miracles whisper.

Huffing, Shadow tries to just focus on getting to that newer building in downtown Westopolis, something nearly finished that had been started after the attack from the Black Arms the year before. It’s supposed to be some kind of government-funded thing to house anyone heavily affected from aforementioned invasion, children who lost family and have nowhere to go, people who lost their homes and belongings and such. They aren’t meant to pay them back in any way, so he’s heard.

As he pulls up to said building, a small crowd of a few people catches his attention. It’s definitely Sonic and his friend Tails, but it seems there’s at least three other people as well. He prepares himself for whatever may occur, and then flinches ever so slightly at his name being shouted by the blue hedgehog.

Before he can close the distance between himself and the other five people, Sonic has already dashed up to meet him. His green eyes are alight with excitement, nearly glowing as he steps over to Shadow’s left, setting a hand on his back.

“We have got a great schedule,” Sonic begins, allowing his hand to go down as Shadow reaches around to push it away. The blue hedgehog pays it no mind and continues, “We’re gonna go to a restaurant first— they have fast food! Get it?— and then we’ve got a surprise afterwards, and then we’ll go back to my place and hang! Sound all right with you?”

By then, they’re both already back to the small group, and Shadow realizes it is Rouge, Knuckles and Amy that he couldn’t identify before. Rouge and Amy are out of their usual wear, the former dressed in a purple crop top with black pants, though her high top boots swallowed them. The latter of the two wears far darker clothes than she tends to normally, a black long-sleeve with dark jeans. Seeing how nice they look on them briefly gives him a sense of want for it, that nice style and appearance. A lack of sensory problems would make that a lot easier, so all he can do is admire it.

He hadn’t noticed at first, but all of them were wearing some form of similar clothing— Tails carries a black bag that matches a black belt around his middle, Knuckles is actually wearing a pair of black pants and a gray tank top, and Sonic, Shadow notices after actually looking, has an oversized hoody with a bright red pawmark design on the chest.

His head tilts after taking in all of this, and then he scoffs.

“Are you all dressing in black to celebrate my birthday?” he demands, almost scornfully. He leans on a hip and crosses his arms, rather unimpressed.

It’s then that Rouge laughs, a rare sound, and gently wraps an arm around Amy’s shoulders. “Amy and I coordinated our thing, and these losers either followed along, or this is some embarrassing accident.”

Amy snickers and leans into the bat lightly, nodding in agreement. “We’re the only cool kids here, if that wasn’t already clear.”

At that moment, the boys excluding Shadow all look at each other and their jaws drop. Without meaning to, they all now tote some clothing or article either black or dark in color, by some stroke of luck— or lack thereof. You can almost smell the scent of teenage boy distress at this fact being realized and confronted, the overwhelming urge for one or all of them to say ‘one of us has to change’ and it improves Shadow’s night just a bit.

Before any of the boys can say anything, Amy holds up a hand to draw attention to herself. “Listen, you all look great, and why pass up this wonderful opportunity, am I right? Now we can look like a hip gang, venturing out into the night, becoming men!”

Tails blinks at her and asks, “What will you two be becoming?”

Rouge lowers her arm now to loop it around Amy’s, replying, “Actually, we won’t be becoming anything— we’re not the idiots who dressed like each other on accident.”

Sonic visibly droops, grimacing before muttering something along the lines of “I knew I should have worn the green one” before huffing, and then breaking into some stretches for his legs to distract himself momentarily.

“Okay, so,” he says loudly, wanting to make sure everyone hears him, “since Shadow is the birthday boy, he gets to pick a fast food restaurant! Everyone’s got money, right?”

Everyone responds affirmatively, except Shadow, who looks at Sonic with a confused expression. Sonic looks over at about the same time the other does so, and then grins wide at him.

“You’re the birthday boy, Shads,” he says with a chuckle, “we pay for you!”

His look goes from confused to completely shocked— he continues to stare at the blue hedgehog with that wide-eyed, jaw-dropped face for a moment, his arms uncrossing and retaking position of hanging at his sides. It’s only a few seconds it stays that way, for he becomes completely aware how he looks and as a result, stands up straight, narrowing his eyes as he takes on an annoyed air.

“That is a stupid thing to do,” Shadow growls. “I didn’t agree to this, I don’t want your money, that’s as stupid as doing anything for this occasion.”

Sonic just snorts and then shrugs. “Stupid’s always been a word to describe the stuff I do, and I’m all right with that.”

“That isn’t the point,” the Ultimate Life Form persists.

Rouge rolls her eyes and untangles her arm from Amy’s and then proceeds to approach Shadow alongside Sonic. It’s obvious she’s a bit annoyed, but she’s not angry. She gestures with a wide sweep of an arm to the surrounding area, looking right at the dark hedgehog as she does.

“Shadow, we have put together a nice night of fun or something for you because we think you need to be a little more social with your friends,” she explains emphatically. “On top of that, we think you deserve a nice break from being the Ultimate Life Form, the stoic and scary G.U.N soldier! We wanted to do this for you.”

He seems irritated still, but he just hisses and then nods. “Fine.”

Half an hour later, they’re all seated on a little picnic table in a park just across from a McDerren’s restaurant, most of them already shooting into chitchat and talk of their days, and the like. And about the moment that starts, Shadow feels out of place, staring at his sandwich, half hoping it would come alive and start a terrible crisis that could be solved with violence and fighting.

A hand comes up tentatively to grab hold of it, but he really doesn’t feel like eating, he just hasn’t had much of an appetite today. He had been trying to forget that today was bound to happen, that they would all somehow figure out his date of creation from so long ago. It overall made his stomach twist, thinking about it, but maybe part of him is just holding out for the sake of the others. They had probably been planning sometime, worrying over it and trying to figure out how to accommodate for the grouchy pissbaby that he tends to be. He doesn’t know why they would, though.

Suddenly, there’s a gently placed elbow in his side, and he snaps to attention, startled by the touch. He finds a half confused, half amused look on Sonic’s face, his elbow having been the one prodding his side. Opening his mouth, he intends to fuss at the other hedgehog, but before he can, a small device is being ushered into his free hand. He doesn’t speak and just looks down at the dimly lit screen, finding the blue-bubbled text message that is just addressed to Sonic’s own number— but it’s for Shadow.

‘is everything all right?’ it asks.

Shadow immediately gives Sonic an annoyed look and pushes the device back towards him, turning and ignoring him for the moment. He grabs his soda and takes a small drink, focusing on Rouge, who sits across from him.

“How was the mission they sent you on today, Rouge?” he inquires, his voice mildly stiff, nearly enough so to elaborate in one sentence how uncomfortable he is. “Any luck locating your target?”

She sighs and takes a bite of her taco, shaking her head afterwards. “Couldn’t find her— she’s obviously very trained in avoidance and hiding. I was pulled out, but Topaz and another someone are going undercover to get deeper.”

“Ah,” he mumbles, still making it a point to not look in Sonic’s direction. “That’s unfortunate.”

“Yes, it rather is… but I heard you had more luck than I today,” she goes on, flashing a smile and tilting her head. “I hear you were part of the squadron that took down that recent rogue band of kidnappers— is that right?”

He pauses and takes another drink. “Indeed,” he replies. “It was mostly due to them being cowards. So I doubt it really counts as a success when they faced me with such weakness.”

At that time, Knuckles leans in over the table from Shadow’s right, a deep frown on his face as he says, “Okay, let’s drop the hardcore business talk and be teenagers for a night— like, can’t we have some fun for once?”

Rouge just keeps smiling. “For Shadow, not being a teenager and not having fun is fun.”

A teenager.

He repeats the words mentally once or twice and then swallows a snarl, downing the last of his soda before standing. “All right, I would like to return to the building, I’m going to get a refill. Does anyone need anything?”

Directly following what Shadow knows would be construed as a tense moment, no one wants to speak or break the silence first— as he had hoped, everyone is still quiet for that, and they say nothing to his inquiry. Before they can recover, he turns and he walks back for the McDerren’s just as he has intended.

There continues a quiet after he’s gone and definitely out of earshot, and then Knuckles looks to Rouge with a pretty aggravated expression.

“You just had to, didn’t you?” he grumbles, balling the paper for his burger into a messy wad.