Sleepwalking

'There is a strong arm curled around his torso, the appendage keeping him close to its owner, whose warm breath is ghosting over the back of his neck. Sonic is sure he went to bed alone the previous night, but he isn't worried about the intruder. After all, this isn't the first time this has happened...'

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any related characters.

Special thanks to: StripedStoryteller for correcting this chapter.

Chapter 1:

With a yawn, Sonic opens his eyes, sleep slowly releasing his mind from its strong hold.

Though sleep definitely isn't the only thing that's holding him.

There is a strong arm curled around his torso, the appendage keeping him close to its owner, whose warm breath is ghosting over the back of his neck. Sonic is sure he went to bed alone the previous night, but he isn't worried about the intruder. After all, this isn't the first time this has happened...

He closes his eyes again, sighing contently, for now just letting himself bask in the pleasant body warmth of his bed companion. He doesn't bother to look over his shoulder to take a look at the person; he's perfectly aware it's Shadow.

The hero lets out a quite chuckle, recalling the memory of his first time waking up like this; the first morning, he was startled by waking up to someone holding him tightly and thus his quills bristled instinctively—which, in turned, caused a rather unpleasant awakening to his rival.

Though it was pretty funny now when he looks back at it—neither he nor Shadow knew how the agent had gotten into his bed in the first place, so they argued for about an hour whose fault it was until they concluded that their argument was getting nowhere and Shadow left.

However, the next day the event repeated and Sonic found himself awakened in Shadow's hold once more. Luckily, this time he didn't panic so Shadow didn't need to deal with quills stuck in his face. And even though he had expected it, this time they didn't argue at all; Shadow just left without a word to him, almost breaking the front door from sheer force on his way out.

And because Sonic had a feeling that wouldn't be the last time this strange event would occur, he made sure to stay awake for as long as he could that night—to finally see how was Shadow even getting into his bed in the first place.

The answer surprised them both.

Shadow suffers from sleepwalking. Or, well, sleep-teleporting as Shadow had actually chaos controlled into his bedroom, but those are just details...

After figuring that out, Sonic didn't try to wake Shadow—he heard that you weren't supposed to wake up sleep-walkers and he'd rather be safe than accidentally cause some damage; so he just guided Shadow into bed, planning to tell him about his finding in the morning. Then he tried to leave the room to sleep on the couch in the living room and leave his bed to Shadow, but the sleep-walking hedgehog wouldn't let him go anywhere—and thus Sonic had to spent yet another night in the same bed as Shadow.

Back in the present—the fourth morning, Sonic lets out a deep sigh; he knows that Shadow will be pissed off once he finds out that they are in the same bed again. Though there isn't much that Sonic can do about that as even in sleep Shadow has an insanely firm grip on his body—he can't even get out of Shadow's embrace without awakening the ebony hedgehog.

But despite the whole oddity of the situation, Sonic is actually finding himself kind of enjoying the situation. Routine isn't something he'd normally enjoy but having someone sleep in the same bed as him is definitely something he could get used to; there is just something really comforting about knowing there is someone beside him, someone that he can snuggle to, someone that will hold him...

Sonic's train of thought comes to an abrupt stop as suddenly the dark arm around his waist tightens for a moment and then goes limp again, his companion stirring slightly. It seems Shadow is waking up.

The hero's suspicion is confirmed when he hears Shadow give a tired grumble—an obvious sign that the agent's waking up.

"Ugh..."

"Good morning, Shads!" Sonic chirps, turning his head slightly to look at the other over his shoulder, his tone cheerful despite knowing his nice morning is most likely about to get ruined—but, hey, one can hope, right?

Shadow's eyes snap open, the crimson orbs immediately locking with his own and Sonic knows that, yes, his morning is about to be ruined.

"You again?" Shadow growls in a low voice, clearly displeased to find himself once again in the hero's bed. The agent sighs and then looks away from him. "This is getting ridiculous..." he huffs and rolls away, clearly not wishing to spent more time around him than necessary, his hand immediately coming up to rummage through his dark head quills to find the Chaos Emerald that has to be there—he couldn't have gotten into the hero's bedroom without it.

For some reason, Sonic suddenly feels cold; even though his blanket, which is still securely wrapped around his body, should definitely be enough to keep him warm. The hero frowns, instinctively wrapping himself up more in the blanket to get rid of the strange cold feeling.

"Hey! Don't talk like if this is my fault!" he retorts, his tone coming off slightly angry even if he's not actually intended it. "You are the sleepwalker here!" he adds in softer tone.

"Whatever." Shadow shakes his head dismissively, finally taking the gem out of his quills. "But I can promise you that it won't happen again."

Sonic snorts in a mild amusement at the prospect. "Yeah? And how exactly do you—?" Sonic doesn't even have the time to finish before the familiar words 'Chaos Control' echo through the room and Shadow disappears in a flash of light, leaving him alone in his bedroom once again.

For a moment, Sonic just stares at the empty spot, wondering what kind of plan Shadow could have come up with to stop his sleepwalking. However, then Sonic just shakes his head, not able to help himself but chuckle at the prospect again; there is no way that Shadow can control his own sleep-walking as he is, after all, doing it unconsciously...

But, hey, it wouldn't be Shadow if he admitted so...

With a grin, Sonic gets up from his bed and goes to prepare himself for the day, expecting to find himself in his rival's arms the next morning just like for the last four.

~O~

But Shadow is obviously too headstrong to break his promise.

Sonic has assumed so from the fact that he woke up up alone in his bed the following morning, no signs that the dark hedgehog might have been in the same bed as him during the night.

To be honest, Sonic was kind of disappointed about that.

However, he guesses it is better like this. After all, like this the things between them will get back to how they used to be before all this started and not trod on this odd unknown ground...

...right?

~O~

Sonic rolls over to to his other side for what seems to be a thousand time today, unable to find a comfortable position—just like the night before.

It has been an entire week since Shadow's last sleepwalking 'visit' and even though one would expect he'd get used to sleeping alone again in this time frame, instead the opposite seems to be happening—the more nights he spends alone, the more he finds himself missing sleeping next to Shadow.

It's really starting to annoy him.

Come on! He's been gone for more nights than we had spent together! Just let me sleep, brain... The cobalt hero closes his eyes, giving a loud sigh that coincidentally hides the barely audible creak of an opening door that sounds at the same moment.

Sonic winds the blanket around himself more tightly, hoping that sleep will finally come to claim his tired mind. However, his eyes snap open when the mattress unexpectedly dips slightly and just a moment later there's an arm placed around his waist, pulling him against a strong body.

Sonic turns his head slightly to look at the person behind him to ensure that somebody is actually there and that he isn't imagining things, but the room is too dark for him to make out any details except the vague silhouette of his bed companion.

"Shadow...?" he calls out softly.

Red eyes reveal themselves, barely visible in the dark. However, Sonic would recognize them anywhere. Even though this time they aren't sharp and furious like usually but instead glazed and unfocused—Shadow is obviously in his sleep-walking mode again.

Well, whatever he was doing before obviously isn't working anymore...Sonic realizes as his semi-conscious counterpart just continues to watch him silently.

Sonic would be lying if he said he's sorry about this turn of events, the smile which graces his lips confirming this. The blue hero lets his head fall onto the pillow again, automatically placing his hand on the striped one that is already resting on his stomach.

"Good night, Shadow."

Shadow's only response is just the agent pulling him even closer.

Letting out a content sigh at finally being in a comfortable position, Sonic closes his eyes, his consciousness slipping away from the reality in a matter of seconds.

~O~

"Damn it!"

Those are the exact words that wake Sonic up the next morning.

Even though his body protests against it, he still forces his eyes to open and gaze at Shadow. "Geez, Shadow, do you even have a 'good morning' in your vocabulary?"

"There is nothing good about this morning," Shadow responds as he gets up, automatically reaching into his head-quills to take out his Chaos Emerald.

Surprisingly, Shadow's hand comes out of his quills still empty. Irritation flashes over Shadow's face before it is suddenly replaced by a brief surprise and a short "Damn," leaves the agent.

Sonic raises his brow. "You lost the Emerald?"

"I didn't have it on me when I came here—I had given it to Rouge," Shadow replies, bending down and picking up his hover-skates that Sonic honestly didn't even see him put here—if he should judge by the surprised look Shadow is giving them, Sonic would say neither Shadow had any idea he had put them there. "It seems I ran here..."

Sonic laughs. "It seems you really wanted to see me."

Shadow shoots him a glare, before flopping down to sit on the edge of the bed to put on his skates.

"Don't take it as that I'm unhappy to see you, but..." The mattress shifts slightly as Sonic crawls to Shadow's side and then seats himself right next to the agent "What happened to your 'sleepwalking-fix'?—whatever it was," Sonic questions, his curiosity once again awake when Shadow is too. "I've thought you got it under a control when I haven't seen you for a whole week..."

There is a moment of silence but then... "...I never had it under a control," Shadow admits quietly, Sonic having to strain his ears to even hear it.

Sonic frowns in confusion. "But then how did you—?" The rest of Sonic's question remains unheard as he notices something unusual about the other's appearance.

There are noticeable dark circles under Shadow's eyes.

A realization dawns on Sonic. "You haven't been sleeping all this time..." he breathes, shocked.

Shadow shoots him another glare for pointing this out but doesn't deny the statement. Sonic frowns. "Shadow, you don't need to strain yourself like that! I don't really mind this—"

"But I do," Shadow answers firmly, standing up. "I have to stop this from happening—"

"What about finding the reason why it's happening in the first place?" Sonic suggests as he gets up, once again at the same eye-level with his rival. "Or did you have trouble with sleep-walking before?"

"I know why it' happening," the ebony agent responds, turning to leave, "and it's nothing that needs to concern you."

"I think it does," Sonic answers, placing himself between his dark counterpart and the door to prevent the other from leaving. "After all, you keep coming to me."

Shadow growls. "Move out of my way."

"Come on, Shadow! Just tell me and I'll help you solve it! If you were able to deal with this on your own, we wouldn't be having this conversation now, would we?" Sonic gives the ebony agent a smirk, believing his logic to be flawless.

However, Shadow only hisses warningly. "Step aside, hedgehog."

"—Whatever it is, I promise I won't laugh at or mock you because of it!" Sonic promises, believing that the agent's sleep-walking has to be connected to something embarrassing—like, for example, that Shadow might used to have a teddy-bear that the agent has problem to sleep without and that he's now supposed to be its substitute.

(To be honest, Sonic wouldn't really mind in continuing to act the part of teddy-bear if this was the case—Shadow is surprisingly warm and comfy if given the chance.)

Shadow scowls; he would definitely much prefer if it was a laughing matter—though it probably is for anybody but him. "Hedgehog, I'll warn you one more time—"

"I'm not moving until you tell me," Sonic replies to the other's unfinished threat, crossing his arms over his chest in a gesture of determination.

Shadow's scowl slowly transforms to an emotionless expression, a glint of something dangerous in his eyes. The atmosphere also suddenly feels much heavier than moment ago, Sonic isn't really sure what to think of this sudden change of mood.

"Fine then." The ebony hedgehog makes a step closer, Sonic slightly tensing up as he doesn't know what he should expect from Shadow. A punch to the gut maybe? A punch to face? Or—

But Sonic's line of thought is cut short when Shadow makes his move unexpectedly. The cobalt hero suddenly finds himself being thrown across the room onto his bed, landing onto the soft cushion with a 'thud' just as the familiar 'click' sound of shutting door reaches his ears—an obvious sign that Shadow has just left the room.

As quickly as only a super-fast hedgehog can manage, Sonic jumps to his feet and runs over to the door, swiftly opening it only to see that Shadow is already nowhere in sight.

Shoulders slumping, Sonic sighs. Alright, you win this round, Shads.

"Err, Sonic!" Tails' voice sounds from downstairs, making Sonic wonder how did Shadow manage to run past Tails without the fox noticing him. "Did Knuckles drop by when I was still in bed? The door is broken again!"

Which, of course, isn't the only mystery. Why is their door broken in the first—? But before the question could be finished, Sonic's brain has already made the connection on how Shadow managed to get into the house without a Chaos Emerald.

—and you owe me a door, Sonic adds to his previous comment, sighing before walking down the stairs to see how much damage has been done to the door and if it can still be salvaged.

~O~

I should probably try to make this stop happening...Sonic muses the following morning, once again held by the sleeping Shadow. But I don't really want to...

There are no pros that this action would bring him. There are only cons—he would lose the warmth of the other's body and the feeling of safety that Shadow's presence always induced in him.

Sonic chuckles at the thought. Shadow making me feel safe? That has to be the most ridiculous statement of the year!

But despite its bizarreness it is true—Shadow makes him feel safe just by being here with him. However, how exactly he manages to do that is beyond Sonic.

After weighing the pros and cons it should be pretty clear that stopping Shadow's midnight visits wouldn't be favorable for Sonic, however, the cobalt hero still cannot fight of the feeling that it isn't the right thing to do.

Even if Shadow doesn't want to share with him the reason of his sleep-walking, he still should do something to help the ebony hedgehog get rid of this habit, right? Maybe, if he shows Shadow's sleep-walking self that he's no longer welcome in his bed, it will deter the ebony hedgehog from going back to him...

It's my duty to help him, Sonic reminds himself, his fingers absent-mindedly playing with Shadow's white chest-fur. It's the right thing to do.

But then why does he still feel reluctant about doing so?

~O~

But some things are easier said than done.

And apparently convincing a sleeping-walking person to stop doing something is one of them.

The semi-conscious hedgehog frowns in confusion. "...No?"

"No," Sonic repeats his previous statement, making sure to keep the ebony hedgehog at an arm length away from him; otherwise, Shadow would surely try to grab him and there is no escaping the ebony agent once that happens—a sleep-walking Shadow is extremely clingy Shadow.

"...Why?" Shadow asks, his expression utterly perplexed, his partly-sleeping brain apparently unable to come up with a reason why Sonic would suddenly change his mind about the two of them sharing a bed.

"Er...because..." Sonic starts, his brain racing thousands miles per hour to find a reason that would be enough for the parasomniac hedgehog. "Because...you don't really want this."

"What...?" the ebony hedgehog grimaces, making the blue hero wonder if Shadow even understands what he is telling him or if the sleeping-walking hedgehog is just saying random words that somehow fit into the conversation.

"You dislike me—remember?" Sonic tries, gesturing with his hands to emphasize his point. "You always try to to avoid me at all cost! Well, at least when you are awake..."

Shadow just continues to stare at him, dark eye-ridges furrowed in confusion. "I don't dislike you..."

"I beg to differ," Sonic responds, crossing his arms over his chest a bit defensively.

"I don't dislike you," Shadow insists, his tone getting a vexed edge that makes Sonic wonder if the ebony agent has just woken up. But judging by the far-away look in Shadow's eyes that isn't the case.

It's really unsettling how much awake the ebony hedgehog seems...

Sonic sighs and shakes his head. He's never thought he would be explaining to Shadow that he's supposed to hate him. But here he is. "You don't like me! Why else would you insult me all the—" Sonic barely dodges the dark hand that reaches for him. "—Hey! Stop that! I'm trying to talk some sense into you!"

The ebony agent frowns at Sonic avoiding his touch and makes another attempt to grab the cobalt hero; Sonic just dodges his hand once again.

The hero hisses. "Hey! Are you even listening to me?!"

There is no reply. Shadow just scowls and then unexpectedly lunges forward, tackling his blue counterpart to the bed, Sonic yelping in surprise at the unexpected swift move from the usually sluggish parasomniac.

"Hey! Let me go!" Sonic immediately starts to thrash in the other's hold, the cobalt hero not willing to give up without a proper fight. However, Shadow just tightens his hold, seemingly not bothered by fact that there are two peach hands trying to force him away. The semi-conscious hedgehog just closes his eyes, giving a clear sign he doesn't care about Sonic wanting to make him see reason, sleep being the only thing on the ebony hedgehog's mind.

Nonetheless, Sonic continues his struggle, because he simply refuses to go down without a fight. "Dammit, Shads! Why won't you ever let me help you?!"

Shadow mumbles something in response, the event catching the blue hero's attention and making him cease in his movements in order to focus on what the ebony hedgehog is saying.

"—hold you then."

Sonic blinks in confusion at these words, realizing he probably hasn't heard some important information that preceded in this sentence. "Err, Shads, could you repeat that? I haven't quite caught it the first time."

Quiet snoring is Sonic's only answer.

Oh, come on! Right now?! Sonic groans internally at Shadow's choice of time of (truly) falling asleep. The ebony agent's expression is for once peaceful, his usual scowl nowhere to be found. The blue hero can't help but sigh at the sight. You know, Shads, you are making it really difficult for me to help you...

Or maybe he doesn't want to be helped... a voice at the back of Sonic's mind comments, Sonic having to admit it is likely right—after all, Shadow refuses to share with him the reason for his sleep-walking. However, even if it was true Sonic would still refuse to give up on Shadow. He would never give up on anyone.

The cobalt hero stares at the other's relaxed face for a moment longer before he closes his own eyes and lets himself succumb to his own sleepiness.

He can always try again tomorrow, after all.

[Last edited: 2018-07-01]