Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me. Sonic and Knuckles belong to SEGA.

Competition

"You cheated."

Knuckles glanced upwards slightly, his eyebrows raised towards the only other person currently in his company. He could see the blue hedgehog sitting across from him very clearly, his arms folded in a somewhat sulky manner, his emerald eyes narrowed at him, his lower lip poking out in a manner which made the other animal look almost childish.

Knuckles merely rolled his eyes before allowing himself to chuckle softly, once again burying his nose into the newspaper that rested in his large, gloved hands. It was silly really… the hedgehog would get over it eventually.

Or perhaps not.

"You cheated, Knux."

Sighing, Knuckles folded up the newspaper and settled it beside him on the wooden table, before facing the cerulean hero with a stern look on his face.

"Just accept it, Sonic. I won."

"I want a rematch," the blue hedgehog named Sonic stated stubbornly, getting to his feet and walking towards the red echidna, "I don't lose to cheaters."

Anger and offence prickled the echidna, ever so softly, enough to cause him to clench his large fists slightly, sufficient to make his sharp knuckles viewable to the blue hedgehog. He found himself snarling in a low, almost frightening, tone of voice, "I didn't cheat."

A smirk crossed the blue hedgehog's lips, "Yes, you did."

"I did not."

"You did."

"Did not."

"You did."

"No I didn't, Sonic."

"Cheater! Cheater! Cheater!"

"Shut the hell up, Sonic!" Knuckles growled, wishing for nothing more than to be able to punch the smug blue hedgehog in his stupidly handsome face. He clenched his fists tighter, sweat beginning to trickle amongst the fur on his hands. He breathed heavily, his eyes narrowed almost to slits, "You just cannot stand the possibility of someone being better than you."

"Come on, Knux," Sonic leaned closer a little, his eyelids lowering slightly, "Everyone knows I'm the fastest thing alive here."

"On your feet," Knuckles grinned in an almost manic way, "But not anywhere else."

Sonic fell silent, unable to come up with an argument to counter the echidna's. He was the fastest thing alive on his feet – he could break the sound barrier at any time of his choosing, avoid anything Knuckles threw at him when they sparred, and had put a stop to a massive number of plots that the evil Dr. Robotnik had come up with, including the one that had occurred not many years ago with the Death Egg which had threatened Knuckles' very home. It seemed only fair that he would be humiliated by being beaten in… that category.

Seeing the hedgehog looking so thoughtful all of a sudden, Knuckles found himself shrugging, an almost cheeky grin unexpectedly crossing his face, "If you want a rematch, I suppose I wouldn't mind."

Sonic looked up abruptly, "You sure, Knux? I know how much you hate losing to me."

The echidna once again shrugged, smirking widely, "That is on the rare occasion that I lose to you."

"Is that a challenge?" Sonic found himself blurting out before even registering the words.

Knuckles leaned closer towards Sonic, placing a hand on his peach-furred cheek and resting his mouth by the hedgehog's sensitive right ear, whispering tenderly, "Yes, Sonic, I suppose it is."

A smirk crossed Sonic's own facial features, "Then let's get ready to rumble."

In that instant, Sonic grabbed Knuckles by the arm, dragging him in the direction of the red echidna's bedroom, hosted by one snug, comfortable-looking double-sized bed.

Yes, it's a male/male pairing and it happens to be my favourite pairing in Sonic right now. If people don't like male/male pairings and yet they've decided to read this and flame me as an excuse for it, it's not my problem. I made it clear that this one-shot/drabble collection is for all kinds of pairings, so I did warn people. Maybe I'm just being paranoid though, as I have not posted anything in the Sonic fandom for ages mostly due to lack of interest.

I've decided to split the one-shot collection into three so that those who do not like pairings of a certain kind don't need to traipse through the one-shots until they find one of their preference.