miracles whisper.

Here, the blue hedgehog bounds forward and gets in front of Shadow, whipping around to face him as he crosses his arms. Leaning on a hip, Sonic taps his foot, eyes narrowed at his friend.

“Do you want the long version or the short version, because the long one will take far more time to say than the distance from here to the table,” Sonic says, his tone as flat as Shadow’s. “I mean, you could just tell me why you don’t trust me enough to talk about it, or let me know why you keep bottling everything up and pretending you’re fine.”

By now, Tails has already walked past them, and is half way back to the table. He doesn’t look over his shoulder, so Shadow assumes Sonic had asked for some privacy. Interesting enough, but Shadow isn’t biting— the only thing he’s about to bite is Sonic’s face.

Red eyes stare dangerously into emerald greens, and Shadow’s grip on his cup tightens considerably, not even realizing he could bust it any moment. “You never change, Sonic the Hedgehog,” is all he says in reply, his voice low, maybe even soft. But it’s gone in a moment and in that moment, his teeth are bared and he snarls, “Everything has to be about you.”

“No, it’s not about me, and that’s what I’m trying to say!” Sonic cries, arms dropping. “I just want you to let people in, I want you to let someone in! You never talk about things— you bottle it up, you don’t tell anyone what’s wrong, you don’t look for help when you need it, when you deserve it! It’s not fair, Shadow!”

“I don’t NEED help!” he yells, closing the distance between himself and the other. His face is inches from Sonic and he continues, “I don’t need help, I don’t need to let anyone in! I have been fine, I will always be fine, and that won’t change! Stop acting like you can walk in and be my hero! Yes, indeed, I know that’s what you are. You’re world-renowned, the humans love you, your friends adore you, you inspire people, and you’re their hero. But you are not mine.”

This seems to take Sonic by surprise. He tries to speak, but he just can’t, and Shadow shoves past him before he recovers. All he can do is stand there, process what was just said, and try to figure out… what to do next.

When Shadow sits back down at the table, he looks at Rouge first, and then at Knuckles. He’s waiting, but they say nothing for enough time that he gets impatient, and sighs, shaking his head.

“He told me you both wanted to apologize, so let’s hear it if you are,” he mutters, ignoring the drink he had just gotten to just play with a peeling splinter from the tabletop.

At this time, Tails looks past Shadow, focusing worriedly on Sonic’s figure, which still stands away from them all, stationary where he had been to stop and speak. His worry increases the longer it goes on, but no one seems to notice yet. Knuckles and Rouge look to each other, and then to the black hedgehog, both of them now searching for the proper words to deliver their apology, and no amount of rehearsing beforehand had helped, apparently. Amy stays focused on the two of them, giving her girlfriend a light squeeze on the arm beneath the tabletop for silent encouragement, waiting for something.

“I spoke out of turn, shuttin’ you two up,” Knuckles speaks. “You had been… real quiet tonight, dunno why really, but it was wrong of me to make you hush the second you started interactin’. I’m sorry, Shadow.”

Rouge nods, appreciating her partner’s support in silence. “I joked about something that obviously upsets you. I’m also sorry— and if you would like to talk to us about it, about anything, we’re all here for you. You deserve to be who you are, and do your own thing.”

Slowly, Shadow starts nodding too, plucking the splinter from the wood. “You are both forgiven.”

After he says that, the table goes silent again, and then Tails clears his throat quietly, nervous enough to bring the attention to himself, especially for what he wants to say. They look over at him and then he slowly points in Sonic’s direction.

“Um…?” is what he manages to get out.

Shadow just studies the fox for a minute, not realizing how much doing so starts to unnerve the boy, and then rolls his eyes, reaching up to rub his face.

“I assume he is still standing there, then,” he mutters. “I believe I hurt his feelings. It serves him right, though; he would not shut up about things he does not understand.”

Tails’ fur puffs out and small fangs are visible past his somewhat curled back lips, his pair of tails behind him beginning to flick in agitation. “He was trying to help you.”

“I told him and I will tell you, I don’t need help,” Shadow responds.

“You’re just a sour jerk, Shadow!” Tails cries, standing up suddenly. “Sonic went to all the trouble of putting this night together for you, he’s been thinking about this for the last week, and all you can do is scream at him and treat him badly!”

“Tails—”

“He just wants you to be happy, Shadow!” the youngling continues, his voice slowly cracking. “He just wants you to see yourself how he sees you! He wants you to smile, to be happy, to feel at home with him, with US! He cares so much about you, Shadow, and all you do is treat him like this!”

Shadow abruptly stands up, wordlessly getting over the picnic table seat and turning, walking away. Tails breaths in to continue again, expecting some kind of fight, some kind of response, verbal or physical, but he gets nothing. Shadow just walks away. Rouge quickly stands up after the hedgehog, intent on going after him, but Amy grabs hold of her hand and keeps her rooted as the hedgehog begins to skate down the road until he’s just gone. Sonic hadn’t moved; he had stayed in his place as Shadow faded out of sight, and now he more or less drags himself back to the table, reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Um… I don’t think I ever shoulda planned this,” he says quietly. “It… was a long shot at best. I’m sorry to get everyone out tonight, to have you guys use your money for… this mess.”

“Sonic, it’s not your fault,” Tails pipes up immediately, hurrying around to the side of the table with his friend. “You were just trying to help.”

“Yeah, and I made things worse.”

Rouge looks at Amy, who has nothing to say now, no more ideas to help. Part of the bat had hoped for the opposite, but she doesn’t let it show, turning her attention back to Sonic almost immediately. “Hon, what did you say? Let’s start with that, so we can get everyone on the same page.”

Hesitantly, Sonic complies, his voice low, the presence of shame and maybe even embarrassment obvious in both body language and tone. Once everything has been recounted, what prompted Sonic to talk to Shadow, the things Shadow had said and the things Sonic had said, everyone takes a moment to think over it. They build their own opinions and construct the words they intend to speak in response to this new information, no one wanting to say the right thing wrong, or reflect their views in bad ways.

Tails’ opinion rings the same— he still thinks Shadow had been out of line, and being the youngest and the way that everyone present knows he is, they don’t want to speak against that. To him, Sonic can do no wrong, and no one wants to be the first to tell Tails he’s wrong about that.

“You guys both fucked up,” Knuckles finally says, breaking the silence at last. “Yeah, he should talk and open up more, mostly for his own good, but sometimes ya gotta give people their own time to do that, and you pushed too hard.”

Before Tails can speak, Amy builds upon Knuckles’ words, “I think you’re right for the most part, but you guys need to understand: not everyone heals by talking about things. Not everyone feels better once they tell someone everything that’s happened, or let people in. For some, they’re conditioned to think they just can’t do that anymore safely, so they don’t. Maybe they move past that, and find they can trust people and that trusting them with their hurt helps, but not everyone is like that.”

“She’s right,” Rouge agrees.

Tails seems confused beyond belief, now clinging to Sonic’s arm. “Guys, he— he didn’t mean to make Shadow mad, he wasn’t doing that on purpose!”

“But Tails, he still did it, regardless of whether or not he meant to,” the bat says with a shake of her head, meeting Sonic’s gaze. “No, you didn’t mean to push him like that, but you still did, and that’s still on you for doing it.”

A nod is what the hedgehog answers with. “Listen, I’ll talk to Shadow,” he mumbles. “Just— don’t fight you guys, everything’s gonna be fine.”

The fox utters a small whine, looking up at his friend, still not sure what to think. Sonic offers him a smile and then reaches over to lightly rough up his ears and the fur atop his head, comforting him with a quiet, “Nobody’s perfect, bud, and that’s part of life. Don’t worry about it, okay?”

The smaller boy just frowns and huffs. “Okay, Sonic….”