PART 3
The next morning, Blaze awoke to awoke to a phone call from a contact listed as 'Love 💜’, answering the phone in a confused tone as she began to speak, “Amy?…Why- It's…I just woke up? Is something wrong?” Blaze said, while Amy sits on her sofa next to a pacing Sonic, who is incoherently rambling about his crush on a certain hedgehog. “No, Blaze, nothing’s wrong. It’s just…Sonic. And Shadow. He won’t stop talking about him. He’s got a crush on him, and he doesn’t know how to tell anyone, so he came to me. He wants me to tell Shadow for him,” Amy says in a tired voice, “BUT IT’S ALWAYS BETTER TO TELL THEM YOURSELF, BECAUSE IT SEEMS MORE GENUINE!” She yells, as if trying to tell Sonic something, who ignores it as he paces around a coffee table. “Okay. Well, what’s Sonic doing? Other than talking about Shadow, I mean.” Blaze asks, still somewhat confused at what to do here. “Pacing. And ignoring me.” Amy replies, Blaze responding soon after, “Hm. Uhm, why don’t you give Team Dark a call? Maybe you could tell the-” Blaze was cut off as Sonic zipped over to Amy’s phone, yelling, “NO! No no no no no. If they hear it, then they’ll tell Shadow- and, and Shadow’ll think I don’t have the guts to tell him myself- and he wouldn’t be wrong either- maybe he’ll think I didn’t actually like him- or, or maybe he’d think I was just playing a prank an-” Sonic’s voice quickly faded into incoherence, however, at the apartment of Team Dark, a similar conversation ensued. Rouge sat tired on the sofa, holding her head in her hands while Omega stood beside her. “Shadow, honey- Just tell him.” Rouge tells Shadow in a drowsy tone, Shadow quickly replying as he turned to face her, halting his pacing, “NO! I am NOT telling that poor excuse for a hedgehog my- my feelings for him! I am the ULTIMATE LIFEFORM! What is he? Hm? WHAT IS HE, ROUGE?! He’s pathetic, he’s careless, and he’s- ” Shadow yelled angrily, but then suddenly paused for a brief moment. “He's…” Shadow’s voice turned quieter. “He’s free. He runs with the wind wherever it takes him, guarding any fortunate enough to cross his path- he has warned me of a coming doom so many times, and when have I ever listened? I was infected in mere minutes by the metal virus. Who am I to call myself…the ultimate lifeform?” He continues in a sombre tone. Omega awkwardly goes to sit on the sofa, and Rouge raises her head and forms a concerned and sympathetic expression. “Shadow The Hedgehog.” Rouge says as she gather’s Shadow’s attention, as if a parent yelling their child’s full name. “You have saved the world. You have rejected every evil being that tried to take you in. You persevered even when the world was against you. You are so much more than just an 'ultimate lifeform’. You’re a hero, because a hero never stops fighting for freedom. And you’ve always wanted to be free. Don’t ever put yourself down like that.” She said reassuringly, putting her hand on Shadow’s shoulder. Shadow sighed deeply and spoke, “Thank you, Rouge.”, “But…I…how do I tell him? I love him, Rouge. I know that. I have no qualms about it. But, actually telling him? It's…a daunting task, to say the least.” Omega gestured for Shadow to sit next to him, patting the sofa. Shadow walked over and sat, Omega slowly turning to him. “I will tell the hedgehog.” Omega said bluntly. Shadow was certainly worried about telling Sonic, but it seemed Omega wasn’t- Shadow’s face turned bright red as he grabbed Omega, Omega already ringing Sonic. “PUT DOWN THE DAMN PHONE!” Shadow yelled as Rouge facepalmed, a voice then coming from the phone. “Uhm…Shadow?” An awkward Sonic had replied, who had just been pacing for the last however long, now in his own apartment. “SONIC!? Omega, get off me!” Shadow said as he pushed Omega away and held the phone close to himself.
“Sonic- I, you see-” Shadow was cut off as Omega leaned over and spoke into the phone, making Sonic very clearly embarrassed- “Do you want a date.” Omega asked. “…Was that Omega!?” Sonic yelled into the phone, Shadow finally deciding that he has no way out of this conversation but one path; “HE WAS ASKING FOR ME! You stupid, idiotic, fool! I! was the one asking you on a date. ME!” Shadow didn’t mean to say all of that, but he wasn’t entirely sure what to say in it’s place. “I…Yeah, uhm, that’d be great. How…how about we meet up at the coffee shop later?” Sonic said with a red face, “Oh.” Shadow blushed and faked a cough. “Yes- uhm. Sure. I'll…be there. Bye.” Shadow responded awkwardly as he hang up the phone. “Well done. That’s sorted!” Rouge said as she went to head in her room, Shadow stopping her in her tracks. “SORTED!? I- NOW I AM GOING ON A DATE WITH HIM! How on any earth is that sorted!?!” He yells, furious. “Oh boo hoo. You’re going on a date with your crush. Think about it for a moment, Shadow.” Rouge replies jokingly, entering her room. Shadow does, infact, stop for a moment and think. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as he thought- but he’d still have preferred to not have a confession forced out of him. He covered his face as he blushed, heading into his room and opening his closet, filled with leather jackets, turning on his music as he opens it. As heavy metal music boomed in the background, Shadow selected one of his jackets- one of his nicer ones, and put it on carefully enough that his quills don’t tear it. He opens his drawers and takes out some red makeup Rouge gifted him, applying his red highlights aswell. “Okay.” Shadow said as he stared in his mirror. He sighed deeply and then left his room, leaving the apartment and yelling goodbye as he left. He walked to the coffee shop, awkwardly waiting at the entrance, leaning against the walls and tapping his feet with arms crossed. “C'mon…is he not gonna show? Is he pranking me? Was this all a tri-” Shadow thinks to himself, before Sonic arrives in the blink of an eye next to him, wearing a grey jacket covered in patches of mismatched cloth, likely from shoddy repairs after Sonic’s quills broke it.
Shadow stared at him for a moment as Sonic awkwardly held a miniature replica of the green chaos emerald, twirling his quills as he stood embarrassed infront of Shadow. Shadow was stunned, until Sonic began to speak, “So…”, “This is for you. I always thought that the green one was your favorite- you’ve always got it,- so I made you this. Uhm, Knuckles made me this for me to give to you, I mean. I hope you like it.” He said as he passed the replica to Shadow, who held it gently in his hands and gave Sonic a surprised stare. “It's…perfect. Thank you. The green one is my favorite.” Shadow said as he began to smile, before turning away and heading into the coffee shop. Shadow sat on a small table, Sonic sitting beside him. “How’s your life been in the city?” Shadow asks with a near-blank expression. “Oh, yeah, it’s been pretty great- Tails is setting up a new workshop since the last one got destroyed when Eggman left, and Knuckles is actually adjusting pretty well to the city, with the master emerald being safe and all. Whisper and Tangle got married! Did you hear about that? There’s a couple of rogue badniks here and there, but we’re all pretty safe.” Sonic spoke as Shadow rested his arms on the table, staring at Sonic with what would usually seem to be an intimidating gaze, but Shadow was merely completely invested in Sonic’s tales. As Sonic finished recounting some of his adventures, he sighed and said, “Yeah. They were some pretty great times. Kinda miss them, sometimes, but the city’s not so bad. Anyway, we should probably order now.” Sonic said, chuckling at the end of his sentence. “Hm.” Shadow replied as he grabbed one of the menus, looking through the different options. “A…regular coffee.” Shadow said as he placed the menu down, “Cool! I’ll, uh, have the same as you then!” Sonic spoke as he ran over to the counter, Shadow sitting at the table whilst Sonic orders. Sooner than later, Sonic brings the two coffees back to the table, drinking his on the way over. He sits down and passes Shadow his coffee, who takes it as Sonic passes it. Sonic finishes his coffee in a few seconds, placing it back down and resuming conversation with Shadow. “So, Shads, why do you ask about my adventures anyway? I didn’t think they’d be that interesting to you-” Sonic is cut off by Shadow, “You like talking about them. I like seeing you happy.” He says quietly, blushing. Sonic is stunned for a moment, “It’s getting late. I should head back to my apartment.” Shadow says as he leaves the coffee shop abruptly, Sonic waving goodbye to him as he leaves. “He likes seeing me happy. Well, how about that.” Sonic says to himself as he leaves the shop aswell, night quickly arriving at the city, with both hedgehogs soon asleep. Deep down, Shadow hopes they’ll meet again, like this. He hopes he can be more open about his feelings towards Sonic.