Notes-

It's nowhere near Valentines Day, but that doesn't mean I can't write a fic about it, no? I could use a break from my other stories…this is only a one-shot, anyway. Reason for the sudden fic is because a friend and I were talking about the lack of Sonic x Knuckles in the world, and we thought it would be fun to do an RP with them. Yes, this is an RP, with a in life friend of mine. She did Knuckles and Shadow, I did Sonic and Rouge.

Hope you enjoy.

-Anonymoux

Jealousy has its Perks

"Oh, come on~" the blue hero whined, pushing his foot deeper into the side of the Ultimate Lifeform's face. Shadow gives him a glare out of the corner of his eyes, before letting out a humph and continuing to type on his laptop.

"You keep that up, and you'll be whining for a more painful reason," the anti-hero snapped, causing Sonic to roll his eyes and groan in irritation, falling all the way back down on the couch.

"..but it's like…the perfect day, too!" Sonic continued, as if he hadn't heard his mate's threat. "Can't you just drop the reports for tomorrow?"

"No," Shadow answered curtly. "I've put these aside numerous times for you already. I'm finishing them today."

Sonic pouted, sitting up and flattening his ears like a child. "…but it's Valentines Day…"

The striped hog raised a brow at him, pausing for only a second. "…and? You've never cared before."

Emerald irises narrowed as the cobalt hedgehog glared back at him. "I didn't care last year because we weren't together! Now I actually have a reason to celebrate today!"

Shadow shrugs, turning back to his work. "We celebrate us everyday. I don't see what the big deal is."

Sonic just stares back at him, frowning disappointedly. When his mate doesn't acknowledge him again, he closes his eyes and lets out a frustrated sigh.

"Fine. I'll find someone else to celebrate today with, since your work is so much more important than me," he huffs, standing up. "Get Towers some flowers while you're at it."

With that, he turns on his heels and storms out, leaving Shadow sitting there with a slightly surprised expression on his face.

"Stupid boyfriend and stupid holidays," Sonic mutters under his breath, pushing the door to Club Rouge open and letting it slam shut behind him. The white bat looks up from behind the bar, raising an amused brow at the hero as he walks over and slumps down on one of the bar stools.

"You alright, hon?" she asks, throwing the washcloth she had been using on the counters somewhere behind her. "Did you get stuck out, too?"

Sonic frowns at her. "What do you mean, 'too?' Knuckles cancel on you?"

She laughs lightly. "Of course. He's still mad at me."

The hero rolls his eyes. "Well, I kinda am, too. You thought about choosing a Chaos Emerald over helping me get out of there."

The bat puts her hands up innocently. "Hey, I still helped you, you know."

The hedgehog's eyelids fall halfway in a small glare. "You hesitated. I could have died."

She waves him away, laughing again. "Please, you could have gotten out of there fine."

"Rouge," Sonic drawls, obviously done with the conversation.

She smiles and winks at him, before tilting her head slightly to one side. "Well, you're obviously not that mad if you're here to rant out your boyfriend. What's he doing?"

Sonic lets out a quiet groan and puts his arms on the counter, resting his chin on them as he crosses them. "He's working. Won't listen to a single thing I say."

Rouge rolls her eyes, resting her own chin in her hand, leaning forward on the counter as well. "That's Shadow for you. Can never lighten up, even for a holiday."

Sonic shrugs, sitting back up. "He doesn't see a point in it. I don't care anymore. I was going to see if there's anything you heard of going on I can do."

Rouge shakes her head. "Nothing I know of, sweetie."

Sonic's frown deepens. "Well that sucks."

She looks at him, studying him for a moment, thinking of something he could do. If Shadow was ignoring him, maybe there was a way to get his attention…

…the idea hits her instantly.

"Why don't you try to get him jealous?" the devious bat suggests with a smirk. Sonic blinks at her.

"What?"

She holds up her hands. "Hear me out: Knuckles has been fawning over you since last week, right?"

Sonic's mouth drops open, before a slick grin curves his lips as well. He jumps off the stool and goes to rush to the door.

"Great idea! Thanks Rouge!"

She laughs as he opens the door. "You're welcome!"

The red guardian frowns at the sound of a boom in the distance, letting out a sigh as the hedgehog himself runs up to him where he stood atop the alter, shoving something in his face.

"Here you go~!" Sonic chirped brightly, watching as Knuckles frowns at the envelope he was holding.

"What is this?" he asks, snatching the envelop and flipping it over in his hands. Sonic smiles innocently.

"It's Valentines Day, stupid," he answers, watching his friend look up at him with skeptical eyes.

"Shouldn't you be giving this to Shadow?" he asks, not sure he wanted to know where this was going. Sonic's expression drops instantly, like a switch; his smile fading and an irritated scowl taking its place.

"Shadow is busy being a jerk, and doesn't want to do anything today, so I decided to come hang out with you."

Knuckles only continues to stare at him reclusively. "Why me?"

Sonic shrugs. "Well, we're both mad at our mates so I thought it would be fun to piss them off, too. I mean, I know Shadow would be extremely ticked if he found out, and Rouge might get super jealous, so…"

The guardian just frowns at him. "I don't think this is a good ide-…"

"Oh, come on!" Sonic exclaims with a shining smile, dashing forward to nearly press the other against the Master Emerald. "I'll make it worth it~"

Knuckles's face reddens darker than his fur, spreading all across his muzzle like a water spill. "Okay, okay!" he stutters, pushing the hero away. "We can hang out…just mind yourself, will you?"

Sonic beams, smiling brightly. "Awesome!" Grabbing the guardian's hand, he pulls him out of the small alter and down the steps excitedly. "Come on! We have a whole day ahead of us!"

Knuckles groans exasperatedly, smiling weakly as his friend eagerly pulled him over the small, grassy hill leading to the bridge off the smaller of the floating islands. "Do you even know what you want to do?" he asks, having a good feeling the hedgehog didn't.

Sonic shakes his head, yet still doesn't stop. "Not really, but that's the fun part, right?"

"You're insane," the echidna deadpans, letting himself be dragged down another hill. "Where are we going, then?"

Sonic stops then, pursing his lips. "Hmmm…I dunno, really. I just want to do something fun that's gonna pass the time." He looks around, looking up at the mountains that rose high up into the clouds. A grin grows across his face at a sudden idea. "Wanna go snowboarding?"

Knuckles lets out a sigh. "Do I even have a choice?"

Sonic's grin grows. "Not really. Come on!"

Knuckles's eyes widen as he's pulled towards the mountains, still not sure if this was a good idea.

Shadow frowns as the front door swings open, a white bat stepping through and dusting herself off. "I cannot believe how cold it is today!" the woman was saying as she shuts the door and throws her jacket on the floor. He scowls at her, wondering what in the hell she was up to.

"Rouge," he greets bitterly, watching her like a hawk as she prances over to him, sitting on the coffee table in front of him.

"Hello, sunshine~" she smiles brightly at him, which only makes his scowl deepen.

"What are you doing here?" he asks, almost hesitantly. She being here was worse than Sonic nagging him.

"Oh, I don't know…" she hums, crossing her arms. "I just happen to have a certain blue hedgehog wander into my bar today…"

His ears perk up slightly, one of his brows furrowing as the other shoots upwards. "And?"

She frowns at him. "Hon, it's Valentines Day. I shouldn't have Big Blue upset at my bar because his boyfriend didn't want to take him out today. The bar's for single, depressed people only."

He rolls his eyes, figuring that's what this was all about. "I've been putting work aside to take him out every day, bat. Mind your own business."

She glares at him as he goes back to typing. "Not yesterday, because you were at G.U.N., and not the day before, because you were doing a mission for G.U.N., and not the day before, because you were on another mission…" she pauses only for a short moment to soak in his glare, as his ruby red irises slowly raise from the computer to her. "So you can't say you've taken him out everyday, Shadow. He's really upset, you know."

She watches him frown, his eyes narrowing as he looks back at his computer. He doesn't start typing again, however, and just stares at the screen. She could practically see the gears turning in his head.

"Anyway," she continues, watching him closely. "He said something about going to Angel Island to hang out with Knuckles," she watches the dark hedgehog look up at her almost too quickly. She has to do everything within her power to not smile as she goes on. "Which doesn't surprise me. Knuckles has been all over him since he almost blew up last week in that explosion, and he's still mad at me, so it wouldn't surprise me if Sonic is going to tangle with Knuckles for the night. I mean, he knows I wouldn't be mad at him for doing it, so…"

Shadow's eye twitched, before he closed both of them and took in a deep breath. "Faker wouldn't do something like that."

"Would he, though?" Rouge asks, raising a brow. "I mean, if it's to piss you off, because you upset him, yeah I can see him doing it. Plus, I've told him before about how good a time Knuckles can give someone in bed, so he's probably taking advantage of the situation."

Bringing up Sonic sleeping with that echidna seemed to drive a wedge in Shadow's head, as his eyes narrowed and he slammed the laptop closed. Rouge grins as she watches him stand up, going over to the front door to slip on his skates. He doesn't say a word as he teleports away with a Chaos Control, leaving the girl to snicker to herself.

"He took the bait. You're welcome, Sonic."

The two grinned as they raced down the mountain, snow flurrying up and soaking their fur, wind whipping Sonic's quills and Knuckles's dreadlocks around, their eyes lit up in the challenge of winning. Sonic reaches down beside him, gathering up a small snow ball, hurling it at the guardian's head, nailing him right on target. Knuckles lets out a surprised yell, before shaking the snow out of his face and glaring at the laughing hedgehog.

Reaching down, the echidna makes his own snow ball, his one a lot bigger than Sonic's had been, throwing it hard enough to not only hit the hero, but send him rolling as well.

As Knuckles slides to a halt at their makeshift finish line, he grins as he watches Sonic go flying passed him, letting out a cry as he hits a tree, snow falling on top of him. Chuckling, the guardian walks over and digs his friend out, pulling the shivering hero out of the snow heap and grinning at him.

"N-N-Not c-c-cool…" Sonic stutters, but he's grinning too.

"You started it, idiot," Knuckles smirks. "Let's get you back before you catch a cold."

"I-I-I'm a-a-al-already c-c-cold," the hedgehog huffs, letting the echidna pull him to his feet and wrap his arms around him.

"Shouldn't have started a fight you knew you couldn't win," Knuckles shrugs, happy he not only beat Sonic in a race, but caused him some misery as well.

"Y-Y-You're m-m-mean…m-man…" Sonic grumbles, resting his head on his shoulder, shivering.

The echidna sighs, knowing they would never make it back at this rate. Picking up the hero, who hummed and buried his face in his red furred shoulder, he turns and heads for the tunnel that would take them directly to a little cabin he had up in the area.

Shadow frowns as he looks around, not seeing any sign of Sonic or Knuckles. Where in the world could they be? He heads around the alter itself, then inspects the guardian's hut, which was empty of the two. Neither of them were here, so they had to be somewhere on the island. He stops and looks around at the trees and mountains, betting money they were somewhere in the forest, or up in the mountains. He lets out a sigh before teleporting to the former, first.

Sonic smiles happily as Knuckles hands him a cup of hot chocolate, warm and snuggled underneath a large, soft blanket. Knuckles sits beside him on the large couch, slipping his shoes off beside the hedgehog's that lay on the floor in front of them. "Happy?" he asks.

Sonic nods, taking a sip of the warm drink in his hands. Much better than sitting around, watching Shadow type boring reports all day.

The echidna nods, satisfied, grabbing the book he had left on the coffee table in front of them and flipping it open to where he left off. It's been a little while since he's been up here, so he almost forgot what the book was even about…

Sonic, being the nosey critter he was, leaned on the other's shoulder, looking at the book. "What's that about?" he asks, curling up against him.

Knuckles's face reddens slightly, not sure if he should push the other off of him or let him cuddle. What was it hurting, anyway? Plus, Sonic was comfy. The hero had also came to him seeking attention and company, since his boyfriend wasn't doing a very good job of it. It would be fun to piss off Shadow, too, he suddenly thinks. He hated the black and red hedgehog to begin with, so if he could score one by playing along with Sonic…

"Just a book my father wrote," he answers, lifting his arm to wrap it around the hedgehog's shoulders. Sonic's face lights up instantly at the movement, and he smiles, relaxing against the guardian.

"What's it about?" he asks, enjoying the feel of the guardian holding him. He couldn't remember the last time Shadow did something like this with him.

"Chaos stuff," Knuckles shrugs. "Some of it's boring, some of it's kind of interesting. I figured the more I know, the better."

"Then you can teach me," Sonic smiles, closing his eyes.

Knuckles smiles as well, going back to his reading. Well, he tried to.

Sonic was very distracting.

Not purposely, but just having him there, leaning against him was enough to direct his focus away from his book. He looks at the hero, tilting his head slightly. "You done for the day?"

Sonic opens one eye and chuckles. "Maybe. Just warming up, now. You're nice an' comfy. Shadow never lets me lay on him anymore."

Knuckles frowns, wondering how the two were able to get along as they did, anyway. "Why not? I thought you two were fine?"

Sonic shrugs, looking down. "Eh, he's been really focused on work, lately, so by the time I do get to see him, he's tired or agitated, or writing those stupid reports."

The hedgehog sounds bitter about it, which doesn't surprise the guardian. "Shadow doesn't seem like the type to sit with you, anyway."

Sonic shrugs again. "He used to, before he started working so much. Sometimes it feels like he works just to get away from me."

Now he sounds upset, and it bothers the echidna. Frowning, he puts his book down and wraps both arms around the hero, who opens both eyes and looks up at him. "Have you talked to him about it?"

Sonic nods. "Yeah. He doesn't listen to me."

Knuckles's frown deepens. "Then why do you put up with it?"

The cobalt hog looks down again, almost sadly. "I don't know… I just want…" he goes quiet, not able to answer.

They sit there in silence for a moment, both relaxing against each other. Sonic sighed and closed his eyes, his ears flicking at the sound of wind howling outside. Knuckles watches him, not sure if he wanted to admit to himself how…nice this was.

Sonic liked to come to the island to either sit with him and just enjoy life up in the sky, or talk, or fight if he was bored. This was the first time they had actually done anything like this together. He wasn't even sure what this was. Sonic was only here because Shadow was failing at being a boyfriend, so was it bad to enjoy this that much, if at all?

No, he thinks. It isn't. Especially because he hated Shadow to begin with. He didn't approve of the two hedgehogs going out together, and he certainly didn't trust the darker one of the two to not hurt his best friend. Yeah, Sonic may be annoying, but his good heart and innocence was too pure for someone like Shadow, he thought. Sonic needed someone to give him constant attention and treat him with all the love he gives the world. He just couldn't see Shadow as that person.

…and besides, this was to purposely piss off Shadow, wasn't it? With a small smile the echidna closes his eyes and leans back comfortably, Sonic yawning in his arms. To be able to piss off the Ultimate Lifeform, and get to spend time with Sonic, didn't feel bad at all.

Shadow curses, stomping on a tree branch. No sign of Sonic at all, not even a trace of his Chaos Energy. Where the hell could they be? He looks up at the mountains, glaring at them. If they were up there…

Oh, they were all going to be in hell for this.

"Did Rouge ever apologize to you?" Knuckles can't help but ask, looking up at the hedgehog sitting on the kitchen counter. Sonic had complained he was hungry, so now they stood (and sat), making whatever the guardian could scrap together, and that was salad.

Sonic frowns at the bowl of mixed fruits, vegies and meat, shrugging. "Not officially, but I'm not mad."

Knuckles rolls his eyes. "Of course you're not. I am."

Sonic smiles, his eyes half lidding at the slightly angry tone. "Aww, that's sweet of you."

The guardian chooses to ignore him and dumps his food creation in two separate bowls. "Here," he offers, handing it to him. Sonic smiles, grabbing the bowl from him and a fork off the counter beside him, munching down. Knuckles can only stare. Sonic ate fast.

By the time the echidna finishes half of his salad, which was enough for him, Sonic has cleaned the bowl, jumping off the counter to rinse it off in the sink. "Thank you~!" he chirps with a smile. "Not chili dogs, but it was still good enough for me."

Knuckles puts his bowl in the fridge for later, if he remembered it. "I don't keep much food up here because I'm never here."

"Only on special occasions?" Sonic asks, turning around to lean on the counter with a smirk, crossing his arms over his chest. "Like hanging out with your rival's boyfriend while he hunts us down, because you know he's hunting us down."

Knuckles shrugs, walking over to stand in front of the other, leaning on the counter opposite of him. "I guess. Any way to piss off Shadow is good enough for me."

Sonic raises a brow. "So you would say it's worth it? Fighting him, I mean. Or are you really just doing this because you adore me?"

Feeling his face heat up slightly, the echidna rolls his eyes. "Pissing off Shadow is worth anything," the echidna states, almost matter-of-factly, "because I hate him."

Sonic pouts, crossing one foot in front of the other. "So…you're only doing this to get at Shadow?"

Knuckles raises a brow. "Isn't that what you're doing?"

The hedgehog goes quiet, his lips pulling into a thin line. He seems disappointed, shrugging as he turns and walks passed the other out into the living room. "Yes and no. Yes, because he's a jerk, and no, because I just wanted to spend time with someone today who'd actually want to spend time with me."

Ouch. Knuckles watches the other walk out, over to the couch to plop down and put his feet up on the coffee table. Frowning, he stares, watching him, not sure if that really was a bite at him or not. It certainly felt like it…

Deciding that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and that making Sonic happy just made him feel better, the guardian walked over and sat next to the hero, relying on his ability to improvise to hopefully fix this. "Doesn't mean that's what I initially agreed to this for," he starts, watching blue ears perk up. "I only thought about that afterwards," which was fairly true. Sonic's emerald eyes were on his now, his fawn muzzle pinking after realizing how close they were together. "At first it was just because you had asked," the echidna finishes with a shrug, "and I couldn't say no."

"So, you really are doing this for me?" Sonic asks, sounding oddly serious, which was almost uncharacteristic of him, from what Knuckles was use to at least.

"Of course," the ruby male shrugs again. "Pissing off Shadow is just a nice bonus."

Sonic blinks, before a small smile slowly curves his lips, and blossoms into a full blown grin.

Knuckles doesn't even have time to react before Sonic is grabbing each side of his muzzle, and kissing him.

"I can't find them," the hedgehog mutters into the communicator. Rouge, who he could see smiling on the screen, sits back in her seat comfortably.

"That's your fault, darling. Should have given Blue a good time. God knows Knuckles probably is right about now."

Shadow glares at her from his screen, his eyes on fire. That echidna better not be doing anything to Sonic, he thinks bitterly. Knowing Sonic, unfortunately, Rouge was probably right. Sonic was a horny little shit at times, and if he's out there aiming to stick a flea in his fur, he was probably fucking Knuckles right now.

"Dammit," the bioweapon growls, running his fingers through the striped fur on top of his head. That was the last thing he wanted to think of Sonic doing.

"Listen, hon," Rouge calls from her communicator. "Knuckles has several small cabins throughout Angel Island, in each of the more dignified areas. So one in the desert, one in the mountains, one in the forest near the alter… You might want to look for and find those. He's even got one in the volcano."

Shadow takes in a deep breath through his nose, lifting a hand to pinch the skin between his eyes. By the time he found them…

"Fine," he mumbles. "You have to know where some of them are at?"

She smiles. "Mmmhmm! Unfortunately, I'm not going to tell you, simply as a favor to Sonic, since I technically owe him, anyway."

He glares at her again, knowing nothing he said was going to convince her otherwise.

"Good luck, sunshine~!" she cheers, turning off their communication.

He closes his eyes, trying to contain his anger and blur out the little thought in the back of his head that said, 'serves you right.'

Okay, they shouldn't be doing this…

"Aahhaahhh don't stop…"

…but goddamn was Sonic addicting.

He didn't think he would ever find himself grinding against the blue hero ever in his life, on his couch in one of his cabins up in the mountains on Valentines Day, but here he was, and here they were, panting in each other's mouths and moaning and groaning, rocking their hips as Sonic latched his strong legs around the echidna's waist, unable to pull away from each other. Eh, what was it going to hurt, he found himself asking again. Sonic knew exactly what he was doing, and by his definition, Shadow deserved this.

Besides, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, that Sonic was just giving him with everything he had.

With a shaky intake of air, the guardian rocks forward again, enlisting a high pitched moan from the hero under him, who wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him closer for another kiss. Why didn't it surprise him that Sonic liked this rough? Maybe that's the real reason he wanted to be with Shadow… Sonic was definitely a masochistic adrenaline junky, so this was probably heaven to him.

"M-More…" Sonic moans against his mouth, before the echidna decides to smash their mouths together a little more aggressively, and just to his theory, Sonic arched his back and moaned some more. He lifts one hand to slide underneath the hedgehog's head, grabbing at his quills and pulling his head back slightly, exposing his neck to leave kisses and bites on. His other hand went around a blue waist, under his back to bring his body up to meet his in a hard thrust.

"F-F-F-Fuuuuuaahahh…." was the sound of approval he got in return, which lit a fire in him to just keep going. There was no way they were stopping now, he thinks. They were both hard and wet already, and with how tight a hold Sonic had on him there was no escaping even if he wanted to.

Who knew such an innocent, pure hearted hero could be so damn… He couldn't even process it. Well, that wiped that description from his thoughts on Sonic immediantly. Sonic was not innocent at all…

He wondered how far Sonic would let him go with this. Deciding to save the awkward conversation of asking, especially since he had a feeling he already knew the answer, the echidna backs up some, lifting his hips to move so the tip of his dick was against the tight hole under the hero's tail. Sonic seemed pleased with this, bucking his hips and making a sound almost similar to a needing whine.

"Just say the word," Knuckles breathes into his ear, causing Sonic to shudder.

"Fuck yes," the hedgehog moaned, throwing his head back and letting one arm down to grab the couch beneath him. Knuckles grabs that arm and holds it above the azure's head, grabbing his lips with his own as he thrust his hips forward.

Sonic let out a loud, pleasured cry, gasping for air as he broke away from the other's kiss, his ears pinning back against his head. Shit, Knuckles was strong, a perfect rival to Shadow. He didn't even have time to brace himself before he's being rocked into again, this time all the way, nailing his sweet spot dead on without even trying, wringing another cry from him and shooting spasms of sweet heat and euphoria throughout his entire body. Why, hadn't he done this sooner, is all he can think. This was too good… Knuckles was definitely bigger than Shadow, he thought with a red, flushed face. The pressure, the feeling, was almost too much. Another thrust left him breathless, his vision completely gone... Then a hand grabs his own member in between them and squeezes, wreaking a broken cry of pleasure from him as he arches his back again, one of his legs kicking out as his arm fights the hold it was stuck in.

"Knah-Knuckles!" he cries out, unable to control the noises coming out of his mouth. The echidna was rocking him faster, harder, now; not holding anything back as he pushed deeper and deeper into the tight, hot, wet mess that was Sonic, who was melting away into pudding as the pleasure went over the edge of what he could handle. Feeling them both near their climax, Knuckles wraps his arms around the whimpering hedgehog and gives one last, final thrust, causing Sonic to call out a silent scream and himself to gasp into his shoulder as they both came together.

He slows his thrusts down to calm the hero in his arms from his high, pressing kisses over his muzzle into his neck. Sonic mewls and clings on to him, just wanting to bask in it all and not do a single thing other than that.

They lay there, panting, not realizing Sonic's Chaos Energy let out a spike at his orgasm.

Shadow's eyes narrow as he turns his head at the sudden jolt of Chaos, his heart pounding. "No fucking way," he growls to himself, turning abruptly on his heels and heading up the mountain. Oh, he was going to kill them. He was going to kill them both. Then he was going to kill Rouge, because she deserved it more than they did.

"I can't do that!" Sonic grins, laughing as he curls up into the other's arms. "That would be mean to Shadow!"

"So I can't know?" Knuckles asks with a grin as well. "Not even a little bit?"

Sonic purses his lips together, as if pretending to ponder it. "Hmmm… How about, you guys are equal?"

The echidna glares lightly at him, raising a brow. "Really? You can't be honest?"

Sonic grins again. "I can't say who is better! He's fast where you're strong. I can't decide which is the best," he admits with a flushed face.

Rolling his eyes, the guardian hugs the other tightly, closing his eyes as they snuggled on the couch, their fur damp from a shower.

"Whatever. I'll take what I can get."

Sonic presses a kiss on the side of the echidna's muzzle, causing him to flush. "Thank you for spending today with me~" he says in the most innocent voice he can. Knuckles shakes his head.

"Yeah, but now we have to worry about Shadow, because I'm sure he's on his way. There's no way he didn't feel your energy explode."

Sonic shrugs comfortably, obviously not worried. "Eh, it's not that big of a deal. He likes to think he's scarier than he actually is. Besides, it would be two of us against the one of him. Not a problem. Besides," he nuzzles the other, smiling with a wink. "You'll protect me, won't ya?"

The guardian can't help but chuckle. "I think I'm the one that's going to need protected at this point."

"Nah-uh!" the hero smiles. "Rouge is! It was her idea."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Knuckles sighs. "I take it she told Shadow to rile him up after you came up here?"

Sonic nods. "Yup. Her gift to make up to me, and to teach Shadow to not be a jerk. I hope he's super mad."

Knuckles could feel the sweat drop from the side of his head. "I'm sure he is, Sonic. There's no way he isn't."

Sonic hums, closing his eyes. "It's almost too bad he won't find us until morning."

The guardian grins. "He's probably up in the mountains now, wondering how the hell we disappeared so quickly."

"Gotta love those tunnels of yours," Sonic smirks. "It was too cold there anyway. I like this desert a lot better. More room to roam. Heat feels good, too."

Knuckles closes his eyes, leaning back as far as he could go. "Get some sleep, you'll need it."

Sonic smiles, closing his eyes as well and curling up again. "No argument here."

They fell asleep only seconds later.

Black ears perked up at the sound of upcoming footsteps, the owner of those ears opening his eyes and sitting up with a scowl.

There they were, those bastards.

Sonic bounces up to the biohog, smiling sweetly. "Hiya, Shadow!" he says cheerfully, acting as if he didn't know the dark hedgehog was ready to start tearing limbs. Knuckles is walking calmly behind him, arms crossed with a smirk on his face, cocky and arrogant, it seemed. Shadow glares at the hero that skips up to him, stopping in front of him to throw fawn arms around his neck, touching noses with a devious grin and half lidded eyes. "You came to get me?" he asks, and Shadow sneers.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" the Ultimate Lifeform nearly growls.

Sonic glares back at him. "I told you! You were being a douchebag all week-no! All month! You didn't listen to me, so I went and did what I wanted."

Shadow's right eye twitches, his ears folding back. "That still doesn't mean…"

"Oh, shut up!" Sonic huffs, pushing him away. "It was the only way to get you to wake up and listen. I wasn't going to let my whole day get ruined by your grumpy ass."

Shadow flinches and Knuckles's smirk grows. The echidna watches Shadow look from both Sonic to glare at him, before sighing and rubbing his eyes with one hand. "Fine," he says, his voice bitter. "But this isn't to ever happen again. Ever, faker."

Sonic scowls and puts his hands on his hips. "You're not telling me what I can and cannot do. You piss me off, I'm gonna piss you off."

"It won't happen again," the darker hog practically sneers. "At all."

Sonic stares at him through squinted eyes, as if inquiring whether or not he should trust him. After a breeze blows by, he crosses his arms and looks away. "Fine. I'll take that as an apology."

Shadow rolls his eyes, before glaring at Knuckles again. The echidna glares back, and Sonic smiles between the two.

"Come on, you!" Sonic chirps, pulling Shadow's arm down the stairs of the alter. Shadow huffs, pulling his arm away, just to turn and punch Knuckles in the face.

Sonic's mouth drops open and Knuckles wobbles back, holding his now bleeding nose. Before the echidna can fight back, however, Shadow turns away and picks up Sonic, throwing him over his shoulder.

"Sorry, Knuckles!" Sonic calls, waving to him as Shadow carried him away.

The guardian stands there, watching with both amusement and irritation.

He supposed that was the least Shadow could do to him. Besides, it was definitely worth it.

With a huff of air he plops down on the top step, putting his chin in his hands.

He hoped Shadow at least started to treat Sonic right again.

Maybe that's the real reason he'd agreed to do this, he thinks. Just so Sonic would be happy in the end.

Bonus –

"You are so jealous," Sonic smirks, watching the black and red hedgehog wipe down the counters with a rag. The blue hero was wearing a damp towel around his waste, his fur shiny from a shower. Shadow's was as well, but after cleaning up their mess, he felt like another shower would be nice.

He decides to ignore the comment, continuing to angrily scrub the counters and floor beneath them. Sonic whistles at him, trying to get his attention.

"Hey, don't be so glum about it. I did warn you, didn't I?"

Shadow finally sighs, standing up straight. "You tend to lie when it comes to something that'll benefit you."

Sonic frowns back, leaning on his hands behind him. "Not when it comes to things like this, faker. You've been a real jerk, you know. I was starting to think you didn't even want to be with me, but went through it for the sake of pride."

Shadow stops, staring at his both mate and rival with a surprised frown. He thought that? Was this last month really that bad. "You also tend to overthink things," he tried, hoping Sonic would agree. The hero didn't.

"That's what I thought at first, but you really never wanted to spend time with me. You'd go to work, come back, go to bed, then leave before I even had a chance to say anything to you," the cobalt frowns, crossing one leg over the other. "You really suck, you know. You seem to like G.U.N. more than me."

The striped hedgehog frowns deeper now, putting the washcloth in his hands down and walking over to the hero on the counter. Grabbing his hands, he pulls the other closer to press a gentle kiss on his nose. "I'm sorry," he admits, causing Sonic to blink in surprise. "I'll spend more time with you from here on out."

Sonic smiles, leaning forward to nuzzle him, closing his eyes. "Yeah, okay, don't make me feel bad! I'm sorry I slept with Knuckles…kind of…" Shadow looks up to glare at him and Sonic giggles. "What? He's really as good as Rouge says."

Shadow suddenly grabs him by the waist and tugs him against his own body, his voice a low growl in his ear; "I don't want to hear it. You're mine only, you hear? Don't even think about doing anything like that again."

Sonic sighs, but smiles nonetheless. "Okay, okay… Next time I'll just beat you up. You have to at least promise to spend more time with me. What's the point of owning something you're never going to enjoy?"

Shadow leans back slightly to meet the sparkling green eyes of his mate and raises a brow. "So you're saying you submit to being mine?"

Sonic flushes as his grin goes. "Actions speak louder than words? Geeze, do you have to make me say it?" When Shadow smirks Sonic sticks his tongue out. "Now promise, Shadow."

The antihero sighs, twisted in the weakness Sonic knew he had. "Alright, I promise. Happy, faker?"

The hero nods enthusiastically. "Now I am~!"

"Good," Shadow huffs, lifting up one hand to grab the quills of the younger's head and pull tightly, while his other hand spread his blue legs open. Sonic's eyes widen at the sudden force and makes a sound close to a moan, to which Shadow can't help but grin. "Now you have me intrigued. I want to hear you say it," he huffs into his ear, smirking at the feel of the hedgehog shivering in his hold.

Sonic opens his mouth to say something, but the feel of Shadow's hand squeezing the inside of his thigh cuts him off, and another shaky moan leaves him. He had a feeling the dark hog was going to torture him soon enough, and another feeling he was going to love it.

"Nnn…I'll…ah!" he gasps, bucking his hips as Shadow's hand moves to his crotch and squeezes there. "Ass…hole…" he breathes, reaching with one hand to try and grab the other's wrist. Shadow takes his hand away and grabs the fawn hand reaching for him, pulling him close to kiss his lips, then trail down his muzzle into his neck.

Sonic gives a dizzy smile, closing his eyes.

Shadow was so jealous.

Notes-

Yeah, sorry about cutting off your Sonadow moment. You guys have enough of that in my other stories.

Anonymoux