A/N: It's been a while since I posted anything... Warnings: A little sonadow, I suppose, and some swear words.

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"Excuse me sir, but do you know where Club Rouge is?"

Shadow looked up and over his shoulder, at the very blue and certainly attractive stranger that had just spoke to him. The guy had quills flowing loosely down his back, and a colourful bag – read: stickers – with a strap going right across his chest. It was like he had appeared out of nowhere, but Shadow hadn't exactly been paying attention to his surroundings…

-though luckily this stranger had asked for the only club in the city Shadow knew the location off.

"Certainly. If you head down to the Night Babylon area and follow Main Street, then it should be the seventh building to the left."

"'Kay, thanks," said the stranger, flashing a smile and adjusting the strap of his bag. "So do you know how to get to the Old Town?"

"If you follow this street and then turn left, going up a hill and then turning right, then you should get there."

"Awesome. So… do you mind telling me how to get to the library?"

…So, the stranger was decidedly a tourist. Or an amnesiac, but sight-seeing seemed much more plausible.

"At Maximillian's street, there's a park, and behind it is the main library," answered Shadow. He gave the stranger a look with a quirked eyebrow, asking, or assuming, "First time in Central city?"

"Yes, I-" he began, but then another person walked past, shoving him on accident. Oops, sorry man-and the sightseeing stranger and Shadow both stepped closer to the buildings lining the street, out of the way. And then stranger quickly restarted the conversation, saying cheerfully, "So I have this friend, Amy – I'm Sonic by the way – and she used to live in Station Square but then her apartment got destroyed in the flood-"

Shadow has read about the flood, and it's the only thing he really gathers from his rapid speaking, so. "The flood caused by Doctor Robotnik?"

"Yeah, that one." Stranger – Sonic, right? – agrees, and quickly continues his story, "Anyway, Amy's birthday is in two days and I've never been to Central city before – she moved here after the flood, opened this restaurant an' all, Chez Amy – and now I'm supposed to find her apartment here. And, uh, I'm kinda… lost."

Shadow sighs. "What's the name of her street?"

"Gardener's lane," says Sonic, smiling a little.

Shadow has never heard of such a place. Which was very predictable, but still.

"Sorry, but I don't know where that street is." He tries to look a bit more apologetic than his usual frown.

"Oh," says Sonic. "That's alright, you helped me with the other locations, so thanks!" Pause… Shadow's just about to go, when Sonic says, "So, well, do you know any nice cafes in the area?"

"A few," says Shadow vaguely. And he does know a few, he just needs to take out his mental map and check which one is the closest… "You could go to café Cat & Lynx, on Mongoose Street."

"Cool! …So how do I get there?"

Shadow gave him directions. "-and then you turn left, and you're on Mongoose Street. The café should be easy to spot – it's a bright yellow store." And, horrible decorating sense aside, Cat & Lynx made the best brownies in the city. Or so Rouge said. And Rouge was the one prancing around in tall boots and long, dark, stylish coats worth five thousand rings, eating out and running her own Club, so she ought to know.

"Thanks again! So, would you mind having coffee with me?"

I… what? Shadow raised an eyebrow, giving Sonic an incredulous stare. Sonic shrugged, his smile so easy, like sunlight slipping through clouds. "Just, as a thanks, because I've been bothering you?"

We're strangers, Sonic. And Shadow was just getting back from work, until this happened… "Fine. And my name's Shadow." Because Sonic already gave Shadow his name. And it wouldn't be as weird if Sonic knew his.

"That's a good name," says Sonic earnestly. "It suits you!"

"And your name is… unique." Well. Shadow tried.

"Thanks!" Sonic said, so generous with those, and adjusted his bag. "So, lead the way, sir!"

Shadow bit back a tiny smile, because Sonic's silliness was infectious, and started walking again. Like, walking toward a goal suddenly felt very bizarre, since he now had Sonic tagging along with him. Slipping around pedestrians and holding on to his bag – a modest black, unlike Sonic's – walking home just like he did every day, except that he wasn't walking home, obviously…

Taking a turn left, sneaking a glance at Sonic, who easily kept up with Shadow and looked at everything like it was so very interesting. While Shadow just couldn't see anything worth looking at after three years in Central city.

It wasn't like it was bad, or boring, just living here. (Though it could've been more…)

He turned right around a building, and then they waited at a crossing with a crowd of others, before then turning left again. And then they were on Mongoose Street, with all the soft pastel-coloured storefronts… and then the almost glowing one of Cat & Lynx.

"Wow, that one?"

"Yes," says Shadow. "It sticks out, doesn't it?"

"Well that's an understatement," Sonic says amusedly. "Hey, what's your favourite colour?"

"…Blue," Shadow says, because that colour was so very important to him once. And then he quickly adds, because that sounded a bit suspicious, "Or black."

"Mine's yellow. Or blue," he says, giving Shadow a look. "By the way, are your quills dyed or…?"

"They're natural."

"Oh. That's awesome! Though I was thinking of dyeing my own quills, but I don't know what style, so…"

"So you wanted to ask me?"

"Yes, but then it turned out-" Sonic pauses to hold up the door for Shadow, and Shadow lets him, going inside of the café with Sonic following. "-turned out that your quills aren't dyed! Which is really cool, but now I don't know who to ask."

They fall in line behind the counter, and Shadow just takes a deep breath – the cinnamon and coffee and sugary icing, the melting butter and bread just out of the oven, all of it smelling delicious. The place isn't crowded exactly, but there's still a lot of people. Sonic fits right in.

"Whoa, me and my brother used to make those," Sonic points at some brown pastries under a glass casing. "And we usually burnt them. Good times."

They get to the cashier, and decides on two coffees, one of those chocolate pastries for Sonic, and a croissant for Shadow. As soon as they get their order, Sonic's skipping ahead to pick out an empty table next to the window. Shadow follows and sets the tray down carefully – the tablecloth is red, with black and purple details – and sits down opposite Sonic, who's glancing out the window.

He takes one of the mugs, and takes a precarious sip of coffee. "There. Consider yourself welcome."

"What?" says Sonic absently, glancing back at Shadow.

"You said you wanted to thank me, with coffee-" that was still a weird idea in Shadow's book "-so there. Done."

"Oh, yeah, I did." He chuckled, and took the other mug. "So where were you heading before I stopped you?" Shadow gave him a flat stare. "Since I told you where I was going, and now we're having coffee… So?"

"Home," replies Shadow simply. "Getting back from work."

"Oh," says Sonic. "Hey where do you work? No wait, don't tell me – I wanna guess!"

Shadow snorted. "Go on."

Sonic looked at Shadow's face for a moment, curiously, and then he swept his eyes over the rest of him. And then he glanced back at his face and started guessing, saying amusedly, "Gothic clothes store?"

"No." That was ridiculous.

"A librarian then?"

"No."

"Well… A lawyer?"

"Nope."

"At a hotel? Like a cook or receptionist or whatever?"

Shadow shook his head, mouth full of coffee.

"Oh wait. A detective? You seem like you'd get along with Espio."

Who's Espio? "No. But you're getting closer."

"A police! No wait – you work for GUN?"

Shadow nodded, amused at Sonic's expression. "Whoa. GUN, huh. Are you a spy or-"

"An agent," Shadow cuts in. And then, because he can, "And the rest is strictly confidential."

Now Sonic snorts. "Yeah, right. GUN have an ongoing war against Doctor Eggman, so it's not really that secret. And the rest? Escorting important people and searching for Chaos emeralds, right?"

…Well. "And research," Shadow says offhandedly. "That guerrilla fighting group attacks the Doctor relentlessly, thwarting our attempts in turn." Which was embarrassing mixed with dangerous and irresponsible, with a pinch of stupidity, and it made it seem like GUN didn't have any control over the situation- "Technically they're breaking the law."

"Oh?" Sonic leans forward, interested. "Well, they're doing a good job seeing as Egghead's been concentrating more and more of his attacks on them rather than the United federation. Which should really be good for GUN, if the 'guerrilla fighters' can take down Dr E just like that, boom, and then GUN's got one war won for them." Sonic's eyes burned green, and Shadow thought he remembered something, something important nudging at his consciousness…

...wasn't the leader of the 'resistance group' a hedgehog? Or was it the fox?

"They're still just civilians."

"Civilians protecting their homes, their friends and families, this wonderful green and blue world filled with interesting people, vast lands and great cities! It sounds awesome put like that, right?"

Shadow shrugged. Gracefully. He started to nibble on his croissant because he wanted to avoid further arguments, so Sonic just grabbed his own pastry and made a show of eating it, crumbs going everywhere. The street bustled outside their window, and Shadow somewhat distantly realised that he was having coffee with someone other than Rouge in two years. Attractive-stranger Sonic, who had basically dragged him here- to have a chat.

Suspicious? Whatever. Nothing ever happened anyway – the idea of going out fighting alone, just you and your friend against the world, started to sound more and more appealing after every boring mission report he had to fill out. The thought of something else, something new, anything else, was fluttering on delicate wings through his mind, drifting closer and closer… Until sarcasm and logic always fought it off again.

He was the Ultimate lifeform. Throw a war at him, an apocalypse and an impossible problem – Shadow would just show them that he was made to conquer anything.

…And then they were done eating, the mugs empty, and Shadow took his bag and stood up. "This was very nice," he said, because he wasn't impolite and it had been entertaining. "But I'll have to go now. Goodbye, Sonic."

"Wait-" exclaimed Sonic immediately, raising from his chair and snatching his bag, gracefully moving around the table in less than a second. "Allow me to accompany you," he said with a hint of exaggeration, grinning.

Shadow was sure that this wasn't a normal occurrence. Probably.

-He didn't care. "Certainly," he said much in the same manner as Sonic, smirking. "This way…" They got out, and then they got lost in the streets of Central city, wandering among pedestrians and stores and businesses, cabs and shrubby trees and colourful ice-cream stands, blinking lamp posts, fading posters, skyscrapers with glowing windows and enormous screens with advertisements. The sharp angles of the streets and the buildings fading away when evening came, the whole capital lit up by millions and millions and millions of lights…

Central city refused to submit to the night and the darkness, and the traffic never stopped flowing, just thinned more and more the later it got. Rouge's Club was probably being packed with people about now… like the rest of Night Babylon. The city's busiest district at the darkest hours – though of course the rest of the city was crowded and neon-lit too…

"Chaos, 'm getting ti-i-" Sonic yawned. "-ired." Shadow yawned too and cursed silently at Sonic, because now Shadow's legs took that as a sign to start protesting. They were artificially engineered by history's best scientists, and yet…

"You'd better find yourself a hotel," Shadow suggested uninterestedly. Since Sonic wasn't going to listen to that anyway-

"You're right."

What.

They kept walking, Shadow looking at Sonic, incredulously once again. Sonic walked easily, his bag secured firmly to his back, quills falling down it. The light of lamp posts, of cars and windows, all seemed to catch in Sonic's eyes, gold flashing over green… He yawned again. Fucking contagious.

"…Could I have your number?"

"…My what?" was Shadow's reply, the question being very slowly processed.

"Your number. From your phone – to your pho- I mean. Ugh." Sonic rubbed his whole face, and then he said, looking at Shadow, "I want your phone number, thank you?"

And after spending and surviving and living a whole day with Sonic, Shadow just thought, to hell with it, and recited the digits. Sonic typed that in on his phone – blue, sleek and big, one of those expensive ones – and then he gave Shadow another one of those smiles that said sunlight, youth; I have perfect teeth…

…Shadow really hoped he usually didn't think things like that when tired.

Well.

"So, can I have your number then?"

"Sure thing, stripes!"

SHADOW: Wait. You're *the* Sonic the hedgehog, aren't you?

SONIC: eh.