Infinity
Knock, knock.
"Who's there?"
"Heya."
He raised his eyebrows in an unamused way. "It's late."
"Lemme in."
"No."
A grin. "Come out, then."
Shadow sighed at the childish behavior of the other and leaned against the ledge on one of his elbows in front of the window the hero was behind. It was almost midnight; what was that stupid faker doing up and around his house?
"Go to sleep."
"I couldn't."
"More like you wouldn't anyway. What do you want?"
"Just come out," came the muffled voice of his blocked by the unrelenting glass as Sonic pushed his hands against it, peering at the darker one through it with knowing and excited eyes.
That kid wasn't about to leave any time soon. There was no way around and Shadow knew it, from the many past times this has happened.
And so the chilly spring night breeze hit him and ran through his quills like they had a million times before when he hopped out of the window, folding his arms when he landed soundlessly next to his persistent companion, giving him a questioning look without missing a beat in between. "Well?"
"Come on old man!" Sonic shouted as he took off with a smile. He'd pulled this move before. Shadow wasn't going to chase him down this time. He wasn't.
"I hope you know I'm not about to follow you."
Sonic turned back towards him, his grin never fading, only this time his brows were arched in a way that portrayed confusion - fake puzzlement, of course."But don't you want your emerald back? Or are you just too frail?" he asked as he pulled out said shiny gem, glowing a bright green in his hand, the light seeping through the cracks of his fingers. His grin only grew wider and he knew he got the other. He got him good.
Without looking to see if Shadow would follow him now, he turned tail and started running again, laughing to himself at how careless the "Ultimate Lifeform" could be (only around him, however, it seems). And, like the blue speedster had expected, he had followed, growling threats the whole way.
One jumped over the fallen tree, the other slid under; one laughed, the other growled; one rolled, the other pounced on top of him.
With an 'oof!' the jokester hit the ground to have his doppelganger fall on top. "Hand it over." With both hands settled firmly at the sides of his head, have a terrifying shadow cover him and not to mention the inescapable glare that was shot at him...well, it'd be safe to say that the black one sure got his blood pumping.
However, rubies could only stare as the familiar determined grin grew on Sonic's muzzle once the initial shock was over. "Never," he breathed, and successfully pushed Shadow off of him and rolled away, emerald still in hand.
...
Why that little...
Right when the red sneakers were about to hit the ground and break into another run, gloved hands reached out and grabbed onto his ankle and pulled Sonic back down, making him fall face first into the dirt with a yelp. The owner of the hands quickly jumped up from the soft cool blades of grass that were tempting him just to lay down for a while and rest, and sat down on blue hips in a straddle when the one under him finally managed to flip over. His hands quickly caught the fallen boy's wrists and leaned in close, smelling the wind in his fur as well as the light floral scent of Baby Blue Eyes that grew in the meadow they were in.
"Cheater," Sonic scoffed, staring into garnets with a glint that almost laughed "had to resort to that?"
The other only chuckled and took the freedom of scanning the boy from top to bottom in one quick sweep, fingers wrapping even more so around the skinny wrists after. "How about now?"
"Nope."
Calculating eyes narrowed at the bright toothy grin and he did nothing more besides warning the other with a "You asked for this" before pressing his lips against the hero's, the sensation still catching him off guard even after so many times they had done this.
He could feel the other's lips stretch into a smile against his.
He could feel them opening and pressing back.
He could feel the warmth bleeding in between them...
Quickly snapping out of the thoughts that threatened to override his senses, he pulled back. And by that time, the emerald was gone from the hands of the cobalt hedgehog and instead back in the possession of the darker one.
"Cheater, cheater, it just means you're cheaper," he muttered, rolling his eyes as he flexed his wrists that were now free.
Placing the gem back into his quills, he snorted and rolled off of the one under him and onto the grass. "Does it really count as cheating?"
The moon sure was pretty tonight.
"Of course."
And there was not a cloud in sight.
"I think it's more of a strategy than anything."
And though they were under such pale light,
"Whatever."
Rest assured, everything was alright.
The subtle breeze swept away the words and brought in a comfortable silence, and there they laid, hands behind their heads and just looking up at the night sky. Many times had the striped one thought about asking why his boyfriend brought him out for...but it really wasn't that much of importance, was it?
"You know why I brought you out here?"
Or not.
"No."
Was it because...?
"No real reason."
Well, nevermind. What else could he have expected from him, anyway?
"You really...wow."
"Heh, yeah, I love you too."
"I love you three."
"I love you infinity."
...Oh, he was on.
"I love you infinity times infinity."
"Whatever you said to the power of infinity times two."
"Oh, screw you."
"No, screw you, Shads~"
And the night dragged on just like that, happy to have each other as company no matter how much they argued and competed.
"You're going away again?"
Now if only that was the case a few years later.
"Sonic, you know it's an important mission."
The number of criminals had increased and the evil genius still hadn't given up.
"I know."
And they kept separating as the years went on. More and more so.
"You didn't mind it before, so why aren't you letting me go now?"
He brushed the missions off before. It was just a short separation, right?
"I...I don't know."
Yes, just a short period of time away from the love of your life. Love is strong, it'll hold them together no matter how far apart they were. Right?
"Then?"
Wrong.
"Just...don't - don't you think the rest of the crew can handle it without you?"
Time chews away at everything.
"They can. But what if something happened?"
Silence.
"Like Rouge got killed and I wasn't there to watch her back because I was home with you?"
"I can come along, maybe."
"We've discussed this before, I don't want you getting hurt. And you need to help around here when I'm gone."
"Shadow..."
"Sonic."
"...Chaos, Shadow, I just-"
"You don't own me."
That. That hit home.
With an exhausted sigh and nothing more, the black hedgehog took what he needed and headed out. He gave one more glance to the other, then shut the door behind him with a pair of guilty emeralds embedded in his mind. Eyes that weren't meant to carry that kind of feeling.
While not many lives of his partners/friends were lost on the mission of getting rid of a fatal and contagious virus, some still got injured in the process, and some got infected. But they made it home with the majority of the team left. It made Shadow wonder if he really should have thought about staying just this time to actually spend some time with him before refusing...but that thought was quickly replaced with annoyance and disbelief - disbelief that someone supposed to be a hero would try to put guilt on his lover just to keep him close.
Two weeks passed and the mission was over, but he never went home. He instead spent another few days wandering around, some days in fancy hotels, some days in the dirty hidden allies. But every day ended the same, always the same.
I don't miss him. I don't want to see his face. Yes, Faker, I don't miss you.
And he'd close his eyes and dream of missing him.
By chance, Rouge saw him one day while flying overhead and dropped by. He didn't look so good. She asked what was wrong. He said nothing. She asked again. He snapped. She offered to spend the day with him. He didn't refuse.
They stumbled into a hotel that night. "Sonic, Sonic, Sonic," he repeated, half sad and half glad, and an extra quarter drunk.
She stayed by his side, hearing his troubles all through the night. Of course she wasn't listening, just hearing the soft sobs. Just hearing. And even if she tried to listen, the alcohol blocked everything out. Just muffled sobs, laughter. Just fuzzy moans, "Sonic"s.
Sonic thought of calling the missing hedgehog many times. So many times he'd needed to have grown some extra limbs to count. But he didn't. He was going to give the other time to figure things out, and he wasn't about to lose his chance to get Shadow back with a call. Reason why he gave his cellphone to his trusty little brother and threw the home phones away.
Days and days went by and still nothing. Where was he? Was he in danger? He should've went with them on the mission.
It wasn't until Amy ran to him and cried about how her boyfriend cheated on her that he realized something. No, of course not. Shadow isn't that kind of guy. If he ever "cheated" he would've told the first person already, not hide it. He wouldn't do that, Sonic kept repeating to himself silently as he comforted the poor girl that day. He kept repeating that to himself the days after.
A month soon passed. It felt so long, but as it dragged on longer, the days seemed to pass faster -mostly only because they were doing things so mindlessly they don't even keep track of time anymore. Sonic still talked to his friends, but they could never keep a conversation going. Shadow still wandered around, sometimes holding meetings with the rest of the GUN crew to help distract him, but his mind always seems to drift back to the thought of that familiar toothy grin, that annoying waving back and forth of the finger, the mess he'd have on his face after devouring ten whole plates of chilidogs...
But who needed him? They'd gone too far apart to get back together. It's over. And all because of what?
With legs propped up on the long meeting table a flicking a pen at his teeth repeatedly, he knew he was in denial. But who says he couldn't make it not? He's got all he needed, all he needed to do was take action. And that includes telling Sonic.
And he wasn't ready to do that.
Why aren't you calling me and telling me to meet up with you somewhere and race with you without waiting for an answer to hang up?
Because you told him not to, Shadow. You told him not to.
He just couldn't believe a rebel like him would that could only mean that he...he...
Excusing himself from the room and ignoring the refusal the commander gave, he dropped his suitcase when he got to the bottom floor of the building and took off in a certain direction, knowing exactly where to go. He ripped off his tie - who needed this stupid thing flying over his neck? He unbuttoned his suit and let it fly far behind him and out of view as he kept running, then ripping apart the stitches in his pants, tossing it in the wind as well.
Freedom.
Now he could only hope and pray that the dumbass of a hedgehog that was his boyfriend would come check the place.
And fortunately, weary, dim emeralds opened a little wider in curiosity and confusion when he saw a bright yellow post-it note attached to one of the few trees in the meadow he'd come to visit for memories. The wind was making it hit the bark repeatedly and making 'flick, flick' sounds, but the note hung on.
Unsure and confused, Sonic walked towards the tree. But he couldn't help but feel a little bittersweet upon the memory of what had happened here, and what they had started. But that very well may be only a memory, and he would never visit this place with the hedgehog he had brought here the first time ever again.
A sigh escaped his dried and cracked peach lips from previous times he'd cried and not been able to get a good night's sleep and he picked up the note.
I love you infinity times infinity.
...
Why did it sound so...
No, no, wait.
Why was this here? That dickass must have written that. Must've left it here for him, expecting him to just show up and read it.
Well, he did. And he wants him back, just like the other wanted the hero back.
And before he knew it, he was chuckling. Then it broke into laughter. "Heh," he chortled, folding the piece of paper and holding it out as he waited for something. "Whatever you said to the power of infinity..." The windy but refreshing breeze dropped by again and he let the paper go, watching the yellow square fly farther and farther away until it was just a dot in the sky, imitating a second sun.
"Times two."