Rain poured down, drenching the black hedgehog in water. He growled. He hated water.
Shadow just realized that he was holding the umbrella he had brought with him since the forecast said there would be a drizzle tonight.
"Man, I'm so stupid."
He pressed the button and opened up the umbrella to its full width. He quickly put it over his head. The patter of rain instantly stopped.
He kept walking down the sidewalk, breathing in the rich smell of rain.
Though he knew it was going to rain, he couldn't resist a good night walk. It wasn't like there was anyone to tell him otherwise.
He had recently kicked Rouge out of his apartment, due to her extreme sense of gossip, for one thing, and it was just so hard to make her fall in love with him. He couldn't stand girls, so he let them out of his life. Not that all girls were like that, but still.
He whistled his favorite tune, falling into step with his feet matching every tap. It was a good song, always seemed to cheer him up.
He couldn't help it. He liked Rihanna. So what? He was his own person, and it wasn't like anyone could muster up the courage to tell him off. Sonic could sometimes, but he was Sonic.
The blue hedgehog was cute, what with the twitch of his ears when he was embarrassed or nervous. And the way his tail swept side to side when he walked. Though he wasn't Shadow's type. Too hyper.
"Guess I'm not meant to be with anyone. Why am I not surprised?"
He knew he was just created for the sole purpose of protecting the pathetic human race. Maria's final request. She was his friend, so, of course, he wanted to fulfill her wish, but it was just getting old. He was created just to be alone.
That thought made him feel cold suddenly. He stopped walking. He looked down at his feet. He closed his eyes, a tear slowly coming down his cheek.
The black hedgehog's eyes opened suddenly when he heard singing. Still, it was faint, but what with his enhanced hearing, he heard it like it was right next to him.
He squinted his eyes. A gentle patter of rain fell on his nose and he realized he was slacking with the umbrella. He straightened it again.
Soon, he could see a soft glow of white come out of the mist.
That was where the faint singing was coming from. But now it seemed like it was forced at times.
Like it was crying.
As the black hedgehog stepped closer, he recognized the quills that were always popping up, but now flat against his head.
Silver…
But what was he doing out here, in the rain, in the middle of the night, without an umbrella?
Now he recognized the melody.
Rihanna? Hm-hmm…
Shadow chuckled to himself. Guess for once someone else shared his interests.
He watched as the ivory hedgehog had his arms wrapped around himself, walking slowly while he stared at the ground. He sniffled, then let out a long sigh.
What's wrong with him? Usually he's all out-going and all that crap. Wonder what's got him like this? Takes a lot to make him like this. Well, better stop thinking up questions without answers and ask him about it.
He crossed the street seeing as there were no cars out and about at this hour.
As he came closer, he saw Silver's head jerk up, then turn to look at him. The singing immediately stopped.
"Uh…Sh-Shadow? Wha…What are you d-doing here?" He stammered, wiping his nose. His ears flicked up.
How cute…
"I was just coming over to see if you were ok. You seemed down."
Heh. What an understatement.
Silver's cheeks blushed. He couldn't believe that he was right next to Shadow, let alone talking to him. He wondered if Shadow had heard him singing…
Shadow chuckled. He could read the hedgehog's mind like a book.
"So, you ok? Or do you wanna talk about it?"
"Well, it's B-Blaze…We g-got into..a fight..earlier." He stammered.
"Tell me about it. Come on, walk with me."
Shadow and Silver continued walking down the sidewalk, falling into step with each other.
"Well…"
An hour earlier…
Blaze walked over to Silver, who was sitting on the loveseat watching TV. He could tell just by glancing at her that she was peeved about something. He paused the movie quickly.
"SILVER!!"
He could tell this was going to get ugly. He stood up, about to try to calm her down, but she only interrupted him.
"SIT DOWN!"
He immediately sat down, trying to inch as much as he could into the couch.
"YOU LIKE HIM, DON'T YOU!? SILVER, WHY??"
Seeing as she was really freaking him out, she tried the best she could to calm down. She sighed.
"Silver…why do you suddenly have an interest in men? It's just not right!"
Silver blushed, his eyes flying wide open, as if they were wide enough already. Oops…
"Am I not enough? Or did you even like me at all? Was it all just a big lie!?"
He hated where this was going…
"Blaze…"
"NO! Don't Blaze me! I've had enough of this!"
She was in tears now.
Man, what have I done? Now I'm hurting her. But it's just, it can't work out. Not like this.
He got up, tears filling his eyes as he realized what her intention was.
"Just…just get out…" She buried her head in her hands, collapsing to her knees on the floor.
As instinct, Silver was about to reach out to her, but he didn't want to hurt her more. So he just got out of there.
Shutting the door behind him, he ran down the street, tears coming out like rivers as he tried to get away from it all.
Present time
"I just can't try to be perfect for her anymore!"
He buried his head in his hands, fresh tears coming down his face.
Shadow really felt sorry for him. His only friend, and now she hates him. Now he's like…me. Alone.
It pained him to see Silver like this.
Silver shivered.
That gave Shadow the best idea of a way to comfort him.
"Here. Come under my umbrella."
He brought Silver closer to him in a warm embrace.
Silver enjoyed the warmth and blushed when he noticed how close they were. He loved it. The white hedgehog nuzzled his face into Shadow's chest fur.
Shadow smiled. Perfect.
"Let's go to my house and warm you up. Like hot chocolate?"
Silver turned his head enough so that he was still nuzzled in the fur, but so that Shadow could see part of his face.
Silver smiled a genuine, teary smile.
"I love hot chocolate!"
Shadow smiled, his eyes gazing lovingly at the ivory hedgehog's golden ones.
They kept walking, now towards Shadow's apartment, gazing at each other the whole way.
The rain poured, but under the umbrella, they were as warm as could be.