in beside him, stretching his feathers in a showy display. Sonic did his best to tune him out, focusing on the heat of the sun and the feeling of his heart thudding in his chest.
 
Big fired the starting pistol and they were off.

Sonic sulked in the locker room as he shoved his gear in his bag. Jet had beaten him again—but just barely. If Sonic hadn’t stumbled on that last mile, he would’ve bypassed Jet before he could even blink.
 
Still, Jet used it as an opportunity to gloat about his victory, loudly espousing his bullshit to anyone who would listen.
 
“Ha! A year and a half, and people still can’t beat my records,” he laughed. “Soon enough, I’m gonna be the fastest track star in the nation. After I graduate, I’ll be an Olympic athlete. I already have recruiters scouting me out.”
 
The people around him seemed in awe of Jet’s proclamations of success, but Sonic only half-believed what he was saying. Jet spun wild stories all the time to make himself look cooler than he actually was.
 
Even still, Sonic felt the unease crawling into his mind. Even for all his false bravado, Jet seemed on a one-way track to success. With the glint in his eye and the smirk on his beak, anyone could tell Jet had had this planned from the beginning, following a carefully-laid-out plan that made his childhood daydreams a reality. He considered every possibility, every opportunity.
 
He had the world at his fingertips already. And here was Sonic.
 
Compared to Jet, Sonic had nothing—just a bunch of half-formed dreams and vague desires.
 
He remembered sitting in the school counsellors’ offices in middle school, fresh out of Emerald Hill’s annual career assembly. “And Sonic, what do you want to be when you grow up,” they would ask.
 
Sonic would always grin and perk up. “I wanna run!”
 
That answer would always get him a laugh and a pat on the head—until it didn’t. “Yes, but what do you want to

do

? Who do you want to be, Sonic?”
 
Sonic had tilted his head at this. He knew he wanted to run—what else was there to consider? “Well, I guess I want to be the fastest runner alive,” he had shot back with a laugh.
 
“That’s not enough Sonic. You have to know where you’re going. Life won’t wait on you to decide.”
 
Sonic had always waved that notion off. The future was unpredictable—what was the point in planning for it? Sonic operated on the belief that everything would eventually turn out okay. Why would he want to waste his life worrying about everything that could be?
 
He would rather focus on the now, on his friends, on laughter, on fun nights. On getting the most out of every single breath he took.
 
But as he heard Jet give another self-aggrandizing speech, he was forced to consider the possibility that the future wouldn’t wait—couldn’t wait—and everything would fall apart without him noticing.
 
Sonic stifled a wince. Despite his snobbish attitude, Shadow’s words got to him. It awoke something within him. Something small. Something… unsettling.
 
He shook his head before these seeds of worry could grow into something more. This was a problem for another time. He shut the flimsy metal door of his locker, leaving Jet and his threatening laughter behind.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Oooooh, I loooove it!”
 
Maria. The strongest kid, even the strongest person, Shadow has ever known.
 
She sat up in her hospital bed, strung up with IVs like a marionette. They said she had been improving. She almost got through her first week of high school. She…
 
“Shadow, you’re always pushing yourself too much. Where did you find time to make this?”
 
Maria held up a delicately crocheted shawl, a gradient of sky to darker blues. In the face of anxiety, it helped to channel it into more productive outlets. Crochet, embroidery, cooking—honestly anything monotonous and tactile to slow his racing thoughts.
 
“Well, it’s getting colder, so I thought it would do you some good. ” Shadow gave a soft smile—the one reserved for these moments. For Maria.
 
“Well you thought right, they keep it as cold as a meat locker in here!” She shivered for effect.
 
“Oh, you poor thing,” Shadow, in a sarcastically pouty tone, gingerly wrapped his arms around Maria, “Next thing you know, you’ll be served up with a side of asparagus, and a nice merlot.”
 
“Har har,” she rolled her eyes, slightly shrugging him off. “Well, hopefully I taste better than I feel.”
 
“Now, don’t sell yourself short. Food or not, you’ll always be an A1 sister to me.”
 
“Aw, how… sweet?” They laughed a little, a jovial kind of laugh. Laughter helps cover up the uglier parts of reality. Amazingly, she rarely let it show. Never wanting to bring anyone down with her.
 
Reality always finds a way to crawl back out.
 
“So, how’s school going? You haven’t come home since the semester began. Remember, it’s healthy to take a break every once in a while,” she held up a finger, like a school teacher scolding her student.
 
Shadow sat down at the end of her bed. He didn’t have the heart to tell her the

real

reason why he hadn’t gone home.
 
Terror. Taking a break meant stopping. Stopping meant losing ground, falling behind. Falling behind, failing, losing it, losing…
 
“Maria. I promise you, I’m fine. Two more semesters, and I can finally get started on grad-school. I can rest when I’m dead,” he half-joked.
 
“And If you never rest, you’ll be dead before me!”
 
Never really knew how to respond to those kinds of comments.
 
Life.

Death.

Such delicate subjects.
 
But how do you reply to someone who has already accepted their demise?
 
“Don’t talk like that. I promised you, I would find a way to help you, no matter what.”
 
“And I appreciate, more than anything, what you’re doing for me. But sacrificing your life for a dead girl isn’t a way to spend your life.” There wasn’t much sorrow in her voice. He hated that. Not that she had accepted it, just that she had to accept such a horrible fate at such a young age.
 
Yet he got to be free. Disgusting. Maria could see the pain on Shadows face, and grabbed his hand.
 
“Hey, I’m still here, ya know? And I’m lucky enough to have a brother and a grandfather worrying over me so. But, you’ve spent most of your life worrying about me. So please, let me worry over you a little, alright?”
 
A perfectly fine afternoon, once again ruined by the stench of death. Shadow would gladly digress if he could.
 
“Thank you. But you don’t have to worry about me, okay? School is hardly any issue; this semester's just the standard fair of homework, lectures and freshman ingrates causing me… unease.” Maria, who spent most of her time in hospitals, was always eager to hear about life beyond the sterilized walls.
 
“Ooh, what classes are you taking this year? Anything fun,” she asked, eagerly awaiting his answer.
 
Shadow chuckled. She was a very considerate, but he knew that even she wouldn’t want to hear any of his science jargon.
 
“Well, don’t know about ‘fun’ per se; Senior Biochem, Calculus, Home ec, Genome-”
 
“Home ec? In college? I’m supposed to be taking a Family Consumer Science class this year, but even then, it’s just kind of a write-off class,” Maria questioned with a puzzled expression.
 
Shadow stood, beginning to pace.
 
“Yeah, it’s bizarre to say the least. But I need a responsible living credit to graduate, and it fit into my schedule. Believe me, I’d never willingly take a class with so many…. teenagers,” he shuddered at the word.
 
He stopped. Flashes of the other night hit him, unwelcome in his conscious mind. He tried to not let it get to him, but he still couldn’t shake the utter embarrassment he felt.
 
Sonic… That kid was officially on his shit-list.
 
“You’re always so hard on the younger students, Shadow. I’m sure they aren’t that bad. If they’re so irritating, why not actually talk to some of them? Who knows, you could gain a new perspective, talking to someone different from you.” Hmm, she’d make a great counselor.
 
“...I’ll keep that in mind. Though, I doubt I’d want to know their perspectives on much of anything. They’re so… ungrateful, so disrespectful. They get under my skin in the most irritating way.” His pacing evolved into a fuming march.
 
Maria cocked an eye. “Hmm… sounds an awful lot like it’s less the plural ‘they’ and more so a singular ‘they.’”
 
“How do you know these things? Is mind reading a new symptom of yours,” a stunned Shadow mocked.
 
“Dunno, could be. Would explain the voices I’ve been hearing recently,” she joked. “So, who’s the ‘ungrateful’ and ‘disrespectful they’ under your skin?”
 
Ugh, was it worth getting into again? That Sonic guy had soured his entire weekend, and he had just started to lose that bitter taste of embarrassment. His privacy. His tranquility. His personal space.... all violated in the matter of minutes, by this one guy. Was it even worth going to class tomorrow?  
 
“Honestly, Maria, it’s not worth getting into. Just some guy who sits next to me in class. Seems to be the outgoing type. Insists on trying to invade my privacy. Might need to move seats if I want to get through this class with my sanity intact.”
 
“You could do that. Run away from your problems. Like a child.”
 
“...ouch…”

Scathing.

He both valued and feared her honesty.
 
“You know what, Shadow. Could you do me a favor?” Maria leaned in, beckoning Shadow closer.
 
“Well, anything, usually.”
 
“For once, just this once, maybe give this person a chance. Maybe they’re trying to befriend you? And, Rouge aside, you could stand to socially branch out a bit more. Loneliness hardens the soul, locks it up tight in fear of disaster. Soon enough, you’ll be trapped within a prison of your own making.”
 
“...Maria…” He couldn’t respond to that. He had always told himself he was fine with being alone… he had thought that.
 
Yet…
 
“Give it a chance, Shadow, for me. You deserve to be happy, brother,” She took his hands in hers.
 
Happiness… Maria made him happy. That was enough.
 
“...No promises, Maria. But, I can attempt to be…. diplomatic…. If possible….maybe...”
 
“That’s the spirit! New quota; at least 5 new friends by Christmas break!”
 
“Whoa now, let’s not get too crazy here.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Beep Beep Beep

Groggily rolling over, Shadow put an end to his alarm clock’s squawking. Unfortunately, despite his wishes, Monday morning still came. It was time for him to get ready for a long day. 
 
It was six in the morning; the soft rays of dawn danced through his blinds. Stretching out of bed, he wobbly made his way into the bathroom, completing his normal morning routine on auto-pilot.
 
The warm water of his shower washed over him, helping rinse away the last bits of drowse from his eyes. The shower was always the best place to organize one’s thoughts. 
 
Monday. First class, Calculus, was at 8. No homework due today, he recalled. Second class, Biochem, started at 10. There was a pre-class reading, already finished last week. Third class…. Home ec. At 12. Nothing due yet.... Maybe he should skip. It would give him time to work on more homework, and there’s no way he’d be missing much.
 
...And he’d be spared interacting with that Sonic kid again. No doubt he’d bring up Friday night, or try his best to give Shadow a sizable headache.

“Give it a chance, Shadow, for me. “

Maria… Shadow wished he was more like her.  She’d have already befriended half the class if she were in his shoes...
 
Turning off the water, grabbing a fresh towel and drying himself off, he dressed himself in his regular garb of dark tones and baggy fabric. He still had enough time to maybe make a decent breakfast and lunch.
 
He turned on the news as he grabbed some eggs and bacon from his fridge.
 
“...thankfully there were no casualties. In other news, the renowned director of

Chao in Space 2

, has recently announced plans for the long awaited final installment… ”

So this is considered news now, hmm?

Shadow didn’t care much for most movies; just a waste of time. Though, he did have a few favorites, mostly ones of higher artistic merit, like

The Shape of Chaos

or

Citizen Bean

.
 
Bacon crisped, eggs scrambled and bread perfectly toasted, he sat down to eat. He had 4 chairs set around the table, but most days he just shared the company of the empty space that occupied them. The only company he needed was his own peace of mind. Just himself. No one else.
 
...Maybe he should invite Rouge or his family over for dinner some time… It’d be a waste to not put a perfectly nice dinner table to use. He had recorded an episode of ‘Fine cuisine with Robby Flame,’ that had a tasty looking pizza recipe he wanted to test out. It would be nice to have someone other than himself to try it.

Well, back to the grind

, he thought, putting away his dishes, and packing away lunch for the day.

Here’s hoping this day just fades in with all the rest

.
   
Sonic stretched his arms above his head as his phone’s alarm beeped loudly through the room. For once, his series of alarms managed to make him wake up on time—well, almost. He had at least 20 minutes to get to class, which was something of an accomplishment in his book. 
 
Tails’ bed was already empty, sheets perfectly made. His full schedule meant he had early-morning classes, and Sonic was such a heavy sleeper that he always dozed through Tails’ morning routine. One of these days, eventually, he would wake up and make a proper breakfast for Tails. Then again, cooking wasn’t really his forte, so his grand breakfast would really just consist of off-brand toaster pastries and cereal. That was a solid meal, right? 
 
His stomach rumbled at the thought of strawberry-filled pastries. With that, he pulled himself out of bed, went quickly through his haphazard morning routine, and headed for the humanities building, chomping on a granola bar as he ran. Skidding into room 105, he checked his phone to find he was only 4 minutes late—less than last time, at least. The professor’s narrowed eyes followed him as he moved towards the last empty seat, once again only inches from a less-than-enthusiastic hedgehog.
 
Shadow kept his gaze resolutely forward as the professor went on a long-winded tangent about gas and electric stoves. Sonic awkwardly fidgeted in his seat. As oblivious as he could be, he wasn’t a complete idiot—he could tell this guy didn’t like him, and, to be honest, he wasn’t exactly keen on Shadow’s edgy, know-it-all attitude either. But he should at least try to smooth things over, right? 
 
He glanced over, trying to catch the other hedgehog’s eye, but Shadow was a statue,  crossing his arms and not even sparing him a look. Ball was in his court, then.
 
“Um… hey Shadow?” Sonic covertly (at least as much as he could be) leaned over towards Shadow, whispering in a rather transparent tone. 
 
“....”

Most problems go away if you just ignore them,

Shadow thought. Sonic, however, was not most problems.
 
“Listen, I just wanted to apologize for the other night. Don’t know what got into me, really. We got off on the wrong foot, so why don’t we just smooth things over, and start over, alright?” He gave his most optimistic smile, hoping to get something out of him. 
 
Shadow bit back a sigh, weighing his options. If he kept his head down and stayed quiet, Sonic had to eventually take the hint and shut up, right? Despite Maria’s wishes, he knew that if he engaged, that would only give Sonic the encouragement to keep going, poking and prodding until he opened up enough of a crack to worm his way further into Shadow’s private life. Fuck that.
 
Sonic looked over at Shadow once more, almost pleading. Shadow rubbed his temple in an attempt to fight off the impending migraine. Clearly, he was not giving up without a fight. Better to cut the problem off at its head.
 
“If you want to try and smooth things over, then, how about we vow to leave each other alone for the rest of the semester. It’ll be best for the both of us, alright?” Shadow barely acknowledged Sonic beyond a dry whisper
 
“Ey, come on, I don’t bite! We don’t have to be best friends or anything, I just don’t want anymore animosity between the two of us, ya’ know? It’s really putting a dent into my good guy cred. ”
 
“Animosity, hmm? Congrats on not tripping over a multisyllabic word.” Sonic visibly winced at the comment. “Listen, I can not even begin to care about your reputation you supposedly have. Just leave me alone.” Shadow knew he should have quit when he was ahead—held back on the biting commentary—but something about this asshole just ruffled his composure and got on his nerves. He had to do whatever he could to shut him up.
 
“Man, ouch. Did I really piss you off that bad? I feel terrible about it, okay? Can I at least make it up to you? Get you some lunch? Talk it out over coffee?”
 
“There’s nothing

to

talk about. You seem like you’re used to being the perfect golden boy, but that doesn’t mean I have to like you. Learn to deal with it.” 
 
Shadow could hear the frustration creeping into Sonic’s voice as he spoke again. “Listen, I’m not saying you have to love me. That’s not the point here. But—”
 
“Ah yes, Mr. Shadow and Mr. Sonic.” The professor's less-than-enthused voice interrupted their less-than-clandestine conversation.

Shit

. “E-excuse me sir?” Shadow, recovered his composure, as much as he could, and hoped he wasn’t being blamed for Sonic’s unceasing proding.
 
“You two have been yammering back there all class, so why don’t I pair you two up for the big final project, hmm? You obviously know each other so well already.” 
 
Oh. God. No. Shadow, too stunned to even respond, zipped his jacket up to his nose, begging for the sweet release of death. Sonic, slightly less stunned, seemed more confused than upset.
 
“Uh, Mr. professor sir, isn’t it a little early to be talking about our final projects?”
 
The professor snapped his gaze to the outspoken blue hedgehog. “It’s never too early to start learning valuable life skills, Mr. Sonic.” 
 
Shadow stared daggers at Sonic, hoping he could mentally will him to shut up before he got them both in deeper trouble. Thankfully, the professor moved on before Sonic could open his mouth again.
 
“You kids are in college now, about to be sent out into the harsh reality that is the real world. Better to prepare now, lest you be screwed later. That’s why this semester you’ll be required to show me you’re able to run a functioning household, like a productive member of society. For this project, you’ll be working in pairs, learning how to perform a wide range of general household skills and turning in a report of your progress to me every other week. At the end of the semester, you’ll be expected to present the results of your labors, along with a few tokens to show for it. The entire project is worth 50% of your final grade, so make sure you stay on top of it.” He paused then, sliding a careful eye over the faces in the room. “Let’s keep it simple; there’s only 2 to a table, so everyone else will also be paired with the other person at their desk. Who knows! By the end of the semester, you and your partner could end up as happy as newly-weds! Or, more realistically, as fed up as me and my second wife.”  The professor’s dry attempt at humor was met with a room of blank, tired stares. He let out a resigned sigh and continued the tedious descriptions of the assignments themselves.
 
Shadow tensed in his seat.

Fuck

. There was no way he was going to be stuck working with that blue asshole for the rest of the goddamn semester. Spending 50 minutes with him in class was already starting to strain his last nerve, but having to deal with him every other week, for extended periods of time? Shadow would actually rather shoot himself. 
 
Sonic, however, didn’t hate the idea of being paired up with Shadow, per se. He did hate the thought of actually having to start so early on something he’d intended to phone in months from now. He looked over the list of tasks that the professor had handed out.

Mending clothes? Preparing meals for the week? Creating a household budget?

Surely he didn’t need to worry about this kind of stuff

now

. These were things people with like...2.5 kids and a pet chao did, right? Sonic had never even considered having a family larger than him and his brother, Tails, and they got by just fine.
 
He sighed. Either way, he had to at least pass to keep his track scholarship, which meant he was now beholden to the menial tasks on this paper...and to Shadow. Whether they liked it or not, for the next few months, they had to rely on each other. 
 
“That’ll be all for today. Remember, I expect you all to keep up with this. Don’t expect to pass if you plan on phoning it in last minute.”

Well shoot.

Everyone packed up to leave, with Shadow especially set on getting out before Sonic had a chance to worsen his mood.
 
Before he could escape, though, Sonic once again started talking. “Guess we’re stuck together for now, huh?” He flashed him an awkward grin.
 
Shadow chose not to dignify that with a response.
 
But of course, ever-oblivious to any kind of social cue, Sonic continued with his attempt at friendly conversation. “But man, can you believe he’s making us work so soon on such a dumb project? I have track practice every other day as it is, how am I gonna—”
 
“Shut up—just—shut up!” Shadow’s last nerve was finally struck. Shockingly enough, Sonic actually did as he was told, sheepishly backing away from the irate hedgehog stabbing him with his glare. “I get it, you can’t stand putting effort into anything more mentally taxing than prancing around on an asphalt circle every goddamn minute of every day! I. Get. It. But if you’re really so insistent on ‘smoothing things over,’ then do me one favor—don’t you dare get in my way. My GPA can not afford me failing a freshman-level course because of some lazy miscreant who can’t pull his own weight.”
 
“Shadow… I’m not useless, I can still help!” Sonic, desperately hoping to end at least one class on good terms with this guy, ran after him, grabbing his wrist in an attempt to get him to listen.
 
That, as it turns out, was a bad idea.
 
“Don’t. Touch. Me.” Yanking his wrist away, Shadow departed from Sonic’s view in a cloud of rage.
 
“Oh, geez. Wait! Shouldn’t I at least give you my contact info!?” Sonic huffed. Well. That could have gone better. Sonic stood there for a while, lingering in the silence that followed. He had really screwed up here. How was he ever going to get on Shadow’s good side, if he even had one?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Wow, really screwed the pooch on that one, didn’t you?” Knuckles, just going to town on a plate of enchiladas, bluntly responded to Sonic’s recounting of his less-than-stellar class. The two of them met up for lunch at the caf on campus, waiting for Tails to join them. Knuckles was done for the day, and didn’t have to go to work for another few hours. 
 
“Well geez, thanks. Glad to know I can count on you to cheer me up.” Sonic replied, unamused, sipping his drink with a slight frown. He’d considered getting a bite to eat as well, but he always had trouble eating when he felt like this. “Can I at least count on you to help me figure a way out of this hole I’ve dug myself into? Honestly, at this point, I just need the guy to not blow up every time we meet. We have to work together enough to pass this class.”
 
“Can you ask the professor to switch you guys for other partners?” Knuckles was always the best person to turn to for advice—straight to the point, always looking for solutions.
 
“Nah, I may be on even worse terms with him than with Mr. Short, Dark And Angsty,” Sonic quipped, balancing on the back two legs of his chair.
 
“Have you considered just dropping the class? I’m sure there are other classes you can take to fulfill credit needs, and it’ll nip the problem right in the bud.” That was an option; it wasn't too late to drop classes with the deadline weeks away. 
 
“Yeah, I could, but you know me - I don’t back down from a challenge. Besides, noon classes are too sweet to give up, dude.” Wouldn’t want to risk the chance of having to wake up before 11 a.m. “And any class where part of my final project is just learning to use a kitchen knife and patch up a shirt seems easy enough for even me to get through.”
 
“Point taken,” Knuckles responded, nodding.
 
“I just don’t understand how I could make a guy I’ve known for literally less than a week so violently hate me. I don’t even know him beyond his first name.”
 
“You know, Sonic, there’s probably not much you can do. Some people are just like this. You can’t make everyone happy, and some people would prefer to keep it that way. So, I suggest you either drop the class, or just stay out of Shadow’s way, like he told you.” Knuckles had already scarfed down most of his food, and seemed to be ready for round two.“Want me to get you anything? I think they have chili dogs.”
 
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks though.” 
 
Knuckles, skeptical at his utter disinterest towards a free chili dog, gave him a friendly pat on the back.
 
“Hey, don’t let it get to you dude. I know you’re trying, and hey, you’ll always be a golden boy in my eyes.” Despite his tougher exterior, Knux was probably the most considerate and thoughtful of Sonic’s friends. 
 
“Hey, you don’t gotta convince me of anything. I know I’m perfect,” he insisted, smoothing his quills back and flexing for effect. With a chuckle, Knuckles departed for the buffet, giving Sonic more time to revel in his perfection.
 
If he was being honest, though, he felt semi-perfect at best. Sure, he wasn’t always loved by everyone, but even then, he was at least on okay terms with most people. Take Knuckles; the two of them couldn’t stand each other at first, but now they’d do damn near anything for each other. This guy, though, just wasn’t giving him anything to work with. 
 
Everyone tended to like Sonic. He always tried his hardest to make sure he was the cool guy people could depend on. It sucked being proved wrong. He generally didn’t care about what randos thought, but this Shadow guy seemed to hate his very existence. It…hurt. He had to get Shadow to at the very least tolerate him. Maybe if he got to actually know Sonic…

He’d despise me

. 
 
“Hey Sonic! Sorry to keep you guys waiting.” Tails, breaking through Sonic’s trance, pulled up a chair next to him.
 
“Oh, hey little buddy! How was class?” Thankfully, Tails was always one to cheer Sonic up. He hadn’t seen him much recently, what with track practices, and Tails being a star student. Finally, the three of them could all just hang out like old times.
 
“Eh, you know, just another normal day of mock-ups and coding. I wouldn’t want to bore you with the details,” Tails said in a less than enthused tone. There seemed to be something weighing on him; perhaps he had overloaded himself a bit with 18 credit hours worth of classes.
 
“Hmm, you sure about that little buddy? You know, the bags under your eyes tell a different tale” As much as it sucked seeing Tails so drained, Sonic did like having someone else he could focus on for a while.
 
“Really, I’m fine, honestly. The classes so far have been a breeze.” He let out a sigh.
 
“Buuuuut?” Sonic leaned in closer to Tails, ready to hear him out.
 
“Well… It’s fine, there’s nothing to worry about, really. Guess I’m still adjusting to university life.”
 
Yeah, right. Whatever was going on with Tails, it wasn’t just ‘fine.’
 
“Hey Tails, were you going to grab something to eat?” Knuckles returned, arms full of everything from pizza to pudding.
 
“Not until he tells me why he looks so haggard and depressed,” said Sonic. Tails shyly stared at his feet, trying to avoid the gaze of his friends. Knuckles, switching into mom mode, put his food down and got onto Tails’ level.
 
“Aw, I’m sorry champ. Is there anything I can do for you?” Knuckles asked in a markedly sweeter tone.
 
“You guys, I promise you I’m fine! You don’t have to treat me like a little kid, I can handle myself just fine.” 
 
He was still hiding something. 
 
“We know you can handle yourself,” Sonic agreed, “But you’re also the only 13 year old student on this campus. Even I’m having a hard time adjusting, you know? College life is hard to get used to - there’s no shame in admitting it.” 
 
Tails seemed to open up a bit more. “You are?” he asked. Sonic wasn’t the type to have trouble, things just always seemed to work out for him, at least in Tails’ eyes.
 
“You betcha, Tails. But that’s not important now. Really, what’s up? Is it your classes? Anyone in your classes picking on you?” Tails bowed his head further, seeming to fight back tears.

Yikes, may have struck a chord.

“Hey Sonic, Tails doesn’t have to tell us if he doesn’t want to.” Knuckles, giving Sonic a disapproving look. He slid over one of his plates with a hamburger toward Tails. “Here, eat up. A full stomach always makes me feel good,” he reassured with a smile.
 
“Man, you must be feeling pretty jolly right about now,” Sonic wisecracked. Thankfully, Tails couldn’t help but chuckle at this, and wiped away any tears he had coming on.
 
“Smartass. But hey, remember this. Me and Sonic? We'll always have your back. I’ll deck anyone who tries to hurt you square in the face.” Knuckles cracked his… uh…knuckles to show just how serious he was. 
 
“Thanks guys…that does help. Just don’t go punching people because of me,” Tails bashfully requested, starting on his hamburger.
 
“Never because of you, dear Tails. But always for you,” Sonic declared, leaving the other two looking for clarification. “What I mean is, it’s not like it’s a burden or anything for us to help you out. You’re my favorite little brother, afterall. I live to kick the butts of those who mess with you.”
 
“I’m your only brother. And I’m not that little,” Tails asserted, mouth filled with burger.
 
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. Hmm, would you take small bro? Mini bro? Junior? My tweeny weeny bestest bro?” Sonic grabbed ahold of Tails, ruffling his hair, causing him to burst out in giggling protest.
 
“Hey, hey, alright! Little bro is fine…for now.” He wiggled his way out, trying to fix his hair back to it’s normal scruffy style.
 “Suit yourself.” Sonic resumed his casual devil may care posture. At least he can make Tails happy. Now, if only he could find a way to do the same with Shadow. A full stomach makes Knuckles happy....should I buy the dude lunch? 
“So, Sonic, you’re having trouble adjusting?” Tails, still munching on his burger, turned the tables on Sonic.
 
“Eh, It’s nothing much—”
 
“It’s that Shadow guy. Called Sonic a lazy bum,” Knuckles interrupted. “Man, you guys have it rough. My whole freshman year was super boring, compared to your first two weeks.”
 
“First, he called me a lazy miscreant, not bum.” Sonic held up a finger in protest. “Second, he’s only a drop in the bucket. I knew I shouldn’t have taken college algebra. Like, I totally rock it when it comes to reading and writing stuff, but I just check out when it comes to mathy-sciency stuff. Hope I can keep at least a C. Can’t afford to lose my scholarship.”
 
“Well, I’m a pretty decent tutor if I do say so myself,” Tails beamed. “If you have your work with you we could go over it.”
 
And the three continued on like this, for as long as they could. Talking like they were all back at Emerald Hill High, without a care in the world.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Shadow’s leg bounced anxiously as he shifted in the uncomfortable, creaky wooden chair in the library cafe. He eyed the papers strewn across the small table as he took a sip of his americano, wincing at the cold, bitter taste of the mediocre brew. Two weeks into the semester and he could already feel the oppressive weight of papers and syllabi threatening to crash down around him. 
 
Lab reports, papers, research projects, massive midterms—
 
His gaze fell to the extensive home-ec task list looming at the top of his pile. God, now he had that bullshit to contend with. And being partnered with that Sonic asshole—

Nope. No.

There was no way he was wasting any more time on that careless idiot. He looked to his hastily scribbled medical notes… He had bigger things to worry about. 
 
He bit back a sigh. Group work was the bane of his existence in normal circumstances. And there was no way a freeloader like Sonic was going to help—at least not willingly. It wasn’t worth the trouble. If nothing else, Shadow would do what he had always done—he would handle it. The sooner this project was done and the sooner he got that blue nuisance out of his life, the better. 
   
“Are you going to keep staring at that brooding asshole or are you going to make those caramel macchiato orders I gave you?” 
 
Silver jumped as Blaze’s voice piped up suddenly behind him. He frowned indignantly, trying to swallow his embarrassment, but he could already feel his cheeks heating up in spite of himself. “I wasn’t—”
 
Blaze cut him off with a knowing side-eye. “Oh, shut up. I’ve seen you make those lovesick puppy dog eyes at him for years. You’ve had that crush on him since Psych I.” 
 
Silver didn’t bother responding, stepping around his co-worker and busying himself with the espresso machine in hopes to escape the conversation. 
 
But Blaze was nothing if not persistent, sidling up beside him and leaning against the counter. She checked herself out in the metallic side of the whirring espresso machine, adjusting the tufts of purple fur tied up in her signature ponytail before continuing her crusade. “Y’know, you could...I don’t know...talk to him?” 
 
Silver scoffed as he dumped caramel syrup into the cafe’s bland cardboard cups. “Please, like that would work.”
 
Blaze rolled her eyes. “You don’t know that.” 
 
“C’mon, Blaze. I may be optimistic, but I’m also a realist. Shadow’s way too brooding and mysterious. I’m nowhere near his type.” 
 
“Aw come on, you’re charming,” she said, tapping a finger on his nose. “I mean,

I

like you.” 
 
“You’re my best friend. You don’t count,” he responded dryly as he carefully finished off the drinks with drizzles of caramel. 
 
Blaze put a hand to her chest and gasped in mock-offense. “How dare you?” 
 
Silver sighed as he slid the cups down the counter and called the names of the gaggle of privileged airheads that ordered them. “You know what I mean,” he mumbled as soon as they were out of earshot. 
 
Blaze pulled the lever to let out the steam on the espresso machine as she watched Silver’s gaze gradually slide back over to Shadow. “Listen, I know talking to people is

the worst thing in the world

, but you gotta put yourself out there. People appreciate boldness. That’s how I rope in the ladies.” She throws a wink in his direction, smirking. 
 
“You and Amy met online. That’s different.” 
 
“But

I

messaged her first. And look at us now—two years strong.” 
 
Silver met her smile with silence. 
 
Blaze gave a long-suffering sigh. “And anyway, you’re missing the point. Look, if you don’t talk to him, I will.” 
 
Silver balked. “You wouldn’t.” 
 
Blaze raised a careful eyebrow. The look she gave him said everything.

Don’t test me.

Silver huffed, throwing his hands up in surrender. “Fine, fine. I will. Just...give me time?” 
 
“Uh, can I get a refill on my americano?” 
 
Silver jumped as a voice sounded from behind him, deep and grumbling. He turned to find Shadow standing behind him, empty thermos in hand. 
 
“Time’s up,” whispered Blaze. He could almost hear her self-satisfied smirk. 
 
Barely stifling a glare at his mischievous friend, Silver threw on his patented customer service smile and awkwardly took the cup from him. “O-of course.” 
 
Blaze snatched the thermos from his hands, starting up the espresso machine and leaving Silver alone with Shadow.  Panicked, he fell back to his Friendly Barista shtick. 
 
“Would you like cream with that?”
 
Shadow snapped his head up from where he was looking at the shelves of overpriced mugs. “Sorry?” 
 
Silver blinked. “Oh, do you want cream? For your americano.” 
 
Shadow gave a slight nod, straightening the napkins that lay askew on the counter. “And some sugar if you have it. Sorry, I’m in a rush.” 
 
Silver glanced back at Blaze. She eyed him as she slowly poured the espresso, stalling, waiting. He almost groaned.

Please don’t make me do this.

Finally, with a roll of her golden eyes, Blaze rescued him by quickly finishing off Shadow’s drink and handing it off with a practiced smile. Silver’s eyes watched his form walk away as Blaze leaned against the counter, loosely crossing her arms. 
 
“Wow, that was a riveting conversation.” 
 
Silver pouted at his scheming friend. “Shut it. You know I’m not good at this.” 
 
Blaze shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right—your flirting sucks.” She smiled and ruffled his wild quills. “But I suppose I can’t fault you for trying.” 
 
Silver lightly pushed her hand away. “Gee, thanks.” 
 
A smirk curled her lips as she responded. “Don’t worry, you’ll have more chances. I’ll make sure of it.” 
 
Silver tossed his head back, feigning an agonized groan. “Blaaaze.” He drew out her name in a whine. 
 
“Listen, I’m tired of watching you be all lovesick without doing anything about it. And we graduate in five months. This is your last chance. So we’re gonna try our damndest to get you on that sweet, sweet, brooding dic—” 
 
Silver cut her off, cheeks already pink. “Okay, okay, I get it.” 
 
Blaze let out a laugh at his bashfulness, poking his nose. “Love you, Silvs.” 
 
Silver just stuck out his tongue. 
  
Shadow gave two light taps on the dark wood of Maria’s door before softly turning the handle to step inside. 
 
“Well well well, look who’s slacking on the job,” Maria teased, closing the book she’d been reading. She was in pretty good spirits, despite the fact that she had spent most of the day in tests and other experimental treatments aimed at doing whatever they thought they could for her.
 
The toll it took on her was always visible in her rather shallow face and sunken eyes. Her spirit, none-the-less, shone bright in the face of an uncertain future.

Only one more year, one more...

“If a 30 minute break on a 5 hour shift is considered slacking, then so be it,” he groggily chuckled, pulling up the guest loveseat—a stiff piece of furniture with bland, floral upholstery—to sit next to Maria’s bedside. He slung his backpack onto the ground, figuring he might be able to get through some of his homework in a more relaxing environment. 
 
Shadow had gotten a job working the front desk at the Station Square Municipal Hospital freshman year. It was a little out of the way for him to travel every other day, but the job gave him enough free time to do his homework, and had the added benefit of seeing Maria whenever he liked.
 
“Wow, you’re finally starting to remove that stick from your ass.”
 
“Maria! How dare you mock your most beloved elder brother with such foul language,” Shadow feigned indignancy with a histrionic display. He was glad they could still do this—joke and play around with each other. It made it feel as if time stopped, as if everything was still perfect. 
 
“You’re my only brother, ya goof.” She pulled her shawl a little tighter. Shadow felt a twinge of warmth in his chest seeing her use the thing.
 
“Want me to turn the air down for you?” He was already moving for the thermostat as soon as the words left his mouth. 
 
“Would you? Feels like they’re prepping me for the morgue already,” she casually commented, taking a moment to release her messy bun of blonde hair from its tie.
 
“How charmingly morbid. Or morbidly charming,” he said over his shoulder as he thumbed the AC, switching it off. Crossing back to his chair, he flopped onto the cushion with a hearty sigh, “Take your pick.”
 
“Being charmingly morbid has always been my strong suit,” she gave a chuckle that was thankfully just as sweet and bright as she always was. Suddenly, Maria’s smile dropped. “Shadow, are you okay?”
 
Her abruptness caught Shadow off guard, leaving him wide-eyed and confused in the middle of drawn-out yawn. “Aaaaawwww-wha? I mean, yes. Yes! I’m fine,” he quickly grasped at composure, “Why?”
 
“You look so worn out! Have you been sleeping alright?” She was always so quick on the trigger when it came to other people showing any signs of weariness. Maybe being as sick as she is gave her super insight of some kind.
 
Shadow ran a hand through his quills. “If I say yes, will you believe me?” 
 
Maria smirked. “Don’t push your luck. I know you too well.” 
 
He chuckled. “That you do. Too perceptive for your own good.” 
 
“You learn to be when your brother refuses to take care of himself.” 
 
Shadow frowned in mock-offense. “I do just fine, thank you very much.” 
 
“The bags under your eyes say otherwise,” she said, pointing towards his objectively haggard form. 
 
“I’ll be okay, Maria, I promise.” 
 
His half-lie hung in the air for a few moments before Maria spoke up again. 
 
“So, have you made good on your promise yet.” 
 
Shadow balked, shooting her a confused look. “What?”

She couldn’t mean

—
 
“Last time you were here you promised me you would give more people a chance—more specifically, that ‘lazy,’ ‘ungrateful’ guy from your class.” 
 
Shadow winced. He had said something to that effect, hadn’t he? He dropped his eyes to the stark white tile, giving Maria her answer before he could figure out how to dodge the question. 
 
“Shads,” she sighed, a perfect mix of concern and exasperation. “I just don’t want you to get stuck. I’m not saying you have to get along with everyone, but...no one is an island.”
 
Shadow’s gaze found her face, all big blue eyes, and pouting lips. She loved him, and she tried to look out for him as much as he did for her. And he could never fault her for that. 
 
Shadow let a sweet smile curl his lips, an attempt at comforting her like he always tried to. “I have all I need.” 
 
Maria looked away from Shadow. “Well, don’t get too used to it. You’ll be losing me before long...” 
 
“Shh, Stop that.” Shadow held up a finger to Maria. “Nothing will stop me from keeping my promise to you Maria.”
 
Maria smiled at this, though it didn’t seem to reach her eyes. “We’ll see. Though, you’re record isn’t looking so good. You couldn’t even keep your promise to give that guy in your class a chance!”

Back to levity.

“He doesn’t count. Even the toughest diseases would be easier to handle than that imbecile. Which reminds me,” he reached down to his bag, grabbing hold of his laptop. “Since I so kindly, um, relieved my partner of his duties, I’ve twice the amount of work to do for my asinine home-ec class.”
 
Maria was having none of it. “Really gave him a chance, didn’t you?” Her voice was sarcastically unamused as she fixed him with a look. Shadow could have laughed—more often than not Maria seemed more like a mother than his little sister. 
 
“What can I say; I’ve always had a way with words.” He looked down aimlessly at his keyboard, unable to help the blush that spread across his cheeks at being lectured by a high schooler. “Too late to fix it now. And honestly, I wouldn’t have the time to try and work around him anyway.”
 
A raised eyebrow was all it took to show her disbelief, but she decided to drop it for now .“So what’s the assignment?” Maria leaned over her bedside to peak at Shadow’s screen.
 
“Household budget. We’re supposed to fill in expected income, expenditures, wants and necessities, and so on and so forth.”
 
“And you’re just going to...assume the expenses of this guy you don’t even know?” 
 
Shadow thought hard for a few seconds; what did he know about this Sonic kid?
 
“Necessities; running shoes and chili dogs. Done.” Shadow thought he remembered seeing the kid with one of those chili-smothered abominations during their unfortunate encounter at the bar all those weeks ago. 
 
Maria gave a laugh at this, and at the sound of her ever-contagious giggle, Shadow couldn’t help but let out a breathy chuckle. They leaned into one another, allowing the warmth of joy to surround them like a blanket. 
 
As the years went on, moments like these—bright and warm and alive—were becoming fewer and farther between. Maria was the strongest fighter Shadow had ever known, but even now, he could see the way sickness weighed on her form. And he couldn’t help the fear that twisted his stomach every time he looked into her sunken eyes.

You’ll be losing this before long

.
 
The sound of Maria’s laughter tinkled like bells in his ears, her grin pink and wide.

No

, Shadow decided. He wouldn’t lose this.

They

wouldn’t lose this.

Not if I work fast enough.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Sonic adjusted his backpack as he strode through the small campus quad, cutting across the grass in an attempt at finding a shortcut to his next class—which he was already late for. But he could at least

try

not to double that time. 
 
The professor pointedly ignored Sonic as he stepped into home ec, having long-since given up on calling the hedgehog out for his lateness. Sonic’s quick pace paused as he reached his place at the back of the room. His eyes landed on Shadow’s desk—empty. His brows furrowed as he slid into his seat and glanced up at the slowly-ticking clock. 12:10. And Shadow still wasn’t here. 
 
The guy hadn’t missed a class as far as Sonic could remember. He had tried to get in contact with the dark hedgehog outside of class—considering they had a whole project to do together—but he never got Shadow’s number, and couldn’t find the guy on any social media sites. (Not that he was surprised on that front; Shadow looked like he hadn’t touched the internet since the fall of MOL—Mobius Online.) He’d wanted to ask again last week, but Sonic had learned better than to provoke Shadow during class.
 
He supposed that he should be relieved in the absence of his brooding counterpart, but some form of anxiety was biting at his brain. Shadow seemed like the kind of guy to always be on time—hell, Sonic wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up 15 minutes early. But to not only be late, but later than Sonic...something about that threw him off. His gaze drifted back to the front of the room, attempting to at least semi-focus on the professor’s monotonous tone, but his brain kept thinking of Shadow, of where he might be.

Maybe he’s sick. Everybody gets sick. Or maybe it’s worse. What if

—
 
The knob on the classroom door slowly turned with a small click. Shadow slipped into the room. Silent, head down, he walked as quickly as he could to his place in the back, sliding into his seat like nothing had happened. Even the professor showed a brief flicker of confusion at Shadow’s tardiness before he continued droning. 
 
Sonic felt his stomach untwist as Shadow took his place beside him.

At least he’s not dead

. But, even still, the pinpricks of worry wouldn’t cease—something had to be wrong. His eyes drifted to Shadow’s form. He looked...haggard, almost physically slumping in his seat. 
 
Sonic wanted to ask—felt that he should at least check on the guy—but Shadow kept his gaze resolutely forward, and he had no way in. He sighed.

Well, if silence is what Shadow wants

… 
 
He looked back towards the professor again, trying to pay attention, trying to leave well enough alone, but his mind kept wandering to everything that could be wrong with Shadow, crafting a number of worrisome narratives.

Surely he doesn’t hate me enough to start actively avoiding the class itself. Right?

Eventually, the hour came to a close with the sharp sound of chairs scraping against linoleum. Sonic blinked out of his daze as he saw backpacks being thrown over shoulders. It took him a moment to follow suit. 
 
“Ah,” the professor exclaimed, making most pause where they stood. “Before you leave, please leave your first project assignment on my desk please—the budgeting plan for your mock-household.”

Shit.

Sonic went wide-eyed. He had completely forgotten that that was due today.

Oh man, what am I supposed to do now? Maybe I can get with Shadow and we can explain to the professor that—

He glanced towards his partner to try and talk with him, come up with a plan, but Shadow was already striding towards the front of the room, placing the assignment on top of the pile on the corner of the desk, and leaving after a vague nod from the professor.

Wait, did he

— 
 
Sonic dashed out the door, just barely catching Shadow out in the hallway, grasping his wrist before he disappeared around the corner. Shadow whipped around in surprise before his gaze grew cold again. 
 
“Why must you accost me after class so often,” he said flatly, jerking his hand away. 
 
Sonic ran nervous fingers through his quills. “We were supposed to work on that together,” He pleaded, trying to keep Shadow from leaving. “I mean, I know it’s only a budget, but it’s a partner project, remember? And I can’t really pull my own weight if you don’t even let me in on the work!”
 
Shadow frowned. “As if you’d even do it,” he muttered. “I filled it out as I assume you would have. It’s easy to assume where a person like you would put their financial priorities.” 
 
Annoyed now, Sonic put his hands on his hips. “Huh,  you seem to do an awful lot of assuming. Ever consider, I don’t know, taking a few minutes to actually talk to me? Then, if you still decide I’m as much of a ‘lazy miscreant’ as you think I am, have at it—hate me all you want. But you can’t just keep painting me as the bad guy here.”
 
Sighing, Shadow tried to rub the exhaustion out of his eyes. He knew Sonic was right, but he was disgusted at the thought of letting him be right. “Look, I have to get to work. Please, it’ll be much faster and beneficial for us both if you just let me do our assignments.”
 
“It will also result in you both failing this class.”
 
Both of the hedgehogs turned to find their home-ec professor standing behind them, pulling the classroom door shut and fixing the two bickering students with a stern look. 
 
“The whole point of this semester long project, I thought I had made clear, is to learn how to balance a household. Regardless of your intentions for the future, or your feelings towards each other, I expect both of you to complete the given assignments together.”
 
Pulling out the budget Shadow had turned in, the professor held it out towards the two. “I’ll give you two the weekend to work this out together. Submit it again by class on Monday. Alright?”
 
Shadow, too tired to seethe, gave a cold, “Yes sir.” The professor looked expectantly at Sonic, who hadn’t picked up on the fact that he too was supposed to answer. A quick jab to the side from Shadow was a big enough hint.
 
“Uh, yeah, absolutely. Thanks, uh, sir.”

Smooth, Sonic. Real smooth.

Satisfied for now, the professor left the two—Sonic rubbing his neck in embarrassment, Shadow holding his temple, staring at the ceiling—hoping they could resolve this matter cleanly.
 
“Sooooo, what’s your schedule like?” Sonic asked coyly, hoping this was a reasonable enough question. It seemed as though Shadow had lost some of his bite. He wasn’t up to ripping Sonic’s comments to shreds, which at least seemed like progress.
 
“...Full. Honestly, this is why I’d prefer to work on it alone. I work most everyday as it is, and barely have any free time to speak of.” Sonic sheepishly looked away, trying to choose his words a little more carefully. Shadow looked like he already had one foot in the grave and Sonic desperately didn’t want to do anything that might push him further away.  
 
“Which is exactly why you should let me help. My schedule is pretty open. I usually have track practices in the mornings, but I’m free most afternoons. Y’know, if I don’t have class or anything.”
 
Shadow, even now, couldn’t muster up enough disgust at Sonic’s cavalier attitude. He desperately needed to get to work.
 
“Saturday. 6 p.m. Library. Don’t be late, and be prepared. I finished it in less than an hour, so I expect us to be done before 7 if you keep up with me. Understood?” Sonic beamed at finally getting a chance to prove to Shadow he could actually do something, counter to Shadow’s deepening scowl.

“You got it! But before you leave, we really should exchange numb-” before he could even pull out his phone, Shadow had disappeared.

Aaaaaand, he’s gone again.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It’s 10 p.m. when Shadow finds himself at his apartment door, arms full of groceries, fishing for his keys in his backpack, desperately pleading to Rouge on the phone, “No. Not again. Not after last time.” 
 
She had called him up with yet another request to spend his Friday night at some obnoxious club. Balancing his phone in the crook of his shoulder, he eventually found his keys swallowed by a random pocket of his backpack. ...Only to discover that his door was already unlocked. Which could only mean one thing. 
 
And, sure enough, as he stepped inside, there was Rouge, lounging in his favorite armchair, legs crossed just so. 
 
“About time you came home,” she commented, nonchalantly examining her nails as she clicked “end” on her call with Shadow. 
 
Shadow let out a haggard breath. “How did you even get in here?”
 
She smirked, uncurling from her position. “I have my ways. A woman doesn’t reveal her secrets.”
 
He frowned.

She could at least help me with these groceries.

Which led them here, with Rouge begging him to come to yet another nightclub.
 
“Oh come ooooonnnn, It’s not like it’s the same club! The Stardust Speedway is a much more casual—”
 
“No.” He was having none of this tonight. Disregarding Rouge’s theatrics, he crossed over into the kitchen and started putting away his groceries. He knew the steps of this conversation; it was a familiar enough occurrence between the two of them.
 
Rouge, however, didn’t continue to push like she had always done. 
 
“Wow, babe, you look terrible,” she bluntly exclaimed, stopping in her tracks. 
 
“Thanks,” he deadpanned, shoving the milk into its place in the fridge. “Heat up whatever leftovers you want,” he called over his shoulder, striding back to the living room. “I’m not cooking for you.” 
 
Over the years, Rouge’s impromptu visits had become frequent enough that this space was hers too—and much to Shadow’s chagrin, she took advantage of it whenever she could. At some point, he had stopped protesting, and her presence in his home became more familiar than he would ever admit aloud.
 
“Oh honey, I’ve known you long enough to know that you won’t finish whatever you’re cooking anyway.” She poked at his ribcage. “You’re practically wasting away.”
 
Batting Rouge’s hand away, he crossed back into the kitchen and threw on an apron, fraying at the hems now with how much he used it. He remembered how wide Maria had smiled when she presented it to him as a birthday present all those years ago—“because I know how much you like cooking, even if you don’t want anyone else to.” 
 
Rouge kept insisting he replace the “old thing,” and surprised him with a new one last Christmas, emblazoned with the words “kiss the cook” across the top and a pair of lips printed suggestively the chest. Red-faced, he had immediately tossed it in the garbage as Rouge cackled over her wine glass, only pulling it out a day later when the guilt gnawed at him for throwing away a gift someone had given him—even a gift as ridiculous as that. Now it sat shoved in the very back of his closet. Shadow would die before he let that thing see the light of day again. 
 
“I eat enough. Not everyone can be blessed with dimensions as generous as yours,” he flatly stated, beginning to clean and chop some vegetables for a quick stir-fry, already doubling the ingredients out of habit. They both knew he would despite his complaining.
 
“I’m just deciding to take that as a compliment. Your impeccably dry wit never ceases to perplex and amaze, darling.” She hopped up on the counter, swinging her legs slightly as she leaned into the overhead cabinets. “Anyway, after dinner, you’re coming out with me. No questions asked. I’m literally the only thing that gets you out of the house these days. What kind of friend would I be if I just let you rot in here?”
 
He sighed as he stirred the sizzling ingredients in the pan. “No, Rouge, I have too much to do, and anyway—” 
 
Rouge smirked as she cut him off. “Oh,

I

know what it is! You’re afraid we’ll run into your little blue boyfriend again.” 
 
Shadow whipped around, brandishing his spatula as he scowled. “Don’t you dare assume I would ever willingly associate with that careless, airheaded, idiotic—” 
 
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Rouge said, blinking as she held her hands up in defense. “I know your temper is almost as short as you are, babe, but that really set you off.” 
 
Shadow frowned as he turned back to his stir-fry, quietly ashamed at losing his composure so quickly. 
 
Rouge eyed him for a moment as the silence hung between them, seeing right through him as always. “But it’s not just him, is it?” Her eyes flicked from the stir-fry to his tired form. “Alright, wanna tell me what’s really going on?” 
 
Silence. The click of the stovetop being turned off. 
 
Rouge’s gaze went back to her nails again, casually examining the hot pink polish on each one. “You know me, Shadow. I won’t leave until I find out.” She smiled playfully, leaning that much closer to her sulking friend. “I have my ways of finding out secrets, Shadow. Don’t make me use them on you.” 
 
Rouge paused there for a few moments, waited. 
 
“Is it Maria?” she asked, quietly, knowingly. Her voice loses its sharp, sarcastic edges, tone softening into something more delicate, more serious.

Shadow is silent as he divides there meal onto two plates, his grip on the spatula tightening ever so slightly. And that in itself gives Rouge the answer she needs. She let out a breath.
 
“Love, I know she means a lot to you, but you can’t build your life around a promise that—” 
 
“Too late.” Shadow’s words are dry when he speaks up again, jaw setting with a sort of somber determination. “I already have.” He sat the dishes in the sink with a thud and immediately began cleaning—an excuse to do something with his hands, to avoid looking Rouge in the eye. 
 
Rouge frowned slightly from her place on the counter, concern drawing her brows together. Maria was one of, if not

the

closest thing to Shadow’s heart—had been since day one—and Rouge will never forget the way Shadow broke down in her arms when the kid was diagnosed. The words

terminal

and

life-threatening

were repeated by countless doctors in the days after. 
 
Rouge watched his profile, his eyes resolutely staying fixed on the grime stuck to a pan. “I just don’t want you to blame yourself if something happens.” 
 
Shadow let a bark of mirthless laughter escape him. “The

something

already happened—

is

happening. I’m going to stop it. I can’t just stand back and watch her di—” Soap suds ran over his knuckles as his fist tightened around the sponge in his hand, a physical manifestation of the tension in his voice. 
 
Rouge waits again as his grip slowly releases, sponge falling back into the sink as he gives up. He sounds small when he finds his voice again, eyes still down. 
 
“Rouge, if I can’t save her, then what’s the point?” 
 
Every word stops short on Rouge’s tongue in the silence that follows. What could she say? What platitude could she spit out that he hasn’t heard already? 
 
Rouge is a good liar. She’s spun a web of tales good enough to fool anyone she meets. But Shadow knows her—can see through her almost as well as she can him—and she knows there’s no lie pretty enough for him to buy right now. So, she folds her hands in her lap and chooses to be honest for maybe the third time in her entire life. 
 
“That...I don’t have a clear answer for.” 
 
Shadow breathes out another dry chuckle, short and hollow. “The infamous Rouge doesn’t have a quip at the ready. That’s a first.” 
 
Rouge takes a turn, bouncing off his sarcasm in order to steer the conversation away from sick children and weighty, desperate vows. Shadow had had enough. “I don’t think you could appreciate my sparkling wit right now anyhow.” 
 
She slid from her countertop perch, stretching out her wings as she grabbed the forgotten plates of stir-fry and stepped towards her sullen friend. “Now, come on, we’re gonna eat this lovely dinner and watch some trash TV and you are going to let yourself unclench for a few hours. ” 
 
If Rouge saw his shoulders sag with relief, she didn’t comment on it as he followed her to the living room couch.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

5:00.
 
Sonic watched as time slowly marched forward, hypnotized by the ticking hands of his desk clock.
 
Slumped over, head balanced in one hand, he twirled his pencil in his fingers. If he tapped his foot any faster, it would surely take off on its own.
 
Having spent the majority of this rainy Saturday stuck in his dorm room, actively avoiding his responsibilities, he eventually felt guilty enough to take a crack at his math homework. And, despite his usual stubbornness, he wanted to try proving Shadow wrong by actually doing his own work before their meeting tonight.
 
Snapping himself from his glassy-eyed trance, he tried focusing back in on his problem set.

Alright, alright, inequalities. Soooo, if I subtract 7, that leaves me with 4z which is greater than 23+7z… but why the hell is there a Z?! Isn’t this supposed to be math?!

“UUUGH, I don’t get any of this!” He threw his hands up in frustration, leaning backwards in his chair. It didn’t help any that he neglected to take notes in any of his classes anyway, and had lost track of his textbook sometime shortly after renting it.
 
He whipped back to his desk, desperately wrangling his thoughts in long enough to complete even the first problem. Holding his head in both hands, he stared at the paper, hoping the solution would just jump to the page if he waited long enough.
 
It felt like an eternity had passed when he finally caved, peeking at the clock once more.
 
5:03
 
“I’m hopeless,” Sonic frustratedly put his head down on his desk.
 
“Hey now, that’s not the Sonic I know,” Tails chided as he stepped out of the bathroom, drying his freshly-showered fur with a fluffy towel. “Where’s the cocky show-off I know and love—the daredevil crazy enough to race out into traffic without a second thought?”
 
Though it wasn’t a common occurrence, Sonic had had his brushes with danger in his youth. As a young lad of twelve, he had risked his life to save a six-year-old Tails, playing in the street,  from a car running a stop sign. He hadn’t really thought anything of it, acting before he even had a chance to consider the possible consequences. Their small town, though, championed the feat. For the next few years, Sonic was hailed as the young hero of Emerald Hill, able to outpace a car. 
 
Even now, he would get an occasional exclamation and clap on the back from any middle-aged resident who remembered his face from the incident. He always blushed and tried to shrug it off when Knuckles would clown him about it, but a small part of him still shone at the praise. 
 
His local hero status hadn’t spread beyond his hometown, though, and no one at GHU knew anything about him or his supposed reputation. Sonic had yet to decide whether was a good thing or not.
 
“Tails, nothing on this math is more oppressive or soul-crushing than college algebra,” Sonic mumbled from his arms.
 
“Umm, you said ‘math’ instead of ‘earth’,” Tails coyly corrected.
 
“Oh no, it’s spreading to my language ability. Noooo, that’s the only thing I’ve got going for me,” Sonic whined, giving a rather pathetic moan of frustration.
 
“Haha, oh Sonic, don’t despair, I’m always ready to help out where I can,” Tails beamed, eagerly pulling a chair up to Sonic’s desk.
 
“Aww, Tails, you’re my mathematical angel,” Sonic weakly latched onto Tails in an exaggerated display. 
 
“Well, we all have our strengths, I suppose.” Tails was always exceedingly bright. By age eight, he had already rebuilt and upgraded their families old bi-plane. By ten, he had tested out of junior high. By thirteen, he had hundreds of scholarships tossed his way, all eager to have the boy genius among their admissions.
 
“Mhmm,” Sonic gave a half-hearted reply, unable to muster up his usual wit. Tails started in on Sonic’s homework.
 
He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little jealous of Tails. When he was in high school, it was easy enough to get by on cruise control, riding his cred as the track star and town hero. But here he was now, being tutored by a teenage boy over something as basic as algebra, just so he could maintain a scholarship for a yet-to-be-determined future.

Shadow’s right. I’m just some ungrateful dumbas—

“Hellooooo, earth to Sonic?” Tails, snapped a finger, calling Sonic back to attention.
 
“Huh? Oh, sorry, guess my focus is out to lunch, ya’ know?” Sonic gave a semi-genuine chuckle.
 
“Well, maybe you should take a break then. Go for a run? May help you

jog

your memory,” Tails snorted, quite proud of that little feat of wordplay.
 
“Stick to math, kiddo. Awkwardly cringy wordplay is my territory,” Sonic gave a wink accompanied by finger guns in Tails direction. Tails had always been good at this—pulling him out of his funk, making him laugh. They always knew how to make each other smile, ever since the beginning. Sonic stretched out his stiff limbs, tilting back the creaking legs of the dorm’s decades-old desk chair. “But as nice as a waterlogged jog in the rain sounds, I’ve got a thing to get to at 6:00. Probs shouldn’t chance being ‘fashionably’ late.”
 
Tails tilted his head, intrigued. “Oh? What’s this ‘thing’ for?”
 
Sonic, balancing a pencil on his nose, tried to keep the details vague. He didn’t feel like talking about the mess that was his partnership with Shadow. “Just a group project at the library.” 
 
Tails eyed the ground. “Oh. Sounds fun.”
 
Cocking an eyebrow, Sonic assumed a more serious posture. “You wouldn’t happen to have any group projects to work on, now would you,” he asked coyly. Sonic hadn’t forgotten his worrisome behavior in the cafeteria. He hadn’t pushed Tails about it since then; he knew he shouldn’t. But something was clearly weighing on him, and Sonic wasn’t about to let him bear it alone.
 
“Well… sorta, maybe,” Tails anxiously traced a circle in the palm of his hand. Silence filled the air, neither of them willing to fill it. He wanted to wait for Tails to say what he needed to. Despite his flighty, impulsive, excitable nature, Sonic could exercise a great deal of patience when he needed to. 
 
Eventually, Tails continued. “I… have a semester long engineering project. My partner…” Now, he was clearly having difficulty speaking. A blush rose to his cheeks. His words were likely to let loose all he was trying to hold back.
 
Sonic caved, aching to rid Tails of his misery, and maneuvered the conversation in a less painful direction. “What kind of project takes an entire semester?”
 
“Well, it’s a pretty intense project, to be honest. We have to design something meant to help the environment in some way,” Tails welcomed Sonic’s mercy, the tension in his form relaxing slightly. “Since it’s such a broad topic, they give us this semester to design the concept, and next semester to begin prototyping. It’s required for completion of my engineering major.”
 
“And this is a freshman class? Wow, that’s intense,” Sonic gawked. The thought of committing so much time to such a long term project sent chills down his spine. Even this semester-long home-ec assignment felt like overkill. “Well, at least you have another person to help out, right?”
 
“Yeah, we get class time to work on it, and meetups every Wednesday to do more planning.” Tails trailed off as his eyes dropped back down to Sonic’s homework, pencil scribbling correct answers on autopilot. “Or at least in theory, we’re supposed to.” This last part was muttered under Tails’ breath as he wrote, tone bitter. Sonic wasn’t even sure that he meant to say it aloud.
 
Whatever it was this partner of Tails’ was doing to him, physical or not, it was clearly getting to him. Tails, for all his brains, was still just a thirteen-year-old boy. He was bound to have some jerks hounding him for his immaturity and inexperience. It hurt his heart to even think about someone talking down to him for something he couldn’t control.

Can’t say I don’t relate...

“Ya know,” Sonic started, making the familiar switch into Big Brother Mode. “Group projects kinda suck when your partner doesn’t wanna see eye to eye,” Sonic looked out the window, watching  the even pace of the rain. “But, at the end of the day, there’s only so much you can do. If they’re hellbent on making you feel like trash, they can’t succeed unless you let them. So, it’s difficult, but always keep one simple fact in mind.”
 
Tails looked up, startled by a seriousness that seldom touched his carefree green eyes.
 
“You are Miles Prower. Don’t let any jerk make you feel bad about that.” Sonic, holding onto Tails’ shoulders, didn’t break eye contact. “Got that?”
 
Tails, always too bashful to accept compliments, nodded, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. Pulling him in, Sonic held onto Tails for a while, letting the dam break as tears leaked onto his shoulder. 
 
“Alright. You okay bud?” He pulled away, patting him on the back now.
 
“I’ll be fine. I promise. Thank you,” Tails wiped away some stragglers in his eyes. He glanced at the clock on Sonic’s desk. “Sorry I couldn’t help you more with your homework.”
 
Sonic followed his gaze.
 
5:50
 
“Shoot!” Sonic jumped up, hurriedly filling his bag with whatever supplies he thought he needed. “Don’t mean to break up this heartfelt moment, but we can go grab a nice dinner wherever you want when I get back, aight?”
 
“Can we go to Eggman’s,” Tails coyly asked, trying to hold back his childish enthusiasm.
 
Sonic slowed down for a second, heart warming at the nostalgic suggestion. “Sure thing, little buddy. Love ya,” he said, giving Tails a quick kiss on the forehead, “See ya in a few!” He quickly departed, with a gust of wind left in his wake.
 
Tails, only mildly embarrassed by such a childish show of affection, found himself smiling despite himself.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Lucky for Sonic, the library was only a short jog from his dorm. He arrived just a few minutes till 6:00. Hurrying away from the quickening downpour, he strode into the library. Since he couldn’t be bothered to actually own an umbrella, he shook off rain clinging to his spikes, flinging the droplets around him in a wet halo. The tired woman at the front desk gave him a glare as some of the water splashed on the wood beside her. Sonic winced as he caught her eye, cheeks flushing at his puppy-esque move. 
 
Though Shadow might not believe it, it wasn’t Sonic’s first time in the GHU library. He’d come by to rent a few books in the past, though he’d never actually used it for any other of its intended purposes. Like studying.

Well, I’m a little early, so maybe I should just wait here for Shadow? But he may already be here, in which case I should try and find him? Uggghh, but then I could miss him coming in, and make him think I’m even more careless for being late again.

Instinctively, Sonic reached for his phone to try and text Shadow.

Oh wait, that’s right. Captain Crabby hasn’t allowed me the privilege of modern social convenience.

He huffed out a breath, annoyed. Sonic liked to think of himself as the least bitter person he knew, but maybe Shadow’s coldness was rubbing off on him.
 
Well. He could go with Plan C, which was just shouting Shadow’s name throughout the building until he found him that way. Cupping his hands, he fully intended to act on this impulse, if it weren’t for the sound of the library’s automatic doors hissing open behind him.
 
Shadow, knocking off the residual rain from his umbrella, slinked into the library. He looked up, catching Sonic’s eyes. A faint twinkle of surprise touched his own. “Sorry I’m late,” he mumbled, walking past Sonic. 
 
Sonic checked his phone. It was 6 on the dot. “Whaddya mean? You’re right on time,” he asked in a hushed voice, feeling a bit vindicated for beating Shadow here. And for the semi-genuine apology.
 
“If you’re on time, you’re 10 minutes late,” he whispered at Sonic, as he lead him towards his usual secluded corner of the library. A few giggles slipped from Sonic without his explicit permission, barely concealing a much deeper laughing fit he was desperately trying to keep quiet.
 
“

Shhhh!

What is so funny,” Shadow angrily whispered at Sonic, who was now crouching on the ground, hands over his mouth, trying to calm down.
 
“Ha, haaaah, ha—it’s nothing, nothing at all. It’s just—” He couldn’t let on exactly how adorable he found Shadow’s old-fashioned personality. He took a deep breath, holding the straightest face he could muster, “I greatly admire your diligent and responsible personality.” Sonic, still holding in his laughter, attempted sincerity through twitching lips.
 
“...I’m sure you do.” Shadow rolled his eyes, and began to unpack his bag. Sonic let out a breath, relieved he hadn’t sent Shadow running yet again. But, then again, it’s not like he had much of a choice this time. 
 
Sonic slid into the booth Shadow had chosen, hidden in the corner beside the shelves of periodicals—quiet, out of the way, not another student in sight. Fitting, he supposed. 
 
Sonic leaned onto the large table as Shadow pulled out a notebook. “Sooo, partner—” he started playfully, coyly. 
 
Shadow gave another trademark eyeroll. “Please never call me that again.” 
 
Sonic shrugged. “Sure thing, buddy.” Shadow grabbed the bridge of his nose, the realization of just how long he’d have to put up with this finally sinking in. “So, what’s our attack plan?” 
 
Shadow pulled out a binder, laying it before Sonic. The label on the front read ‘Home-Ec.’

Huh, he’s really on top of everything, isn’t he?

“The ‘plan’,” Shadow began, neglecting to concede Sonic eye contact, “Is for you to look through this budget for our…” He paused, wanting to find any other word that would distance him further from the hedgehog across from him. “Our hypothetical household, which I’ve mostly completed on my own.”
 
Shadow pulled out a printed spreadsheet, listing different categories of expenses and incomes, with half of it filled out with his semi-legible handwriting. “I’ve done the hard part; I already calculated our gross monthly income versus our net monthly income, and estimated cost of living expenses like rent and utilities based off my own.”
 
The longer Shadow droned on, the more Sonic’s own understanding was pushed to its limits.

Oh god, more math.

In his life, Sonic had never had to think or worry about finances. He and Tails were always taken care of by their parents, even now allowing them a bit of spending money here and there. Sonic really had no idea how money worked.
 
Shadow, finally looking up to catch a glimpse of Sonic, saw the stupefied look of someone who definitely hadn’t understood a single word of his explanation. For a moment, he wanted to berate the freshman as he always felt inclined to. But if he ever wanted to make it through this semester, he knew he needed to exercise more restraint. Rolling his eyes with a sigh, he went simpler. “This box here. It has the amount of money left over after all the essential… stuff is taken care of. Understand?”
 
Sonic, a little ashamed at his obvious lack of knowledge, slowly nodded his head, “...yes.”
 
“
Okay. Now, your job is to take this money and use the rest of it to satisfy the other needs of the household.” Shadow slid the paper over to Sonic, who hesitantly grabbed it.
 
“Right. Got it!” Sonic, trying to push away his building anxiety, gave Shadow a wink and a thumbs up to reassure him. Shadow, unimpressed, pulled out another binder from his bag, labeled ‘Med: Organic Chem.’

Med, huh? Guess that explains the Biochem stuff.

“I’ll be working on this. Please, do try to keep quiet,” he gave a noticeably exhausted plea.
 
“Sure thing, buddy,” Sonic winked once more. Shadow gave one more eye roll, for good measure.
 
Sonic hummed thoughtfully, twirling his pencil through his fingers. He figured food would be easy enough to figure out. Though, it occurred to him that he never really paid any mind to how much he actually spent on food. Like, ever. “Well, surely I can survive on ten dollars a month for food, right,” he wondered in a hushed tone, writing the number in with little hesitation. 
 
This grabbed Shadow’s attention.
 
“And 15 dollars for amenities should do the trick,” he quickly scribbled in, with the carefree tone of a child.

Oh no. He’s being serious.

Suddenly, In a little under two minutes, Sonic had finished filling in the left over blanks on the spreadsheet. Slamming his pencil down, he pushed the page back to Shadow.
 
“Done. And it’s not even 6:30,” he said, completely sure of himself, folding his arms back behind his head. There were a few moments of silence before he registered the utter horror in Shadow’s face. “What?”
 
Shadow couldn’t think. The sheer idiocy and gall causing his own brain to short out for a moment. “Have you… have you ever even set foot in a grocery store? In what world—“ he stopped, processing any conceivable way this could be okay to anyone.
 
Sonic’s face dropped, a wave of shame running through him for a second time that day. “Well… I—uh, I mean—” He stumbled,  lacking the words to defend himself. He hadn’t even really put that much thought into what he wrote; he just wanted to get it finished.
 
“For a household of two adults, ten dollars could hardly sustain two days, and that’s assuming you’re wanting to subsist on rice and cup noodles. And fifteen dollars could maybe buy shampoo and soap, but then what about detergent, toothpaste, toilet paper—“
 
“Okay, okay! I get it! I’m an idiot!” Sonic snapped out in a heated mixture of frustration and self-defeat. Shadow fell silent, blinking at Sonic’s sudden 180. Sonic stared at the table, eyes darting between the stains on the wood, too embarrassed to make eye contact. “...You don’t have to rub it in.”
 
The confidence had fled from his eyes, shoulders tensing ever so slightly. He was quiet for longer than Shadow had ever seen him. Much like that time at the bar when Shadow had asked him about his major. 
 
He let out a breath. 
 
“... Look—” Shadow grabbed an eraser, rubbing away Sonic’s answers. He leaned over the table, turning the page in Sonic’s direction. “We can break these down logically.” 
 
Sonic hesitantly grabbed at his pencil.
 
“On average, I spend five dollars on food in one day, as I don’t eat out.” Shadow visibly softened a bit, internally channeling all those times he’d tutored a frustrated Maria in algebra. “So, let’s assume the same applies to you. That puts it at roughly ten dollars a day for the both of us.”
 
Sonic nodded slowly, beginning to come back to himself. As much as he hated needing the help, there was a reassurance sprinkled into Shadow’s usually exhausted tone—a softness to his tired eyes. He kept his voice carefully even, quietly patient. It was probably just him taking pity on Sonic, not wanting this to take any longer than it had to, but he appreciated the rare moment of Shadow’s kindness. 
 
“Therefore, at ten dollars a day for roughly 30 days, in a month the budget for food should be—“ 
 
“300 dollars,” Sonic excitedly shouted. Shadow threw a hand over Sonic’s mouth, shushing him. Carefully, he glanced around to make sure no one had heard. 
 
After he was sure no one was around, he looked back down to Sonic, whose eyes betrayed the cheeky grin currently covered by Shadow’s palm.
 
Shadow quickly removed his hand, tucking it into his jacket pocket. He looked away, his usual look of disdain peppered with a red blush.
 
“Yes,” he coughed, “That is correct,” picking up again, ignoring the last few seconds. Sonic couldn’t help but keep smiling. 
 
They continued on like this, working each one out together. Eventually Sonic was even able to offer more realistic numbers. “How about $150 on entertainment? I always end up going out a few times a week.”
 
“Entertainment is wasteful. It’d be better to put that towards insurance or savings,” Shadow said cooly. He at least seemed less annoyed now, voice less strained.
 
“Alright, gramps, I’ll compromise then. $100 to entertainment, $50 to health insurance,” Sonic teased, filling in the last two blanks. Shadow grumbled, but chose not to argue. “Now, we add them all together?”
 
“I’ll do it. You have to subtract the income from the expenses for your final total,” he said, beginning to total it all into his phone's calculator. He’d never admit it to himself, but he was actually enjoying this. A little. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little curious about Sonic after today’s display. But, not curious enough.
 
“Thanks! If it wasn’t obvious, numbers aren’t really my thing,” he joked, rubbing the back of his head. 
 
Shadow didn’t respond, instead focusing in on his calculation, which wasn’t exactly working out.
 
“Dammit. We have a defic—not enough funds. We have to adjust everything else,” he sighed, frustrated at the prospect of staying here longer.
 
“Really? That doesn’t seem right,” Sonic leaned in closer to see Shadow’s phone. “Can I see it real quick?”
 
Dubious, Shadow handed over his older model smartphone. Sonic looked at it for a few seconds. “Hmm… that sure is a negative number,” he deduced. Shadow was unimpressed. “But, our income is a higher number than our expenses. So, I’m no mathematician here, but shouldn’t subtracting the smaller number from the bigger number give us a positive number?”
 
Shadow stared at him, and then at the spreadsheet. As soon as it hit him, a deep red blush rose to his face.

Subtract the

expenses

from the

income

...

He had made such a basic mistake. He leaned his face into his palm, taking a few seconds to repair his pride.
 
He coughed, blaming it on his exhaustion.
 
“...Indeed you are correct,” he shamefully admitted. “It seems… I have failed you.”
 
Sonic chuckled at this. “Hey now, no need to be so dramatic!  It’s only fair we both make mistakes, right?” He handed back his phone. “Nobody’s perfect,” he winked.
 
Shadow hated that saying. Anything below perfection wasn’t worth the time. “Whatever,” he mumbled. Looking down at his phone, Shadow noticed that his messages were open instead of the calculator—a brand new message tab opened, with an outgoing message already sent. The name at the top read ‘The Miscreant.’

That little

—
 
Sonic met his glare with smirk. “Well, there was no other way I was gonna get your number.” 
 
Shadow immediately opened his mouth to object, but Sonic cut him off with a hand raised in a classic ‘scout’s honor’ pose. “I promise to only use this for Very Official Homework Things
™
—nothing else.” 
 
Shadow let out a resigned breath. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. “Fine. You win.”
 
“Haha,  yes,” Sonic pumped his fist, beaming. Shadow, as much as he hated it, realized the convenience in being able to contact him, especially if they were forced to actually work together on the rest of this tedious task list. But the mere thought of letting this track star golden boy anywhere near his bubble—reserved only for the three people that mattered in his life—unsettled him. Attempting to escape any further socialization with his newfound partner, Shadow announced that they were finished and scooped up his binders to began packing his bag.
 
In his shuffling, a few papers slid out of his home-ec binder and fluttered to the tacky carpet below. “Shit,” he whispered.
 
“I gotcha, buddy.” In an instant, Sonic had plucked them from the ground. 
 
“Stop calling me buddy,” Shadow said flatly, holding his hand out for his scattered papers. 
 
Before he returned them, though, Sonic’s eye was caught by the paper on top of the pile. It seemed to be a printout of the previous budget he had worked on. 
 
“200 bucks a month on sneakers and chili dogs, huh? Aw, Shads, you know me too well, already,” Sonic jokingly fawned in Shadows direction.
 
“Shut it,” Shadow snapped, snatching the papers from Sonic’s hands and fighting the wave of embarrassment that rolled through him. Sonic giggled, getting more joy out of teasing Shadow than he’d anticipated. “You’re forbidden from calling me that as well.” He snapped his binder shut, keeping his eyes down as he shoved it back in his backpack. 
 
“Alright, alright. I shouldn’t be so mean. You really helped me out today. It was...nice. Thank you,” Sonic beamed, genuine appreciation shining through. The sincerity of this sent a heat to Shadow’s cheeks (how many times was he going to blush tonight?!); perhaps the freshman was on his way to maturity just yet. “And, y’know, you’re kinder than you look, under all that brooding and edginess. It’s cute.”

Perhaps not.

“Do not confuse my efforts for this class as any form of kindness in your favor, kid.” Turning his back to Sonic, Shadow slunk toward the library entrance, eager for some much needed alone time. 
 
“Whatever you say, Shads,” Sonic breathed, shaking his head with a smile.

Along with his growing annoyance, Shadow felt a slight stuttering in his chest. It was uncomfortable. Perhaps his stress was taking its toll on his body.

Must be.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Oh cool! They have the new Tomatopotamus VR game! Now with new Blast Processing technology!? Tails, we gotta go check it out,” Sonic excitedly pointed out the poster on the front window of the aging Dr. Eggman’s Incredible Interstellar Amusement Center and Pizzeria™ (though they all called it Eggman’s to save on syllables). Sonic was as kinetic as a pinball trapped between two bumpers, bouncing with each step he took. Tails always loved to be around Sonic when he got like this. His endearingly childish demeanor always balanced well with Tails’ premature maturity. “Now Sonic, you know ‘Blast Processing’ is just a gimmick with no real defined meaning or—” “Ah ah ah,” Sonic rose a finger to Tails’ mouth. “The illusion is all I have, Tails. Let me revel.” Tails chuckled as Knuckles fondly shook his head, absently twirling his car keys around his fingers. “Alright you two, enough talk. It’s time for us to clean out Dr. Eggman for all he’s got.” He placed an arm around each of them as they stepped together towards the sliding glass doors.  “No prize unclaimed, no score left unbroken,” Sonic raised a fist in the air, chanting their pledge to the heavens. “Tonight, we dine on overpriced, yet mediocre pizza!” The others joined him, giving one last hoot before breaching the threshold of their next conquest, ignoring the dry look of the overworked teen at the front counter.  Sonic grinned as he basked in the glow of blinking arcade machines, the different colors bouncing off his quills, tinting the blue different shades of purple, magenta, green. Dr. Eggman’s had been slowly declining in the last handful of years, its local patrons leaving for newer and better. Honestly, it was a wonder the place hadn’t gone under completely. But, still, Sonic loved it all the same. It was something of a hotspot for the gang when they were in high school—countless weekends spent driving up to Green Hill in Knuckles’ beat-up car, spending hours wasting tokens trying to break their last record.  As much as the titular owner, whose real name was robot-something, hated Sonic and the gang for always cleaning out his prize corner, their posse seemed to be the only thing that ever kept this place open. They hadn’t been here since graduation, and Sonic was itching for the familiar nostalgia of the rigged games. He looked around, trying to decide which machine to try first. This was exactly the break he needed. His gaze flicked down to Tails—the break they all needed, really. Knuckles turned to them, spreading his arms wide with a smirk. “Divide and conquer?” Sonic and Tails immediately nodded enthusiastically, wasting no time to race off to their favorite machines—they knew the drill.  Knuckles strode over to the tiny red punching bag dangling from a flickering machine, already squaring against the Hammer Glove 5000. Tails sat before the Casino Paradise, a totally-not-blackjack machine, already doing the mental math to outwit the machine’s A.I. Sonic found himself in front of a board 7 colored gems, blinking enticingly. The Super Chaos Blaster Master. He put his hands on his hips, staring down the game’s LED gems. “Hello, old friend.” He slid a token into the slot, stretching his arms as the chiptune music played through the crackly speakers. The aim of the game was to slap each gem that was turned on before they turned off. The more you hit, the more tickets. Hit them all… “Jackpot!” Sonic had fingers faster than a hummingbird's wings, with even faster reflexes to boot. He could drain this machine for all the tickets it had in mere minutes. At least he would if the machine didn’t fail his last hit for 15-20 games straight. It used to take 50 games for him to hit a jackpot, when him and the gang came here more frequently. “Huh, guess old Eggman had thought we were gone for good. Sorry to disappoint, Doc, but Sonic the Hedgehog will always be around to best your machines.”  Three Jackpots later, the machine was spent, all the gems turning red, displaying a flashing out of order message. “Well, looks like I’m the real Blaster Master here! Booyah,” Sonic celebrated his first success of the night with a little jig. With his string of tickets secured under his arms, Sonic began to scope out any other games he’d be fast enough to take on. Surprisingly, there were actually a fair bit of people hanging around here. Either kids running wild from their exhausted parents catching some Z’s in the dining area or young adults having a nostalgic and light-hearted date night. It seemed like a weird place to have a date, at least to Sonic. Though, they seemed like they were having fun—laughing and trying to beat each others’ scores, holding each other close as they carefully chose a stuffed bear from the crane machines, grinning as they gave soft pecks on blushing cheeks— “Sonic?”  Sonic was startled as a voice sounded from behind him, almost dropping his streamers of prize-winning paper.  He whipped around as the pink hedgehog beside him gave a smile. Her quills were longer now, brushed neatly to frame her face, but Sonic would recognize those green eyes anywhere.  “Amy?” How long had it been? Sonic could hardly forget the day Amy Rose had transferred back in junior year of high school. They had known each other for years, but even that wasn’t enough to suppress the inevitable falling out that always seemed to come with a friend changing schools. “Oh my god! It’s been ages! Your mom told my mom that you and Tails were going to GHU, but I kept forgetting to get in touch with you guys! So, how’ve you been? You liking Green Hill,” she shouted over the arcade noise. The pure enthusiasm that coated her every word was infectious. Amy was the genuine type, always completely herself. Sonic had always wondered how a person could have such an open and honest heart, to the point where you couldn’t help but do the same, laying your own truths bare. “Yeah, it’s been a while! Honestly, it’s been a bit rough—had some troubles adjusting these past couple months. But, I think I’m getting my sea legs now, slowly but surely. I’ve also meant to, like, text you, but things have been crazy busy!” If he was being honest, he’d had a more selfish reason for not keeping up with Amy then he’d like to admit to himself. Her overbearingly caring, almost nagging attitude (not to mention her less-than-subtle crush on Sonic) had made Sonic pause whenever he thought about checking in on her.  He’d never really liked how she’d always just happened to be around his next classes, or how she’d always just happened to have extra lunch for him. It was beyond kind, and he really appreciated it, but as much as he loved her as a friend, he couldn’t reciprocate the puppy-love she clearly felt for him. Her moving, as much as it pained him, gave him a guilty sense of relief, not having to be around a person he could never really make happy.  Amy gave a laugh, bright and loud, grin spreading behind her hand. “Glad to see you’re just as transparent as ever.”  Sonic blushed, suddenly feeling caught. “Whad’ya mean? I seriously meant to text you the other day—”  “Don’t worry, you don’t have to make excuses—I know I was suuuper cringey back then. Don’t blame you for avoiding that Amy.” Her sugar-sweet grin briefly fell into an awkward wince as they both reminisced on said cringe. She shook it off before diving right back in. “But yeah, brief recap—I enrolled at GHU, dropped out of GHU, got a job in design, did some serious soul-searching, and finally got a better haircut. So yeah—things are better now.”   Sonic was left blinking in the wake of Amy’s mile-a-minute catch-up monologue, brain stuttering to process the years of info delivered in seconds. Before he could open his mouth to say something objectively intelligent like “cool,” Knuckles and Tails were striding over behind him.  “Amy,” Knuckles shouted, immediately sweeping up her small frame into a patented Knuckles bear hug.  “Oh man, Amy’s here too?” Tails grinned, peering up at his newly-reunited group of friends. “Now it’s really just like old times.”  Amy mussed Tails’ bangs as she was released from being swallowed in Knuckles’ arms. “Not just like—you have got to stop growing up so much, kiddo! It’s making me feel like an old lady!” Coming from anyone else, it would seem like a critique—a comment on Tails’ premature maturity. But her kind, motherly smile shone with a kind of pride and Tails blushed in its light.  “What are you even doing here,” Knuckles finally asked, cocking his head.  Amy's eyes flicked back to Knuckles, realizing she'd momentarily forgotten her reason for coming. “Oh, yeah! I’m here with my girlfriend and her best friend!” All three boys paused.  As if sensing their impending introduction, two figures padded up beside Amy—a cat with sharp eyes and soft purple fur and a gray hedgehog with a messy head of quills.  “Blaze, Silver, meet Tails, Knuckles, and Sonic.”  The dining area of Dr. Eggman’s Incredible Interstellar Amusement Center and Pizzeria™ was anything but Incredible. Or interstellar. And, honestly, only the slightest bit amusing, as it seemed to be plucked straight out of a period in time decades before any of its inhabitants were born. Dr. Eggman must have either enjoyed the “rustic” (ie, decrepit) and “retro” (ie, outdated) aesthetic enough to preserve it so carefully, or more realistically, didn’t have the money to shoot for anything newer. The newly-expanded gang had decided to mosey on over to one of the cleaner booths in the dining area, the seams of the seats either burst from years of rambunctious children or duct taped as any penny-pinching restaurateur would do. Sonic and his crew sat at one side, Amy and hers on the other, a “fresh” order of pizza sharing the space between them. The conversations started out light enough, Amy mostly catching her companions up on her high school years with the boys. Sonic couldn’t help but wince as she recounted some of his more embarrassing behaviors. “Sonic even went through a rock phase, bought a guitar and everything! What was the name of your ‘band’ going to be again? ‘Sonic- something or other’? Man. It’s gonna kill me if I can’t remember it!”   “Oh, come on Ames, that was so long ago,” Sonic laughed, the kind of awkward laugh of someone seriously wanting to let their old cringy past die a quick and painless death. ”I can barely even remember—” “It was ‘The Sonic Underground Experience,’ right?” Tails, chomping on an overwhelmingly cheesy slice of pizza, casually tossed out the name, seemingly blind to Sonic’s inner anguish. Sonic instantly grieved his inability to physically melt into the floor. “Nah, I don’t think that’s right. I’d never come up with such a dumb-edgy name.” “No, no, I clearly remember you spending hours writing different names down until you found the perfect blend of ‘cool’ and…‘ totally rockin’—your exact words.” Sonic gave Tails a strained kind of smile, with a mouth that said ‘haha, isn’t that nice,’ but eyes that said ‘stop.’ “Ha- ha , well it’s such a perfect name that I don’t really see the need to ever mention it again, right? I mean, no sense tampering with diamonds, am I right,” Sonic tried to give an on-brand Cool Guy Laugh™ to play off of, but it just came out like an awkward giggle of a person desperate to regain any of his credibility. “That’ll do Sonic, that’ll do,” Knuckles patted Sonic on the back.  Sonic immediately deflated, slumping in his booth with a barely-disguised pout.   Already inhaling another slice of pizza, Knuckles finally turned the conversation in another direction—a direction that blessedly led away from a teenaged Sonic.“So, how about you two? Blaze and Sliver, was it? You two go to GHU, too?” “Um, it’s Silver, actually,” the sheepish hedgehog, who actually hadn’t spoken until now, quietly piped up. “Oh, oops. Sorry! I’m terrible with names. Took me months to learn Sonic’s. ” Knuckles chuckled off his mistake. “No it didn’t—”  “Anyways! You guys in school,” He asked again, elbowing Sonic’s arm. “Yeah, we both go to GHU,” Blaze cooly said, with a voice as calm and collected as a person twice her age. She had a surprisingly solid poker-face, not really leaning one way or the other in terms of emotion—a sharp contrast to both of her companions, who had their hearts practically embroidered on their sleeves. “I’m studying history, with a focus on Ancient Egypt. Silver here is studying Psychology.” “Oh cool,” Tails chimed in, always eager to talk academics of any kind. “What’s your favorite theory or area of study?” Blaze smirked, a devious, knowing curl of her lips. “Well, I don’t really know myself, but I sure know what Silver loves studying.” “Blaaaaaze, could you please not get into that now,” Silver blushed, too embarrassed to look anyone across the table in the eyes. Amy and Blaze giggled at some inside joke unknown to the other half of the party “Huh? What’s so funny,” Sonic, now munching on the last slice of the all too quickly rubber-like pizza. “It’s nothing,” Amy laughed, playfully swatting Blaze on the shoulder. “Blaze has been needling Silver over this guy he’s got a major crush on.” “Oh, really,” Sonic asked absently. It was a little strange to him. The concept of crushes always felt somewhat...foreign to him. He had grown up hearing people talk about them, gushing about some new kid in their seventh period, but he couldn’t say he’d ever had one. It just wasn’t something that ever crossed his mind (something that the self-proclaimed ‘ladies’ man’ Knuckles had balked at when he first met him).  A teenaged Sonic had laughed off all the prepubescent talk of sexuality and romance, taking the cliched thirteen-year-old response of calling it gross. And then he just...kept doing that until it became the norm.  His eyes flicked down to Amy and Blaze’s hands linked so casually on the table. Seeing Amy’s thumb absently brush the back of Blaze’s palm, it felt just as distant of a concept as it did years ago.  But something about seeing them love so naturally made Sonic wonder… “Yeah… it’s stupid,” Silver mumbled. “They met when this guy was taking psych classes for his med major or whatever,” Blaze supplied, seemingly ignoring Silver’s want to curl in on himself. “And since then, Silver’s been lovesick as hell for his brooding ass.” She gave a teasing smile as Silver dodged a pinch to his cheek with a practiced ease from years of friendship. “It’s kind of annoyingly cute.” “Huh…” Sonic thought for a second. Brooding? Med Major? Naaaaaaah, it can’t be. “This guy… is he also a hedgehog? A little older? Black and red quills, with eyes that are permanently set to ‘disdain’?” “Uh… yeah, actually,” Silver seemed a little surprised at Sonic’s spot-on guess. “You know this guy,” Amy, also curious about Sonic’s oddly specific details, wanted in on whatever info Sonic could give on Silver’s mystery crush.  “Haha, weeelllll, I’d say know is a strong word.” Sonic laughed a little at the idea of someone as nice and soft as this Silver guy liking someone as antisocial and cold as Shadow. “His names Shadow, right?” Silver nodded, cheeks tinted pink with a subtle mixture of glee and embarrassment. “I sat next to him in my intro psych class. He was always so… stoic and pensive,” Silver, lost in his memory, smiled to himself, seeming to forget his company. Sonic was still a little shocked at this. Really? Shadow? That grump?  “Shadow, huh,” Knuckles, looking about ready to grab another pizza, seemed equally amused by this development. “Well, Sonic, you said you were partnered up with the hunk, right? Why not give Silver some pointers?” “Oh, please, no, that’s not necessary,” Silver spoke quickly, desperately trying to steer the conversation another direction before he combusted.  “Hey now,” Blaze held up a hand, “You should take this opportunity, Silvy. You’ll never get anywhere just pining for him behind an espresso machine.” “Yeah! C’mon, Sonic, dish! Tell us everything you can,” Amy leaned in, ready to soak up every ounce that Sonic could give her. Silver, still too ashamed to look up, seemed at least a little interested, just as curious as Amy. Sonic, always happy to help, welcomed the chance to do some good. Though, he didn’t know how much help he could be. Romance was already a foreign concept to him, and each interaction he’d had with Shadow had been nuclear at best.  “Hmm, he’d be a pretty hard nut to crack, I’ll give you that much for free,” Sonic crossed his arms, looking to the ceiling for insight. In the past month, all Sonic could get from Shadow was insults and sneers, with the only exception being this evening’s meeting. “Well, from what I can gather, he’s super busy all the time, doesn’t much care for nonsense, is suuuuuuuper cranky, but I think his bark is much worse than his bite—” Sonic spilled every little mundane thing he seemed to pick-up on, with little regard for how relevant it could actually be to Silver’s ambitions. Silver, wide-eyed in astonishment, leaned closer in, hanging onto every word that left Sonic’s mouth, as though it were gospel. “—he really has it out for slackers, I’m not sure he’s had a good night's sleep in months—oh, and he drinks, uh, what’s it called… oh, Old Fashioneds, that’s it!” He finally stopped for a moment to take a sip of his drink, finally taking notice of everyone's dazed expressions. “What?” “Taking notes, were you?” Amy laughed, delighted by Sonic’s steadfast candid nature. “Does Silver have to worry about some competition?” “What? Naaaaaaah, no way! Not in a million years!” Sonic laughed at the very idea of liking someone so hilariously edgy. “Even if I did crush on the guy, I can’t imagine there’s anyone on this earth that could get through to that grumpus. No offense, Silver.” “Uh, none taken,” Silver awkwardly laughed, slightly intimidated by his  worsening chances with Shadow. “You sure about that, Sonic? You two were getting pretty personal that one time at the bar,” Knuckles poked at Sonic, always enjoying the chance to tease him. “Wait, what happened at the bar,” Tails, who was absent for that heated exchange, asked the question that seemed to be on everyone else's mind. “Nothing ‘happened’! We got into a testy tipsy quarrel over nothing, the end.” It didn’t bother him, exactly. Being teased like this always came from a place of amusement, and he could roll with the punches. But he was fairly certain Shadow hated him, and it was uncomfortable to Sonic talking about him like this, behind his back. Don’t need any more bad karma with Shadow. “Besides, not really into dudes, per se.”  “Well, don’t be too sure about that,” Amy chuckled in Sonic’s direction, giving him a dubious eye. “Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with any girls, anyway,” Amy pondered aloud.  Sonic felt struck. He really didn’t want to have this conversation tonight. Amy, thankfully, could read Sonic loud and clear. “And I could have sworn I was straight, until I met Blaze.”  “Aw shucks,” Blaze pulled Amy in closer, resting her arm at her waist.  “Ahhh, no, stop, my hearts gonna burst from all this cuteness,” Knuckles grasped his chest and put a hand dramatically over his eyes, shielding himself from the pure love between the two. Amy stuck her tongue out at him as he scooted out of the booth, looking to Tails, “Wanna get some prizes, kiddo?” “Sure,” Tails hopped out to follow along. He paused, turning to Blaze and Amy, smiling, “I think you two make a great pair.” “Awww, thank you Tails,” Amy returned an equally heartfelt smile to Tails. “You know, they’re probably gonna close soon, we should probably exchange our tickets as well, guys,” Silver got out as well, holding onto their own winnings. “Yeah, might as well clean-up,” Amy got up along with everyone else. “I got it!” Sonic hopped up, grabbing plates and cups, heading to the trash cans. “And hey, Silver! For real, I could try and help you out with Shadow, if you want. I see the guy pretty often.” “Oh, really,” Silver beamed, genuinely happy at the offer. “You don’t have to, but I’d, uh, appreciate it.” “Yeaaaah, of course! Any friend of Amy’s is a friend of mine. Anything you wanna know about the guy, let me know and I’ll find it out… maybe,” Sonic held out a fist to Silver, who in turn gave an awkwardly weak fist bump back.  After spending their earnings on oversized plushies and dollar store candy, the whole gang loitered some more in the parking lot, uneager to end the evening just yet. Blaze and Knuckles talked about archeology stuff, Silver told Tails about his thesis project, and Sonic, unable to add anything of merit to any of those discussions, sat on the curb playing with his newly-purchased paddleball.  Taking a seat at his side, Amy decided to check in on him. “You alright? It’s not like you to sit out like this.” “And miss out on this sick paddle ball action? Nah,” Sonic joked continuing his ball-hitting crusade. He didn’t want to admit the fact that he felt too intimidated to join in on the more academic and nuanced conversations. He’d been made a fool of enough for one night. “Is that so?” Amy may have known there was more to his childish antics, though if she did, she chose not to push him on it.  They sat in silence for a few minutes, the tapping sound of the paddle ball punctuating each passing second. Sonic wanted to ask her the question that had been burning in his brain the past few hours, but hesitated, not wanting to possibly ruin a solid evening. So, he took a more roundabout direction. “... Soooo, how’d you and Blaze meet?” “Well, about around when I dropped out, I was restless—kept...wanting something, but I didn’t know what. So, after a slightly tipsy impulse decision in the middle of the night, I downloaded a dating app.”  Sonic blinked in surprise, but stayed silent. With her quiet, kind nature, Amy seemed like the kind for a more traditional, old-world kind of romance—a chance meeting, subtle flirting, love notes and letters and dates. Something about the quick, impersonal nature of dating apps didn’t seem to fit Amy’s style.  He glanced up at the new Amy he saw in front of him—years away from any version of her he had known. Then again, maybe it just didn’t fit his picture of Amy.  “Can’t tell you exactly why,” she continued, “but when it asked preferences I clicked both.” She paused. “Maybe it was always there and I just ignored it—I don’t know. And then, after weeks of ignoring messages and rejecting matches, I got a message from Blaze, and I don’t know—something just...clicked. Like...she was it.” She let out a laugh in the quiet. “I dunno, maybe it’s silly.” Sonic broke from his paddle ball-induced hypnosis. “It’s not silly,” he immediately corrected. “I think it’s...sweet.” Relationships had always escaped Sonic. Amy wasn’t entirely off, he had never dated anyone. Wasn’t his thing. He had plenty of love in his life—family, friends, track. Romance (the word felt weird, sticky, even now) had never really fit into the equation. Or, at least, he never cared enough to make room for it.  Amy smiled, soft and loving.  Sonic wrapped the string of the paddle ball around his finger, still fidgeting absently.  He gave a soft laugh, a breathy sound—a defense mechanism to defuse tension. “Probably sounds a bit stupid, but I didn’t even know you were gay.” The words rushed off his tongue before he gave them permission to.  Amy giggled. She had probably heard some variation of this exact thing a million times from a million different people—he knew how it had to sound. Once again, he admired her endless patience, not smacking him for sticking his proverbial foot in his literal mouth.  “Honestly, babe, me neither. But, y’know, life happens and you just kind of go along for the ride.” Sonic smiled up at Amy, a rush of nostalgia filling his chest to the brim, bittersweet and warm. “Who’d’ve ever thought the ride would end up here, huh Ames?” Amy looked over at Blaze, her eyes soft as she watched her head tilt towards the sky in laughter. “Yeah,” she said, almost too quiet to hear.  After the night threatened to stretch on into the next day and the chill of the wind got under their jackets, the two groups split for the night, with shared hugs and smiles and phone numbers for their newly-made friends. Sonic did intend to make good on his promise to Silver, boldly telling him he’d even flirt with him by proxy. Silver politely turned it down, though Blaze seemed all for it, already planning and strategizing like flirting was a heist and Shadow was their treasure hidden behind cliché security lasers.  Opting to let Tails have the front seat on their way home, Sonic stretched out on the faded leather of the backseat. Head against the cool window, his eyes followed the moon above as Knuckles’ and Tails’ sleepy conversations drifted in and out of his head—a white noise for his thoughts. Sonic wasn’t one to look back, never wanting to waste time moving forward as fast as life would let him. But tonight had brought a literal blast from the past, the changes of the years personified in Amy. She was one of the few people who could see right through Sonic— really see him, despite his cool, easygoing persona. It was one of the few things that hadn’t changed.  He felt small under her kind, knowing gaze, and he didn’t like the things it pulled from him.  He caught his hazy reflection in the window as it flicked in and out between passing streetlights, trying to find the things that had changed about him.   He didn’t find much.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“—

And if you call now, we’ll throw in our new patented (patent pending) Shovel Claws with any order of the Aqua Shield Pro! Aqua Shield Pro; shield your lawn with the power of water!”

Strewn out, face buried in a cushion, Shadow didn’t care how long it had been since he tiredly drove home, practically crawled through his door, and finally plopped himself on the couch. He had flicked on the TV, intending to find something to watch—something to pass the time. But now he was stuck on the white noise of infomercials, eyes only half-following the movement of the overly-excited announcers on screen. 
 
Rolling to his back, he looked up at his ceiling fan, the hypnotic motion threatening to rob him of his last shreds of consciousness. As much as he wanted to just shut off his brain, he had never known how to flip that switch. His thoughts were a radical train with no station in sight.
 
His gaze traced the shape of a water stain in the corner where the wall met his aging popcorn ceiling, vague restlessness melting into a weird malaise. He glanced at the papers neatly stacked at the corner of his coffee table—assignments already completed days in advance. And it wasn’t like he could get ahead on that stupid home ec list without Sonic—that much was made incredibly clear. 
 
There was a rare lull in activity where he could finally take a breath. 
 
And he hated it. 
 
The minutes bled into hours, moving like molasses. Anxiety prodded him to move, but he just...didn’t. A pile of yellow yarn sat curled in his knitting basket—a new blanket for Maria. He could—he

should

—work on it, have it ready for when he saw her next. 
 
His eyes flicked back to the TV instead. 
 
Too many hours to fill. He let out a sigh, immediately feeling heavy with the temptation to just give up and sleep—if he could even fall asleep.
 
Self-appointed promises flicked through his head—things he should be working on. 
 
He should, but he can’t, he can’t, he

can’t

—

I…can’t stop

. 
 
He let his eyes close, as if blocking out one stimulus would quiet the others.

Lazy.

Selfish.

You’re wasting time.

“Stop,” he moaned aloud. The twisted voice of his anxiety didn’t listen.

Every second you spend on your ass is a second closer to Maria’s—

“Please, just let me rest,” he begged his vexing perfectionism, desperate to just feel a moment of peace, burying his head under a throw pillow to try and gain any control over his head.

Maria is wasting away, and you have the gall to sit here and whine—

“

Stop

,” he finally shouted, throwing his pillow at the wall.

...I’m doing the best I can.

Tears began to collect on his lids. He curled in on himself, jaw tensing as he tried to stop the dam from breaking. 
 
What more could he do…?  
 
He let out a breath, wincing at how shaky it sounded. He hated caving into his emotions like this. Maria was always so strong. And the shame of succumbing just made him more frustrated.
 
He knew what he needed to be, what he

should

be. 
 
But he was still just a person—he couldn’t

always

be expected to be that, could he? 
 
His selfishness turned his stomach.

You don’t deserve to be happy. Not unless she’s happy.

Shadow finally got up, unable to fight his inner voice. Wiping away his tears, he picked up his crochet hook. Winding the yarn through his fingers, he started up where he left off.
 
The monotony of casting and pulling each crochet mixed with Shadow’s blurry focus on the television into a slurry of mind numbing sensations. The half-focus he shared between both activities at least seemed to create a barrier from his inner-self’s derisive words.
 
Time passed, and eventually he met the end of his yarn ball. The blanket was still only half-finished, but a sore spot had begun growing in the small of Shadow’s back. It wasn’t painful, but when accompanied by his stinging dried out eyes, it meant it was time for bed. 
 
Looking at the clock, it was already 11:00. Tomorrow may be a Sunday, but Shadow still had to be at work by 9:00 a.m.
 
The rumbling of his stomach had gone unnoticed for most of the night. It was only then he realized he had forgotten to eat anything tonight. To be honest, he hadn’t had much outside of a cookie and some coffee for ‘lunch.’ He’d also absently snacked on some chocolates in his receptionist candy bowl at work, but his body was craving something akin to actual food now. But, he didn’t feel up to making anything now as it was. 
 
“

Oh, Bernadette! Please, stay! I love you, I’ve always—

”

CLICK.

Shadow turned off the T.V. 
 
The screen faded into a mirror of black, hazily reflecting his bleary, unfocused eyes, still red-rimmed with tears stubbornly unshed. His gaze traced the dark circles that seemed to have made a permanent home under his lash line. The frown etched on his muzzle deepened as he tried to find some piece he was truly happy with. 
 
He couldn’t.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Wind rushing. Blurring colors. The world flying by him at top speeds.  The flashes of cameras twinkled like stars in the crowd of onlookers, all trying to turn a pair of green eyes their way.  The glorious weight of multiple gold medals hung around Sonic’s neck as he grinned from the place on the podium.   #1 . Winner. Olympic gold medalist.  He did it. He did it. He did it.  He felt like he could burst from the rush of excitement in his chest—like his rib cage couldn’t physically contain the moment.  This is what flying was like, he imagined.  “Sonic, Sonic, over here,” a voice called from the crowd.  His eyes landed on a smiling pink hedgehog, pen poised above her notepad, question at the ready.  His brow furrowed as he recognized her with a sudden jolt. “Amy?” The call of her name seemed to go over her head as she barreled forward. “You just became the youngest Olympic athlete to win this many gold medals in your category. So what’s next for our famous blue blur?” Sonic’s mind went suddenly blank. Everything besides this moment was suddenly white noise, blurry, vacant. He had won; he had gotten here—what else was there? He panicked as he tried to come up with something, anything to say as an answer. “Uhhh, I’m going to Eggman’s?”  The crowd paused where they stood, all silence and befuddled expressions. Amy only blinked before stepping forward with her next question. “I think everyone here is wondering, how did you get here? What tips do you have for everyone out there who wants to get where you are someday? What’s your normal diet and exercise regime look like?” The flood of questions hit Sonic like a tidal wave sweeping his feet out below him.  
How? How did I get here?
 Words stumbled over his tongue as he tried for a response.  “Umm, well, I guess I jog a lot? And I eat chili dogs, mostly?” Amy gasped, looking scandalized. “Really? Such a lackluster routine! And chili dogs? How does this high fat diet affect your performance? Surely you still maximize your intake of CarboHydrolic cells, yes?” “Carbohy-what?” Sonic began to feel heat in his cheeks. He felt as though he was shrinking.  “Your CarboHydrolic cells! Every athlete must consider the amount of CarboHydrolic cells in their system before a big competition! Why, it’s just common sense!”  What the fuck is she talking about?! He felt like she was speaking a different language. He’d never heard of this. Oh god, should he have heard of this? Eyes were on him. The world felt like it was spiraling. He grasped for the medals on his chest, something to ground him. Nothing was there.  
“Well, obviously before any big race I focus my caloric intake on super-foods like avocados and kale smoothies to maximize the performance of my CarboHydrolic cells.” 
 Wha— Who was…? Sonic blinked and suddenly a proud green hawk was standing in his place, shining medals resting upon his chest as he preened under the attention.   Jet .  Sonic balked from his newfound place in the crowd as everyone nodded along to Jet’s gospel.  “It’s just something any runner should know.” A sickeningly charming smile curled its way onto Jet’s beak.  “Of course,” Amy agreed from beside him, as if it was obvious.  “W-wait,” Sonic weakly protested. “Those are my medals.”  He was only met with laughter.  “Sure, kid,” Jet chuckled derisively. “That’s cute. Like you know what you’re doing. Come back when you’ve got a clue.” “But I…” I do. The words died on his lips before he could even form them.  
I mean, don’t I?
 
Do I?!
 He felt weightless, suddenly dropping, panic making his heart race.  
This is what falling felt like, he imagined. 
 He was in an ever-quickening free-fall, approaching nowhere fast. An endless abyss.  Until it wasn’t.  Sonic’s leg kicked, jolting him awake. The eyes of the crowd and the anxiety of the darkness slowly faded into the form of Tails’ bunk above him. He sat staring at the dent his brother’s body made in the cheap mattress, fully awake after the terrifying stop. His breathing was quick, but as reality washed over him, it calmed the pace of his heart as well. He turned over on his bed, looking at the clock on his desk.  5:54 a.m. The sun wasn’t even out yet, darkness still peeking through the slits in the blinds. This was the earliest Sonic had woken up all semester. Honestly, it was probably the earliest he’d woken up since elementary school.  He listened for Tails’ slow, sleeping breaths as he shifted in his blankets.   At least that chaos didn’t wake him.   He’d feel worse if he’d made Tails lose sleep over some dumb dream.  And honestly, he wasn’t feeling up to being questioned about it. ...Though he may have to ask Tails about ‘CarboHydrolic cells’ when he woke up. He let out a breath and tossed the blankets off of him, figuring any attempts at getting more sleep would just be in vain at this point.  He shook himself off—might as well make the most of his restless energy.  He grabbed his favorite running shoes from where he had kicked them off the night before, sliding them over his feet. Grabbing a jacket, his wallet and his phone, he put in his earbuds and headed out. Sonic trotted around campus at a steady pace, breath visible with each few steps. Fall wasn’t in full swing yet, but it was a pretty chilly morning. Sonic didn’t mind. The raw heat generated from the activity warmed him and he welcomed the breeze of the cool air.  Not many people were out so early on a Sunday morning, save the occasional fellow jogger. The dim signs of the sun rising left a calm, dusky atmosphere. If it didn’t mean having to wake up before noon, Sonic would do this more often. The even pace of his feet and the cheerful music in his ears put his mind at ease.  He did jog regularly. His team would have earlyish runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but never before 8:00. They weren’t mandatory, so Sonic usually opted out, instead choosing to roll up to practice whenever he could wake up, and run on his own at night.  He replayed the dream that had startled him awake occasionally, but felt unwilling to mull it over any further. It left him with too many questions he’d never really taken time to consider. 
How? How DO I get to the Olympics?
 He always assumed if he just tried hard enough, he would get there. He had the drive, and surely he had the talent. Wasn’t that enough? He paused for a moment catching his breath.  
The Olympics? Is that the endgame?
 In reality, while the Olympics seemed like the natural goal of any athlete, Sonic hadn’t even really given it much thought. He wanted to run. That was a fact. And he definitely wanted to win, whatever it was he could. But he didn’t even have the first clue about what it took to be a professional athlete. There was so much he didn’t know, and just the scope of it all made him feel weaker. He had high hopes for his future. But whatever that future was was blurry at best.  Snapping back to the present, he began to notice that he had jogged off campus, and into the downtown area of Green Hill proper. It wasn’t a particularly big town, most of the buildings had that old-town charm. There was an antique shop, a barber, boutique, donut shop— “Oh sick, donuts!” Sonic could smell the sickeningly sweet scent of fresh donuts. In that scent were memories. Memories of him and Tails, waking up early, scootering and skateboarding to the local Emerald Hill Donuts. Returning home with a couple bags of donuts to enjoy with their favorite Saturday morning cartoons. It had been a long time since then. He snuck a glance at his phone—almost 7:00. Tails had always been something of an early riser—might as well make the best of this slow Sunday morning and surprise the kid with this sweet, sweet nostalgic breakfast. It’d be a welcome break from their usual meals of toaster pastries and snack bars.  
And this at least gives me a convenient excuse for being up so early.
 A little bell chimed as Sonic pushed open the door, stepping into the warmth of the shop’s small interior. A dark wood countertop sat at the back beside a glass case lined with tray after tray of delicious baked goods. A few college kids and retirees sat scattered amongst the few tables.  An older-looking blonde-furred rabbit wearing a flour-dusted apron looked up at him as he stepped towards the counter.  “Well howdy there, hon! Welcome to Sweet Mountain Donuts,” she smiled, as sweet as the pastries she offered. “What can I do ya for?” Sonic eyed the more...creative-looking donuts—topped with bacon and cereals and various colors of powdered sugar.   Well that looks like...a lot .  Overwhelmed by the choices, Sonic tore his eyes away from the fancier options, resolving to come back here when he actually had the energy to explore this wonderful world of donuts.  For now, he opted for simplicity—something he knew Tails would like.  “Um, just a dozen glazed donuts, please,” he said, giving a half-hearted smile, still half-distracted by his whirlwind of a morning.  “Why of course, shuga’, comin’ right up” she said, sliding the donuts one by one into a large box printed with the bubbly letters of Sweet Mountain’s logo. “That’ll be eight dollars even,” she chimed as she slid the box of donuts his way.  Thankfully, he had just enough cash left in his wallet (something he hadn’t even thought to check before stepping in here). He passed a couple bills into her outstretched hand. As he was placing his last two dollar bills in the half-full tip jar, the door gave another ding from the front of the shop.  A familiar douchey laugh rings out—almost a squawk-like cackle.  
God, why today… or anyday for that matter.
 In strides Jet the hawk, head, as always, placed firmly up his own ass.  Sonic sighed. Jet was the last person he needed to see this morning.  What the fuck was he even doing here anyway?  He didn’t seem to notice Sonic, instead immediately moving to leer over a poor girl near the entrance, trying to enjoy her breakfast in peace. He almost gagged. Sonic should have figured Jet was the type to make creepy unwanted advances on random women at donut shops at 7:00 in the morning. Why he’d choose a donut shop of all places was a mystery. Donuts can’t be good for those Carbohydrolic cells, after all.  Sonic shook his head. He didn’t have the energy to be condescended at today. Best to just keep his head down and get out of here while he could. Pulling his jacket tighter around himself, he snatched his donuts from the counter, trying to make as quick and as quiet of an escape as possible Then, halfway to the door, someone shoulder-checked him. Hard.  His leg slipping below him, he stumbled to the ground, losing his grip on his sugary breakfast. He watched as the box popped open and a few donuts tumbled to the ground. A sad smattering of his precious golden rings now lay on the floor. Sonic felt his life draining. My precious...  And of course, standing above him was Jet, smirking, hand on one hip. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the rookie track-star himself.” He squinted his eyes in mock thought, playacting. “Manic, was it?” “Sonic, actually,” he deadpanned, picking himself off the floor. Normally, he would be firing off witty comebacks already. Jet had this annoying habit of making Sonic’s temper shorter than usual. However, the haze of waking up early dulled his wit. “Wouldn’t think a five-letter, two-syllable name would be that much trouble for most.” Jet laughed. “Oh shit, sorry man. Guess it’s hard to remember the name of the guy who can’t even be bothered to show up to morning practice half the time.”  He spoke with a twisted sarcasm, his apparent love of patronization making his eyes glint.  He was waiting to get a rise out of Sonic—for him to snap so he could laugh about it with his equally douchey friends later.   Don’t give him the satisfaction. Don’t give him the satisfaction. Don’t — “And you’re any better? Half the time you’re late, and whenever you do show up you just squawk insults at everyone and boast about yourself.” Well shit.  “Well now, this hedgehog’s got spikes,” Jet laughed, eyeing Sonic up. “Ya’know, I wouldn’t be late if I didn’t have to put up with asshole rookies like you every practice. Plus, I actually put in the fucking work already. My skill has already skyrocketed past whatever baby shit Big is doing,” he actually let out a laugh at the thought of their coach. Geez, did this guy respect anybody ? 
Well, himself, I guess. 
 “Oh, but you’re the guy who’s going to ‘break every record.’ You're ‘on the fast track to being the star runner on this team.’ Surely you can just magically get everything without doing any of that shit, right?” The sarcasm that dripped from those words was thick enough to coat even the donuts in. Sonic felt his throat tighten, attempting to hide the embarrassment of having his own boastful claims contemptuously thrown back at him.  The subtle shift didn’t slip by Jet—he was watching for it.  A grin curled onto his beak. “No, you’re right, maybe I should just sit on my ass, instead of busting it at every goddamn practice each week, since that seems to be your winning strategy. And how’s that working out for you, huh kiddo?”  Sonic’s gaze began to fall towards the donuts still laying on the floor. He knew what Jet was referring to. He had entered GHU with above average times, but since then hadn’t improved any. Jet, on the other hand, had just broken his personal best last week. “Heh, thought as much,” Jet scoffed, moving closer towards Sonic. Too close. “You know, ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of being the best. Faster than imaginable. And everyday, every minute, every goddamn second I breathe, I am moving towards the unimaginable.” Jet’s voice had lowered, though surely the others in the shop, who had ceased talking once this over the top shit show began, could hear him as well as Sonic. “But hey, I’m nothing if not generous! And hey, we got that big preliminary track meet coming up, so I’ll give you some friendly advice from your caring senior,” he loudly proclaimed, placing his hand on Sonic’s shoulder. Their eyes never breaking contact. “A cute face and natural talent ain’t gonna get you diddly squat once you’re graduated—ah who am I kidding—once you drop out next semester. So do me a favor.” Jet’s grip tightened as he leaned in, making Sonic wince. “Either get your ass in gear, or get the fuck off my track.” Sonic yanked away from Jet’s vice-like hand. “Yeah, well, what are you even doing here? Small-town donut shops don’t seem to vibe with your douchey aesthetic.” It was a pitiful comeback, but saying nothing meant defeat, and Sonic was nothing if not stubborn.  Jet scoffed. “Are you kidding me? I would never eat this garbage.” He brushed back some stray feathers at the side of his head. “I’m an athlete. I just had to take a piss while on my morning run.” He glanced down at Sonic’s floor pastries. “Have fun with your, uh,” he paused as he pointedly kicked a donut with the toe of his sneakers, “trash.”  Deeming this conversation over, Jet strode off in the direction of the bathrooms in the back of the shop, leaving Sonic tense and red-faced.  Carefully avoiding the eyes of the audience to their little scene, he slowly bent down to pick up the donuts.  He gave a sheepish glance at the woman as he threw them away in the trash can beside the counter. He opened his mouth to apologize for wasting her poor donuts, but she just shook her head with a kind look.  “That boy’s as feisty as a jumpin’ bean in a skillet! Turn my whole shop into some kinda scene from a soap opera,” the kindly rabbit lady opened the bake case again, handing him another small box with fresh donuts to replace his lost ones.  “Thanks! And sorry. I’ll make sure to come again… hopefully with less disruptive results,” he bashfully laughed, rubbing the back of his neck in anxiety. “Oh, you’ve got nothing to apologize for, suga’,” she glanced at the spot Jet had been standing as she plopped the donuts in his hand. A stern, disapproving frown flashed across her face. “That boy isn’t very nice, is he?” She shook her head and gave a bewildered sigh. “That hawk needs to learn him some manners. Why, lord help me, if that boy’s legs can run even half as fast as his mouth, then he can very well run himself home to his own toilet.” Sonic gave a hearty laugh. It was nice to have someone on his side at least. “Haha, whaddya mean?” “Ya’ see, the bathroom is reserved for payin’ customers only. Got it locked up. So I hope he likes his garbage with sprinkles,” she smirked. “That bein’ said, you should probably head on home, hon. I think you’ve had enough asshole for one day.” “Right. Thanks again!” Sonic quickly dashed to the door, mindful of the donuts in his hand. “Y’all come back now, ya’here,” the rabbit lady waved him goodbye, as a pissed off Jet returned, close to begging for the key to the bathroom. It didn’t take too long for him to make his way back to his dorm, donuts in hand. He couldn’t help but replay the events of the morning in his mind. The dream. Jet’s harsh yet bitterly true words. They looped in his mind. His chest hurt.  “Gah,” Sonic tried shaking the images from his head frustratedly, walking into the lobby of his dorm. Predictably, it was void of any students. “No more negativity today. I’m young, spry, and have my whole future ahead of me—plenty of time to figure out my life! I’ll start practicing more and crush the prelims! Nothing can stop Sonic,” he quietly proclaimed, reaching his room door, only to be stopped by his lack of a key. 
Huh.... that didn’t last long.
 Hitting his head on the door a couple times, Tails eventually answered his pathetic call. “It’s almost 8, Sonic. What were you doing,” Tails yawned, letting the poor hedgehog sidled into their room. “Shall I tell you a tale of my treacherous journey for fresh donuts,” Sonic dramatically knelt down, holding out the donut box for Tails in one hand, while placing his other hand to his forehead. “Ooh, donuts! Skip the story, I’ll get some milk,” Tails took the box, putting it on his desk, and hurried to their mini fridge. “Hurumph, no respect,” Sonic pouted, getting up, grabbing the remote for their TV. “Hows about we pair this sugary bounty with some nostalgia?” He pulled up their family's Blurflix account, putting on their favorite show. “ Tomatopotamus X ! Oh man, do they have the third season? They never played that one on TV,” Tails turned his desk's chair to face the TV, donut in one hand, cup of milk in the other. “Yeah, but It’s only in Japanese,” Sonic followed Tails’ example, sitting on his bed with a donut ring on his finger. “Subs are better than dubs anyway—you lose too much in translation.” Tails argued, taking a swig of milk. “But the cheesy 90’s voice acting!” Sonic defended around a mouthful of donut.  Tails rolled his eyes. “There’s plenty of cheese in that weird new Tomatopotamus Boom cartoon.” “Hey now, even you have to admit that that show is way more self-aware and clever than it has any right to be.”  Tails’ usual critiques of their beloved Tomatopotamus faltered here. Even he found Tomatopotamus Boom ’s silly meta humor just well-written enough to draw at least a few chuckles out of him.  Tails pouted, conceding. “Yeah, you’re right.” Sonic leaned back into a pillow. “It’s genius—never gonna get cancelled.” This was how it should be. Sonic and Tails. Not a care in the world. Just like when they were kids. They talked over the show, picking apart some of the more bizarre points of the cartoon that they had glossed over as kids. Sonic, however, wasn’t entirely there. He sat wondering how his life had become so complicated in such a short time. All of his anxieties were being prodded at one by one. He kept shaking it off—no reason to let it keep him down, right? But something told him that the longer he ignored it, the more things would grow out of control.  
I’m fine just the way I am… right?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Are you listening?” Shadow was standing by his chair, packing his bag. Sonic started, glancing around at the empty classroom as the last student trailed out the door.  He fidgeted as he glanced back at Shadow, looking put out at the idea of having to linger here for Sonic’s sake. “Huh, what’s that? Sorry, I didn’t catch what you said.”  Shadow raised a brow. The kid had been spacier than usual today. He hadn’t made an attempt all day to try and rope Shadow into some version of his inane small talk.  If Shadow wasn’t so relieved at the quiet, he’d almost be worried.  Shadow let out a sigh. “As I was saying, I don’t work this evening. Can you meet me at the library at 3:00? I’d like to get through this next assignment as soon as possible.” “Uh-huh, sure, I can come after lunch,” he absently nodded along, still not entirely in this conversation.  “Look, I can’t waste my time as easily as you, so please come prepared this time,” Shadow wasn’t feeling as compassionate as he had with Sonic before. He didn’t have the patience to drag Sonic along through this assignment as well.  Sonic slowly nodded and his counterpart couldn’t help but notice how oddly...subdued he was today. He didn’t seem quite all there—and not in the silly airheaded way he usually was. There was a lack of proverbial pep in the blue hedgehog’s step, and his voice seemed to lack its usual brightness.  It was subtle, almost unnoticeable, but the change was there.  Maybe he— Nope. Stop right there. We don’t care.   “Alright, alright.” Sonic sighed, throwing up his hands. He stood up with his bag in tow. “I may suck at math, but even I can, uh,” He picked up the handout that he’d been too spaced out to notice before. “Sew? Wait, we’ve actually gotta sew old clothes?” Rolling his eyes, Shadow held up a mesh bag of tattered clothes provided by their professor for Sonic to see. “I have a sewing kit we can use, so don’t worry about that. And since you’ve never held a sewing needle, I assume, it would be prudent to read through these instructions. Thoroughly.”  Well, he’s got me there , Sonic conceded.  “Right. Okay, library at three,” he nodded his head, seeming to brighten some, at least. Sonic wasn’t normally the type to stay in his head, but something about Shadow’s quirkily grumpy words helped pull him out for a little bit. It was nice to have someone on top of these kinds of things… at least for Sonic’s sake. “See ya then, Shads!” Opting for the path of least resistance, Shadow ignored Sonic, leaving him alone in the empty classroom. Sonic looked back at the handout, as he walked out into the hall. Various kinds of stitches were listed, with diagrams showing how to do them. It also listed the various techniques for mending different kinds of damage to clothes; holes, tears, lost buttons, busted seams, a variety of things that Sonic had most certainly never devoted brain power to. 
Why not just throw it away if it’s busted? Seems like a hassle.
 At least there was no math this time—that was a blessing in and of itself.  His eyes skimmed the vague-looking instructions on a basic stitch, but his mind was already wandering to what the cafeteria had cooked for lunch today.   I hope it’s not that weird mushroom dish again. I hate mushrooms — they’re so weird and...fungus-y.   Sonic’s internal rant about the worst food known to man was cut short by a telltale DING from his phone. Expecting it to be Knuckles checking if him and Tails were on their way to the cafeteria, he was surprisingly met instead with a text from Amy. 
“So, how’s Mission Shadilver going? ;)” 
 Sonic furrowed his brow. Huh? Mission Shad—  Oh right.   His mind whipped back to the mostly joking promise he made to Silver, prompted by teasing and pizza and unexpected revelations.  A promise to flirt with Shadow by proxy.  He ran a hand over his face, already cringing internally at all the ways this could go wrong.  Well, he was nothing if not loyal. And he tried his best to keep a promise when he made it. So, he would help Silver get in good with Shadow in whatever way he could. Hopefully he could figure out the best way for Silver to get through to Shadow by being a metaphorical guinea pig to test the waters. He tapped out a reply to Amy. “is that really what we’re calling this?”  
“Blaze’s idea. She gets really determined with things like this. Wants Silver to be happy, y’know?’
 Sonic chuckled to himself.  
If he really wanted to be happy, he’d have picked a better person to crush on.
 It was mean to think that way, but honestly, Shadow seemed in need of his own happiness. Who knew, though, maybe they would make a good pair after all.  “ yeah, i get you! i’ll flirt with him so hard for silver, he won’t know what hit him!”  Sonic’s overconfident message sat ‘read’ on his screen for a few moments longer than he’d have liked. The ellipsis of Amy’s apparent text in progress popped in and out. Eventually, she responded. “ Well, at least you’re enthusiastic about it…”  Sonic was taken aback. “ and what’s that supposed to mean? i can totally flirt! i’m charming, witty, handsome, what else do i need?”  Another pause. “Well, just give it your best! And remember, you're flirting FOR Silver, alright? ;)” Sonic rolled his eyes. “ har har, very funny. i’ll report back after our meeting tonight.”  Amy only replied with a thumbs up. It would be a stretch to say that Sonic had ever actually hit on anyone before. To be honest, as sociable as he was, flirtatious was not a mode he knew how to turn on. He was gonna need to do a lot of research before he met with Shadow.  Coffee cup in one hand, bag of tattered clothes in the other, Shadow stepped towards the GHU library at around 10 till 3:00. He had to rush home to grab lunch and his sewing materials, so he was thankful he could make it back to campus on time. Passing through the automatic doors, he made his way back to his usual spot, thinking back to the odd text he received from the kid while waiting on his coffee. 
“we’re still meeting at 3, right?”
 Shadow had sighed. Did the kid think something would change in less than 2 hours? “Yes,” he typed out, annoyed.  
“great. can’t wait to see you ;)” 
 Shadow had stopped dead in his tracks at the words, brain needing a moment to process and reboot. But he had shaken it off as his name was called for his coffee, writing it off as one of Sonic’s odd, idiotic idiosyncrasies.  As Shadow turned the corner, he was surprised to find that Sonic was already sitting there, legs crossed, head cooly resting on hand and a grin with half cast eyes turned in Shadows direction.  “Why hello there, Shadow. Seems you’re right on time,” Sonic said this with a deeper tone of voice than he usually used, adding an irregular sounding creak.  Shadow felt a number of things—the most prominent of which being confusion. “Uh… huh. You’re early.” “Well, wasn’t it you who said that if you’re on time you’re ten minutes late? What can I say—you give stellar advice,” Sonic fawned, throwing a wink and two finger guns in Shadow’s general direction. He pointedly never broke eye-contact with Shadow, voice squeaking occasionally from trying to maintain the strange tone he was going for. 
Okay, what the fuck is he doing?
 “...Right,” Shadow’s brow furrowed at Sonic, as he sat down and began to unpack his sewing stuff. “You did read through the handout, yes?” “Oh, yes, of course,” Sonic gave a light breathy laugh, before looking at Shadow with a goofily serious—rather, a seriously goofy, look. “Intimately.” Shadow had a physical reaction to that one, fumbling his bobbins and almost scattering a package of buttons everywhere. If he thought Sonic was acting weird this morning… He turned away from Sonic’s constant gaze, desperate to change course before Sonic could take this weird act any further. “Well, uh—” He stopped. Cleared his throat. Tried again. “I hope you, uh, retained at least some of the information. We have work to do.” Shadow grabbed a small case of needles, grabbing one for himself then sliding the rest over to Sonic, who slowly slid them towards himself, continuing his creepy ceaseless eye contact. “Have you ever threaded a needle before,” Shadow asked, grabbing a blue-colored thread to match a pair of socks that had holes in them.  “I mean, I just gotta stick the thread inside the needle,” he chuckled again, cooly grabbing a black-colored thread. “How hard can it be,” he winked at Shadow, taking the string and beginning his first attempt at needle threading. Sonic may have fantastic hand-eye coordination and reflexes to boot, but fine motor skills were something he lacked. In spades. He took the thread, letting it limply hang, vaguely aiming at the tiny eye of the needle. He squinted one eye, fruitlessly trying to shove the delicate thread into the just as delicate hole. It was becoming pathetic. Well, more pathetic. Shadow took what he assumed to be the first deep breath of many today. “First, cut the amount of thread you need. I’m going to do the more complicated fixes like darning and patching. You’ll handle the buttons and seams, so you’ll need about as much thread as your arm length for now.” Shadow demonstrated for Sonic with his own thread, and Sonic, at the very least a quick learner, followed his example, pulling out a good length of thread, and then cutting it. “Next, take one end of the thread, and hold it straight. I usually just use my mouth to wet it a little and pull it straight,” he said, doing so in turn. “Oh, really now,” Sonic continued to use his obnoxiously faux-suave voice, eyeing Shadow… seductively? It was hard to tell, considering Sonic’s apparent idea of seductive was mugging it up and occasionally letting out a creepy breathy chuckle. Shadow, beginning to feel as though Sonic was mocking him, blushed at the embarrassment of having his words misconstrued. “Gah, just—it’s just to keep the thread from fraying.” He placed his gaze firmly back on his thread, determined to keep a straight face. “Once it’s… stiff,” God why aren’t there any better words. Every synonym in the English language was escaping him. Sonic, breaking out of his weird flirtatious character, let out a genuine laugh at that, ready to fall into one of his giggling fits. Shadow, face scrunching in a mix of anger, embarrassment and his fading composure, put his needle and thread down, getting up. “Alright, I’ve had enough of this. If you’re going to just keep sitting there mocking me the entire time, then you can damn well do this assignment on your own.” Shadow, refusing to look at Sonic, began to pack up his stuff. Sonic snapped out of his laughing fit. Shit! This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. He didn’t plan for this. He was sure he did exactly what Knuckles had told him at lunch. He had even tried to copy the look Knuckles always had when he flirted. Did he do it wrong? Then again, he hadn’t always seen it work for Knuckles either.  “Wait, wait, no! Sorry, sorry, I was just playing around. I, uh, got a little carried away. I’ll, uh, dial it back some, okay? I promise,” he stood up, this time meeting Shadow’s eyes with something more genuine, something remorseful and almost pleading.  Shadow, poised to berate Sonic further, looked back down at his bag, taking one more deep breath, letting it go slowly. This shithead is going to run me ragged. “This is your last chance. I do not put up with nonsense.” “Yes, understood. No more nonsense. Zero traces of nonsense here.” Sonic spoke quickly, the promise rushing out of his mouth, some sense of anxiety and desperation twisting his words.  Shadow rolled his eyes. He didn’t quite believe that claim, but they had an assignment to finish.  He slid back into his booth seat as Sonic regained his usual relaxed posture, his shoulders relaxing into something more natural.  Well, whatever the kid was up to seemed to have passed now, at least. If they could just get through this assignment in peace, then he would consider that a victory and they would never mention this again.  Finally able to properly thread his needle, Sonic watched as Shadow walked him through the steps of a basic stitch, following each maneuver as best he could. Once he had finished repairing his first seam, Sonic beamed at his own accomplishment. “I did it! Haha, check it!” Sonic held his work out to Shadow, who was still wary of the kids potential to make this afternoon more uncomfortable. “Hmph. Passable. Your stitches are too far apart.” “Aye aye, captain,” Sonic saluted, moving onto his next piece. Shadow watched Sonic starting up again. He seemed to be taking Shadows direction to heart. He had this look of intense concentration, as though he was willing the stitches to move closer. With each successful stitch, he’d grin at his little victory. Shadow felt… relieved to see the kid revert back to his normal self. Maybe even… happy? It was better than whatever odd versions of Sonic he had already dealt with today, at least. Eventually the space between them fell quiet as they each turned their eyes to their own fabric, repairing rips, patching holes, and replacing lost buttons.  Sonic squirmed as he noticed Shadow’s posture, tense even now, like he was ready to dash away as soon as Sonic spoke again. He continued to replay his “flirting” display from earlier. Maybe he had laid it on too thick.  Well, he had definitely laid it on too thick.  Desperate to keep his promise, but woefully unsure how, he had rushed to seek advice from the most flirtatious person he knew, the perpetually-single, but self-proclaimed ladies’ man, Knuckles.  Amy was right, he wasn’t cut out for this. So, his plan was just to imitate the only real-world flirtation he had seen through Knuckles’ high school escapades. When he asked Knuckles about it at lunch today, the joy of getting to share his supposed knowledge apparently overpowered the shock of Sonic being the one to ask this question at all, because he had rolled right into a monologue about compliments and subtle innuendos and smoldering (a good smolder was the most important ingredient, according to Knuckles).  “Now, it is essential you remember this bit,” Knuckles had said as he finished his lecture from on high, “Flirting, at the end of the day, is more an invitation as well as a request to join in that other person's life. Women aren’t just some trophy or conquest you’re aiming to add to your collection. Your aim should be to learn who she is, see life from her point of view and grow as a person from her influence.” Both he and Tails had balked with their mediocre cafeteria chicken halfway to their mouths.  “What?” Knuckles had shrugged. “Just because I’m a meathead doesn’t mean I can’t be a feminist.”  Sonic sighed as he pulled the needle through the fabric again. Well, clearly none of Knuckles general advice had worked. Though, that last bit, Sonic could still give a try. Who is Shadow? What was his life like, underneath his disaffected lone-wolf act?  His gaze trailed to Shadow, crimson red eyes focused as he carefully made stitch after meticulous stitch. His brow furrowed slightly as he neatly pulled the seams together, biting his cheek slightly as he concentrated.  If Sonic looked long enough, he could almost see what Silver found so appealing. Maybe. Sonic frowned. How could he get through to this guy? Knuckles’ Failproof Fliriting Techniques™ actually proved to be pretty prone to failure.  
Well maybe don’t be Knuckles. Maybe just be Sonic. 
 The sharp sound of scissors broke the silence as Shadow snipped his latest length of thread, carefully folding a newly-repaired red shirt and placing on top of his finished pieces.  “Y’know,” Sonic started. He could almost feel Shadow freeze from across the table, afraid of a sequel to his earlier antics. “My little bro, Tails, is always changing his favorite color—ever since he was little.” Shadow tilted his head, finally glancing up to look at Sonic. Not what he was expecting. “First he was all about yellow stuff, then it was nothing but purple. And I don’t even wanna remember his chartreuse phase. But for me, it’s always been red—as long as I can remember.” He pointed at his shoes as he stuck one leg out from under the table, grinning. “That’s why my Soaps are so lucky! They always lead me right.” Shadow’s eyes flicked from the shoes back to Sonic. “...Because they’re red,” he deadpanned.  “Yup,” Sonic said, leaning back, feeling lighter already without the weight of having to keep up the highly flirtatious act. “Never leave home without ‘em. I dunno, red’s just always seemed to be a good color for me.”  Shadow absently traced the line of his next stitch with his free hand. “As silly a reason as any to believe in luck, I suppose,” he murmured.  “You got anything like that?” Shadow blinked, pausing. “Excuse me?” “Y’know, like something you believe is lucky. Silly or not.” Sonic continued working on the button up bereft of half it’s buttons, almost forgetting that’s what they were here to do in the first place. “Or a color you’ve always been drawn too, even if you can’t really explain why.”  Shadow fully stopped in his motions for a second, giving Sonic a confused look from his side of the booth. He almost opened his mouth to say something, but stopped before pulling his focus back down again. “I don’t see why you’d care to know,” he responded instead.  Sonic laughed with a snort, “Well, I guess some people would call it an ice breaker. And considering how much ice there is between us, gotta start somewhere y’know.” Taking a sip from his now tepid coffee cup, he continued his work on the loose hem of some dress pants. “The ice you are on is thin enough. Don’t get distracted, I don’t have all day.” Having halted his progress on the last button of his shirt, Sonic snapped back to work having been called out. He clumsily tied off the thread of his last button, cutting the thread as close as he could manage. Lazily folding the shirt, he threw it into his messy pile. Grabbing the next garment with a busted seam, he sighed, “Why do we even gotta fix all these anyway? If they’re so damaged, why not just buy new clothes?” Shadow, having already spent enough energy on outrage and indignancy for a semester, just kept his eyes on his work, attempting to formulate a civil response to educate his juvenile counterpart. “The actual answer is that this is an assignment and we have to do this for a grade.” He said matter-of-factly. “But more broadly—did you learn nothing from our last assignment? New clothes, even at more affordable stores, can eat away at your budget in the blink of an eye,” Shadow’s tone of voice carefully had less ire in it than in the past. For better or worse, he was starting to get used to Sonic’s brash ignorance as a side-effect of his inexperience. It wasn’t fair to be angry over ignorance, he supposed. Well, certain amounts of ignorance, anyway.  “You have to make some sacrifices when you aren’t living on your parent’s dime,” he finished his thought with a sip from his coffee cup. It was a little snide, maybe, but anything he could do to give Sonic a little perspective would be for the better. The kid had a long road ahead of him, and he was ill-equipped to traverse it. This hit Sonic. He grimaced, eyes downcast. He wasn’t a total idiot; he knew how privileged he was, being taken care of by his parents for as long as he could remember, even now. It wasn’t something he ever had to worry about, really, but something about the way Shadow threw it at him—as a critique of his character—got under his quills.  But it wasn’t like he was a horrible person for it, right? He wasn’t some snob rich kid running around bragging about his family’s wealth. Not like they had much of it anyway.   But isn’t this just as bad , something prodded, a nagging thought in the back of his mind. Lazing around, refusing to change, coasting by on nothing.   Sonic gritted his teeth, trying to focus on placing stitch after stitch after stitch after stitch— 
You can’t ignore everything forever, you know. Running isn’t always the answer. 
 Stitch and pull the thread through. Stitch and pull. Stitch and pull. Stitch. Pull. Stitch. 
Coward. 
 “OW!” A sharp prick of pain pulled him back into his body. A small dot of red welled up in his thumb, pain centering on where his needle and punctured the tip of his finger. “Gah, damnit!” He dropped the half-fixed hoodie held in his free hand and grimaced at his tiny wound.  
Wow, couldn’t help but fuck this simple task up too, huh?
 A frown flickered across his face as the world narrowed into that one thought.  Shadow, who had been a little weirded out by Sonic’s sudden silence, snapped up at this.  Sonic didn’t even notice Shadow rummaging around in his bag until he was at Sonic’s side, wordlessly taking his wrist and pulling the injured hand towards him.  “Here,” he said softly. A bandaid was unwrapped and placed over his little prick of an injury. Honestly, it probably didn’t require the bandaid at all. But Sonic seemed more upset by it than he would have expected.  Sonic watched quietly as the bandaid was wrapped around his absentminded pinprick, with more care than he thought Shadow possessed. He only now became aware of the open first-aid kit open on the other side of the table. If Sonic had his wits about him, he could have laughed—of course Shadow would carry these around.  He watched Shadow’s brow furrow as he finished his (probably unnecessary) task.  He curled in on himself, eyes flicking from Shadow’s ever-stoic face to his hand still lingering on his wrist. “Sorry,” he mumbled.  There was barely a breath of silence between them before more words tumbled out of Sonic, a break in some proverbial dam. He didn’t know where this rush of emotion and panic came from, but it took over any control he had had over his words.  “Sorry I messed this up again. I tried—I really did. And I’m sorry you’re stuck with an idiot like me as your partner and you have to drag me along because I don’t know things and I can’t do anything right and—”  Shadow’s fingers tightened on his wrist, ever so slightly, making Sonic’s eyes snap back up, meeting the confused red eyes before him.  Shadow paused, taking in Sonic’s wide eyes, his worried frown, ears flattened back against his head. Where had that come from? Sonic seemed pretty unaffected by most things, and this rushed monologue of self-criticism contrasted with everything Shadow knew about the freshman.  Which, he guessed he had to admit, wasn’t much.  He opened his mouth to respond with something, anything to end this painfully awkward silence. He tried to remember what he would do when Maria was younger, frustrated and crying over some small straw that broke the camel’s back. (He briefly lingered on the irony of using the same strategies for his kid sister for the full-fledged eighteen-year-old in front of him.)  But before he could do anything— “Shadow, are CarboHydrolic cells a thing,” Sonic asked, barely above a whisper.  Whatever Shadow was going to say screeched to a sudden halt. “...What?” He almost glared at him, nearly scoffing at what he assumed was some stumbling attempt at a joke. But something about the way Sonic spoke now, fragile and shaky—something was different here, off in a way he hadn’t seen. “No, uh, they aren’t” Sonic shook his head. “Yeah, figures. Sorry. Never mind.” He let his hand slip from Shadow’s, whose empty hand fell loosely to the side, suddenly very aware of the missing weight, the absent warmth. “It’s stupid,” he muttered towards the wall.  Shadow took in Sonic’s slumped form, fully turned forward now, head down. He felt frozen, bewildered, at a loss. Besides the brief flash of frustration over last week’s mock-budget, this was the first complete slip of Sonic’s ‘Cool Guy Track Star’ schtick Shadow had ever seen.  Shadow frowned. Something had cracked. He hadn’t expected it from a kid like Sonic, but Shadow had seen this, had felt this before. Anxiety and self doubt becoming too overwhelming to bear. Shadow had enough trouble dealing with it himself, after all these years. But this must be a new sensation for someone like Sonic. What could have brought this on, broken his annoyingly spunky attitude enough to cause him this much grief?   His eyes looked to their respective piles of clothes, gaze running over Sonic’s lines of crooked, uneven stitches. Only one garment lay unfinished between them.  Shadow let out a breath. Whatever was going on with Sonic, he felt it unwise to prod any further today. “We’ll call this finished for now,” Shadow declared, moving back to his side. The kid needed some time to himself to cool down. Sonic didn’t say a word, packing his own things, as Shadow gathered up the clothes and placed everything back in his bag, slinging it back on his shoulder.  He paused there, hands in his jacket pockets, a weird limbo in the space between them.  “Sky blue.” Sonic looked up, head tilted. “Huh?” Shadow kept his eyes down as he spoke again. “My favorite color—sky blue.” Flashes of a dress played in his mind, the skirt ruffling as it was twirled by its wearer. “That color…puts me at ease. It’s...calming, I suppose”  Sonic watched as his partner’s gaze softened into something bittersweet and faraway. He smiled softly.  Shadow flicked a glance back at Sonic—the briefest of moments—before turning on his heel and walking away.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

6 o`clock on a Thursday evening. The lobby of the Station Square Municipal Hospital was quiet, save the T.V. in the waiting area playing out old reruns of mediocre sitcoms.
 
It had been a slow night so far—only a few minor admissions—so Shadow, alone at the hospital reception desk, used this ample amount of free time to finish up the last bit of sewing that Sonic had left. It was an old red t-shirt with a worn seam in the armpits (Shadow had to wonder where their professor acquired these tattered clothes—were they just sitting in a closet, waiting for students to mend them?). 
 
Initially, he was concerned that the two of them may be called out for not equally sharing the work if he finished it on his own, but the clothes Sonic mended were obviously distinct from the rest. Their professor would be impressed enough to see he even did anything.
 
His eyes flicked down to Sonic’s pile of clothes that Shadow had folded neatly beside him. Some of the colors of thread were mismatched from their garments and the stitches were crooked at best. His sewing was haphazard, spaced oddly and almost tangled in some places, but at least the gaps in the fabric were closed, so that was something. 
 
Normally, Sonic’s shoddy craftsmanship would induce an eye-roll and a slow simmer of annoyance that heated his chest. But, today, he couldn’t manage it. 
 
Call it exhaustion, call it resigned apathy, but Sonic’s crude work was almost endearing—childlike in its quality. That look of pride and amazement Sonic had upon completing even a single stitch flicked through his mind. Maybe it reminded him of a young Maria, grinning as she pecked away ‘Mary had a little lamb’ on the piano from memory for the first time.
 
Or maybe he just felt a twinge of sympathy for the kid after yesterday’s display. He felt his mind drift without his explicit permission, lingering on thoughts of what would have melted Sonic’s “way past cool” persona enough to cause a mini-breakdown. 
 
He had gone from… bizarre, to happy, to having a panic attack in just one session of sewing. It seemed that Shadow’s backhanded critique of trust-funders had struck a chord with Sonic. Perhaps the kid was finally starting to fall to the pressures of adulthood. It isn’t easy coming into your own. For anyone.

It’s a shame to see someone so bright faltering beneath the weight of reality…

Shadow shook his head, pulling his gaze back to his own work. Better to let sleeping dogs lie and just let this semester pass so he could get on with his usual Sonic-free life. It’s not like he was trying to be the kid’s friend or anything. They just needed to get this project done. 
 
He could almost hear Rouge’s giggle in his head, an imaginary response to his oddly Sonic-centric thoughts.

“Oh hon-

ey

, I know you’re used to fretting over everyone else constantly, but worrying about our favorite blue miscreant? That’s an interesting development.”

Shadow visibly frowned. Inner-Rouge, bluntly honest as always. 
 
He let out a breath as he finished pulling the last of the thread through, tying it off. He thought of Sonic’s wounded eyes. His hand in his. The weight and the warmth. 
 
He folded the shirt neatly into the pile. Best not to think about it.
 
He put the clothes back in his bag, hoping the “out of sight, out of mind” philosophy would apply here. He glanced back up at the empty lobby before him, praying for some sort of work, some sort of task to distract him. 
 
...Nothing. Just another

Chao in Space 3

preview playing in the commercials between decades-old shows. 
 
“

Uh, cheow?”

the alien Chao said on screen. 
 
Shadow remembered some vague controversy about the new-age design of the Chaos for the movie—odd proportions and weirdly hyper-realistic textures. Shadow rolled his eyes. The classic 2D design of the Chao would never translate well to 3D. He felt like he read something about the studio changing the designs due to the “response from the passionate fanbase,” but Shadow wasn’t holding his breath. They should have just stuck with the hand-drawn animation of the first movie—why fix what isn’t broken?
 
It looked like the kind of high-budget blockbuster schlock Sonic would probably enjoy. 
 
Shadow froze.

Nope. No, no, no. We are

not

sparing any more thoughts on that kid.

His phone pinged from beside him. A text from Sonic. 
 
Well, there went that effort. 
 
He swiped and was met with a burst of messages coming through one by one.

“hey, just wanted to say sorry about all that mess the other day

😅

“

“it’s been a weird couple of weeks”

Well that much was obvious. 
 
Shadow thought for a second, thumb hovering over the keyboard in the pause between Sonic’s texts.

“Are you alright?”

he typed out.
 
His brain caught up with him. He immediately backspaced. 
 
Luckily, his aborted message went unnoticed as Sonic plowed forward with more texts.

“anyway thanks for all the help with the sewing and everything. i owe you one.”

“let me make it up to you. you drink coffee, right? let me get you something from the place on campus.”

Shadow frowned. Coffee? An invitation to consort outside of their project?

“You’re breaking our one texting rule,”

he replied, hoping this would curtail Sonic’s attempts at further correspondence. 
 
And of course it didn’t.

“

yeah, i know, but let me get you some coffee as a thank you anyway!”

“plus, we need to talk about the next assignment anyhow, and if we have to do that, then this is technically a text about homework and i'm not breaking the sacred rules. plus, free coffee.

😄

”

Shadow let out an obstinate breath. He guessed Sonic was

technically

right.

“Just because you found a loophole doesn’t mean I have to say yes.”

“hmmmm…”

“i’ll throw in a baked good of your choice if that’ll sweeten the deal.”

“get it?’

“sweeten?”

Shadow wanted to bang his head against the desk.

“If I agree, will you stop making terrible jokes?”

“i might…”

Shadow put his chin in his hand. At least Sonic was taking the initiative to work on the next assignment before it was due.

“Fine. I concede.”

“sick! how’s tomorrow afternoon? After class?”

While he didn’t have any classes after Home-ec, he usually spent his Fridays cleaning or doing laundry, since he rarely had time to do it the rest of the week. That, or he’d have work.
 
Shadow closed out of his messages and checked his work schedule for this week. He had to work at 5:00 tomorrow, so he

could

work it in… 
 
“Hey Shadow, got a sec?” 
 
Shadow jumped, putting his phone down. His supervisor, a middle-aged duck named Horatio, walked up to the front desk. 
 
“Yes, sir,” Shadow answered, hoping he wouldn’t be scolded for having his phone out.
 
“So, the receptionist that works the night shifts says she has to leave town ASAP. Family emergency. Can you take her place Saturday night,” he asked, looking through a clipboard. “This means you’ll work a double shift that day, morning and night, so you don’t have to come in tomorrow.”
 
Shadow looked back down at his phone. He didn’t have any plans for this saturday… or most Saturday nights in his life, to be honest.
 
He let out a quiet sigh, “Yes, I can work Saturday evening. Will I have to come in on Sunday as well?”
 
“No, someone else can fill in on Sunday. Sorry to rain on your parade, kiddo,” the aged duck gave Shadow a sympathetic smile, before heading back to his own work.
 
“It’s fine,” Shadow whispered to himself, before letting out another sigh. This wasn’t the first time he’d been asked to cover someone else’s shift. And, like always, he’d said yes without even hesitating. He’d probably be compensated for this, and the extra money never hurt. Though, with his part-time morning shifts running from 8-1 and the night shift from 10-4, that left him little time to himself. He’d probably end up staying at the hospital all day… 
 
At the very least the extra work meant he could continue to keep himself busy…

Idle hands are the devil’s playground, I suppose.

He leaned back in his chair looking up at the ceiling. He breathed-out, closing his eyes, attempting to remove any trace of tension in his body with it.

I need some time with Maria…

*

Ding

*
 
Shadow sat up, looking to the phone in his hand. 
 
“

is that long pause a yes? i’ll call it a yes. see ya tomorrow shads!”

Placing his phone face down, Shadow laid his head on his desk, resigned that his life was fated to be filled with suffering.

If I can find any silver lining to this week, I suppose free coffee and pastries will suffice.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“So, ready to go?”
 
Sonic, bag packed, eager to be free of the soul-crushing prison that was the modern education system, checked with his tablemate, who seemed less than eager to move forward with this day.
 
“If we must,” Shadow sighed, collecting his own bag. He had dreaded this moment all morning. After Sonic’s display the other day, he was afraid of what may happen today, especially with them meeting in such a public place. 
 
Though, his fears may have been for nothing. Sonic was his usual happy go lucky self, not a trace of that self-doubt from before. The grin on his face was as sickeningly chipper as when Shadow had first encountered him. How genuine it was, however, he’d have to wait and see.

It doesn’t matter if it’s real or not, Shadow. As long as he’s in a good mood, that should stop him from making a scene. Hopefully.

“Ah, c’mon, don’t be like that. We should hurry, though, if we wanna beat the post-class coffee rush,” Sonic noted, watching as Shadow slowly followed him out. While this was a genuine effort on Sonic’s part to thank Shadow and get ahead in class, Sonic did have ulterior motives.
 
In their last meeting, he’d gotten something out of Shadow. Sure, it was probably just pity for Sonic’s pathetic display, but it was still something—and it warmed Sonic’s heart to see even a glimpse of what lay beyond the dark hedgehog’s brooding. Not to mention, it gave him something to report back to Team ‘Shadilver’. If he got to help Silver out and finally get Shadow to not hate him as they worked through this project, it was a win-win in Sonic’s book.
 
He glanced sideways at his home-ec partner as they stepped outside the humanities building, watching as the sun glinted off the edge of his profile. In the light, the red streaks in his quills weren’t as dark, the deep crimson giving way to hints of cherry reds and scarlets. Not as dark as he seems—Sonic could almost chuckle at the on-point metaphor. 
 
“Ah, it’s raining again.”
 
Sonic started as Shadow’s voice mumbled from beside him. For a moment, he thought he’d been caught in his accidental staring, but then his brain caught up with his ears. 
 
He glanced beyond the building’s awning to see a steady patter of rain falling from the sky—still oddly bright and blue. 
 
“But, it’s still sunny,” Sonic observed unhelpfully. 
 
Shadow rolled his eyes. “I hadn’t noticed.”
 
Shadow rummaged around in his bag before producing his umbrella, opening it up before stepping out onto the damp grass. 
 
Sonic immediately followed, uncaring about the steady

pat pat pat

of water on his quills. 
 
Shadow frowned. “Do you just...not own an umbrella?”
 
Sonic rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, technically? But I leave it at home a lot. Don’t really see a need in carrying it all the time.” He shrugged. “Besides, it’s just water, right? Not gonna hurt anything.”
 
Shadow let out a put-upon sigh, extending his arm a bit and creating space under the dome of his umbrella. 
 
Sonic tilted his head, but before he could ask—
 
“Just get under here. I refuse to have your damp fur dripping all over our papers,” Shadow said flatly. 
 
“O-oh. Okay.” Sonic closed the short distance between them, stepping under the other side of the umbrella, walking in-step with Shadow to the library. “Thanks,” he chirped sheepishly. 
 
Step by step, their feet squished in the wet ground and the rain didn’t let up. It was a bit awkward, especially for Shadow. He didn’t like being so close to people he wasn’t entirely comfortable around. But now, thanks to his small collapsible umbrella—and his partner’s apparent lack of one—he was practically touching shoulders with Sonic.
 
Though, the more he thought about it, this wasn’t the first time they’d gotten this close. In fact, it probably wasn’t even the second time. Visions of their time together replayed in Shadow’s mind. Getting close enough to feel Sonic’s breath, holding Sonic’s hand, his own hand clasped over Sonic’s ever-running mouth, fingers curving over the shape of his lips...
 
Embarrassment reignited, he turned to remove any trace of Sonic from his peripherals.

Where the hell is my mind going?!

Sonic felt equally awkward, though for different reasons. Shadow, now turned completely away, seemed to be shunning him. He knew Shadow had to hate this—how much of an inconvenience he was probably being. Hoping he hadn’t returned to square one with Shadow, he carefully thought up the most casual and non-intrusive discussion topic he could to break the odd silence stretching between them.
 
“So, uh… lovely weather we’re having,” Sonic stated evenly. He’d seen the phrase used in his favorite 90’s sitcoms for most small talk (always followed by a laugh-track for some reason), but it took a little longer for him to realize his less-than-perfect timing for such a line. 
 
“Are we speaking in cliches now,” Shadow asked, still looking resolutely forward, not too stunned, it seemed. He was starting to get used to Sonic’s...unique brand of conversation and humor. 
 
“Ha, maybe,” Sonic awkwardly giggled, rubbing the back of his neck. “But, joking aside, isn’t this kind of amazing? Not everyday can you enjoy a blue sky, sunshine and the calming rhythm of the rain all at once.”
 
Taking a moment to look at Sonic from the corner of his eye, Shadow noticed something he hadn’t before. The smile on Sonic’s face wasn’t as wide as he always seemed to make it. It was soft, and even. The same could be said for his eyes, subdued but still shining. He hadn’t assumed Sonic the type to wax poetic, and this did stun him.
 
It was kind of...nice that he seemed genuinely excited about something as simple as the juxtaposed combination of sunshine and rain.
 
“I…suppose you’re right.” 
 
And with that, the chime above the library cafe’s door rang as they stepped inside, Shadow shaking the lingering droplets of rain off his umbrella before neatly collapsing it and placing it into one of those plastic umbrella bags hanging by the door. 
 
Sonic snickered.

Of course he uses those.

They lingered there for a moment, still and silent, before Shadow coughed and they both belatedly realized their shoulders were still brushing. 
 
“Oh, um,” Sonic started, but Shadow just strode forward, immediately putting some distance between them. 
 
Sonic could do nothing but follow.
 
The bright fluorescents of the library gave way to the soft, warm lighting of the cafe within it. The small space was surprisingly unbusy for a Friday afternoon, the murmur of the few groups at the tiny circular tables creating a comforting hum of white noise in the background. 
 
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Sonic the hedgehog.”
 
Sonic glanced towards the counter to see Blaze standing behind it, smirking as she adjusted her signature ponytail. Silver stood just behind her, awkwardly waving.
 
Sonic stepped up to them, grinning. “Oh, hey guys! Long time no see! Nice to see ya again, Silver.”
 
Blaze punched a few buttons on the register. “How's it going? Didn’t take you for a coffee guy,” Blaze pointed out, careful not to crack a smile at the amusing guest accompanying Sonic.
 
For his part, Silver seemed like he was trying his hardest

not

to acknowledge Shadow’s presence, instead focusing on cleaning every surface within his reach. 
 
Sonic chuckled. “Nah, too hot and bitter for my liking.” He threw a thumb back at Shadow standing silently behind him. “But this guy seems to like it, and we’ve got some work to do.”
 
He spun around to face Shadow now, flashing an easy smile as he leaned against the counter. “So whatcha gettin’, buddy? Anything your heart desires,” Sonic winked, holding up his student ID. Lucky for the broke Sonic, this was covered by his meal plan.
 
Shadow’s arms remained crossed over his chest as he stayed behind Sonic, seemingly eager to keep a standard amount of distance between them now. His eyes only flicked up to the faces before him, awkward and fleeting, before fixing his gaze on the menu above. “The only thing my ‘heart desires’ is caffeine, so an americano will suffice,” Shadow deadpanned. 
 
“With cream and sugar,” Silver coyly asked, moving to Blazes’ side.
 
“Oh.. uh, yes, as always, I suppose,” Shadow mumbled, for a moment embarrassed at how regular his coffee purchases evidently were. 
 
His eyes flicked to the bake case as Blaze put in the order, gaze lingering on the oversized chocolate chip cookies stacked in a pile before he could stop himself.  
 
Sonic caught him and smirked, making Shadow turn to hide his reddening cheeks

.

Sonic glanced up at the extensive menu, unfamiliar with what half of these drinks were supposed to be. “Uhhhhhhh...I guess I’ll just have a,” he desperately scanned for something that wasn’t terribly bitter or saccharine, “mango lemonade?”
 
Blaze punched a few more buttons on the dated POS. “Alright, that’ll be $6.75.”
 
Sonic handed her his card as Blaze went through her familiar routine of inputting his information. 
 
Shadow finally spoke up quietly from behind him. “I will go find us a table,” he muttered before walking off in the direction of empty chairs at the back of the cafe, seeming eager to shorten this interaction in whatever way he could. 
 
“Sure thing, dude.” Sonic gave a thumbs up as he walked away, before turning back to Blaze. “Actually,” he said, quieter now. “Could I get a cookie too—chocolate chip?”
 
Blaze shrugged as she swiped his card again. “Sure.”
 
She reached into the lighted case, placed it in a paper sleeve and plopped the requested baked good in his hand before fixing him with a more pointed look. “So, Project Shadilver. Any juicy updates?”
 
Silver rolled his eyes, giving an embarrassed whine as he finished off their drinks. “Blaaaze. Please tell me you’re not still on that.”
 
Sonic let out an awkward laugh. He didn’t know what she classified as juicy. Shadow closed off so much of himself that any info about the mystery he created was shocking in and of itself. 
 
“Uhhh, let me think...well, he likes blue,” Sonic flatly stated.
 
Blaze eyed his own particularly blue form. “Uh-huh,” she said evenly. 
 
Sonic backtracked. “I, uh,  mean the color in general! Not, uh—” He paused, trying to not any more fuel to whatever fire he was making. “Um, sky-blue! To be specific, oddly enough...” He searched for something else. “Also, he’s weirdly good at sewing? Like, unexpectedly crafty. And pretty helpful. Honestly, every once in a while, he can be weirdly nice?”
 
Blaze’s eyes sparked with a knowing look. Sonic felt caught red-handed, but he wasn’t quite sure what for. 
 
His eyes landed on the cookie in his hand, sticking out of  its waxy paper bag. “And, a new development—he may have a sweet tooth.”
 
Blaze was quiet for a moment, as if she was considering saying something before deciding against it. She tossed her gaze back to Silver. “You taking notes back there, Silver? You better be if

you

want to get into Shadow’s pants before Sonic here—”
 
Silver interrupted her half-sarcasm by sliding their drinks onto the counter in front of Sonic. “Hahahahaha anyway thanks for coming goodbye see you have a nice day!” He pointedly grabbed Blaze’s hand in his. “Blaze I think it’s about time to clean the espresso machine, don’t ya think,” he said in a rush before pulling her aside as his cheeks turned a deeper pink. 
 
Sonic shrugged as they disappeared, sweeping up the drinks in his hands as he went to find Shadow at a small table in the corner of the cafe.  
 
Eyes following Sonic’s form at the counter, jovially chatting away, Shadow began to think they were talking about more than just drinks. He frowned, unsure why that bugged him. It was better he was unloading some of his constant want for conversation on someone other than him. 
 
He dropped his eyes to the papers he’d pulled out as Sonic started heading his way.
 
Carefully putting down each of their drinks in their respective places, and placing Shadow’s cookie in front of the dower hedgehog, Sonic plopped in his chair, placing his right foot on his left knee in a patented cool guy pose.
 
“What is this,” Shadow inquired, eyeing the sleeved cookie before him.
 
“I did promise you a pastry along with that coffee, and I thought I saw you looking at it,” Sonic shrugged, taking a sip of his lemonade.
 
“You shouldn’t have. I don’t need it,” Shadow mumbled, taking the lid off his Americano to stir the sugar, letting the steam rise off as it cooled down.
 
“But you wanted it,” Sonic said simply. “Live a little,” he quipped.
 
“Hmph. Whatever,” Shadow muttered, taking a sip from his drink. In all honesty, he was pretty hungry, and definitely wanted to tear apart that cookie with little regard for anyone who may see. But, he’d hate to make Sonic’s head grow any bigger. 
 
“ … Friends of yours?” Shadow said this, immediately regretting asking something so trivial.
 
“Eh, acquaintances mostly. Girlfriend and friend of an old high school friend of mine. Simple, right,” Sonic chuckled, thrilled that for once Shadow was taking some initiative for interaction. Though he hoped Shadow wouldn’t follow that up with any probing questions about their ‘private’ Shadilver meeting. So he did what he did best—kept talking. “Man, high school feels like a whole lifetime ago. I kinda miss it, y'know? What about you? How’d high school treat you?”
 
For a moment, Shadow paused. Memories… he couldn’t quite reach. Memories he’d spent years burying. In an instant, they threatened to come forth into his conscious mind. Feeling foolish for letting his guard down so easily, Shadow grabbed his bag and pulled out his home-ec binder. “You said we would discuss our next assignment, and I intend to only do so.”
 
There it was again, a wall of ice, as tall as a skyscraper and 10 miles wide. Sonic sighed, grabbing his crumpled home-ec handouts from his bag as well.
 
Their next assignment seemed to focus on basic household maintenance and repair. Changing air filters, keeping out bugs and mold, checking smoke detectors, blah blah blah, another set of things Sonic was completely ignorant to. They were both given handouts with tips and resources for handling these kinds of things in a cost-effective manner. 
 
They were given a checklist of things to check and list the status of; good to go or in need of changing/repair. Half of these would be difficult for Sonic to actually fill out, considering he lived in a dorm and had little to maintain as it was. But Shadow figured he could fill out the checklist for the two of them, and Sonic could handle the write up required for how they would handle each item.
 
As they talked, though, Sonic was still stuck on getting through to Shadow. He knew it wasn’t impossible, he’d come so close the last two times they met. It was a challenge to Sonic, and he was not about to back down. He just needed to be… smart about it.

Good luck there, dumbass.

He really didn’t want to go there again today. Thinking back, what had made Shadow open up before? When they were working on the budget, Shadow was much easier to talk to after Sonic had his little mathematical meltdown. And after he’d had his more catastrophic breakdown the other day, he’d finally given him an actual answer to his inconsequential question.

Oh god, don’t tell me I have to keep melting down to get anything out of him.

Nah, it wasn’t just that. More than that, Sonic thought that maybe the only way to get Shadow to open up was when he was helping him out. It seemed to be a common denominator in all their previous encounters, so perhaps he should just spin it like that?
 
“Um, Shadow, sorry to cut you off, but I think I need a little help with something,” Sonic furrowed his brow, trying to channel some of the innate dumbassness he seemed to constantly exude.
 
Shadow, looking slightly annoyed, cocked an inquisitive brow in his direction.
 
“Well, you see, as you probably could tell by now, I’m not the best when it comes to all this home-ec type stuff,” Sonic took a pouty sip from his lemonade. “But you’re like a natural at this stuff! How do you do it?” He hoped his calculations were correct.
 
Shadow looked back down at their papers, and then sat back with his hands folded across his chest. He looked to the side. “It’s nothing natural. Comes from years of practical use and necessity.”
 
Bingo.

Ha, looks like I’m not so bad at math after all!.. maybe.

“Really? Wow, I feel like I probably could have done a lot more with my teenage years, huh? Would’ve helped me out here.” Sonic gave a self-deprecating laugh at his own adolescent laziness. 
 
“It’s nothing I choose to do,” Shadow finally broke off a piece of his cookie. “Everyone’s life takes them in different directions. Mine required me to pick up basic household duties.”
 
As much as he really wanted to ask further about this, Sonic had learned enough not to stick his nose where it didn’t belong. “Fair enough. Though I gotta say, it’s pretty cool to see you work. You fixed all of those clothes like it was nothing!”
 
Shadow sheepishly looked back towards the ground. “You could, too. Just practice.”
 
“Do you ever sew actual clothes and stuff?” As much as he hated dancing around what he actually wanted to say, Sonic seemed to be getting somewhere. It was painfully slow, but it would have to do.
 
“No, just repairs. I… prefer crochet,” Shadow took a sip from his cup. He didn’t know why he kept responding, kept letting things slip. He knew what Sonic was doing, and yet, the responses came easy, the flow of conversation almost...natural.  
 
A voice in his mind told him he shouldn’t stay any longer than he had to. But… the kid did buy him a cookie. He at least owed him something like a proper conversation.
 
“Oh, cool! That’s the one with, like, two big sticks and yarn, right?” Sonic actually did know what crochet was…kind of. But he figured acting like he knew nothing would give Shadow more to say.

What do you mean ‘acting like’?

“No. That’s knitting. Crochet just uses a big hooked needle. As long as you have a hook, some skill and the right size yarn, you can make anything from blankets to scarfs,” Shadow picked up his papers to try and straighten them up. For no particular reason.
 
“Really, just a hook? Sounds complicated. Must take a while to make anything,” Sonic leaned into the table, resting his forearms on the surface.
 
“Sometimes, depending on the pattern. Though, it makes for a good way to… relax, I suppose,” Shadow moved his hands to his jacket pockets.
 
“Sounds like it! Though, don’t know if it’s for me, don’t have enough patience” Sonic chuckled at the thought of him attempting to crochet.
 
“Hmm, It’s not for everyone,” he looked away. There was a short silence. Shadow would be content at leaving it there. However, Sonic seemed eager for more, and he… also didn’t want it to end there. There was something about the slow, easy conversation that was almost comforting in a way he wouldn’t have expected. He glanced up at Sonic. Hmm. He just kept surprising him. 
 
He might as well relent, though he didn’t know what possessed him to. Shadow took a deep breath. “How… about you?”
 
“Mm?” Sonic’s ears perked up, thrown off a bit by Shadow’s question. “How about what?”
 
Shadow’s cheeks reddened slightly. He was dreadful at small talk. “Relax. How do you relax?” He cringed at his own wording. More words came out of his mouth, as if that would make anything less awkward. “Even you must… need a break from your ceaseless ‘cool guy’ persona… ”
 
At this, Sonic smiled. He did it. Shadow was actually talking with him.
 
“Oh, uh, well maybe it’s a little obvious, but I like to run,” he leaned back, rubbing his neck in slight embarrassment at not having many hobbies to his name. “But other than that...I guess I also like reading a good book from time to time.”
 
Shadow, cookie halfway to mouth, stopped, mouth agape. “You… read?”
 
“Well don’t sound too surprised, now,” Sonic laughed. “Yeah, it clashes a bit with that ‘cool guy’ persona, huh? But, I’ve always loved reading, to be honest. Running is great because I can feel the rush of wind through my quills, the blood pumping in my veins. It’s, like, the physical essence of freedom.” Shadow was stunned into silence. He had not expected Sonic to be this… eloquent.  
 
“Books, I guess, are freeing in a different way. They let my mind explore different walks of life, see into new perspectives,” Sonic thought wistfully, remembering his days as a kid, playing out the stories of his favorite heroes. 
 
Mesmerized by this new side to Sonic, Shadow wanted to know how someone like him could seemingly be so vapid and yet weirdly insightful. “Do you…have a favorite book?”
 
“Ooh, that’s a toughy. Can’t really pick a favorite, per se, but I do tend to lean towards fantasy books. Ya’know, your Arabian nights and Arthurian type stuff? I love a story with a solid hero, too! Not just your run of the mill dashing and daring types. A hero that maybe starts out the underdog, misguided or weak, but grows, evolves over the course of the story. It’s pretty rad, don’tcha think?” 
 
Shadow could see it a little now. Maybe Sonic was far more mature that he let on. Or at the very least he could be. Perhaps he’d taken him too lightly before. He had something more underneath that constant grin he wore. Shadow finally looked up, really meeting Sonic’s eyes. “I suppose I can understand what you mean.”
 
A comfortable silence settled between them as Shadow scribbled down the rest of their assignment plan, finishing off the rest of his cookie, leaving only crumbs on the empty sleeve.
 
Sonic smirked at his correct guess. 
 
His phone vibrated on the table—a message from the track team group chat that Big had created. People only ever used it to send desperate messages about homework or test answers. Big, it seemed, was the only one who ever used it for ‘official track business’ like encouraging updates about their progress, their season schedule, and, occasionally, videos of his newly-acquired pet frog. 
 
Most of his messages, unsurprisingly, went largely ignored. 
 
Sonic gave a casual glance at his phone screen, figuring it was just some other freshman asking for upperclassmen advice on a shitty professor. But he paused when he saw Big’s name atop the message.

“Hello everyone. Reminder that our mandatory team meeting about Saturday’s prelims starts in 10 minutes. Meet at the track. We will have a short practice once we discuss everything. Hope everyone’s having a good Friday!  :)”

Oh crap, he almost forgot. He looked back up to Shadow. 
 
“So, not to cut this short, but I completely forgot there’s this big team meeting I gotta be at for this meet we have tomorrow and it starts soon and I—”
 
Shadow waved a hand. “Go ahead,” he said, stacking up their papers. “We’ve essentially finished anyway. I’ll have the checklist filled out by next class and give it to you so you can do the write up—not much more we can do for now.”
 
Sonic gave him a thumbs up. “Thanks! You’re the best, Shadow.” He drank down the last of his lemonade and stood from the table as Shadow packed his stuff away. He glanced out the window. At least it had stopped raining outside. He gave his partner a sly smile. “So, what are my chances of seeing you at the track meet tomorrow? Out team is pretty highly ranked, ya’know.”
 
Shadow deadpanned. “It’d be in the negatives. I’m not one to frequent sporting events as it is.” He wrapped his hands around his half-emptied coffee cup as they stepped outside. “I work all day tomorrow as it is, anyway.”
 
Sonic pouted. “Laaaame. Guess I won’t be seeing you till Monday, then.” He gave a wave as he began walking backwards in the direction of GHU’s sports complex. “Hope you have a great day anyway! Gotta run—pun definitely intended.” And with a final wink and a two-finger salute, he was off. 
 
Shadow glanced up at the sky as Sonic’s form disappeared, feeling the sun soak into his tired bones. His eyes found the vague form of a rainbow spreading across the clouds. 
 
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture of it arching over a building. Maria would enjoy the sight.
  
Blaze’s eyes followed Sonic and Shadow as they stepped outside the cafe’s door. She had been subtly keeping watch on them ever since they came in, quietly suspicious as she watched Sonic draw more words out of Shadow than she thought was possible. 
 
She wasn’t an idiot; she’d seen the way the kid’s eyes softened as he talked about what was supposed to be Silver’s crush. And she couldn’t help but notice the way the brooding hedgehog was less tense around Sonic than she had ever seen him. 
 
As much as he tried not too, she could tell Silver saw it too. Normally, he would be wistfully staring in Shadow’s direction the whole time he was here, only doing his job when Blaze gave a pointed poke to his blushing cheeks. But today, he was trying to do whatever he could to keep himself busy, to not look that direction. 
 
He tried to pull Blaze away from her skeptical glances at the pair, getting her to help him with the small drink orders that were trickling in. 
 
Blaze’s resolve didn’t waver. She still wanted her anxious friend to have a chance with his months long object of affection. And while Sonic didn’t seem to have a conscious interest in Shadow, the two were still getting closer, while Silver still hadn’t had a conversation with Shadow outside of coffee orders. 
 
Silver’s eyes found Shadow as he ran a hand through his dark quills and a soft smile curled onto his face. Blaze could almost feel the love-sickness coming off him in waves. She let out a breath. She just wanted Silver to be happy, and if he had chosen Shadow, she had to at least try to get them together. For him. 
 
She watched through the window as Shadow’s gaze lingered on Sonic as he left. She shook her head. They all saw what was happening. But those poor guys didn’t have a clue. 
 
She pulled out her phone and pecked out a message to Amy.

“There may be a kink in our plan.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Runners! On your mark.” 
 
Sonic pressed his fingers to the rubber below him, foot impatiently twitching against the starting block. 
 
“Get set.” 
 
His body felt like a livewire, tensed and sparking with unreleased energy.

“Go!”

The starting pistol went off and Sonic was off like a rocket. 
 
Arms pumping, his feet a blur below him, every muscle in his body was tense at once, pushing him further and further. As soon as he’d begun, the finish line was under his feet, and he released all his tension at once. Hands on his knees, chasing after his breath, he waited to hear his results. 
 
“#23,” a megaphone eventually sounded. Sonic snapped his head up—that was his number. “Time: 10.35 seconds.” 
 
Sonic gasped, both for air and from the news. Not only was his time the fastest in his heat, he had finally broken his personal best. And by .03 milliseconds no less. He threw his hands into the air.

Yes! Things are finally going my way!

“Oh man! Congratulations Sonic,” Tails, who had been watching from the stadium bleachers, ran up to his big brother. Sonic had decided to spend his lunch up here with his friends and family, rather than with his teammates. 
 
Pulling Tails into a big ole brotherly hug, Sonic ruffled his hair in endearment. “Haha, thanks! It’s all because I had my lucky buddy cheering me on!”
 
Pushing Sonic away with a laugh, Tails led him back to where he and Knuckles were sitting. 
 
“Hey, where’s Knux at? Don’t tell me he missed my race,” Sonic sat with a small pouty face.
 
Tails, still fixing his fur, gave a soft giggle. “No, he saw you. He just ran to go grab lunch for us.”
 
“Man, I feel like the only time I ever see that guy now is over a plate of food,” Sonic joked, taking a swig from his water bottle.
 
“Well someone’s gotta provide for this family,” Knuckles, returning with a couple bags of convenience store snacks and sandwiches, sidled into his place by his comrades. 
 
“True,” Sonic conceded, grabbing one of the sandwich packs. “Thanks, papa Knux.”
 
Tails snickered at that, but Knuckles just smiled. “Why of course my darling sons, whatever would you do without me?”
 
“For starters, we’d probably have more food to go around without you hoarding it,” Sonic, now munching on his semi-decent turkey sandwich, looked down to the track. He had run in the relay and 400m races, so he was essentially done for the day. He caught a glimpse of Jet, who it seems was preparing for his next event, that self-centered smirk never leaving his beak. 
 
“That’s it, you’re going to pay from now on,” Knuckles pouted, a little hurt by this, but started in on his own ham sandwich nonetheless. “Last time I spend my hard-earned coin on you two.” He shook a disapproving finger at each of them. “What did I do to deserve such ungrateful children?”
 
Tails giggled. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you a ‘world’s best dad’ mug on Father’s Day to make up for it,” he assured with a grin. 
 
Knuckles playfully shoved his shoulder. “I deserve a mug

and

a tacky tie,

at least

.”
 
Their laughter became background noise as Sonic found himself glancing around the small crowd in the bleachers, eyes watching for something. Or rather, someone. 
 
He knew he said he had work today, but maybe if he got off early…

Dumbass. Why would he come here? For you? He doesn’t even

like

you.

Sonic frowned at the blunt reminder.

Yeah

, he supposed.

Of course he wouldn’t be here.

And he couldn’t figure out why that stung so much. 
 
The sound of the starting pistol shook him out of his thoughts. His eyes flicked down to the track as the next event started
—hurdles. 
 
Sonic watched as the runners sprang from their places, dashing towards the sets of hurdles down the track. It was an event that Sonic had wanted to do—the extra challenge of clearing obstacles without slowing his speed excited him—but events were decided by seniority, which meant assholes like Jet got to have their pick of the litter because they were upperclassmen. 
 
His eyes followed the green-feathered know-it-all as he flew over one hurdle after the other, legs extended, toes pointed in perfect form as he glided over the plastic barriers as if he was running on bullet-time. 
 
He was leagues ahead of the other runners, crossing the painted white stripe of the finish line before they had gotten even halfway through. 
 
Jet waved to the cheering crowd as he slowed to a stop, stupidly-perfect douchey grin widening as he threw a wink and a kiss at the stands. 
 
Sonic actively wanted to barf.

This absolute

—
 
“What do you think Sonic,” Tails tapped Sonic on the shoulder, bringing him back from his trance. 
 
“Huh, oh sorry, spaced out there for a sec. What’s up?” Sonic turned back to his buddies trying to remove any trace of Jet from his mind. 
 
“I asked if you wanted to go to Eggman's, to celebrate,” Tails pouted, clearly a little perturbed at Sonic’s detachment from their conversation.
 
“Of course! Always down for games and grub,” Sonic beamed, putting his arm around Tails. “We can even knock out a few rounds of mini-golf if you want! That is, if you're in the mood to lose,” he smirked, as overconfident in his putt-putt skills as he was with most all athletic endeavors. 
 
“Oh yeah?” Knuckles challenged. “I think you’re forgetting who absolutely

creamed

both of you last time.” He put a finger to his chin, eyes turned towards the clouds. “Hmm, let me think for a second. He was strong, ruggedly handsome, a wonderful provider of gas station sandwiches…” 
 
Sonic huffed, clocking Knuckles on the shoulder. “Fine, you’ll just have to prove your skills tonight, Mr. Bigshot.”
 
Knuckles laughed. “Well, me pwning you nerds will have to wait until tomorrow.

I’ve

got a date tonight.” 
 
“A date,” Sonic questioned, with more disbelief in his voice than he intended. 
 
“

Yes

, a date.” Knuckles slicked his quills back. “Did you miss the ‘ruggedly handsome’ part of my description earlier?”
 
Sonic giggled at his over-the-top display, already ready to fire back with stories of how far that had gotten him in high school. 
 
Tails’ frown from beside him made Sonic pause. “But we can definitely go tomorrow, yeah,” his brother asked hopefully, disappointed at having their plan shot down so quickly. 
 
Sonic gave him a reassuring grin. “Definitely, little buddy. We’ll make a day out of it.” He gave a stretch as Tails perked up a bit at the confirmation. “But for now, I’m looking forward to just laying back in our dorm and rewatching the extended cut of

Chao In Space

.”
 
Tails smiled cheekily. “It’s one of the only movies you like that’s actually

good

, so I’ll accept that.”
 
Sonic stuck out his tongue. “Alright, we can watch one of your pilot documentaries too,” he compromised. “If I get to nerd out about Chaos flying their teeny little spaceships, you deserve to get excited about…” Sonic searched for some term, some buzzword he had maybe picked up from Tails’ many bright-eyed monologues about flight technology. “...um, turbine rudders?”
 
Tails shook his head with a chuckle. “Good effort, but not even close.”
 
He was working up another comeback—continuing their little ping-pong pattern of joking conversation they always had—but the sound of the loudspeaker cut through his words as it announced the end of the day’s events. 
 
“Oh!” Sonic remembered. “I have to meet back up with my team in the locker room—Big probably wants to talk about results and plan stuff for the season.” He glanced back towards each of them. “Knuckles, good luck with the wooing. And Tails, meet me at the gate and we can walk back together?”
 
Tails nodded. 
 
“Rad. We’ll all get together tomorrow, then.” He waved as he dashed off towards the locker rooms, sliding through the door as the rest of his team filed in. 
 
Sonic slipped into the crowd as they all gathered around the print-outs of their results for the day, murmuring excitedly as they each scrambled to see their times. 
 
Sonic grinned as he eyed his results. He had smashed some of his best times in his events, beating some of the other freshman on his team by a landslide. 
 
Pride sparked in Sonic’s chest in a way it hadn’t in a while. He had missed the joy of competition, the high of winning. If he could just keep this streak going…
 
His eyes flicked over to their overall results, immediately jumping to the fastest times. 
 
At the top of the list, with another record broken for the 100m dash, was Jet. Sonic’s self-assured smile suddenly fell into an uncertain line. 
 
“Wow, congratulations Jet,” Big said, smiling encouragingly as he called attention to Jet’s win. “Looks like you’re the top dog—or, should I say, the top

bird

—once again.”
 
Sonic frowned as a smattering of applause for Jet sounded around him. The sophomore prodigy fluffed out his feathers, chin high as he soaked in the praise. 
 
Big continued talking, working through their strategy for their upcoming season. But Sonic got lost in the white noise. 
 
Anxiety latched onto the gap between his and Jet’s times, gnawing at his successes today until they meant nothing. 
 
He still couldn’t beat Jet. 
 
Jet still won. 
 
Sonic had done as much as he could, beaten his personal best, and that smarmy asshole still passed him by a longshot. 
 
Would he ever beat Jet?

Did he even deserve to beat Jet?

Of course not

, something said.

It’s not like you did anything to earn it, you lazy fuck-up.

Sonic gritted his teeth. 
 
Big clapped his hands. “Alright, everybody, great work today. Go home, rest up—we’ll discuss the rest of our season at our next practice.”
 
And with that, the crowd dispersed, the clang of lockers and rustle of clothing shoved into gym bags filling the small space. 
 
A loud, pointed

ahem

sounded from the middle of the room. 
 
Sonic glanced back to see Jet standing there, watching, waiting to make sure all eyes were on him.

Oh god, what now?

“Alright, assholes, listen up. To celebrate yet another record smashed by yours truly,” Jet placed a hand to his chest, as if someone was questioning what other self-absorbed asshole he could possibly be referring to, “Party at my place, and it’s gonna be fucking lit. Anybody who’s anybody is invited, so be there, or regret it for the rest of your pathetic lives.”
 
If Jet’s eyes pointedly slid over to Sonic’s form at the underhanded invitation, Sonic pretended not to notice. 
 
The rest of the locker room broke out in excited cheers, looking forward to an evening of fun and debauchery. 
 
Sonic scoffed aloud.

There was no way he was

—
 
A hand slammed his locker shut. 
 
Sonic ducked out of the way, barely fast enough to avoid his nose being closed in the metal. He glared at Jet’s face leering far too close for comfort. 
 
“And

surely

GHU’s rising track star, Sonic the Hedgehog, will make an appearance at my party,” he taunted. “Why, it would just hurt my

widdle feelings

if you didn’t show.” 
 
“I’d honestly rather fall into a pit of spikes,” Sonic spat. 
 
“Wow, didn’t realize you had a stick that far up your ass. Too good for a party with your teammates?” He gave an over-exaggerated pout. One of Jet’s down feathers flew into Sonic’s face as he pushed himself away from the row of lockers. Sonic swatted it away with an open sneer.
 
It must have irritated his nose in the process, as he sneezed pointedly in Jet’s face. Sonic sniffled, “Ah, excuse me, I think I’m just allergic to assholes.”
 
A few of his team members popped up from behind Jet, drowning out his winning comeback. “Aw, come on, Sonic. Don’t be a drag. Come have fun with us.”
 
“Yeah,” Jet drawled. “Come have fun with us Sonic. It’ll just be a blast.” He wrapped an arm around the person closest to him, a squirrel who yelped at being pulled into the sudden embrace. “Aren’t you going to regret not spending any time with your fellow track stars—like Vinny here.”
 
“Um,” the squirrel muttered. “It’s Ray, actually.”
 
Jet practically shoved him off of him. “

Anyway

. I wouldn’t miss out on this if I were you,” he said cooly, leaning back against the lockers. “Wouldn’t want the rest of the team to resent you for not coming, now would we?”
 
Sonic tensed, feeling every eye in the room on him like a sniper rifle. Jet’s cocky grin spread wider—he’d won and he knew it as he watched an angry blush spread across Sonic’s cheeks. 
 
He felt trapped. “Fine,” Sonic muttered, shouldering his bag and striding from the room as fast as he could. 
 
Jet only laughed behind him. 
 
Tails sat on the patchy grass by the fence, glancing up from his phone as Sonic finally approached. He grinned. “There you are. Now it’s pizza and Chao time!” He brushed the dirt off his knees, grin slowly falling as he noticed the guilty look coloring Sonic’s face. “...Sonic?”
 
Sonic looked at the ground. “I

may

have just gotten roped in to going to Jet’s after-party.”
 
Tails blinked, mouth actually falling open. “What?” 
 
“I know; I’m sorry. But everyone cornered me and I couldn’t say no without looking bad and I just wanted to get him off my back and—” He let out a breath, meeting Tails’ disappointed gaze. “Listen, I really don’t wanna go alone. I don’t think I can handle going alone, really.” He sighed. “I’m sorry, I’m terrible, but, can you come with me? We can go, and we’ll be in and out, I promise. Home in plenty enough time to watch all your favorite pilot movies over mediocre take-out and—”
 
Tails held up a placating hand. “Sure, Sonic, don’t worry about it.” 
 
Sonic paused, hesitant at Tails’ acceptance. “Really? You sure?” 
 
Tails gave an understanding smile, but there was something off about it...something tired. “Of course. As long as you promise you won’t be there all night.”
 
Sonic made an invisible X over his chest. “Cross my heart.”
 
Tails let out a chuckle. “Alright, alright. Let’s go.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Shads? …Shaaaaaaadow.”
 
Shadow let out a vague groan, trying to still hang on to the last strands of his nap.
 
“Hello? Earth to my brooding, edgy brother.”
 
His eyes opening slowly, then quickly closing again at the bright fluorescent lights, Shadow turned over in his makeshift bed comprised of two stiff armchairs, pulling his jacket over his head.
 
“Five more minutes… or years…” he mumbled.
 
“Sorry, but you told me to wake you at 9:30, and it is indeed 9:30,” Maria leaned over her bed, beginning to poke the back of Shadow's head repeatedly. “Now, waaaaaaaake up. Go get that bread!”
 
“…Is that something the teens are saying these days?”
 
“Well at least people on the internet do,” she shrugged.
 
“Mmmmh… can you go get it for me,” Shadow whined, curling into a ball under his blanket of a jacket. 
 
“Yes, because what this hospital needs is a terminally ill teenager sitting at their front desk. Very professional vibes.” Maria stared at the ball that was once her brother, sighing playfully at his immaturity. “And you’re supposed to be the grown up one here…”
 
“I need a break. You can be the grown up. I bequeath my title to you, my lady.”
 
Maria chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Thank you, my liege, but I’m afraid I must rescind thine offer, for I am but a humble maiden who would not be up to the task.” She gave an exaggerated half-bow. “Now get up, lazy bones.” She kicked out a foot, knocking Shadow’s chairs out of their careful alignment. 
 
Shadow’s arms flailed slightly as he almost fell onto the tile below. He sat up, pulling his jacket off his head, pouting. “How rude.”
 
“You’d be more upset if I let you be late for your shift,” she responded matter-of-factly. 
 
Well, he couldn’t deny that. 
 
“Now go obtain that grain. Grab that gluten. Procure that pan. Retrieve that roll—”
 
“Okay, okay, please stop with the carbohydrate-based jokes. I’m up now.” Shadow gave a long stretch of his stiff limbs, finally standing from his chair. 
 
He checked the time on his phone. At least he had enough time to get some coffee. 
 
He let out a breath. “After this morning, let’s just hope nothing too dramatic happens tonight. I don’t think I can take another code coming in.”
 
Maria gave a kind smile. “You’ll have a good night; you deserve it.”
 
Shadow let out something of a laugh. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” He slung his bag back on his shoulder, lingering by the door. “Alright, I’m gonna go get some filthy bean water to wake me up. You behave. And don’t stay up too late.”
 
Maria hummed. “I’ll think about it.”
 
Shadow rolled his eyes before stepping back out into the hallway and, unfortunately, back into his next shift.
 
Making a quick stop by the coffee dispenser in the break room, and grabbing a package of donuts from the vending machine, Shadow situated himself at his desk once more, preparing for what was sure to be a long and boring night. Hopefully.
  
About halfway through his fifth solitaire game, Shadow sighed, looking towards the clock on the nearby wall.

Goddamnit, it’s only 11:45.

He’d already finished all his self-appointed tasks for the day during his morning shift. Organizing the desktop on his computer, cleaning his desk, getting ahead on homework, cleaning his desk again. There was only so much desk-warming he could do.
 
Fixing his gaze to the television across from him. A movie had been playing for some time; a period piece from years ago—

Jane Hare

, if he remembered correctly. 
 
The titular bunny character stood silhouetted as her rich, handsome love-interest took her hand in his as he confessed his feelings in a monologue of old-english prose. 
 
As much as he despised the genre, he did find himself gravitating towards these silly romance films more often than not. He would blame it on a young Maria’s influence, but that would be something of a lie. 
 
Watching these movies always left him with a vague sense of melancholy afterwards, a feeling he’d always shoved back before he had the time to examine it. 
 
He shook his head, tearing his eyes away from the actors’ passionate onscreen kiss.

No time to concern myself with superfluous thoughts like this.

He glanced down towards his phone beside him, an unopened text notification still sitting on the lockscreen.

The Miscreant

“hey, hope works not too rough on ya, shads! i’m gonna go run real fast ;D”

Shadow had considered replying some hours ago, out of some sense of courtesy, maybe, but quickly fought that urge back. 
 
What would he even say?

‘Thanks’

?

‘Please stop texting me; we’re not friends’

?
 
Or even worse, ‘

good luck’

?
 
He sneered at the thought. 
 
It wasn’t class-related, so he didn’t have to dignify it with a response. 
 
Though… it was a nice gesture, he supposed. The fact that Sonic took the time to text Shadow something so trivial bewildered him.

But, given the track star’s seemingly endless attempts to be friends with everyone, he figured he shouldn’t be too surprised. 
 
He flipped his phone over face-down. Out of sight, out of mind. 
 
A voice that sounded too much like Rouge giggled in his head.

You’re still trying really hard to not like this guy, aren’t you? Even you can’t keep this cold, distant, disaffected act up forever, you know.

Shadow crossed his arms, leaning back into the desk chair. He had learned to deal with some of Sonic’s more...grating traits, sure, but he definitely wasn’t trying to be chummy with the guy either. 
 
It wasn’t his fault that Sonic had no concept of boundaries. Everytime Shadow was around him, he’d always end up disheveled and uncomposed. He hated not having control, and Sonic was just too chaotic for him to handle.

No, I just need to be cordial. Then I can graduate, and I’ll never have to see him ever again.

Resuming his game of solitaire, Shadow quickly finished organizing the cards into their proper spots, triggering the chiptune victory music and the 8-bit fireworks blooming across the screen. 
 
The sound of the automatic doors sliding open startled Shadow.
 
“Help!” A voice shouted between rasping breaths, “My little brother. He’s—” 
 
Shadow snapped his head towards the sound, jumping up from his seat, meeting the wild eyes of a shaking Sonic, cradling a small vomit-stained fox boy in his arms.
 
“Please! I don’t—” Tears lingered unshed at the corners of his eyes, as he struggled to string a sentence together in between hyperventilated breaths. Shadow's stomach dropped from the sheer look of terror painted on Sonic’s face. “I don’t know what to do.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Let’s get shitfaced motherfuckeeeeers” Jet roared, chugging an oversized chalice of beer. Standing on a table, above a sea of college students, Jet looked like the king of all the fuckboys on Mobius. 
 
How Jet had managed to get this many people crammed into his cramped, albeit spacious, townhouse on such short notice, Sonic would never know. It was filled with dozens of college students, or at least people in their early 20’s, a nauseating array of lights, liquor, and Sonic hoped that was all.
 
He and Tails had taken the train into Station Square and walked a good few blocks to get here roughly around 10. Sonic had spent the better part of the evening agonizing over what kind of clothes he should wear. As much as he hated the thought of being at a party thrown by Jet, he still wanted to make a decent impression at his first official college party. 
 
Tails, though, had been relatively silent for most of the evening. Just following along with Sonic, occasionally reaffirming that ‘Yes, your quills look cool like that’ or ‘No, you don’t look like a dork’ in a less-than-enthused tone. 
 
Now the two of them awkwardly stood against a wall in the living room, Sonic trying to find a group that maybe he could talk to, and Tails, keeping an eye on his watch, making sure they would make it back in time for the last train home at 11:45. The flashing, colorful lights, the pounding of the music and the sheer mass of people compacted into one place was beginning to give them both a headache.
 
“Sonic,” Tails pulled on Sonic, who leaned down so he could hear his shorter brother a little better, “Can we go back already? My head hurts.”
 
“I know, bud, me too,” Sonic cupped his hands so he could concentrate his words into Tails’ ears. “But I need to try talking to a few people before we leave. I promise, we are out the door by 11:00 at the latest!”
 
Sonic had begun to realize, the more he thought about the party tonight, that ever since he started college, he hadn’t actually made any new friends. Like, any. He’d have thought he’d make friends with at least some of his trackmates, but he was always too worked up by Jet to stick around long enough to talk to anyone. 
 
Not to mention his whole ordeal with Shadow…
 
He glanced around at the sea of veritable strangers that were supposed to be his teammates. It seemed like it’d take him years to get any new friends. So, Sonic was determined, before he left, he’d try and make a few new friends, or acquaintances at the very least. He needed to.

Oh please, like anyone would want to be friends with someone as obnoxious as—

“Hey, that’s one of the guys on track! Alright Tails, stay here, I’ll be right back, alright,” Sonic backed off of the wall, giving Tails an ‘OK’ sign, which Tails reciprocated with a sigh.
 
Sonic maneuvered his way through the crowd, careful not to bump too many drinks on the way. He eventually made his way to the yellow squirrel guy from early. His name waaaaaaass… 
 
“Rain! Hey there,” Sonic slid up next to the rather skittish-looking freshman. 
 
“Ray,” he corrected, with an awkward laugh.
 
“Oh, right, ah, sorry,” Sonic also awkwardly laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Guess I’m just a bit overwhelmed! There’s a lot going on here, huh?”
 
“Uh, yeah, it’s a lot,” he squirmed a little. “I don’t normally come to parties like this.”
 
Despite the awkward excuse for small talk, Sonic felt at least a bit comforted that he wasn’t the only one out of the party loop. “Same, honestly. But at least I get the chance to hang out with some of my teammates! I feel like we should all kick a little more, ya’know,” Sonic chuckled, hoping he was sounding as cool and casual as he was trying to.
 
Ray, seemingly avoiding Sonic’s eyes, took a sip from his disposable cup of, presumably, beer. 
 
“Umm, everything alright,” Sonic questioned, looking around to see if Ray was looking at something in particular.
 
“No—er, I mean yes! It’s nothing, just,” Ray stopped, seemingly unwilling to say anything else. “Well, some of us actually do get together sometimes, on weekends…”
 
Sonic’s heart dropped, heat slowly beginning to creep onto his face. He hadn’t heard anything about that, he was sure. No one ever mentioned hanging out in the groupchat or at practices. And, now that he thought about it, no one ever really talked to him at all, not since the start of the season.

What’d I tell ya.

“Oh, uh, really,” Sonic snapped back to their conversation, giving a smile that didn’t entirely meet his eyes. “I didn’t know that! I’d love to tag along sometime!”

Desperate much?

“Well, we were gonna ask you to join at first, but you always seemed kind of…” Ray looked away, not wanting to finish this train of thought it seemed.
 
“Kind of what?” Sonic’s smile had completely retreated, instead replaced with a mixture of confusion and worry.
 
“Well, you’re always, kinda, to yourself? I guess? You just kinda come to practice and leave,” Ray was looking at his drink, maybe only brave enough to say it thanks to the power of beer. 
 
Sonic looked away bashfully, hand grabbing hold of his neck. Tight. Was he really that much of a loner? He always thought he was great at socializing, especially in high school. But Ray was right. During practice, during runs, he was always so focused on the track, or on his frustration with Jet. And the more he thought about it, he probably wouldn’t even recognize let alone name half of his own teammates.

Looks like you’re no one's golden boy anymore, fucko.

“Ah, um, I see…. “Sonic said, trying not to let himself be overcome with these thoughts, especially not now.
 
“But, I really did want to invite you,” Ray, realizing he may have said too much, frantically trying to fix this broken conversation. “And a lot of the other freshman too, but Jet—”
 
“Well well, if it isn’t my guest of honor himself!”
 
Sonic’s stomach dropped at the sound of that familiar squawk in his ears. An arm came down around his shoulders, momentarily throwing Sonic off his balance.
 
“Oh, Jet! Uh, hey,” Ray, sweating bullets, backed away. As if his life depended on it, he swiftly gulped down the rest of his beer. “Umm great party! I think I’m gonna go get a refill. Nice talking to you Sonic!”
 
Before Sonic could even begin to question that bit of weirdness, he was overcome by the stench of liquor coming from Jet, who was getting, once again, way too close for comfort.
 
“Hey there Mr. Super Sonic racer, let's hang out for a bit,” Jet slurred, innuendo dripping from his slowed speech.  
 
“Yeah, uh, thanks for the offer, but, uh,

I’m

over there,” Sonic pointed towards the wall. Jet, obviously liquored up enough to buy that, turned his gaze, allowing Sonic to remove himself from his arm.
 
“Hey, hey, hey, now wait just a second,” Jet looked around again, quickly pulling Sonic back towards him by the arm, an unpleasant and unwanted jerk in more ways than one. He almost let out an audible groan, looking for some way to be anywhere but tucked under the too-warm arm of his worst teammate. 
 
It was...uncomfortable at best. Jet had a grip on him, just tight enough to keep him from leaving. A memory popped into his mind—his own hand stopping an aggravated Shadow from escaping a similarly unwanted interaction with Sonic.

Shit, I hope this isn’t how I make Shadow feel.

Jet’s beer-laden breath hit him in the face before he could think further on it. 
 
“Listen, listen, I get I’m a total asshole; It’s kinda my brand,” Jet smirked. “But, you showed some real moves out there today! Come on, let me get you a drink so we can celebrate!”
 
Sonic, quite surprised at Jet’s change in attitude (well, slight change), looked back towards him. This guy, this complete jerk, must have some ulterior motive. There’s no way he’d insist on Sonic coming and make a whole thing out of it if he didn't have some kind of plan to make him miserable in some way.
 
But… Jet was also his in. Everyone on the team, everyone at this party, must, in some way, respect him. Maybe, putting up with Jet for even a few minutes could help boost his standing.

Besides, you need all the help you can get.

“Heh, alright, fine,” Sonic turned to Jet, cracking his cockiest grin. “Do your worst!”
 
“Alright now, I like the sound of that,” Jet laughed, slapping Sonic on the back a few times, pushing him towards the kitchen. “Bring out the shots!”

“11:00,” Tails mumbled, looking at his watch once more. He sighed to himself. Sonic had insisted on him coming, but he’d left Tails all alone for a while now. He could be at home working on his new bi-plane schematics. But instead, here he was, propping up a wall, head throbbing, and being bumped around by people almost twice his size.
 
He could just go home on his own. Sonic would find his way back.

No, Tails, Sonic said he needed you. He’s always there for you, so you need to be there for him.

Was he? He seemed to have become more distant towards Tails recently. He was still the same old Sonic, just a bit more…not all there. Tails couldn’t quantify it.
 
After being shoved for the umpteenth time, Tails decided he would just move somewhere quieter and less crowded until Sonic was finished with his schmoozing.
 
Pushing his way through the throng of inebriated and half-baked adults, Tails made his way upstairs, eventually finding a less occupied room with people playing some kind of game with cups on a ping pong table.
 
He situated himself on an unoccupied chair, fiddling with his watch to pass the time.
 
“Heya, shorty, don’t you think this party’s a bit too R-rated for you?”
 
Tails froze. That voice.

Oh no, why here of all places…

“Um, hi Wave,” Tails mumbled towards her feet. 
 
“What was that? You know kiddo, you gotta speak up, it’s hard to hear you all the way down there,” she cackled, staring down at the ever-shrinking Tails.
 
He already had to deal with this everyday at school, must tonight also be as agonizing?
 
“Please stop.”
 
“Huh, come again? I thought I told you—”
 
“Stop,” Tails finally asserted, still not exactly looking up.
 
“Whoa there, kiddo, what bit you,” Wave held her hands up, rolling her eyes, backing up a little from Tails.
 
“I… I just want to be alone please,” Tails brought his legs up to his chest, trying to hold onto them as hard as he was his ebbing tears.
 
Wave, still looking down at the young fox, scoffed at his remark. “Well, you came to the wrong place for that! See, this is what I mean, you’re not ready for the big leagues ki—”
 
“I’m NOT a kid,” Tails snapped up, anger finally boiling past his embarrassment. “A-and I’m getting really tired of everyone treating me like one!”
 
Waves face dropped, clearly stunned to have finally pushed him this far. “Hey hey, easy now, tiger.” She shrugged, quickly pulling her cool, disaffected look back together. “Listen kid, you’re not as mature as you think you are. You don’t just magically skip to adulthood just because you're in college. Save a party like this for when you're old enough to enjoy it.”
 
“I am old enough,” Tails stood up, puffing his chest out towards Wave. Tails had spent most of his life around friends that were older than him, following wherever they led. Now he needed to prove to everyone, most importantly to himself, that he could keep up with them, no matter where they went.
 
“Yeah, I’d beg to differ,” she rolled her eyes at his blind machismo. “Look, this has been fun, but I’ve got a game to get back to, and you should hurry to bed before curfew.”
 
“Fine. I’ll go,” Tails maintained eye contact with Wave as though he weren’t having to stand on tiptoe to look up at her. “On one condition.”
 
“Sure, kid, anything,” she laughed, looking towards the others, by the table, equally amused by the young fox’s over confident display. 
 
“Play me,” Tails said, as evenly as he could, trying to avoid any voice squeaks. 
 
Wave couldn’t contain her laughter, doubling over, along with half the room. Tails’ face, ablaze from the embarrassment, stayed straight.
 
“Look kid, you can’t play this game. It’s for big kids,” she mocked.
 
“Play me,” he repeated. “You win, I go home. I win, you have to stop belittling me all the time, and treat me as an equal. Deal?” Tails held his hand out to the still cackling swallow.
 
“Yeah, no. Go home kiddo,” she shooed him away using the back of her hand.
 
“Deal?” Tails was not going to move. Sonic never backed down from a challenge. He always stood his ground, and never gave into bullies. Now it was Tails’ turn.
 
“Come on, Wave,” one of the sloshed party goers, a grey albatros, whooped. “Play the kid! Play the kid! Play the kid!”
 
Now all the people in the room were chanting in unison. Tails, still holding his face as straight as he could, brows furrowing slightly, humiliation growing, kept his hand outstretched to Wave.
 
Despite Wave's more severe teasing, she really didn’t care to embarrass him any further. The crowd had spoken, though, and it seemed he’d just have to learn his lesson the hard way. She grabbed his hand, giving it a firm shake. “Deal.” 
 
With that the crowd hollered, quickly setting up the table for the game. Six cups to each side, each filled nearly to the brim with beer. Tails wasn’t unfamiliar with this game. Land your ball in your opponent’s cups, until they’ve drunk them all. First to drink them all loses.
 
“You can have first throw, kid,” Wave tossed a ping pong ball his way. Tails caught it, beginning to focus in on his goal. This was the easy part—he had a good idea of the proper angle, trajectory and amount of force he’d need to sink his ball. 
 
He made his first shot, bouncing it off the table and landing it right in the first cup of the triangle. Everyone, shocked at his clean shot, shouted in celebration. Tails, trying not to give in too much to his childish giddiness, let a small smirk crack his lips, folding his arms towards Wave. Precision was always a strength of his.
 
“Hmph, good shot,” Wave conceded, grabbing the ball from her plastic cup, and gulping down the contents swiftly. Tossing the cup behind her, she grabbed hold of the next ball. “Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”
 
In an instant, she too sank her first shot, right in the cup closest to Tails. Once again, rapturous applause from the growing audience. She obviously was no stranger to beer pong. 
 
Tails stared down at his cup. The reality of what he’d have to do next sinking in. 
 
The hesitation was palpable to everyone in the room. Most especially Wave. “It’s not too late to back out.” As much as she chided him for it, he was literally still just a kid. 
 
Tails grabbed hold of the cup, pulling out the bobbing ping pong ball. He swirled the contents.

Sonic wouldn’t back down.

Wave sighed, taking pity on the kid. “Look, let’s just call it a—”
 
Before she could finish her statement, Tails knocked back the drink, eyes scrunched closed, forcing himself to ignore the disgustingly bitter taste and the slight burn building in his throat as he gulped as fast as he could to keep up with the tide of liquor. Finishing it off, he tried and failed to suppress a cough. Wiping his muzzle of any beer that had leaked out, Tails resumed his stalwart posture. 
 
Cheers burst out, pouring in from the hallway where people strained their necks to get a view. “Ah yeah, you go Two Tails,” two oddly-sized skunk guys hollered. They all began to chant “Two tails, two tails,”eventually just shortening it to “Tails, Tails, Tails.” 
 
Maybe it was the beer working into his system, or the adrenaline of having his name chanted in surround sound, but Tails felt on top of the world. Throwing his emptied cup to the side, cracking his cockiest grin, Tails grabbed a new ball. “Let’s just call that the end of round one.”

“CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG!”

Sonic now stood in a drinking contest of who could find the bottom of their beer bottle the fastest. And, well, Sonic wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, especially when it questioned his speed. (And he was a glutton for people chanting his name.)
 
Despite how disgustingly bitter and unpleasant it tasted, Sonic powered through. As soon as his lips met empty air, he slammed his bottle onto the counter, the clear winner in his battle against some older weasel guy in a brown hat that Sonic had never met. “Wooo! Ha ha, how do you like that!”
 
Cheers erupted from the small crowd that had gathered around them. A few drunken hands clapped him on the shoulder. Sonic felt his pride boost with each congratulations. 
 
Jet gave a slow clap from his perch on the counter, watching the games play out before him as he lazily sipped his drink. 
 
Sonic looked up at him, sloppily dragging the back of his hand across his mouth, wiping the excess from his muzzle. Jet followed the movement with drunken, half-lidded eyes. A small smile curled on his beak. 
 
He slid off the counter in one smooth motion and sidled up next to Sonic with more grace than he had any right to in the state he was in. “Well, well, well,” he drawled. “You’re drinking me under the table here, kid. I’m almost impressed.” He let out a chuckle, giddy with alcohol. 
 
Sonic was buzzing, an artificial warmth from the alcohol spreading across his body, flushing his cheeks. He laughed along with Jet, a little too excited to have his approval—if only in this regard. “What can I say, I aim to please!” He was floating somewhere outside of himself, light and happy and airy. 
 
“Hmm, I bet you do.” A hand slid across the small of Sonic’s back as Jet scooched ever-closer. Sonic’s laugh choked off in his suddenly dry throat. He could almost feel Jet’s beer-laden breath on his fur as he leaned up to whisper in his ear. 
 
“I’d love to see what else that throat can guzzle down.”
 
Sonic freezes as Jet’s hand slides further down his back, past his tail and—
 
“H-hey,” Sonic jumped, putting physical distance between himself and Jet. Jet only laughed, grabbing another beer as he threw a wink at Sonic. 
 
“Your loss,” he said, the slur in his voice butchering his attempt at sultriness. “Come find me later if you change your mind, rookie.” He slammed the bottletop against the counter edge with his fist, opening it in one movement. He paused, rim of the bottle at his lips. “I do have connections, y’know. If you play your cards right, I have recruiters on speedial.”
 
Sonic tensed, suddenly too aware of his heartbeat hammering in his chest. His brain was slow to catch up with what Jet was implying.

He can’t be serious.

“You’re bluffing,” he said, trying to keep his tone as even as he could. 
 
“And you’ll never know now, will you?” He eyed up Sonic’s form, his gaze lingering. He clicked his tongue. “Pity,” he murmured as blue eyes made it back to green. “Guess you don’t have the dedication I thought you might.” He turned on his heel, striding back toward the throng of people bathed in colored lights. “Ah well, there’s always someone else willing to make the sacrifices for what they want.”
 
“W-wha-wai—”Every word that stumbled over Sonic’s inebriated tongue died at his lips. The pleasant floatiness was gone and now he just felt...untethered. His hand was still loosely gripping the amber-colored bottle, and he only became aware of the tension in his grasp when his knuckles started to ache. 
 
The sounds of the party became dulled, muffled in his ears, bass pounding along with the ache forming at his temples.

Lazy.

Unmotivated.

No dedication.

Refusing a golden opportunity like this would be stupid.

Do you really think you could get there on your own?

Fat chance, dipshit.

He wasn’t sure how long it’d been, his floating attention span popping in and out. One second he’s in the living room, maneuvering through people. Next, he see’s Jet climbing the stairs. Then he’s following. And following. And follo—
 
“Tails! Tails! Tails!”

Tails… oh shit.

“Tails,” he half-shouted, half-slurred, snapping him partially out of his dazed stupor. A mountain of people were all focused in on one room, shouting the name of his little brother. Elbowing his way through, he eventually made it in. There, he found a wobbly looking Tails, picking up one of three plastic cups filled with—
 
“Miles Prower,” Sonic shouted, fully this time. His consciousness came crashing back into him, hitting like a physical weight in his chest. He balked at the scene before him, not exactly sobering up, but most certainly livid enough to pull some sense to his mind. “What are you doing?!”
 
Tails took a moment to respond, not quite sure if he was imaging the voice. He looked around, eventually settling on the shifting image of his big brother. “Oh, hey Sonic,” Tails slurred, words running together. “Guess ‘swhat? Turnsout i’m reaaaally good at beer pong!”
 
Between him and his swallow opponent, he had three cups left, while she had only one. She crossed her arms, clearly not as affected by her drinks as Tails was, and called to Sonic, “You need to take this kid home. Don’t think he can’t handle much more.” She frowned as she looked Tails’ way. If Sonic had the brainpower to read expressions right now, he would say she almost looked...guilty. 
 
Tails whipped back around, spilling a little of his drink in the process. “No! Not yet, I’ve got ya ooooooon the ropes, Wave! And then you’ll have to finally stop makin my classes a living hell!”
 
Sonic, equal parts angry, terrified, and dazed, came up to Tails now, looking him in the eyes. (Well, as best as he could with the drinks still swirling in his brain.) “Put that drink down, Miles.”
 
Tails, smirk morphing into a frown, brought the drink up to his lips.
 
“Miles Prower, don’t you dare—”
 
Before Sonic could finish, Tails chugged at least half of his drink, the rest spilling down his muzzle, throwing his cup to the crowd. They all ate it up, amused at Tails disobedience, hooting and hollering at the show. 
 
“We are going home right now, mister,” Sonic, grabbing onto Tails’ wrist began to pull him. Though it wasn’t for long as Tails broke free from his grasp, stumbling towards the table to catch his balance. 
 
“Oh,

now

you wanna go home, huh!? Finished schmoozing? Finished being the cool guy?” Tails was shouting now, anger boiling out of him like Sonic had never seen before. 
 
“Tails—”
 
“You dragged me here because you

needed

me? When?! You just abandoned me so you could kiss up to a bunch of jerks who don’t care about you! And It doesn’t matter how long you fix your quils or agonize over what stupid outfit you wear, you’re just a big dumb loser like me!” Everyone was watching, far too entertained to help a far too stunned to speak Sonic.
 
“And then there’s this b-bitch—” Tails pointed a woozy finger at Wave, who seemed a bit thrown off by his more colorful word choice. “Everyday, it’s always ‘hey shorty, did you get lost on the way to daycare,’ ‘what’s this garbage? Even a toddler like you should be able to defrag a hard drive’ ‘shorty, short stuff, kid this, kid that.’ My name is Tails, lady!” Turning his gaze back to his brother, Tails started up again.
 
“And you know what,

fuck

you Sonic!” 
 
“Tails!” Sonic was dazed. He’d never heard his brother talk like this before.
 
“You drag me to bars and parties that I don’even wanna go to, leave me unattended, like, what did you expect would happen to me? You’re a terrible brother!” Tails was now poking Sonic right in the stomach, stuttering a little over his words. 
 
“You always makin’ fun’a me likin’ plane documentaries, an’ stayin home!” His words were now starting to become unintelligible, finger losing pressure against Sonic’s chest. “An’ another thing, Topatomatamus 6 is absolute garbage, and, huuh—”
 
Tails, losing his balance, stumbled into Sonic, eyes fluttering. Sonic was quick to catch him immediately going full panic. “Tails? Tails, are you alright?” He tried to help Tails stand, to get a good look at him. 
 
“Uhhg, my head's spinning,” he mumbled, right before vomiting all over the ground, including Sonic’s shoes. Everyone backed up, a combination of “Ah, sick” and laughter erupted. 
 
“Yikes.  Mcfuckin’ yeouch,” Jet cackled, having slipped into the room without Sonic noticing. “And I just polished the hardwood last week.”
 
“Tails! Oh god,” Sonic, panicking, began to notice his brother’s eyes shutting. 
 
“Sonic, I don’t feel good,” Tails mumbled right before throwing up once more, this time mostly on himself. Then he was falling, face making a beeline to the pool of vomit on the aforementioned polished hardwood, Sonic stumbling to catch him in his arms again.
 
“Tails?! Tails, wake up,” he began to shake his smaller brother. No response.
 
Suddenly everyone was silent. The consquences hitting each of them like a dart filled with sobriety. Slowly, they all began to exit the room.
 
“Wait, wait! Somebody help! What do I do?” Sonic was now cradling an unconscious Tails in his arms, frantically looking around for someone to help him. He didn’t drink much, and wasn’t sure if this was just something he’d sleep off, or if his brother’s life was in danger.
 
Wave, a mixture of guilt and concern on her face, came over, laying a careful hand on his shoulder. “Uh, I think you should take him to the hospital.”
 
“Can someone get us to the hospital,” Sonic desperately cried out. Everyone clearly didn’t want to be a part of whatever potential trouble they could end up if any police were to be involved. Sonic felt rage growing from his terror. “What’s wrong with you guys?! My brother needs help!”
 
“Hey now, he’s just had more than he could handle,” Jet condescended, coming up to Sonic, placing a hand on his shoulder other shoulder, opposite Wave. “Just let the tyke rest, and we can—”
 
“Don’t touch me, you sick fuck,” Sonic roughly pulled his shoulder away, turning to Wave. “Where is the nearest hospital?”
 
Scared some by Sonic’s seething eyes, she quickly responded, “Eh, um, I think, uh, It’s past the train station? Some few blocks east, I think?”
 
Tightening his grip on Tails, Sonic began his march out of the room, and down the stairs. Wave and Jet followed behind him, as he bolted out the front door. He looked around, turning back to Jet standing in the doorway with a gaggle of onlookers.
 
“Which way is east,” he demanded.
 
“Th-that way. Wait, you aren’t gonna walk are you? It’s like 30 blocks away,” Jet gawked at him.
 
“I’m not gonna walk. I’m running,” He shouted, eyes wild, starting his mad dash down the dimly lit street.
 
Adrenaline and fear coursing through his veins, Sonic pumped his feet, holding on to his brother for dear life. His breath was sharp, short and burning his throat. His legs were numb. No matter how much his body screamed for him to stop, though, he didn’t. He couldn’t.
 
He’s saved Tails’ life once before. He could do it again. 
 
He looked down at his little brother’s face, bleary eyes closed, mouth slack, fur mussed and wet with liquour and sick. Two thoughts occupied his mind.

Faster. Faster. Faster.

He’s dying.

He’s dying.

He’s dying.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Shadow hurriedly grabbed the phone at his desk, quickly calling in for backup, and running to grab a wheelchair for the passed out fox in Sonic’s arms. Just as quickly, a team of nurses rushed up to Sonic, asking him too many questions at too great a speed for his still-intoxicated and incredibly panicked brain to keep up with.
 
“Um, he drank a lot, and then he threw up,” Sonic stammered, slowly realizing that they wanted him to put Tails down. “Age? Uh, h-he’s 13. Miles Prower. Oh, I’m his brother! M-my name’s Soni—uh—Maurice Prower.” Sonic watched helplessly as they began to wheel him through the swinging doors, into the ER. He started to follow, only to be met with a gentle yet forceful hand. 
 
“W-wait, I need to be with him,” Sonic stammered, trying to push past whatever force was trying to stop him.
 
“You need to stay out here.” His frantic eyes eventually noticed the owner of the hand. Shadow gave him a serious yet neutral look, trying to guide Sonic towards the seats of the lobby. 
 
Sonic kept his eyes trained on the double doors. “He’s going to be okay, right? Oh god, please tell me he’s going to be okay,” He begged, pleading eyes locked with Shadow’s. It would be irresponsible for any medical professional to promise anything, Shadow knew that. It didn’t make it any less difficult for him to leave a worried brother in the dark. 
 
“The nurses are going to look at him, but you need to wait out here,” Shadow calmly talked Sonic down, as an older rabbit lady came over to them. Shadow backed away, letting the rabbit woman take his place.
 
“Don’t worry Mr. Prower, we’re going to do everything we can for him, alright,” she reassured him with a calm, motherly voice. “Just take a seat here and fill out these forms. We’ll come get you once we know his condition, okay?”
 
Slowly situating himself in his seat, mind still struggling to keep up, he nodded silently, shakily taking hold of the clipboard Shadow returned with. His eyes were still wide and brimmed with tears that threatened to fall, and could hardly focus on the board in his hands.
 
“We’re going to go help with your brother, and we’ll return to update you soon, okay,” the rabbit lady asked sweetly. Sonic nodded shakily, doing his best to remember any of the information the form was asking of him, with no success. Shadow and the rabbit lady backed away, and disappeared through the ER doors.
 
The waiting room fell quiet once more, save for the sound of the T.V. and the tapping of Sonic’s trembling foot
  
Time crawled.
 
The clock ticked the seconds away. It was 1:23 a.m.
 
Sonic stared at the clock, a forlorn look in his eyes. His foot tapped away on it’s own time. He’d given up on trying to fill out the form beside him. 
 
Sitting still was difficult. It’s not like he could do anything. But it still ate at him. 
 
He could do nothing but sit and hope. 
 
The swinging doors finally opened. Shadow, now finished assisting the nurses, was returning to his position. He looked towards the distraught hedgehog across from him, eyes fixated on the clock.
 
It wasn’t uncommon for students to find themselves in the ER of the Station Square Municipal Hospital. It was less common for one so young to find themselves so dangerously intoxicated without the fully developed system to handle it. 
 
Shadow’s own eyes found themselves focused on Sonic’s troubled face. There wasn’t a single trace of the usual bright and peppy face he wore. This one was broken. This one was frightened. It pained Shadow. He’d once worn that look.

Unable to help the one you love. Unsure of their fate…

Sonic pulled his arms tighter around himself, looking helplessly trapped in the waiting room’s rigid wooden chair, quills a mess, eyes open as wide as they could be, perhaps searching for any kind of comfort in the slowly moving hands of the clock. His fingers could feel where Tails’ vomit had dried on his arm, crusting together in disgusting clumps on his sleeves, soaking through his lucky shoes. But it was all white noise. 
 
He didn’t even seem aware that Shadow was there. 
 
Shadow furrowed his brow. He tried to recall the pain he’d once felt, sitting in a very similar room awaiting whatever terrible news would come next. He remembered it clearly, Rouge’s comforting shoulder that soaked up his tears. 
 
Grabbing a warmed blanket from behind the front desk (kept for situations like this—panicked family members trapped in a state of shock), Shadow cautiously walked to Sonic's side. He didn’t notice Shadow seating himself beside him, far more focused on willing the clock to keep moving the night along.
 
“Here,” Shadow held out the blanket towards Sonic. Startled by Shadow’s sudden appearance, Sonic turned towards him, trying to regain some of his composure.
 
“Oh, Shadow! Don’t, uh, worry about me, I’m fine. Um, how’s Tails?” There was a shake in his normally confident one.
 
Shadow, unwrapping the blanket, tossed it gently over Sonic’s shoulders, obviously too out of sorts to think straight. “He’s fine, stable. His sodium levels are quite low, but that’s nothing an IV drip can’t help. He was nowhere near alcohol poisoning, thankfully, it just shocked his system.”
 
It was unreal. Tails was okay. Tails was going to make it through.

Tails had looked like he was on death’s door and it was all your fault.

“Heh, that’s really good, haha,” he gave a breathy laugh, trying to force a smile on his face. 
 
That floaty feeling came back, like he was outside of himself. But it wasn’t fun this time. 
 
“Haha, what a night,” Sonic began to laugh. “Your only brother in the ER because of you. Relatable, right?” Everything about this situation was so ridiculous. It wasn’t funny, yet still he laughed. He couldn’t hold it back. “Hahaha, big bro of the year! Hahahaha….” Laughter just forced its way out of his throat, strained, hoarse, and bordering on wailing. Shadow frowned as Sonic spiraled further into some kind of mania. 
 
Sonic tried to reign it in, but the harder he grabbed hold of composure, the harder it kicked him back towards hysteria. He bent over, held his face in his hands, desperate to make the laughing stop.
 
The laughter morphed into cries and tears seeped through his fingers. 
 
Shadow watched on, frozen, unsure what to do. 
 
Hesitantly, he put a hand lightly to Sonic’s back, gently rubbing between his heaving shoulders, trying to soothe him as best he could. Eventually, Sonic was left gasping for air, hyperventilating.
 
“
Sonic, you need to breathe slowly, okay,”  Shadow tried to pull Sonic back up into a more stable posture, placing one hand on his back, his other to his stomach, instinctually falling back on his medical training. “Cup your hands around your mouth and breath in. Hold it,” Shadow waited, counting 10 seconds in his mind, “Breathe out slowly.”
 
Sonic coughed, still too frantic to hold his breath longer than a few moments. Shadow kept coaching him, and Sonic followed along, his voice, the weight of his hands...grounding him in some way. Eventually, Sonic found his breath again, though his head was still light and swimming through a pool of beer. 
 
“Th-thanks, Shadow,” Sonic huffed out. He bent back over, elbows on his knees, head in his hands, breathing slowly returning to a normal rhythm. 
 
Shadow began to pull his hand away from Sonic’s back, giving the hedgehog some room to breathe.
 
“ … Shadow,” Sonic murmured, barely above a whisper.
 
“Yes,” Shadow answered in a gentle and even tone.
 
“Can you… keep doing that… it helps,” he muttered, eyes still staring firmly at the ground.
 
Shadow’s hand hovered in the air between them, a bit thrown off by this. Then, without him fully making the decision to, he placed his hand back in the spot it had occupied moments before, making small circles with his palm on Sonic’s back. Through the blanket and his shirt, he could feel the bumps of concentrated quills, flattened out some, less tension in his muscles there. 
 
They sat like this, for a while it felt. 
 
“Why…” Sonic mumbled to the ground.
 
“Hmm?” Shadow inquired.
 
“Why am I such a failure.” His voice lost any light it had left.
 
Shadow froze, hand stilling on his back, stunned by Sonic’s words—shaky, unguarded, helpless. “What do you—”
 
Sonic gave another self-deprecating chuckle. “I mean, it’s obvious, isn’t it,” he choked out. “Like, what am I even doing? You’ve said as much yourself.” He smiled, a hollow, faraway thing. “I thought I knew what I wanted, but...fuck, I guess I don’t. I’m just some directionless asshole who doesn’t know how to do anything and I constantly fuck everything up and make everyone else help me and fix my mistakes and—”
 
He let out a gasp for air before more words came rushing out of his mouth, tearing himself down at lightning speed. 
 
“And, shit, I’m supposed to be Tails’ big brother. I’m supposed to be someone he can fucking look up to for god’s sake! But what does he get stuck with instead? Some dumbass step-brother who’s so fucking self-centered and immature that he can’t even look past his own shit to see something is clearly wrong,

fuck

—” Sonic worked himself up into something of a frenzy, half-shouting by the end, tears now streaming freely down his cheeks. 
 
He was panting now as the tirade finally stopped, as if it took something physical out of him. 
 
“No one even wants me around. Knuckles and Tails are the only ones who tolerate me. Everyone hates me…” He bowed his head once more, hands clutching the back of his neck. “Even you can’t stand me,” he sheepishly whispered, between shaking breaths.
 
Shadow’s stomach sank. Hearing Sonic repeat some of the very insults he’d thrown at him filled him with shame. All this time, Sonic had been holding all these anxieties in, bottling them up and burying them for a later day. And he’d kept antagonizing him simply because he was ‘bothersome.’
 
Once more he placed his hand to Sonic’s back. 
 
“I don’t hate you, Sonic,” Shadow stated, softly, surprising even himself with the admission.
 
Sonic bit out a defeated laugh. “You don’t have to lie to me just because I’m sad,” he whispered.
 
“I don’t hate you,” he repeated, as firm as the first time. “I’ve… never been the best at communicating with others. And I… can be a jerk sometimes. I don’t… like…” Shadow paused, taking a deep breath. “… People are difficult.” Sonic turned his head slightly, eyeing Shadow, who, for the first time ever, had a genuine look on his face. Not indifference, distaste or any of his general apathetic masks. It was… real, his eyes squinted in embarrassment, mouth sporting a sympathetic frown.
 
“But, you’re always so… bright and…persistent. You’re able to talk to a complete stranger as though they were a long lost friend,” Shadow sighed, a small smile touching the corners of his mouth. “I suppose… I envy that about you. Or, more likely, I’m just too stubborn to let you win so easily.”
 
Sonic let out a single light snort, sniffling, “I could have told you that much.”
 
Shadow chuckled. “My issues aside…you… aren’t hopeless. Life is…difficult, at best. And it’s like that for everyone—even golden boy track stars.” Shadow kept his eyes on the tile next to his feet, refusing to meet Sonic’s teary-eyed look, unable to handle the weight of his gaze and his sudden, disarming honesty all at once.

God, how did Rouge handle me when I was like this

? Shadow sighed. “Emotions aren't…my strong suit. I don’t know if I’m the best person to be taking advice from. But...” he paused, thinking back for a moment, “You...can’t spend your life stressing over things you can’t control.” He racked his brain for something he thought the lost teen would need to hear. “Don’t agonize over some ideal of who you think you should be. Just be...Sonic, and try to fix what mistakes you can along the way. Growth is work, yes. But it’s...necessary.” Shadow shook his head, pausing in the tense silence that stretched between them. How did people do this? “Sorry, I can’t… I don’t know if that...helps or not.”
 
Sitting up, Sonic wiped away some of the tears still clinging to his eyes, a soft, trembling chuckle escaped his lips at Shadow’s sudden onset awkwardness. “No, no, I—thanks, Shadow. That means a lot to me.”
 
“Ah… yes… uh, it’s okay, don’t, uh, worry about it,” Shadow stumbled through his attempt at comfort. He glanced around at anywhere but Sonic, suddenly feeling uncomfortable and looking for an exit. “Well, I’m going to, uh—”
 
Without a word, or any warning, Sonic leaned over his chair’s arm, pulling Shadow into a hug. Stunned, Shadow, eyes firmly open now, hovered his hands. Sonic’s arms were wrapped firmly around Shadow’s neck, holding him close, notching his head on Shadow’s shoulder.
 
“Thank you,” he whispered, shaking with each breath.
 
Shadow wasn’t the best at reciprocating physical contact. He rarely hugged anyone, preferring to keep his bubble intact. But, something told him Sonic needed this... 
 
Bringing his arms under Sonic’s, he hugged him, lightly, patting his back.
 
Sonic eased off some first, but lingered close, as if Shadow’s touch was the only thing keeping him here. 
 
Silence hung between their breaths for a moment before Sonic broke it. 
 
“Can I see him?” He sniffed and shifted to wipe at his still wet eyes. “I know you said Tails is okay, but I just...need to see him.”
 
Shadow nodded softly. “Of course,” he murmured. But for a few beats, neither of them made a move, both of them quietly hesitant to pull away from the other.
 
But eventually, he pulled his hands from their newfound home on the curve of Sonic’s rib cage and stood. Sonic slowly followed, pulling the blanket tighter around his shoulders. 
 
He stood a bit straighter now, at least. And his limbs were no longer trembling. Shadow let out a breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding. 
 
The door opened again, snapping both of their attentions to the nice rabbit lady from earlier. “Mr. Prower?”
 
Sonic stuttered out a few half-sounds before settling on, “Uh, y-yes?”
 
She gestured back to the hallway behind her. “Your brother’s still resting, but if you want to follow me, I can take you to see him,” she offered. 
 
A shot of panic jumped into Sonic’s throat. He imagined Tails’ form swaddled in the stark white of hospital sheets, hooked up to tubes and IV drips and machines, looking too small, too frail, too—
 
His hand reached out to grab Shadow’s. “Can...can he come with me?”
 
The nurse paused there, seeming unsure at what answer to give. 
 
But Shadow did it for her. 
 
Shadow gave a squeeze to his hand, pulling Sonic back to reality. Sonic’s eyes jumped to his. 
 
“It’s all right,” he whispered. He gently pulled Sonic’s hand from his, letting his fingers linger on his wrist. “I have to stay here, okay? I’ll be right out here if you need me,” he assured, keeping his tone soft, lest Sonic have another breakdown. “I’ll...come check on you at the end of my shift, all right?”
 
Sonic slowly nodded, hesitating before stepping towards the door and following the nurse towards the room where his recovering brother lay. 
 
He gave one last look back at Shadow, eyes still shining with a million emotions, before the door swung shut and cut off their view of each other. 
 
Shadow let out a heavy breath as he plopped into the desk chair behind him. The empty space of the lobby before him suddenly felt too vacant, somehow, too hollow. His eyes fell to where he and Sonic had been sitting, now just two empty chairs. He swallowed the impulse to follow the kid, to follow the familiar route to where his brother’s room was. 
 
Shadow rubbed at his temples, exhaustion once again setting in. He sighed, looking to the ceiling and closing his eyes. Something about Sonic’s unanticipated breakdown had...unsettled him, to say the least, and his thoughts lingered on the kid’s well-being in spite of himself. He scrubbed a hand down his face. 
 
He was growing tired of hospitals and tears and anxiety and unknowns. 
 
He was…tired. They both were.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Sonic sat curled up upon the tacky floral upholstery of the old armchair in Tails’ dimly lit room. His body had been hit with a wave of mind-numbing fatigue as soon as he collapsed in his chair. Limbs throbbing from his mile-long sprint, arms especially sore. 
 
His eyes stung, begging to be shut for the night, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it, keeping his eyes on the rise and fall of a sleeping Tails’ chest. Occasionally, his chest would take a few seconds longer to rise, filling Sonic with momentary panic, only for it to resume its normal rhythm.

Don’t stop moving. Keep rising, keep falling, keep breathing.

Every exhale felt like the crest of a wave, each sigh of air pushing and pulling like the gentle rhythm of the tide. Sonic’s mind is briefly taken to the white sand of a beach—a family vacation. Bright blue saltwater swirled around their ankles, soaking through their fur. Tails laughed as Sonic chased him. 
 
The world belonged to them in moments like these. It was just them, the sea, their friendship, and their brotherhood. It was simple, sincere. It had always been like this between them. And it always would be… 
 
Eventually, the tang of sea breezes gave way to the smell of the dried vomit, slamming him back to the present and making his head pound and his stomach twist (well, more than they already were). 
 
The bathroom was too far, so he stretched over to the hand sanitizer pump attached to the wall, using a few pumps to try and vaguely wipe what grossness he could off. 
 
Well, the alcohol covered up the smell, at least. 
 
He cringed as he thought of Shadow having to deal with the disgusting display during his forced hug in the lobby. He should probably apologize for that…
 
He pulled his blanket tighter, swaddling himself into a hedgehog burrito, resuming his anxiety-induced vigil. 
 
He felt steeped in his own shame. It was his fault Tails was here. Of course, Sonic had to let Jet get to him

again

, to get pulled into his own bullshit, to drag Tails down with him too and then leave him

alone

—
 
He let out a breath, heavy with regret. Tails was having just as much trouble here as he was and he knew that. Hell, he’s definitely having a rougher time given the age difference, the pressure of being a “prodigy,” and who knows what else. 
 
His eyes traced over his brother’s form, too small, even for this undersized hospital bed. 
 
Fuck man, Tails is just a kid. He shouldn’t have had to grow up as fast as circumstances forced him to. He needed to be free to be a kid without having to take care of a manchild for a brother.
 
Tails shouldn’t have to be the adult for the both of them. 
 
And Sonic had been too slow to realize that when it mattered.
 
Minutes, or possibly hours later, Sonic was snapped out of his daze by the rustle of sheets. Tails shifted, rolling over onto his side.
 
Bleary eyes creaked open, slowly registering the literal blue blur at his side.
 
“S...Sonic,” he croaked, dry throat cracking on the word. 
 
Sonic could have lept, could have sobbed for joy, but his body held still, tense as a bowstring—as if any sudden movements could worsen his brother's condition. 
 
“Yeah, buddy,” he asked, barely above a whisper. 
 
“Cam I…” Tails paused. Winced. Tried again. “Water,” he got out. 
 
Sonic was out of his chair in a flash, moving with an urgency he didn’t think he possessed after tonight. He grabbed the cup the nurses left for him on the bedside table, turning the bendy straw towards Tails. 
 
Tails sucked down a few large gulps before taking a breath. “Thanks,” he said, slightly clearer now. 
 
Sonic sat the cup back down, but didn’t move far, pulling his chair up to the bedside. 
 
Silence hung between them for a moment, a million thoughts running through Sonic’s head, but none of them managing to manifest into words. 
 
“Sorry,” Tails mumbled from beside him, a wobbly frown across his muzzle. 
 
Sonic scrambled. “N-no, you have nothing to be sorry for, Tails.”
 
Tails looked away from Sonic. “I messed up, Sonic. I guess I really am just a stupid kid.” While he couldn’t see his face, Sonic could still hear the tears building, voice wobbling, cracking. “A-and I’m s-sorry for all those terrible things I said,” he stopped there, tears halting his words in their tracks.
 
Sonic’s heart ached, eyes filling with tears he wasn’t aware he still had in him. “Tails, oh no, no, it’s not your fault. You’re right, I’m a terrible brother. I was too self-absorbed and stupid to help you when you clearly needed it and I dragged you to a freaking college party when neither of us clearly wanted to go and then I left you all alone and you must have been scared and lonely and and—” Sonic stopped, heaving, remembering his breath, tears finally streaming down his muzzle.
 
“Sonic…?” Tails croaked. He’d never seen Sonic like this. His whole life his older brother had been an unshakeable pillar of confidence and positivity.
 
Sonic buried his face on the side of Tails’ bed. “I’m so sorry, Tails, I’m so sorry, I’ve failed you as a friend, as a...a role model, as a brother. I can’t do anything right anymore and I’m so sorry,” Sonic whimpered, unsure of what he was even really saying anymore, words just falling out the moment they entered his consciousness.
 
Tails was stunned into silence. Had Sonic always been like this? How long had this been building, lingering beneath, finally cracking his shield of confidence and surfacing? 
 
Looking down at Sonic, head still buried, shaking, Tails lifted his arm with what little energy he had left, and placed it on Sonic’s head. “S-sonic… It’s fine.”
 
“No, no, it’s not fine,” Sonic mewled. “It’s because of me you’re all strung up in a hospital bed! You could have d-died.”
 
“It wasn’t because of you Sonic,” Tails sniffled. “And I wouldn’t have died. It was just my stupid decission, my mistake. You didn’t force me to make a stupid bet, that probably has no value.”
 
“You wouldn’t have been in that situation if I had been there for you more, though,” Sonic looked up a little, meeting Tails’ own glossy eyes and tear stricken face. It matched his own. “I should’ve, should’ve—” he ran out of words, resorting only to small whimpers and sniffling.
 
Tails too was speechless, leaving only a sniveling mess of whines in his still-dry throat. Sonic, practically throwing himself on Tails, pulled him into an awkward half-hug. Tails grabbed on in turn, holding on for dear life. They held onto each other as tight as they could manage now, shaking with sobs.
 
Sonic’s thoughts were pulled back again, to the slow summertime days of childhood—when Tails would fall off his scooter, cry his eyes out. Always, Sonic would be there. He’d pull him up on his back, and just let him cry on his shoulder all the way home.
 
This was the first time, he realized, he had the chance to use Tails’ shoulder in turn.
 
Once they had gotten everything they could out of their system, they remained, holding as if their lives depended on it. It was Tails who broke the fragile silence.
 
“Sonic,” he mumbled through the quills on his brother’s head.
 
“Yeah, Tails?”
 
“If you’re feeling bad, will you tell me? You’re my older brother, but I’m here for you too, okay? I don’t want you to feel like you have to bear everything on your own.” Tails’ eyes looked straight into Sonic’s now, shining with a sudden determination behind the tiredness and tears. 
 
He extended a waiting pinkie to his older brother, a familiar gesture. And that in itself relayed the seriousness of his words.

A promise

, made between them a thousand times over. 
 
Sonic paused, feeling lighter than he had all evening.  He locked his littlest finger together with Tails’. “Of course, Tails. You too, don’t feel like

you

have to bear everything on your own. We’re in this together, alright? The weight of the world isn’t so bad when you let others share it,” He waxed, exhaustion turning out some surprisingly eloquent thoughts. “It’s easy to forget, but we’re both still kids—we’re both still trying to figure this out—and we dumb kids gotta look out for each other.”
 
Tails gave a weak chuckle at that. “Alright, we do.”
 
“You know what? I’m actually kinda sick of that,” Sonic started, exhaustion refusing to stop his thoughts from tumbling out as they came—or maybe acting as a catalyst for them. “From now on, we’re forbidden from being mean to ourselves. We’re both just...inexperienced cool guys, okay?”
 
“Yeah,” Tails sniffed. “Cool guys. That’s what I’d use to describe us at this very moment.”
 
“And you aren’t alone in this Tails. You’ll always have me, Amy, Knuckles, mom and da— Oh crap!” Sonic shot up from Tails, standing far too quickly for his blood to keep up, making him flop back into his chair just as quickly. “… I should probably tell them that we’re here.” After the whirlwind of chaos and emotion, he’d only now just remembered that.
 
Tails yawned, “Probably… well everyone’s asleep, so we can call them in the morning.” He glimpsed at the clock hung next to the T.V. reading 4:05. “Well, later in the morning.”
 
“Yeah, guess your right,” Sonic yawned, laying his head back down on the side of Tails’ bed. “Man, what do we tell mom and dad?”
 
“The truth, I guess,” Tails mumbled, eyes already closing. “Or at least some version of it.”
 
Sonic nodded, only half-understanding the English language at this point. “Yeah, I guess that’s for the best. Should I leave out the part where you told me to ‘fuck off’? Can’t let them know their baby boy’s got a sailor’s mouth,” he cut himself off with a yawn. “That’s gotta be the most scandalous part of all of this.” He gave a cheeky grin—well, as much of one as he could muster.
 
Tails let out a quiet chuckle. “Oh no, a teen said a swear—our whole family will be shunned.”
 
Sonic curled his arms under his head as a makeshift pillow. “Don’t worry,” he mumbled as his eyes finally slid shut with the weight of sleep. “You’re the only family I need.”
 
Side by side, the two brothers finally gave into their exhaustion, tears finally drying and breathing finally slowing as they got some much needed rest. 
  
Sonic woke to the sound of his phone buzzing aggressively on the bedside table, the cheesy grin of Knuckles’ contact photo flashing on his screen. 
 
He blearily grabbed at it, rubbing his eyes as he looked at the harsh light of his home screen. 
 
He swiped to the answer button, if only to stop the noise. “Hello,” he creaked, only just remembering to keep his voice down for a still-sleeping Tails. 
 
He was met with Knuckles’ booming laughter. “Man, you sound like death. Figured you’d still be asleep.”
 
Sonic glanced at the clock on the wall, squinting to make sense of the numbers—just past 7:00 am. 
 
“Well, up and atem. Get that track star butt out of bed. I’m treating you dudes to a celebratory breakfast and then we’re gonna make a day out of it,” Knuckles continued excitedly. “Feel kinda bad for skipping out on you last night. Tails looked kind of down about it.”
 
Sonic winced at the reminder. 
 
“But my date went great, thanks for asking. We went to this Italian place—’Marble Garden’ I think, can’t really remember right now. Oh, and you remember Rou—”
 
“Uuhh, Knuckles” Sonic swallowed, breaking through Knuckles’ monologue. “Last night—” The words stuck in his throat. “I, um… We…”
 
Knuckles paused, no doubt hearing the shake in Sonic’s voice. “Everything alright, buddy? Did something happen last night?” His tone was more serious now, worried.
 
“Tails might’ve, umm…gotten drunk and now we’re in a hospital in Station Square.” Somehow, saying it out loud, putting words to it felt...heavier. 
 
He could almost hear Knuckles shifting gears into Dad Mode. “What?! Drunk?

Hospital?

Sonic Maurice Ogilvie Prower the Hedgehog, what happened last night?”
 
Sonic let out a breath as he guiltily dredged up the saga from last night, recounting the party Jet had pushed him to go to, his abandonment of Tails, neatly skirting around the details of their drunken argument, and ending where they were now—with Tails asleep in a hospital bed as they both slowly recovered. “He’s fine, though,” he quickly reassured. He glanced back at Tails. He looked… messy, but brighter, at least. “We’re both fine.”
 
Knuckles blew out a sigh, reeling. “You should have called me last night… but, I'm glad you’re both okay at least. That’s what matters.” He paused. “Station Square, you said?”
 
Sonic nodded, before his tired brain remembered he was on the phone. “Yeah.”
 
“I’m on my way now,” Knuckles decided quickly, wasting no time as always. “I’ll call you as soon as I’ve parked.”
 
“Okay… oh and could you also bring a spare shirt? I’ve been rocking dried Tails spew for longer than I’d like,” Sonic lightly joked, looking towards his poor Soap shoes—definitely ruined by now. Mourning their loss was added to the laundry list of emotions to sort through later.
 
“Well, I’m sure you’ve already had a tough enough night, I can do that much for you,” Knuckles teased. “See you soon.”
 
“Yeah,” Sonic whispered, “See ya.” Hanging up, Sonic turned to Tails. Still snoozing and, thankfully, breathing.
 
Sonic stretched, sore from last night’s terrible decisions and less-than-ideal sleeping conditions. His stomach felt like it was full of rocks, and his mouth was as dry as a desert. He wanted to find a nice warm bed to crawl into, as well as a less vommy set of clothes, but that would have to wait.
 
He needed to call their parents.
 
Sonic sighed, closing his eyes. What was he going to say? What would they do? He hadn’t even thought to consider how much this hospital stay would end up costing. Tails is a minor, and this kind of negligence was sure to incur severe parental repercussions at best, legal consequences at worst. Could he be kicked out of college? Would they pull Tails out early, snuff out his education—his dreams—right then and there?
 
The more Sonic realized the reality and consequences of what was to come, the smaller he felt.

I could just tell them he got sick… caught a stomach bug? I’m sure there must be laws on hospitals giving out details, so no one has to know…

Sonic frowned. When it came to a challenge of pride or ability, he never backed down. But now, when his maturity and responsibility was being challenged…

Choking on your own cowardice even now, huh.

Shaking his head, Sonic stood. 
 
He needed to grow up. Tails needed him to grow up. And he needed to do it fast, no matter the consequences.
 
Walking to the door, he mentally prepared himself for his next call. He stopped for a moment, eye catching on an apple and a bottle of orange juice hanging out on a small table by the door. There was a sticky note next to them, with a familiar style of semi-legible handwriting. The note read:

Take care of yourself.

Sonic chuckled softly, cracking a small smirk. Grabbing the apple, and tucking the juice under his arm, he went into the hall of the hospital, feeling a bit braver now.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Hmm… what’s the word for track and field again?” Sonic flipped through his Japanese textbook, finding the glossary in the back. “Tra-tra-tra-tra, ah, track. Ri-ku-shou? Oh, no that’s jyou. Rikujyou. Man, reading hiragana is tough…” A week had passed in what felt like a year. Every moment since the party incident had dragged at a snail's pace. Tails wasn’t in the hospital for long. In fact, it was only after running a few tests on him that they determined that his biggest problem was a lack of sodium in his system. All it took was an IV drip and Tails was cleared to head home that Sunday afternoon.  Sonic supposed it was a good thing that Tails didn’t have to stay more than a day at the hospital. But, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the doctors and nurses could have missed something. Even the night they returned to their dorms, Sonic found himself unable to sleep, keeping an ear out for his brother's steady breathing. Life, however, continues as always. And Sonic was already in danger of failing most of his classes, even without the days he skipped last week adding to that. Thankfully, his professors had all been understanding when he emailed them. But he knew he shouldn’t rely on that to get him through his midterms. Nestled in a booth at the library cafe, he thought he’d start doing this new fangled thing Tails and Shadow were always going on about: stud-y-ing. “Okay, ‘ watashi ha, rikujyou ga daisuki desu -uhhhhh- yo ?’” His Japanese midterm consisted of an interview, so getting down his self-introduction was going to be crucial. “‘ Watashi ha….jyuu… nana-sai ?’ No wait, ‘ Jyuu-kyuu-sai… desu .’” The bell of the cafe door rang with the entrance of one it’s chronically-fatigued regulars.  Shadow, having just finished his last class of the day, came to grab his usual americano. From the corner of his eye, the familiar bright blue form of his classmate caught his attention. Sonic, biting the end of his pen, was absorbed in his studies, earbuds blocking out the world around him. A strong mix of emotions hit Shadow. This was the first time he had seen Sonic since…  He looked away, trying to remove him from his periphery. His coffee came quickly, so he didn’t have to stay long. But…  Grabbing his cup, he made his way to the booth Sonic was seated at. Nose in his notebook, Shadow went completely ignored for a good minute, until he worked up the courage to make his presence known. “Um.. ahem,” Shadow coyly cleared his throat. Surprisingly, this made its way through Sonic’s music. “Hmm? Oh! Hey Shadow!” Sonic beamed, that patently obnoxious smile Shadow didn’t realize he was beginning to tolerate. It seemed as if the events of last weekend hadn’t even happened. “Um, I… hope I’m not disturbing your studies—” “Of course not, bud! Here, have a seat,” Sonic motioned to the opposite side of the boothe, pulling out his earbuds. Shadow, still a bit hesitant to interrupt, slowly took his seat. He took a moment to inspect Sonic’s workload. He had an English composition textbook, as well as a college algebra textbook set to his side. Currently, he had a rather messy looking notebook and a textbook for what seemed to be Japanese opened before him. “You seem to be hard at work,” Shadow commented, no sarcasm or ire to be found. A simple statement, keeping his words even, careful—the first words he had spoken to the kid after soothing his sobs a week earlier. Well, at least the tears seemed to be gone now.  “Heh, well, better late than never, I always say,” he chuckled. “So, Shadow, ‘ genki ?’” Shadow blinked. “Excuse me?” Sonic laughed again, “It means, ‘how are you,’ in Japanese. Sorry, gotta practice where I can!” “I… see,” Shadow proceeded to take a sip of coffee, unsure how to respond to that. “I’m as well as I can be, I suppose.” He couldn’t look Sonic in the eye. After everything that happened Shadow felt… odd around him now. Was it guilt? Maybe. Anxiety? Well, that’s nothing special. It was a peculiar sensation, tightening his stomach and making his thoughts— Sonic spoke up again, snapping Shadow’s eyes back up. He was glad to see those forest green orbs filled with some of their usual mirth. His mouth almost twitched up at the realization.  “Ah, yes, ‘ ii ne ~, ii ne ~.’ I myself am feeling pretty ‘ genki ,’ all things considered,” he gave an enthusiastic, and seemingly genuine thumbs up. “But… I thought you said ‘ genki ’ means ‘how are you,’” Shadow questioned, stirring sugar into his drink—an excuse to focus back on the cup.  “Oh, yeah, I guess ‘how are you’ is a more general kinda translation? You see, my prof says that the word ‘ genki ’ is, like, just the general idea of being alright and energetic? It’s hard to translate exactly, to be honest.  So, like, in Japanese, what you’re really asking is ‘hey, are you genki ?’ And then the response is like ‘yeah, I’m genki !’” Sonic spent a good chunk of his explanation looking up at the ceiling, maybe trying to find his answer there. “Does that make sense?” “Hmm, more or less,” Shadow humored him. “Do you enjoy studying Japanese?” “Oh yeah! It’s actually pretty fun and easy to get so far! Aside from learning the writing systems, it’s not too hard to keep up with. And hopefully it’ll help me understand Tomatopotamus X in its purest original form,” Sonic smiled, with only a small twinge of embarrassment at that last part. Shadow sipped his coffee again, using the time to formulate a polite response. “That’s… quite ambitious… and admirable.” “Really? Haha, thanks! Tails just thinks I’m some nerd,” Sonic pouted a moment.  Shadow froze for a moment. The real questions he wanted to ask Sonic were having trouble making their way past his lips.  Sonic noticed. From the moment Shadow sat down, his eyes kept avoiding Sonic’s, and his posture was more nervous and tense than his usual fatigued slump. Sonic couldn’t deny he felt it too.  He tried to break the tension before it could mount any further. “Hey, Shadow, about last week… um, jeez, I’m actually not sure what to say,” Sonic chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck in a trademark display of nervousness.  “How is your brother, speaking of?” Shadow relaxed a bit, and tried to keep a hold of Sonic’s eyes.  Sonic’s smile softened, “He’s alright, thankfully. Our parents came to take him home for a little bit…” He paused, looking down at his Japanese notes. “Man, my parents were…  ooh boy, they were not happy,” he chuckled again. “It was really hard to admit to them what happened. When I called them, they sounded so terrified…” Sonic trailed off, the smile he wore turning into something more ironic and pained.  Shadow set his drink to the side. “It’s not your fault, Sonic.” It was the first thing he could think to say, something placating and comforting—a thing Rouge often reiterated to him.  “No, no, you don’t have to say that,” Sonic waved his hand, giving Shadow a reassuring smile. “It is entirely my fault. My parents are right. When they came to get Tails, they let me have it. ‘What were you thinking?! You promised you’d take care of Miles, and you let this happen to him?’” Sonic sighed. “They were so disappointed.” “Well… we all make mistakes,” Shadow sheepishly offered, not exactly sure what to say here. In the week since the incident, Shadow’s entire perspective of Sonic had shifted. It wasn’t often that he went from practically hating someone to…well liking was a strong word...amenable to their presence.  “Yeah, I know, but some mistakes can have much worse consequences…” Sonic’s mind returned to all those horrid thoughts he had of what could happen to Tails. He was so sure that he was going to lose Tails. All because of his own stupid choices. Sonic slapped his hands to his face, catching Shadow by surprise. “Gah, no sense stressing over things I can’t control, right? Tails is okay! Live and learn, and all that!”  Shadow’s heart softened at the familiar words. “That is a good way to look at things.” “Heh, thanks Shadow,” Sonic smiled, eyes closed. “You know, after our little, uhh, ‘conversation,’ it really got me thinking. I do need to grow up. Not just because I think I should, but because I need to. Tails needs me to.” There was a newly ignited fire in Sonic’s eyes, a determination that shone through any self-doubts he still had. He really was admirable. Shadow knew, it was not easy to take such a traumatic experience and actually grow from it. He supposed he’d have to wait and see what Sonic did from here, but strangely, he felt hopeful, if not certain, he’d be able to come out the other side a better person. “ I… I think you will be able to attain such a goal, Sonic.” Sonic paused, momentarily surprised. “Huh, well that’s new.”  Shadow cocked an inquisitive brow. “What?” “You called me by my name. You didn’t call me kid, miscreant, or even obnoxious reprobate. Hey, I’m not complaining or anything, just a little shocked!” Sonic leaned on his hand, giving Shadow a playful smile. Shadow’s checks reddened. He had forgotten how easily Sonic could get under his skin. Almost made him regret the kindness he was extending to him. “Hmph. Would you prefer if I started calling you Maurice instead?” Sonic practically hissed, cringing at his given name. “Ugh, no, only my mom calls me that! Plus, it makes me sound all stuck-up and old-fashioned.” Shadow gave a half smirk, trying to navigate this new teasing territory. “No need to worry about that. I think I fill those roles quite easily myself.” He eyed Sonic over his coffee. “You even said so yourself.”  Sonic balked, suddenly recalling their heated (if a little tipsy) argument at the bar back when they first met, flinging whatever insults they could think of at the other to just one-up them in anger. He winced. His righteous fury only felt embarrassing now. “Oh man, I didn’t really mean any of that Shadow. I was just being an idiot. You’re really great, actually. I hope you’re not still mad—” Shadow quickly held up a hand, trying to swallow the last of his coffee quickly. “Oh, no, that was only a joke.” Sonic froze. Then he laughed, starting at a small giggle, slowly building into a full on chortle. Shadow didn’t really think it was that funny, but even he had a hard time suppressing a slight snicker. He wasn’t one to let his composure slip for too long, though. Coughing slightly he fixed his face back to a slightly forced frown, “It’s not that funny.”  Sonic, still riding his last waves of laughter, wiping his eyes, tried to reel it in. “Ha, haa, no it’s not, but it’s just, ha, that’s the first time I think I’ve ever heard you make a joke!” Shadow paused at this realization, surprised at himself for getting so comfortable so quickly. Oh, Maria would have an absolute field day with this . He cleared his throat, suddenly awkward. “I apologize. Perhaps that was a bit inappropriate. I know we’re not—”  Sonic shook his head. “Nah, don’t sweat it buddy.” He leaned back casually in his seat. “I like jokey Shadow! It’s...a welcome change.”  Sonic was fully grinning at Shadow now, eyes gleaming with this new knowledge about his ever-brooding classmate. His cheeks were still flushed with laughter...and there was that feeling again—  As quick with his words as he was on his feet, Sonic shifted the conversation with a twirl of his pencil. “Though, I am wondering—why’d you come over here, anyway? You’re not usually one to go out of your way to start up small talk—especially not with me.”  Shadow scrambled, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation before quickly realizing he didn’t have one. He just felt...compelled, he supposed. But there’s no way he’d explain that to Sonic. He barely understood it himself.  His eyes glanced back down to Sonic’s open books askew on the table. “The project,” he said, a little too quickly. “You… missed class, and… I thought I should update you so we don’t fall behind.”  Sonic perked up at his answer. “Oh yeah! Don’t worry, I already emailed the professor about my sitch’. Didn’t want him to think I just started skipping class all together.” He gave an awkward giggle, but it wasn’t as bright as before. “He gave me an extension on the write-up for the maintenance thing, though, so don’t worry! I should have it done by the end of the week.” He flashed a thumbs up and a wink. “You can count on me.”  Shadow blinked. Truthfully, he had already written a draft of the write-up, nearly ready to hand in. Not because he didn’t trust Sonic to get it done—he’d proven himself determined to a fault—but just in case he needed...the space, Shadow supposed. “You didn’t have to do that, given,” he made a vague gesture around them, “the circumstances. But…I appreciate that you did.” Shadow swirled the last dregs of his coffee around in his cup. “Well, I suppose with that settled, when you feel up to it, we can start planning for the next assignment.”  “Alrighty! Well hey, why not get cracking on it now? What is our next task again,” Sonic inquired, leaning back again in his seat, locking his hands behind his head.  “Here, I grabbed your handout,” Shadow rummaged through his backpack, producing a neatly stowed handout. “Sometime next week, we are supposed to volunteer at a Chao daycare, helping take care of them and look after them, and such. Afterwards, we write a report on our experience, and according to the professor, that will be considered our midterm.”  Sonic took the handout, glancing over it and finally processing what Shadow said. “Wait, so, we get to spend all day playing with cute little Chaoooo,” Sonic beamed, a face filled with the wonder and innocence of a toddler receiving their favorite gift on Christmas.  “Uhh, yes, I suppose that is the idea,” Shadow responded, a bit thrown off by Sonic’s enthusiasm. He wasn’t unenthused exactly, but Shadow was already thinking of the headache forming from keeping tabs on a bunch of rowdy young Chao. He already had a handful taking care of Maria when she was younger. “The professor will set up our volunteer times, we just need to submit our availability by next class.” “Can do, buckaroo! You’ve usually got more on your plate than I do, so whenever’s best for you should work for me,” Sonic winked. “All right. I’ll email a handful of times to the professor, and I’ll message you the details once they’re set.” Shadow tucked away his home-ec binder. His coffee was long gone at this point and he resisted the urge to order another one. He looked again at the books at Sonic’s side. “I suppose I shouldn’t keep you from your studies any longer.”  Sonic chuckled. “No, it was a nice distraction.” He paused, looking thoughtfully up at Shadow as he stood. “Ya know, I think this may be the longest conversation we’ve ever had without arguing!”  His smile was softer now, more pleasant. “You’re a really nice guy Shadow!”  Shadow froze, empty cup in hand, stuttering in the face of Sonic’s blindsiding sincerity. “Well, I um—you—”  Sonic’s smile grew into a mirthy grin. “Does this mean we’re fwieeeeends now?” Shadow rolled his eyes. There was that annoyance he remembered. “Don’t push your luck, kid.” Sonic laughed at that, as Shadow turned to leave. “Later Shadow. Oh, or should I say, ‘ sayonara ’ Shadow!”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Bright blue eyes and laughter like bells. They’re left alone to play in the meadow again. Small, delicate hands place a flower crown upon his head. A smile counters his cranky frown. The petals tickling his quills annoy him, but he keeps them there so the grin doesn’t leave her face.  They fall back into the grass. As his voice forms around her name— Maria —the sun above melts into something colder, more artificial.  Stark white tile and the harsh lines of walls. A figure stands before him now. Shadow can’t recall their face—he never can—but the words they speak are burned into him like a brand.  
“...sickness…”
 
“...terminal…”
 
“...doing everything we can, but…”
  “...we’ve never encountered anything like this…”   Arms hold onto him now, refusing to let go— dark wings wrapped around him like a shield, letting him hide. And he’s silently grateful for that—the momentary darkness, the quiet as the sting of tears gathers in his eyes. Rouge doesn’t say a word. She doesn’t need to.  Sunken eyes and an exhausted frame. He pours over articles and medical journals and even his freshman-level college textbooks, looking for something, anything that can—  “Shadow.” Rouge’s voice is stern now, harsh to Shadow’s ears. “When are you going to stop this?”   “I can’t.” His own response is automatic, already the default after a year. Had it only been a year? 
“Killing yourself like this won’t save her.” 
 His jaw tightens.  
“Will you please just talk to—”
  “I cannot talk to him .”  The argument is cyclical, a neverending roundabout they go through again and again in the years following.  But even then, she still stays around to have it with him, never letting go, even now.   
“I know you love her. But maybe this is something you can’t do for her. Shadow, your cause is admirable, but you can’t spend your life stressing over things you can’t control…” 
 Suddenly Rouge’s voice becomes his own, a softness he rarely possessed.  His world shifts again.  Warmth emanating through a blanket beneath Shadow’s hand. The feeling of a ribcage expanding and collapsing in slow, shaky breaths.  Tears falling from green eyes. 
“I’m such a failure…”
 Words of defeat, not dissimilar from the very words he had used to insult the very person speaking them now.   No, no that isn’t right , he tries to say, but the words are stuck. You shouldn’t have to bear the weight of my own issues as well as yours.    “Even you can’t stand me…”   This one strikes like lightning, right through his spine. Something in him breaks.  He lets out a sigh, a mixture of frustration and pain. “If only that were true,” he finally speaks.  Arms suddenly wrap around him. Tears on his shoulder. Whispers in his ear.  Time drags on, trudging through molasses as they pull apart. They linger in each other’s orbit, noses close enough to brush.  Neither of them can tell who breaks first. A hand extending towards a face, cupping it gently, the gap between them is closed and— The world freezes.   The blaring sound of his alarm jolts Shadow to sit straight up in his bed, hands gripping his sheets.  It took a few moments for him to swipe the screen on his screaming phone, throwing the room into silence. The darkness soaked the room in a lonely calm. A stark juxtaposition from the strange reality Shadow broke free from. His head fell back to his pillow, eyes firmly open. A dream. It was just a dream. Perhaps it could more appropriately be labeled as a nightmare. A mixture of traumatic events he’d rather forget. All of them as real as the moment they happened. All except…  “What was that,” he whispered to the silence. With everything that had transpired between him and Sonic, he hadn’t taken much time to consider the meaning of it all. Sonic was always so honest, and open, yet even he was capable of bottling his troubles. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Shadow was certain he had a hand in filling that bottle. But, despite everything, Sonic still opened up to him, laid bare his vulnerability for Shadow.  And now, Shadow knew he couldn’t just go back to how things were. He could no longer just ignore or antagonize Sonic. He couldn’t just push him away anymore. It wasn’t right. Shadow lifted his hand above his face, barely visible from the early light crawling in through his blinds. He brought it closer to his face. It was the same hand that had silenced an excited Sonic in the library, the same hand the had bandaged his finger, the same hand that caressed his back, held him close, cupped his face— Slamming his hand to his side, Shadow grasps at the closest pillow, practically smothering his face, snuffing out any more of these disgusting thoughts.  Eventually, casting his pillow aside, he decided to just start his Saturday, rolling through his morning routine as always. He was free today, and hadn’t put much thought into how he’d fill it, outside of the normal mix of cleaning and homework.  After a rather pathetic breakfast of toast and coffee, he sat with his crochet, feeling a bit obstinate at starting any real work. Perhaps the kid was starting to rub off on him. 
Oh, the horror… well that's not nice… 
 His phone buzzed on his coffee table. Perking up, he quickly grasped at it, not sure where the anticipation was even coming from.  ...It was a text from Rouge. He wasn’t disappointed, exactly, but— 
“Surprise! You, my dear, are coming to brunch with me! 😉” 
 Shadow bit back his usual impulse to sigh at Rouge’s impromptu antics. If he was honest with himself, he would be grateful for the company. Letting Rouge dominate a conversation would be a welcome distraction—some sense of normalcy.  His phone sounded off again.  
“And none of that ‘i’m too busy.’ I know you’re off today. 💜” 
 Shadow rolled his eyes as he pecked out a response. 
“I would ask how you know my work schedule, but I think I know better by now.”
 
“How right you are! I’ll be over in a few, so get ready!” 
  True to her word, Rouge slid into her usual space in front of Shadow’s building just as morning was threatening to turn into afternoon—prime brunching hours. “There’s my favorite sourpuss,” Rouge greeted as she backed out of the space, using her rearview mirror more as a way to check the wings of her eyeliner than to watch for any cars behind her.  “Sourpuss, huh?” Shadow smirked. “That’s a new one.”  Rouge reached across to pinch at his cheek. “Had to buy a thesaurus just for you, sweetie. Gotta keep our witty banter fresh.”  “So I get to look forward to an ever-rotating arsenal of silly nicknames for the rest of my life. I’m so grateful.” Rouge gave an over-dramatic gasp. “Awww, Shadow I think that’s the first time you’ve admitted we’re going to be best fwiends fowevew . You big softie.” Shadow frowned. “And it’ll be the last time I say anything of the sort if you’re going to react like that.” As expected, that only made Rouge laugh.  Eventually, the drive lulled into Rouge’s monologue—something about a new touring exhibit of some crown jewels she’d been meaning to check out. Shadow was only half-listening. His eyes watched the moving scenery, pausing in the calm for once to take in his surroundings. He never realized how charming the Green Hill landscape was—calm, rolling fields spread between the different sections of town.  Sonic’s voice popped into his head before he could stop it, making a joke as part of his never-ending crusade to get some sort of rise (or laughter) out of Shadow. “Man, it’s so green. And so… hilly. Huh. Guess the town naming committee ran out of ideas.”   Shadow imagined him pausing for laughter, like a performer waiting for a response from the crowd. And as he pictured that eager expression following the equally eager attempt at comedy, there was a twinge of fondness there— Shadow groaned in disappointment, holding his face in his palm. “You alright Shadow? You’re angstier than usual,” Rouge asked, thankfully only removing her gaze from the road for a quick side-eye. “... I’m just peachy.” Rouge’s car slowed to a stop and Shadow’s eyes snapped up to the building before them.  The Dry Lagoon.  Shadow let out a noise of protest. “This place? Again?” “Come on, don’t be like that,” Rouge pouted. “Believe it or not, this has actually become one of my favorite spots in town.”  Shadow deadpanned. “The constant free drinks from horny men might have something to do with that.”  Rouge shrugged. “Maybe. But they do also have killer mimosas for their brunch happy hour.” She winked. “And you look like you could use a drink.” Well, I can’t deny her that.  And with that, she stepped out of the car before Shadow could offer any more counterpoints. So he just followed, bracing himself for the noise as they opened the door.  In the daylight, though, the Dry Lagoon seemed to be surprisingly quiet, only a few patrons among its tables, wistfully day-drinking or munching on standard pub food. Even the sound was softer, the wannabe live band swapped out for what sounded like an art student’s indie-rock playlist coming through the speakers.  “Huh,” Shadow said as he slid into the booth, trying and failing to keep the surprise out of his voice. “I didn’t think this place had a setting that wasn’t ‘loud and obnoxious.’” Rouge smirked. “Well, snap judgements like that can’t really give you the whole picture, now can they?” She eyed him over her menu.  Shadow pointedly didn’t respond to that.  After some half-hearted perusing of their limited food options, he defaulted to his usual choice—the cheapest thing on the menu, which in this case happened to be a salad. Couldn’t be too bad, even from a place like this.  Shadow watched as Rouge sauntered up to the bar to place their order, lowering her eyelashes and leaning enticingly over the dark wood. The barkeep only nodded dumbly.  Shadow rolled his eyes, turning back around, unable to keep his thoughts away from the last time they were here—the annoyance, the biting comments, the yelling emboldened by the drink in his belly. Shadow cringed at the mere memory now. Lingering on Sonic was never a good idea. He needed to get these kind of distracting thoughts out of his head.  
Well, you see where that’s gotten you...
 His gaze drifted towards his phone without his permission, screen bereft of notifications. He couldn't even begin to name what nagging impulse gave him the compulsion. Sonic wasn't his responsibility. He had enough on his plate without trying to manage the kid's problems as well. And yet.... Their conversation yesterday had been so comfortable, so easy. And, somehow, he found himself craving more of that lightheartedness. He tapped the little green icon of the messaging app, opening Sonic’s thread again, his contact still labeled The Miscreant —an insult that Sonic had tried to play off as a joke by giving himself that as a contact name. Shadow hadn’t thought anything of it.  But clearly Sonic had.  
“Why am I such a failure?”
 “Mimosa time!” Shadow’s eyes snapped up as Rouge returned dramatically back to the table, one glass of orangey drink in each hand.  She slid one over to Shadow with a trademark wink. “Bottoms up.” Shadow rolled his eyes and took a sip from the overfilled glass.  Rouge rested her chin between her delicately folded fingers. “Well, I would ask you how your life is going, but I know you’d just give me some boring non-answer. So, I suppose I’ll give you an update on the exciting adventures of Rouge since I last graced you with my presence.” Shadow leaned back in his booth seat. “Regale me with your tale, then.” Rouge launched into her recounting of her week the way she always did, with embellishments and details that were just vague enough that Shadow still couldn’t tell how many of them were true—even after all these years. He had learned to just accept the mystery as part of the theatre that was Rouge.  She only paused briefly to wink at the server who brought their food, sliding a sizable tip his way before diving back into her last thought.  Shadow tried to listen as he nibbled at his food—to let Rouge’s story carry him from his heavier thoughts. But Sonic’s thread was still open beside him, and the booze in the mimosas the barkeep kept bringing over only made his eyes more prone to wander back over to the empty reply box, cursor blinking, blinking, blinking— “Oh! And since at least one of us has a dating life, I might as well tell you about the little tryst I had last weekend,” Rouge, starting in on her carbonara, finally caught wind of Shadow’s distraction. “Ooh, and who is the lucky bitch that has you wound so tight?” Shadow, jumping at the callout, pocketed his phone and grabbed his fork. “It is nothing, and for the last time, there is no one,” he asserted, proceeding to stuff a fork full of lettuce in his mouth. Rouge let out a light sigh. “Shadow. We both know that I know you well enough to know when you need help. And I’m willing to give you space when you need it. But, if there is one thing I’m absolutely qualified to help you with, it’s relationship stuff. Gotta try and get you to at least talk to someone else other than me and Maria. Broaden your horizons, if you will. Diversify your social portfolio.” Rouge paused to take a long sip of her drink, leaning over with that slow smirk she always did. “So spill.”  Slowly chewing through his mouthful, Shadow felt outmatched under the weight of Rouge’s knowing gaze. In her eyes, if Shadow didn’t let down his walls himself, she would kick them down. He took a breath, already bracing himself for this admission. “ … it’s the kid.” “Ha, I knew it,” Rouge cheered, immediately making Shadow regret his recent life choices. “So, how long have you two been—” “God damnit Rouge, we aren’t a... thing ,” Shadow bit. “Oh, but some thing definitely happened between the two of you,” Rouge countered, losing the playful tone. “Spill,” she repeated, rarely ever willing to take no for an answer.  Shadow looked to his mimosa, contemplating how much was okay to tell Rouge. After all, it wasn’t his trauma to share. “ … last week… I can’t exactly tell you the details, but… I saw him in a rather...vulnerable state. It made me realize I’m...maybe harsher with him than I should be.”  Rouge gave a gasp, a perfect Hollywood starlet imitation of faux-shock. “You? Abrasive? Pushing people away? Never! ”  Shadow rolled his eyes. “Yes, Rouge, your color commentary is ever appreciated.” He probably deserved as much, though. Didn’t make it any easier to accept. He gave a deep sigh. “I just think… I don’t know where to go from here. It isn’t fair for me to keep him at arm’s length, not after all this. But…” he paused, poking at a cherry tomato. “I don’t need any more distractions in my life.”  Rouge raises an eyebrow. “Oh? And is that what I am too? A distraction?” Shadow backtracked. “No, you know that’s not what I mean. You and Maria are the only people in my life I know I can trust. You are consistent. You two can handle me when I’m like this. But with Sonic—the kid… It feels selfish, but I can’t handle how chaotic he constantly is.” Rouge stayed her tongue. Shadow was always difficult when it came to socializing. He was too serious for his own good. “I see. So, what you’re saying is, your problem is that you can’t control him.” Something about this hit a little too close to home for Shadow.  Rouge sighed. “Shadow, Shadow, Shadow. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. You have got to stop trying to control every little thing in your life! It’s going to drive you crazy!” Shadow couldn’t bear to make eye contact with her. She was always right, as much as he hated to admit it. But…  “And Shadow, your life isn’t going to spiral out of control just because you befriended a classmate. I mean, if you really hated him, would you even be here right now, giving him the time of day?” Right again. He knew he didn’t hate Sonic. Increasingly, their interactions were becoming far less destructive than they once were. He just… couldn’t shake that strange, uncomfortable feeling he always got around Sonic. He didn’t want to think anymore on what it could mean. “You’re right,” he relented. “I know you are.” Rouge looked at Shadow with a sympathetic smile. “Oh Shadow, don’t be like that. I only pester you like this because I care. I can’t always be there for you, and it couldn’t hurt to have more than two friends, could it? And this Sonic kid seems to care about you too! Just… all I’m asking is that you give him a chance.” 
Give it a chance, Shadow, for me…
 Maria’s words echoed in his head. She too had asked him to stop being so obstinate.  “All right… I can try… or at least I can try to stop being an asshole.” “Ha, really? Can I get that one in writing?” The two of them finished up, and headed out. Rouge had tried to rope him into shopping as well, but he convinced her (begged, really) to let him return to his house and homework. While continuing his survey of the scenery, he was surprised by a buzz from his pocketed phone.  
The Miscreant
 
“Hey Shadow! Sorry to hit you up on the weekend, but I realized I never got your answers for the maintenance checklist! Can you send me a pic of them?”
 His heart stuttered. And then it resumed its normal rhythm, with only Shadow’s lingering annoyance as evidence anything had happened. He was only disappointed in his own foolishness, forgetting to give Sonic the most vital part of their assignment. “ I see, my apologies. I’ll send a picture as soon as I return home.”   “Haha, no need to apologize! Take your time buddy 👍 ”  Shadow smirked despite himself. Perhaps they could get along… perhaps. Before closing his messages, he tapped the ‘edit contact’ option, and typed out the name: 
Sonic (the Miscreant)

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Haha, no need to apologize! Take your time buddy

👍

”

Sonic locked his phone screen, tossing it back onto his bed. Seated at his desk, he leaned back in his cheap standard-issue creaky dorm chair.

Welp, guess all I can do is wait!

A crease formed in Sonic’s brow. He knew that wasn’t true. There was algebra homework, yet to be started. A book report, already read but only partially reported on. He should be thankful that most of his classes didn’t have much homework to begin with. Should be.
 
He let out an exasperated sigh. His eyes landed on the Tomatopotamus Unleashed poster hanging above his and Tails’ tv. He made eye contact with the half-wolf Tomatopotamus. “I know I have to be more responsible… but can I still just be a crummy student?” 
 
Unsurprisingly, Tomatopotamus couldn’t answer this for him. Another sigh. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. It could be worse. I could have to save the world from an ancient deity as some kinda half-wolf, half-hedgehog monster. That would be unbearable.”
 
He looked at his clock. 
 
1:05. 
 
It would be any minute now. His parents were going to be bringing Tails back today. And they’d decide whether Tails would continue his life as a teenage college student. Sonic had argued Tails’ case for staying in college, promising (pleading, really) that he was going to be better, for both himself and Tails. Skeptical, they said they’d think about it.
 
As if on cue, his phone began buzzing from his bed. Jumping from his seat, he landed on his bed, answering in less than three rings.
 
“Hey, Ma.”
 
“

Good afternoon my love! Your father and I are outside your dorm. We decided we should all have a nice family lunch! Have you eaten yet?”

He gulped. His mother sounded happy, so that was promising. But, he knew her well enough to know this was the voice she used when she was trying to coax him into something he didn’t want to do. Or when she had bad news.
 
“Uh, no, not yet. I’ll be out in a sec.” Ending the call, Sonic fell back on his bed. While his parents were… less than thrilled the last time he saw them, they had gone relatively easy on him. But now, with a whole week to process everything…

Choking on your own cowardice…

Sonic shook his head, pulling himself up by the rungs of the top bunk. No backing down. Time to face the music.
  
“Hey fam!” Sonic slid into the back seat of the Prower family SUV. He wasn’t exactly sure what sort of reception to expect, so he figured a bold and blindly confident entrance couldn’t hurt. While his parents looked unfazed, Tails seemed to enjoy it.
 
“Hey Sonic! Long time no see, huh,” Tails smiled, seemingly genuine, though hindered a bit by the hint of bags under his eyes. Sonic’s own smile soured, accompanied by an immediate phantom stab in his chest.

You did that to him. You almost killed your only brother. You

—
 
“So, uhh, how are you feeling buddy?” He tried his best to paint his words with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. 
 
“Oh, I’m alright! My stomach hurt for a while, but statistically speaking, I’m 100% recovered! Give or take a few intervals.”
 
“Haha, well that’s good!” Sonic gave the laugh of a person not entirely sure what it was they were laughing at. He caught the eyes of his stepdad in the rearview mirror.
 
He nodded in greeting, a decidedly neutral look across his face. Sonic tensed. The older fox was as hard to read as ever. 
 
His mother twisted in her seat, giving Sonic one of her ever-soft smiles. “Maurice! I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve seen my boy.” She reached across to pinch one of his cheeks. 
 
Sonic squirmed the way he always did. “Aw, ma, it’s only been a couple of months. And you can come visit anytime, y’know.” 
 
She winked. “I was trying not to cramp your cool college kid style.” 
 
Her kind, almost jovial tone seemed too normal, but if Sonic had the chance to avoid facing the proverbial music for a bit longer, he would take it. “Don’t worry,” he teased, “Naming me Maurice Ogilvie has been cramping my style since birth.”
 
She only gave a light chuckle before turning back around. 
 
The car grew quiet then, Sonic too afraid to make small talk even with Tails, lest he break the oddly present status quo. So, on they drove, only the sound of the road and a soft radio talk show between them. 
 
After a pretty awkwardly silent few minutes, they  pulled into a parking spot at the local Marble Garden restaurant. It was a relatively popular Italian restaurant in the area, and as they say, ‘when you’re there, it’s probably because you were dragged there by your family.’
 
Once everyone had ordered their excessive servings of pasta and practically infinite breadsticks, dinner went as fine as it could’ve. Conversation was kept light, perhaps intentionally so, focusing mostly on how classes were going, Sonic’s thoughts on the college experience, and how he liked his track team. 
 
Eventually, Tails blessedly took the reins, telling a story or two from his time at home—how he ran into his old friend Cream and how nice it was to reconnect with her. 
 
The longer things went on, though, the more anxious Sonic got. He wanted to scream. Why wasn’t he being yelled at? Why wasn’t he being utterly ousted from the family for what he did? Why were they even having this happy little lunch? The other shoe had to drop—but when? 
 
 It was almost the end of the meal, which might mean he was home free. 
 
“Oh, why don’t we get some dessert!” Sonic’s mom chirped.
 
Sonic’s anxiety spiked. His mother was kind to a fault. She never liked upsetting her first-born, so whenever she had to deliver bad news, it was usually preceded by something Sonic really loved. He has a distinct memory of a similar thing happening when his dad died—his mother breaking the news to him as gently as she could over a large slice of his favorite cake. (Suffice to say, it was no longer his favorite cake.)
 
Suggesting dessert could only mean she was gearing up to rip off the bandaid. And he was doing all he could to mentally prepare for it. As the waiter placed a plate of tiramisu before him, his stomach turned.
 
“So… Sonic,” Tails’ dad spoke up as he adjusted the glasses on his nose. 
 
Sonic glanced up cautiously, trying to stop his fork from shaking in his grasp. “Yeah, Pops?”
 
“I don’t think I need to remind you how irresponsible your choices last week were.” 
 
Sonic frowned.

There it was.

“No…” He gulped. “I… messed up. Bad. I put both of us in a situation I shouldn’t have and Tails…” he trailed off, an ache growing in his throat. In the past week, he had cried more than he ever had in his life. But he was not about to do this in front of his family. He looked to Tails, who picked at his own dessert, spoon smoothing out the scoops of his mint ice cream in looping patterns. 
 
He took a breath, steadying his breathing before it got away from him. “I know… I sometimes forget that me and Tails are still just kids, at the end of the day. I know I’m not as smart as he is… I know I probably will always be the dumb brother. I just… didn’t think my stupidity would hurt someone I love,” He almost choked out.  Sonic looked at the hands resting on the napkin in his lap. 
 
“Oh, Maury, you aren’t dumb. We all make mistakes,” Bernadette kindly spoke, the pain of seeing her son hurting clear on her face. “It’s just a lesson for you to grow from.”
 
“And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t go to my fair share of crazy parties when I was your age,” Amadeus added, less strain in his voice, but a look of understanding. Sonic knew he cared, even if it didn’t seem like it sometimes. “And you have clearly learned your lesson. You’ve always been a good kid, and I think this whole ordeal is punishment enough.”
 
Sonic’s eyes only just met his stepdad’s, before an acknowledging nod led his eyes back down. A hand suddenly found his own under the table. He looked to its owner, Tails’ own eyes cast downwards. “It isn’t all your fault, Sonic. I knew what I was doing. I’m old enough to make my own choices, even if they are stupid.”
 
Their parents exchanged a worried glance. Bernadette spoke first. “Look, boys, I know we were a bit harsh last time we talked, and I’m sorry if I lost my temper in my worry for you both. But if college is too much for you, you’re always welcome to come home.” They both looked up at this.
 
“But… but,” Sonic stammered. He didn’t know what to say to that. He hadn’t even really considered the option. As much as Shadow and Jet had mocked him about it, when the going got tough, he doubled down. But, hearing it come from his mom… 
 
“I can’t drop out! What about my future?” Tails finally looked up, the response shooting out of him almost instinctively. 
 
“Now Bernie, the boys can’t just drop out now and waste a perfectly good scholarship,” Amadeus countered, taking a sip of his drink. “And I know you two can do it. As long as you just remember your limits and keep at it.”
 
Sonic frowned. Something about his mother giving him the option, like it was that easy, made it real—heavy with its implications. He would be free-floating again, flying through life at top speed, coasting by and jumping from one interest to the next, like always…
 
He looked to Tails again, still quietly flicking worried-looking glances between Sonic and their parents. Sonic’s gaze set, determined. He wasn’t the only one he had to consider here. 
 
“You’re right, Pops,” Sonic said, calmer now. “I’d hate to mess up everything Tails has worked for just over one stupid party.” He was never one to back down from a challenge—hated losing more than anything. And defeat was definitely not an option here. “I was just being childish, and I swear I won’t let anything like that happen again.”
 
Amadeus gave a thoughtful hum. “But, Sonic, while Tails is still a minor, you are an adult now. We need to know that you can make the right choices from now on.” He adjusted his glasses before folding his hands under his chin in his classic Serious Dad Talk posture. 
 
“And after that trip to the hospital, we honestly don’t think we’ll be able to keep giving you both an allowance,” Bernadette frowned. His mother was dedicated to her sons and generous to a fault, and it was clearly breaking her caring heart that she was having to make this decision. 
 
“So, for the time being Sonic, you’re going to have to start supporting yourself.” Amadeus dropped the news almost casually, as matter-of-factly as he said anything. It was always his M.O. when doling out punishments—rational and calm, always explaining their reasoning and treating them as maturely as he could. “We’ll still cover what we can for Miles, of course, and we’ll always be here if you need us. But, we need to know we can trust you to be responsible, not only with Miles, but with yourself.”
 
It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Sonic knew it was only fair. Up until now, he had the luxury of his parents giving him money pretty regularly. And while he knew he could probably survive off of his meal plan, that could only cover so much.
 
“Oh, I hope you don’t think we’re trying to hurt you,” Bernadette tried smiling through her creased brow. “We just think—”
 
“No, Ma, you guys are right,” Sonic looked up, meeting his mom’s eyes, then his stepdad’s. “I’ll be alright. I’ve always just sort of… coasted. I can’t rely on you guys forever… I need to grow up.” He thought back to Shadow, the way he acted fifteen years his senior. “There are plenty of students that have to support themselves and go to school. I can do it too.”
 
His mom’s expression got a bit softer then, comforted by her son’s never-waning confidence. “I know you can, my love.” 
  
GHU’s campus was still bustling in the late afternoon sun as their parents’ car pulled up to the curb by their dorm. Sonic and Tails lingered as the car idled beside them, exchanging their goodbyes. 
 
Bernadette held her son’s hand through the open window. “You know I’ll always love you boys no matter what, right?” 
 
Sonic smiled. “I know. Same goes for you, Ma.” 
 
She pinched his cheek, giggling as he flinched away. 
 
“Alright, you boys be good now,” Amadeus chimed in from the driver’s seat. “And Sonic?” 
 
Sonic’s gaze snapped up, going stiff. “Yeah, Pops?” 
 
“I know we’re putting a lot of responsibility on you now, but you’re a capable lad and I know you’ll be able to handle it.” He paused for a moment as Sonic nodded. “And...if you ever get in a bind, your mother and I are just a call away.” 
 
Sonic let out a breath, a small rush of release rushing through him. “Thanks.”
 
After a few more goodbyes and a medley of obligatory hugs and kisses, they climbed the stairs to their dorm room in a slightly awkward silence, the wheels of Tails’ suitcase squeaking slightly as they rolled across the floor. 
 
Sonic flopped down on his bunk staring up at the mattress above him as Tails began unpacking, both of them processing the past week in the silence. 
 
“Uh, Sonic?” Tails’ voice broke into Sonic’s vague swirls of thoughts. 
 
He sat back upright. “Yeah, buddy,” he questioned, sounding as chipper as he could manage. 
 
“I, uh, want to apologize for what I put you through last week,” Tails said, continuing to sort through his suitcase.
 
“Oh, hey, don’t worry about it bud,” Sonic smiled, getting up from his bed.
 
“I still feel bad, especially about your shoes, though…” He trailed off, now clearly looking for something. 
 
Sonic laughed, trying to hide the slight sting he felt in remembering his now-deceased lucky shoes. He had tried to salvage them as best he could, but they were beyond repair. “Haha, well, it was about time I retired those old things, anyway.”
 
Eventually, Tails seemed to find what he had been searching for. “Be that as it may, you probably will need a new pair now. So,” Tails turned around, a familiar shoe box sporting the Soap brand logo, “I figured I’d bring these back for you, since you forgot to bring them.”
 
Sonic’s heart stopped. It was the new shoes he had gotten for his birthday, just before leaving. Shiny new running shoes, meant to give him a fresh start as a college kid. He hadn’t forgotten them, exactly. Just pushed them away in favor of the familiar.
 
He reached out, taking the box from Tails and sliding the lid off. They still had the tags on them, wrapped in thin paper, like they had just been pulled off the shelves. The strong smell of fresh rubber hit his nose. 
 
Sonic looked up at Tails. There was still something lingering in his gaze, an emotion Sonic couldn’t quite place—shame? With a gentle hand, he ruffled Tails hair, making Tails giggle despite himself. “Thanks, Tails.” Sonic tossed his gaze to his old shoes, lingering in the corner of the room. He leaned over, picking up the sad, stained ghost of what the pair once was. He let out a breath. “Heh, well, it was fun while it lasted, my dudes.” 
 
Sonic strode over to the trash can by their desk and, before he could think twice about it, tossed them in. Years of memories and track practices now swallowed by crumpled papers, cans, and chip bags. He gave an over dramatic sniffle, putting on a performance for Tails. “Goodnight, sweet prince.”
 
Tails gave a full laugh now, making Sonic grin. And just like that, the tension—the weight of the world—was gone. For a moment, things were normal again, just like they always had been. Like nothing had changed. 
 
Except...now they had. 
 
Sonic slid the new shoes on, tilting them to see the way the light shone against the cherry red. He gave a flourish. “Sol, Tails, whaddya think? Y’know what they say, new shoes, new you!” 
 
Tails gave him an incredulous look. “I don’t think anyone anywhere has ever said that, actually.”
 
Sonic chuckled, wagging his finger. “I have now! So that’s at least one person.” 
 
He winked as Tails gave him a playful shove.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

A chilled breeze tumbled amber-tinted leaves around Shadow’s feet. Autumn, it seemed, had finally broken through the last of the lingering summer temperatures. Shadow pulled his jacket tighter around himself. He’d always been quite cold-natured (both literally and figuratively), but his well-worn leather jacket and the warm drink in his hand were helping cut through the wind.  He glanced at his motorcycle parked across the lot. It was almost getting too cold for that bike to be his main mode of transportation—which meant it was back to public transit. Crowded in with too many people and too many noises. Oh, joy. But it was, at the very least, warm.  He glanced up at the sign for the Chao Garden Daycare, hand-painted with portraits of tiny Chao with all sorts of silly expressions. Sonic was about to run late. He had purposefully picked a time slot in the afternoon to spare the ever-tardy hedgehog from the arduous task of waking up early.  He glanced at his watch. Two minutes ‘til.  He bit back the urge to text the punctually-challenged hedgehog and grumble for making him wait. But, he reminded himself, he was supposed to be putting more trust in him. Building that…acquaintanceship. He dare not call it anything else. If he gave Sonic an inch…   One minute ‘til — Sonic’s form nearly skidded to a halt in front of him, startling him with the sudden appearance.  The kid gave a quick, cheery wave. “How’s it going, Shads? See, told ya—I’m right on time!” He brandished his phone in front of Shadow, gesturing towards the time glowing on its screen as proof of his victory, though he was obviously pretty winded as a result of his punctuality.  “I applaud you for your efforts,” Shadow responded, keeping his tone as blasé as possible, refusing to give away the fact that some part of him did genuinely appreciate said efforts. “Well, shall we get started?” Shadow asked, gesturing to the front entrance.  Sonic clicked his tongue. “Sure—good a time as any,” he said, slapping a hand across Shadow’s extended palm in a ‘low-five’ before striding past him towards the door. Shadow remained in place for a moment, dumbfounded at the unexpected gesture. But, then again, he supposed he shouldn’t be too surprised at Sonic’s antics. Rolling his eyes, he adjusted his bag and followed him through the entrance.  They were greeted at the front desk with a kind grin and a wave. “Hello there. You two must be the next set of volunteers, right? From Green Hill University?” The peach echidna spoke softly—light and fittingly motherly. Shadow awkwardly cleared his throat, habitually taking a moment to translate his thoughts into coherent sentences. “Um, yes. We’ve come to assist with the caring of these Chao, I believe,” Shadow finished, cringing at his pompously formal tone.  He threw a side-eye at Sonic’s chuckle. The receptionist, blessedly, seemed to pay no mind.  “Which means…” she scanned her list, “You two must be...Shadow”—she gestured towards the bright blue figure of the lanky track star—“...and Sonic, yes,” she finished, pointing towards Shadow’s own dark and dower form.  The two hedgehogs exchanged a mutual look of bemusement. Sonic held up a finger towards himself. “Uh, ma’am? Actually I’m—” “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! I’m Tikal! Sorry, I don’t mean to rush you both, but nap time ends in about,” she checked her watch almost frantically, as if she just remembered, “fifteen minutes, and there is a short orientation all volunteers must complete before working with the Chao.” Her voice was as sweet and kind as before, but there was a hint of frenzy to her words. For Shadow, it only belied the true nature of what was to come for him and Sonic.  And he’d be lying if he said it didn’t bode well with him. “Everyday the schedule for the Chao in our care is the same,” Tikal began, motioning the two hedgehogs to follow her past the reception desk, and down a hall with various colorful doors. “Morning play time, lesson time, lunch, more play time, more lesson time, nap time, snack time, more play time, garden time, and finally, pick up time.” Tikal stopped suddenly, causing the distracted Sonic to collide with Shadow.  She drew in a breath. “Since it’s already the end of the day, you’ll both just be watching over the Chao until their guardians come for them. It’s nothing too difficult of course. Just play with them, clean up after them, and make sure each and every one of their cute little heads is safe and sound!” Tikal gave a bright smile of reassurance. At least, reassuring for Sonic.  Shadow, on the other hand, could see through her. He couldn’t tell if she was hiding something exactly, but she was definitely not giving the full story. Maria herself had been a handful to help raise in her younger years. Lord only knows what these rowdy Chao had in store for them. A knot was beginning to form in his stomach. “Here is the staff break room,” she motioned them into a small fluorescent-lit room, filled with some filing cabinets,  various arts and craft supplies, a well-used coffee pot with a half-filled snack basket beside it, and a small couch for employees to decompress between bouts of Chao wrangling. There were also a few lockers, marked with what were presumably the names of the regular staff members. Shadow eyed the locker with the peeling sticker labeled ‘Volunteers.’ “There are some aprons you can use in there” Tikal called to Shadow, as she began to thumb through one of the filing cabinets. She pulled out a few sheets of paper, attaching it to a clipboard and handing it to Sonic. “This is the class you’ll be responsible for, the Topaz class!” The papers listed the names and pictures of about fifteen different Chao, as well as their ages—all of them 3 years or younger.  Before Tikal had a chance to say anything else, an orange fish girl popped her head through the doorway, a worried expression painting her face. “Tikaaaaaaal, I think we’re out of triangle fruit.” “Oh jeez, I could have sworn we got a new crate in just yesterday.” Tikal’s brow furrowed, revealing some of the stress she’d been doing so well to mask until then. Taking another, longer breath, Tikal smiled at the boys once more. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. You two can wait here, get changed and…prepare, I guess.”  And then, in a flurry of movement, she was gone and they were left alone with a handful of papers and a head full of responsibilities.  Sonic seemed absolutely giddy, grinning as he pulled the smock over his head. “This is gonna be so much fun! Playing and roughhousing with these lil’ guys? I haven’t gotten to do anything like this since Tails was really small.” He reminisced, the days of unfiltered, unchained brotherly fun playing through his mind. It occurred to Shadow in that moment that he and Sonic may have very different ideas of what it meant to take care of young ones. Despite her sometimes spirited nature, Maria was far from the hellion he knew small children could be. Even still, Shadow spent most of his youth panicking at any little thing that could harm her. Like caring for a glass dove, Maria, and by extension all small, precious, delicate things required constant vigilance and attention, lest they fall, shatter and… Shadow quickly shook his head. “No, no, no,” he quickly backpedaled. “Roughhousing is exactly what we will not be doing. Our assignment is to make sure these Chao stay safe and unharmed and—”  “Aw, c’mon, Shads, lighten up.” Sonic gave his companion a light shove, much to Shadow’s chagrin. “We’re not just here to watch them, we’re here to make ‘em happy too!”  Shadow grabbed his apron, hanging his jacket up in its place. He paused for a moment, hands busying themselves with tying the slightly stained fabric around his waist with a deft knot. He eyed Sonic’s own clumsy, lopsided bow. “I’m concerned,” he muttered. “Tikal and that other employee looked… stressed, I suppose. I take that as a sign that we can’t let our guard down. Especially since any mistakes we make are surely going to be reported to our professor.” Sonic chuckled, shrugging and stepping over to rest a too-casual arm across Shadow’s shoulders. “Oh please, you’ve gotta stop being so dramatic, Shads! It’s just a couple hours with a handful of Chao. What could possibly go wrong?”  “Choo, please get that car out of your mouth. Dusty, stop hitting Griff. No, Crusher, books are for storytime, not for throwing.”  Shadow felt at his wit’s end. With their bellies full of various polygonal fruits, the class full of Chao now seemed to be expending that energy by running Shadow ragged—running around and wreaking whatever childlike havoc they could. He was constantly picking up loose toys to put away, only for the little tots to pull them out again, throwing them across the colorful carpet. His thoughts couldn’t stop being bombarded by some sort of worst-case scenario with each new series of antics.  
Oh no, the blocks have been left on the floor unattended. What if Bobo trips and hits his head on the corner of that cube and hurts themselves?
 
What if Churdle flies up somewhere and gets themselves stuck? 
 
What if they start crying? Oh god, I can’t handle them crying…
 Shadow let out a breath. He didn’t remember Maria being quite this…rambunctious in her youth. But, then again, she had always been one for quieter, calmer activities—reading, arts and crafts. And there was only one of her.  Sonic, on the other hand, seemed like he was having a ball, letting the Chao chase him around and involve him in whatever games of pretend suited their fancy.  “Avast ye scurvy dogs!” Sonic growled in his best imitation of a storybook pirate. “Ye better watch out lest ye face the curse of Captain Whiskers.” He gave a wolfish grin, brandishing an imaginary sword with one hand, and curling the other to resemble a set of claws.  The Chao around him gave gasps of semi-genuine childlike horror, readying their own play weapons and building their righteous defense against Sonic’s impromptu villain of the high seas.  Shadow wanted to be annoyed at Sonic’s lack of help with the constant cleaning and monitoring, but, honestly, he couldn’t find it in him to be too displeased. He was impressed with Sonic’s improvisational entertainment skills, at least. And, to his credit, he was distracting at least half of the Chao, lightening Shadow’s own frantic work. His eyes moved back towards the pile of abandoned puzzle pieces he was gathering, letting the sound of Sonic’s laughter fade into the background of white noise— At least until he was bumped into by Captain Whiskers himself.  “Argh! First mate Shadow,” Sonic gasped, taking a knee and clutching his ‘wounded’ side. “Help me stave off this mutiny! Join by my side in this battle against these ornery  landlubbers!” He was then tackled by some of the more rambunctious Chao in his crew. Sonic gave his most charming smile, clearly attempting to open the door for Shadow to join in on whatever game was happening.  Shadow rolled his eyes. “Not to knock you back down to earth, Captain , but one of us has to be responsible for making sure your crew here doesn’t end up hurting themselves.” He let out a breath. “There’s more to this assignment than just playing around.”  Sonic broke character with a light chuckle, now with a few passenger Chao on his person. “Who says I’m not doing both?” He shrugged. “I can play and keep an eye on the tykes. Besides, we’re having fun!” He dropped his voice lower, taking on a parody of a serious father—or possibly Shadow himself. “Responsible fun.”  “If you say so,” Shadow muttered, going back to scooping up the scattered bits of spaceship that made up the half-finished puzzle.  There was a pause of quiet between them as the short attention spans of the ever-distractible Chao led them somewhere else to play, now that their game of pretend had fallen apart. Sonic eyed the tensing of Shadow’s shoulders and the frantic way at which he gathered up anything that could even be vaguely perceived as a hazard.  “Hey.” Sonic’s voice was quieter now—softer. “Really, though. You good? You seem kind of stressed out over there.”  Shadow glanced up. Sonic had always been the nicer one between the two of them, but being the direct target of this kind of concern—affixed with the gentleness of this look… Shadow cleared his throat. “I’m fine.” He tossed a glance over to the group of Chao that had abandoned them. “Your crew over there probably needs you, though. I can handle the organizing over here.” You’re keeping their hijinks safely in check, at the very least.  Sonic pouted, but shrugged. “Alright, if you insist.” He stood back up, brushing off his knees. “But it’s okay to lighten up and have fun sometimes, y’know? If you want to join in, you know where to find us!” He gave a wink before rushing back into the fray, a new space captain character at the ready with a gleeful shout.  Shadow let out a sigh, shoulders slumping. He put the oversized puzzle pieces back in their rightful spot. It was then he caught the eye of a precocious looking purple Chao— Gibber, if he remembered correctly—who was partially obscured, hiding behind one of the shelves of blocks. Shadow paused a moment. The Chao was staring at him, eyes transfixed to his.  He slowly started moving towards the small form, only for them to become startled and weakly fly away. He sighed once more. Shadow knew he was outwardly mean-looking, sometimes even on purpose. But usually that was to deter other adults from interacting with him. It stung a little to see it also worked on innocent Chao. When he saw how easily Sonic could engage with them, and how happy he made them with such little effort, he felt…ashamed. Or, perhaps more accurately, he felt jealous. It occurred to him that up until now, he had never really felt inferior to Sonic. Shadow, whether he’d realized it or not, had enjoyed his seniority over Sonic—a guiding figure of sorts. It was the role he was used to, after all.  But, it was now he realized where it was that Sonic excelled. His friendliness, quirkiness and overly easy-going attitude. What had been the most irritating things about him upon their first meeting were beginning to stand out as his strengths. Shadow had mistaken those characteristics for immaturity. But, that wasn’t right anymore. It was just… Well, it was Sonic. Shadow watched as Sonic laughed, head thrown back as one of the Chao found a ticklish spot on his side. He was always so giving with his joy, so free with his goodwill. And, now that Shadow lingered on the thought, he didn’t think Sonic even realized just how amazing a thing his simple, yet ceaseless kindness was. It was magnetic. It pulled in everyone who got near him, making them want in on whatever fun he was having. And, despite himself, Shadow felt he… might be falling victim to it too.  “Okay everyone!” Sonic and Shadow turned to see Tikal standing in the doorway. “It’s garden time! Everyone, let’s clean up and go outside!” A chorus of happy Chao voices cheered, as some of them cleaned up and most just ran to Tikal. Shadow and Sonic both helped gather up the last of the mess as best they could, with the well-meaning tykes running underfoot.  “Okay, good job guys! High five,” Sonic held out a hand for his little helpers to excitedly high five. Shadow eyed the Chao around him, all of which seemed to scurry away from him as soon as they were finished. He frowned slightly, recomposing his neutral expression quickly as Tikal strode over towards the two of them.  “Okay, Shadow, could you do a quick head count before we head out?” Tikal handed the clipboard of names to Sonic, as she worked to de-escalate a small fight brewing between two Chao. “Yes ma’am! Alright, there’s Chocola, Choo, Churdle, Crusher, Dusty…” Sonic droned on, lightly patting the tops of each chao’s head, all more or less lined up and as ready to burst as a shaken up can of Chaos Cola. “Aaaaand, last but not least, little Stiglin. That makes fifteen!”  “Okay everyone, let’s go!” Tikal gave a hearty call, which the Chao gleefully answered in little ’chao-cha-chao!’s. They all marched down the hall, Sonic excitedly leading with Tikal, while Shadow gloomily followed at the rear of the line. He was careful to keep an eye on them all, making sure none of them tried to leave the line. Once outside, Shadow did feel a little more at ease, with there being no temptingly colorful or cubic hazards. This didn’t last long, however. He quickly realized that the bigger garden area made it much harder to keep track of what they were all doing. Soon, he found himself frantically counting and recounting each of the Chao, practically guarding the little pool area from any of the weaker Chao who may accidentally crawl in. “Alright guys, ready or not here I come!” Sonic, who had been counting behind the large jungle gym in the corner of the garden, was now on the search for any and all little munchkins he could find. Of course, the self-proclaimed track star could have found and tagged them all easily, but that was hardly any fun for them. “Hmm, now where, oh where, could my little Chao be?” He spotted a couple small floating dots from behind the slide. “Let’s see, now, could they be… here,” he checked behind a lone tree. A few small giggles sounded from various sources. “How abooooout… here,” he drawled, this time peering under one of the little rocking horse toys. More giggles. “Hmm, well jeez, I just don’t know where all my little Chao could have gone! Unless…” He slowly crept up behind the slide. “Gotcha!” Sonic popped his head out to surprise the Chao, who were nowhere to be seen. “Huh?”  Looking around, he eventually spotted the little ones happily running away. “Haha, very sneaky!” He began chasing after them, lagging behind enough to keep them in the lead. The chase was intense, but eventually the Chao made their way to the safety of the tree, along with all the other Chao that took the chance to reach the impromptu home base. “Oh darn, looks like I lost! Nice game, buds.” He gave a tiny fist bump to his worthy opponents.  “No, Chocola, you can’t swim, it isn’t safe.” Sonic turned at the sound of Shadow’s exasperated tone. He was holding a fussy-looking brown Chao, clearly eager to take a dip, consequences be damned.  Sonic winced. Despite his usual protests, Sonic could tell that Shadow had been on edge all day—more than usual, at least, which was saying something. A mixture of sympathy and guilt weighed down his expression. Sure, Sonic was having an easy time having fun with the li’l guys, but it didn’t seem fair that Shadow should be so stressed in contrast, trying to shoulder all of his perceived responsibilities at once. Maybe he could…  Sonic shot finger guns at one of the Chao who had started to creep away from the tree base. “Crunch,” he called. “You’re it now! Count to ten and let everybody find new hiding spots. If you need help from the hide and seek expert, I’ll be keeping an eye out from right over there.” He tossed his head back to the direction of the pool.  Crunch gave a mock-salute, expression resolute before they tucked their face into the tree and began to count. As the other Chao flew off with mischievous grins, Sonic made his way over to Shadow.  “Hey Shads, how you holding up?” Sonic asked, hands in the pockets of his apron, feigning nonchalance as he raised a brow at Shadow’s struggles.  “I told you, I’m fine. I’m just doing”—Shadow huffed as he wrangled the slippery Chao back into the supposed safety of his grasp—”my job.”  “I don’t think this job means you have to pull your quills out worrying about them constantly.”  Chocola finally wriggled from Shadow’s arms, flying to sit atop Sonic’s head, immediately entertaining themselves by playing with his ears. Shadow visibly sagged and sat on the grass beside the water. For a moment, Sonic couldn’t tell if it was from relief or stress. But if he had to guess…  Sonic glanced up at his new Chao-shaped accessory. “Hey, bub?”  Chocola responded with an inquisitive ‘chao?’ “How ‘bout this? You can go for a swim if you stay near the edge, okay? Don’t go out too far.”  Chocola eagerly nodded, seeming ready to agree to any negotiation as long as it meant a dip in that coveted little pool.  “Pinky swear?” Sonic extended a pinky upwards, which the Chao promptly gripped with both hands. Sonic grinned. “There’s a good li’l guy. Have fun,” he called, as Chocola flew away, splashing around in the shallow end just as they promised.  Sonic plopped down beside Shadow, leaning back on his hands. From here, they had a view of the whole garden, watching as the Chao chased each other around in a newly-formed game of tag. For a few moments, they just sat in a crowded silence, soaking in the last bit of late-afternoon sun, before Shadow uncharacteristically broke first.  “How do you do it?”  Sonic blinked, glancing over at Shadow forlornly staring out at the playtime antics. “Huh?”  Shadow let out a defeated breath, folding his arms on top of his knees. “I know I’ve given you much… grief in the past, for your… shortcomings.” Shadow grimaced, like the words were stuck in his throat and painful to get out. Which wasn’t entirely untrue. But he had started saying them now and couldn’t stop. “But watching  you work today has highlighted, I suppose, my own… flaws. In startling clarity,” Shadow sighed, wincing at the sound of his own vulnerability. “It’s not as if I wasn’t aware of exactly the kind of person I am, but… You handled this like you do everything—laughing like you don’t have a care in the world. And you so effortlessly flow with whatever is thrown your way. While I’m here—ill-tempered and off-putting, as always…more of a villain to these Chao than a care provider…” Sonic took a deeper look into Shadows eyes. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say Shadow seemed…jealous?   Sonic hummed, tilting his head back towards the clouds before pulling his gaze back towards their Chao charges. “Honestly, Shads, I think you just gotta…not worry about everything so much?” He chuckled as Shadow huffed. “Yeah, I know that’s typical coming from me. But I mean it. Don’t focus on what you aren’t, or what you ‘lack’—that won’t get you anywhere. Just be...” Sonic shrugged, “whoever the Shadow you like best is.”  Shadow huffed out something of a dry laugh. “I’ve been informed over the years that even at my ‘best’ I’m very boring.”  Sonic smiled—a soft, bright thing. “I don’t think so.” It was Shadow’s turn to throw a confused look in Sonic's direction. “I mean, you’re really smart and good at making things. You’re good at teaching—when you’re feeling patient,” Sonic cast Shadow a playful smirk, which only caught him an unamused stare. “And you’re not as mean as you make yourself out to be. You may not like running and playing around like me, but just do what makes you happy and I’m sure these li’l guys will appreciate it just as much.” He nudged Shadow’s arm, trying to bring him out of his sulky stupor. “They’ll be able to tell that you’re actually having a good time and then they’ll have fun too.”  Shadow lingered on that for a moment. 
Do what makes you happy…
 Maria had tried to say as much to him over the years, but it had fallen on deaf ears. What did that matter when he had a purpose , a job to do? It always felt like something frivolous people would say in an attempt at lighthearted, meaningless motivation. But something about the turn of phrase now sat like a rock in the pit of his stomach, filling him with an odd sense of unease. What makes you happy —did he even know what those things were anymore? Sonic put a hand on Shadow’s shoulder. Their eyes met, Sonic’s smiling with genuine reassurance. “Remember, no agonizing over what you think you should be, right?” Shadow blinked at the echo of his own words. Sonic had taken the advice to heart, it seemed, and was now handing it back to Shadow, maybe hoping, if nothing else, he would listen to himself. It was oddly...touching. Sonic stood, giving his shoulders a good stretch. “Weeeeell, that’s a long enough break, I suppose.” Shadow snorted. “It’s been two minutes at most.” Sonic shrugged. “What can I say, I’m a speedy dude!” He pretended to move his arms in a high-speed jogging motion. Despite himself, Shadow chuckled at that, the sound rattling out some of the pent-up anxiety that had been bouncing around in his ribcage. Sonic smiled, proud of himself. “The name is Sonic, remember?” Shadow caught his breath and stood, resuming a more subdued version of his brooding demeanor. “Actually, the term ‘sonic’ doesn’t directly correlate to speed. In fact, it relates to sound, i.e. a sonic boom being the breaking of the sound barrier, and not the…speed… itself,” he drifted off, seeing the emptying of Sonic’s head in real time. Shadow awkwardly cleared his throat. This is why he didn’t make conversation. “...Welp, I’m gonna get back to the kiddos.” Sonic clapped, smoothly transitioning with a pair of finger guns. “Take it easy, Shads!”  Groaning at both his awkwardness and the casual use of that cursed nickname leaving Sonic’s mouth, Shadow too got up, deciding to lifeguard for Chocola for the time being. Sonic, on the other hand, had an idea. Clapping his hands, he gathered the attention of a handful of the Chao. “Alright, little buddies! Who here is ready for a heart-pounding, exhilarating, no-holds barred, Chaaaaao race,” Sonic announced, doing his best impression of a sports announcer. The Chao rejoiced, little hearts forming above their heads, clearly fans of this idea. Chao races were a time honored tradition of the Chao, with Chao races being held for all ages and types of Chao.  While most Chao races consisted of tests of flight, swimming and even puzzle solving ability, Sonic didn’t think there was nearly enough resources in the little garden for an authentic race. Though, there was still enough room to run. Sonic gathered all the interested Chao (which was most of them, sans little Chocola, chilling in their pool) and laid out the rules of the race. “Okay, little buddies! This is going to be a foot race! No flying, no climbing and no punching! This isn’t Chao Karate, okay?” Most of the Chao gave nods of acknowledgement, with only a few smaller Chao sporting question marks above their heads. “The race starts here and goes around the whole garden! Around the square fruit tree, and back here. Okay, y’all ready to race?” Cheers resounded, even among the smaller Chao, though they seemed unaware of what exactly was happening. Most of the Chao got ready, some just sort of sitting with empty headed looks on their faces, as Sonic prepared a countdown. “Alright, on your marks… get set… GO!” The Chao were off, the older ones running, smaller ones crawling, all happily trying their best to win the honor of fastest Chao in the garden. It was tense, Dusty, Churdle and even little Gibber were all neck and neck, as they reached the square fruit tree, rounding it and making their way back to the starting point. It was going to be a close one! Until— “Ah!” Little Gibber squeaked, as he tripped! Right in front of the finish line, too! As the other Chao passed him, they all rejoiced, despite their positions. But little Gibber… “ Uu…uu… UUWAHHHHH ,” he began wailing, tears falling like droplets from a garden sprinkler. Both Sonic and Shadow immediately turned to the little Chao, faces belying the panic forming in their chests. They both ran to him, Sonic picking the little one up, holding him in the same way one would hold a football. “Uh, it’s okay little guy! You can’t win them all! You’ll get it next time! Here, wanna go play hide and seek again? That was fun, right?” Sonic frantically smiled with clear discomfort in his eyes. Usually when Tails was feeling down, he could always distract him long enough to get the tears to stop. But little Gibber wasn’t having any of it. He just continued to bawl and sob, despite Sonic’s overly reassuring attitude. “Uh, ah, it’s okay little guy! Shush, shush, it’ll be fine,” Sonic continued, just trying to get the little guy to stop before him and Shadow got in trouble for neglect or something. “It’ll all be okay, so please, don’t cry!” Shadow, too, despite his usual heartless act, hated seeing the little Chao so upset. He knew the feeling… Disappointment in yourself, embarrassment, even for something so small, was hard to deal with. And while Sonic’s intentions were good, you couldn’t just tell someone to be happy and make it so. Shadow walked up to the two. “Here, let me see him.” Sonic, still distressed at his inability to charm the Chao into being happy, handed him over to Shadow. Shadow took the little one, and held him against his chest like a baby, beginning to gently pat his back. “I know, I know little one. It isn’t fair right?” he asked, so soft and kind that, for a moment, Sonic couldn’t believe that the gentle tone belonged to Shadow. “It’s okay to cry. Just let it all out…”  Gibber continued on, with some of the Chao flying around him in clear concern for their friend. Shadow looked around, finding exactly what he was looking for; clovers, still growing despite the early chill.   Shadow took the small one over to the patch of wildflowers, Gibber still crying and sniffling, but not as much as before. Setting him down, with a pat on the head, Shadow took a seat, criss-crossed, next to the sniffling Chao. He began to pick some of the flowers around them. After he had picked what seemed to be enough, he started weaving the flowers together, looping one into the other, making a circle of sorts. Gibber, now only left with the occasional sniffle, came up to Shadow, curiously looking at his work.  The rest of the Chao, too, began walking towards Shadow, wanting to see whatever it was he was making. Sonic also found himself transfixed, making his way with the rest of the Chao. After only a few minutes, the circle Shadow was making turned into a beautiful crown of flowers. The Chao were amazed. Shadow turned to Gibber, and gently placed the crown on his little head.  Delighted at his special new adornment, Gibber smiled with contentment. Any signs of his crying fit couldn’t be found now—just pure joy and admiration. A look mirrored in Sonic’s own face. “Whooooa, dude! How did you make that?” Sonic said with a tone of child-like wonder.  Shadow was a bit thrown off by everyone being so dazzled. A simple daisy chain wasn’t anything special, really. Though, in a way, it was…  Childhood memories of him and Maria guided his hands, as he began work on another crown. They would spend hours, it seemed, in that small meadow, warmed by sunshine and her smile. The repetitive motions and sound of her voice were calming, serene. It was one of the few bright spots they shared before everything went wrong.  Shadow shook his head, laying the knotted flowers to the side. “Oh…well, it isn’t that hard, honestly,” he said sheepishly as Gibber climbed into his lap, eager perhaps for some of Shadow’s magic to rub off on him. “Teach me! Teach me teach me teach me,” Sonic excitedly shouted, echoed by the rest of the Chao also eager for their own crowns. Shadow looked at him, with eyes widened in shock, and even slight embarrassment. He could feel a heat rising to his cheeks. He wasn’t used to this kind of positive attention, especially not from the cute little Chao who had previously been terrified of him. He felt…honored? Pleased? …Happy? He cleared his throat. “Umm…right. Well, first we pick the flowers…” In only a few moments, the entire class of rambunctious Chao turned into a peaceful flower crown making seminar. Sonic sat close to Shadow, really inspecting the movement of his fingers, trying to crack the code of the flower crown, though it seemed to be escaping him. Occasionally, Sonic would sigh, hitting a wall and Shadow would take it from him, fixing it where need be.  “Alright so I just kinda gently tie it like that…” Sonic mumbled, looking more like someone diffusing a bomb than doing basic arts and crafts. Shadow laughed. Well, more so ‘hmphed’ happily, but still, he was left with a hint of a smile, eyes much lighter than before.  “That’s all there is to it,” Shadow said, finishing off his fifth crown for yet another eager Chao. Sonic let out a breath, finally relaxing. He admired his shoddy, yet stable creation, beaming with pride.  “Man, Shadow, you are just full of surprises,” Sonic giggled. Shadow had a hard time believing that. “It’s… just a flower crown,” he deadpanned. “I suppose it isn’t the most…stereotypical thing one would imagine me to—” “Nah, not that,” Sonic swatted the thought away. He tossed his gaze skyward like he was looking for something, but brought his eyes back down when he apparently didn’t find it. “Not sure how to put it exactly… But,” Sonic came up to a kneel, presenting his crown before Shadow. “I hereby dub thee Sir Shadow, knight of flowers and healer of bad vibes,” Sonic boasted in a madrigal voice, placing the crown atop Shadows head.  Shadow didn’t know how to respond to that, so of course, he rolled his eyes. “You know there are bugs crawling all over these flowers.” He gently removed it, quietly taking in Sonic’s snickers.  The two sat like this, for what felt like ages, surrounded by the singing and happiness of the Chao.  It was finally peaceful…at least until— “Wait.” Shadow looked up from the crown, taking a quick head count. “Where’s Chocola?” “Oh, Chocola?” Sonic, starting in on a second crown, was hyper-invested in making this one the best it could be. “He’s still in the pool. Right?” Both of them looked to the spot where Chocola had been swimming, only to see it vacant. “Chao! Chao chao!”  They looked up. There was Chocola. At the top of the cliff surrounding the pool. He looked ready to take a dive into the pool below. “Ah, no, Chocola! The water isn’t deep enough to dive in!” Sonic frantically shouted, dropping his work, rising to his feet as fast as he could. Shadow too, got up and made his way to the pool, moving carefully, wading his way until he was under the little Chao, ready to jump. Sonic instead opted to make his way up the little cliff, reaching the top of the small cliff edge, barely big enough for him to crawl on. He started to cautiously reach his hand out to Chocola, who happily looked back at Sonic. “Hey, hey, okay little buddy, you probably just climbed up here by mistake, right? Well it’s okay, I can get you down from here safely, if you just let me—” He was cut off. Chocola turned back towards the pool below, gave a cute cry of glee, and jumped. “NO!” Both Sonic and Shadow shouted as Chocola took off. In a last ditch effort to catch him, Sonic followed, jumping right off the cliff, fingers just grazing Chocola, before plummeting face first into the pool. Or, rather, plummeting face first into— “AHHH—oof!” “Ah!” 
SPLASH!
 Little Chocola, who was quite adept at flying, landed softly atop Sonic’s head, which was currently smothered face-first into the shallow pool of water. Or rather, smothered directly into Shadow’s submerged chest. Chocola flew away, as the two hedgehogs came up for air. Gasping for breath, it seemed neither of them noticed the fact that Shadow, knocked directly onto his back, was sitting below a dripping Sonic. He was practically straddling Shadow’s chest, soaked, breathing heavy— Then they were all too aware. “Umm… fancy seeing you here, Shadow,” Sonic quipped between coughs. “Agh, Sonic, get off me,” Shadow wheezed, pushing Sonic off him, and back into the shallow water.  Shadow pulled himself out first, twisting his apron free of as much water as he could. Sonic eventually dragged his own soaked self out, opting to shake as much water free from his quills as he could. Not unlike a dog. Of course. “Okay everyone, it’s time to come in! It’s almost pick up time!” The hedgehogs turned to see Tikal waiting at the garden entrance. She gasped as she caught a glimpse of the two. “Oh no… Chocola tried to jump off the cliff again, didn’t he? Well, come on inside. Don’t worry, we have some towels to dry off with!” Tikal beckoned the boys in as the Chao all happily filed in before them. Sonic, though wet and cold, couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. He patted Shadow on the back, who was noticeably displeased, red in the face.  “Haha, oh come on Shads, that was pretty funny, right?” Sonic chuckled, gently ribbing Shadow in the side. Shadow jerkily pulled away, not breaking eye contact from the door he was walking towards. “ Hmph ,” was all he could say. A younger Shadow would be on the verge of tears after such an embarrassing display. And an older Shadow still found it hard to control the amount of seething hatred building inside.  “Thank you guys so much for the help today!” Once all the Chao were picked up, and the classroom cleaned, Tikal escorted the boys out, relieving them of their duties. “Great work you two,” Tikal beamed, now seemingly more relaxed with everything settled for the day. “It’s usually so understaffed here, it’s nice to have the help!” “Ah, it’s no problemo! It was actually super fun! Right, Sonic?” Sonic turned to Shadow, giving him a wink, continuing the mix-up bit from earlier. Shadow rolled his eyes, only just recovered from the pool incident. “Well, if you two ever want to come back, we’d be happy to have you!” Tikal gave one final beaming grin before seeing the two off and returning inside the kindergarten. The early fall chill was setting in, the twilight sky dimming faster by the second. While neither of the hedgehogs had fully dried off from their disastrous dip in the pond, only Shadow still seemed to still feel the chill of…embarrassment? Horror? He still had trouble naming those feelings that accompanied the autumn cold seeping into his core. “Brrr, when’d it get so cold all of a sudden?” Sonic chattered, catching Shadow's attention. He looked the underdressed hedgehog up, hugging himself for warmth, clinging to his damp shirt. Shadow was over being surprised with Sonic’s apparent lack of foresight. The very thing that sent him crashing into Shadow and soaking them both was also probably the reason he hadn’t thought to wear a jacket on a clearly chilly day. He did pity him. Sonic was smiling even as his lips and body trembled from the cold. “Perhaps you should have…brought a jacket,” Shadow awkwardly stated, pointing out the obvious. Not that it would’ve done Sonic much good; his own jacket was only just keeping him warm. Sonic rolled his eyes. “Well jeez, that sure helps now,” he teased, sticking his tongue out.  But Sonic knew he still had a long way to go on his self-proclaimed quest for maturity, even down to something as simple as remembering to bring a jacket on a cold day. He threw a glance at Shadow.  “You know,” Sonic started, “earlier you asked me how I do it?’” Looking Shadow in the eye, Sonic gave a genuine smile. “The funny thing is, I’ve been thinking the same thing about you for a while now.” Shadow’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t know how to respond to this, aside from an awkwardly coy silence.  Sonic paid it no mind. “You really are something, Shadow. You work so hard each day. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of classwork you do. Not to mention working at a hospital?! Like, dude, that’s insane!” Sonic again was beaming. He couldn’t handle this. Sure, Shadow got occasional admiration from Rouge and Maria (well, mostly a gentle worry mixed with praise). But this kind of praise was…new. He couldn’t stop blushing. He felt like he was losing all grasp on his composure. “Ah, well, r-really, it’s nothing that special, I just do what I need to, for—” “Shadow.” Sonic laid a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay to take the compliment.” He winked with his signature thumbs-up, like some hero from a cartoon. Staring at the ground, Shadow relented. “...Thank you.”  “Yaaaay, now it’s my turn!” Sonic declared giving a final pat of Shadow’s shoulder before heading back towards the kindergarten.  Flustered, bewildered, Shadow whipped around to watch him go.  “I too need to do what I can,” Sonic clarified. “For myself, and my little bro.” Blinking in confusion, Shadow asked slowly “...And what exactly is it you need to do?” “Oh, well, the ‘rents sorta cut me off allowance-wise, so it’s about time I got a job for myself,” Sonic chuckled, bashfully rubbing his neck. “It looks like they could use some more hands on deck. And hey, I think I’m not too shabby at the kindergarten game, right?” Shadow snorted. “I suppose it suits you.” He ran a sharp gaze over the kid’s still-damp form, brimming with equal parts spunk and potential. No, he corrected, not kid. If Sonic had shown him anything over the past week, it was that he at least deserved more than Shadow’s petty monikers. He shook his head. “But I’d refrain from any more brash stunts or dramatic falls, even if it's for the Chao.” “Haha, no promises. Not unless Sir Shadow, my knight in shining armor is there to catch me.” Sonic gave a cheeky wink and little finger hearts.  What — He laughed, like it was a joke, unaware of the way everything suddenly stilled for Shadow.  “Well, have a safe trip home! I’m hoping after this, the jog home will be able to warm me up,” Sonic chuckled, shivering once more before reentering the chao kindergarten. “See you around, Shadow!”  My knight in shining armor — An arrow pierced his heart. A warmth spread from his core to his toes. That fluttering feeling in his stomach reached a fever pitch. Shadow walked to his bike, everything playing through his mind. Everything. The bar, the library, the hospital. Sonic’s indignation, his whimsy, his carefree attitude. His smile. That smile.   The shocked, unguarded eyes that looked down at him, as his dripping quills framed his face. It all shot through him, like a bullet. 
No. 
 All at once, the cocktail of feelings that had been swirling in him all day had a name. It wasn’t embarrassment or loathing or anxiety. It was something much worse.