This fic is probably more OOC than the others I wrote. Sorry if it seems repetitive or uncharacteristic, I'm open to criticism.

Great. I just bought this shirt, now I've gotten blood on it.

Feet stomped angrily into a small house, slamming the front door shut violently as an azure hedgehog made his way into his abode. Thankfully nobody but his little brother was home, who was most likely in the garage. He slipped off his overcoat and slapped it carelessly onto a coat hanger nearby, inevitably leaving it to fall to the floor. He was much too frustrated to pick it up. He glanced down at his dark gray shirt and saw specks of blood scattered on his collar from a brawl he just got out of. A fine scowl appeared on his muzzle just recalling it, hoping that nobody intended to follow him home. He had let out enough steam, now it was most likely a good idea to cool off.

He sighed angrily and rubbed at his forehead, making his way into a nearby bathroom to look in the mirror. He stopped, not surprised by the stains on his shirt, but didn't expect to see a mess of bruises on his muzzle and around the top corner of his left eye. He should've given the old faker more credit—he was older and much stronger than the blue hero. Unfortunately for him, he had to find out the hard way. It wasn't like the speedster couldn't throw his own punches, however.

He reached for a wash cloth and ran it under the sink to wet it, gently wringing it as he raised it up to wash his face. He'd definitely be having a headache for a while. He didn't get a good look at the damage he did to his ebony counterpart, but he was sure he left at least a single bruise of his own. If he had the chance to kick him, he would have been in for it.

He exhaled at how good it felt to wipe off all that sweat, ran his fingers through his quills to straighten them out a little better. He looked back up into the mirror for a moment—bruises still there—before moving to exit the bathroom to gather some towels for a shower.

Much to his disappointment, his former opponent was standing right next to the front door when he came back out.

Anger sparked and erupted within him, but when he got a closer look of the elder hedgehog he felt a bit of smugness, apparently he had done a decent bit of damage on his own—he had a busted lip, a large bruise on one cheek where the speedster had delivered a single punch, a few of his quills were frayed and blood trickled from the torn lip as well as his nose onto his shirt. Needless to say, both of them looked like hell.

"Shadow? What—you got a lotta nerve showing up here after that—"

"Me? You're the one who started to make a scene, let alone opened your fat mouth."

"You shouldn't have given me a reason to start one. I know you're usually an ass but going off on Amy like you did because of some dumb name-calling is out of line."

"And you just sat there," The streaked hedgehog took his own coat and harshly threw it on the coffee table, squaring his shoulders and approaching the hero. "and let her run her mouth while I am clearly already in a bad mood. Yes, so, I was supposed to just sit there and listen to the others put me down when you and I both know I've had a lot on my mind to deal with."

"Chaos, Shadow, you're blowing this way out of proportion—don't come any closer or I swear I'll deck you."

"Will you, now?" The ultimate life form was right in front of him, leaning towards him menacingly with the nastiest sneer on his face, and the injuries made it worse. "Do you really think that'll intimidate me? Look who you're talking to, Sonic. It's going to take a lot more than a busted lip and a broken nose to keep me out of a fight."

"Funny, I thought you were designed to be highly intelligent, yet you're willing to continue a bar fight outside the bar just because someone called you a 'downer'."

"It's really quite strange," Shadow's voice was dripping with venom. "Sonic the Hedgehog, the most carefree and kindly hero this world has to offer, and here he is refusing such sympathy to a comrade. It must be very easy for you, to shrug off the negativity and leave someone like me behind in the dust simply because I'm not all butterflies and sunshine like the rest of you."

The speedster sent him a heavy glare, baring his teeth. "I'm pretty sure you'd know about such actions, wouldn't you? You've left enough behind long ago—"

In a flash, even for the fastest thing alive, Shadow was on him. He grabbed the collar of his shirt and rammed him against the wall as he slammed a fist against it directly next to Sonic's head, the inhibitor ring around his wrist dangled and shook loosely without the glove underneath. The azure one was positive he heard the wall crack slightly under the force of the elder hedgehog's fist.

"Don't," He was practically seething by now. "you dare go there, you spoiled brat."

He was terrified for a split second. Shadow was capable of being cruel and ridiculously violent, provoking him wouldn't exactly be a good idea. Not that he was afraid, Sonic had faced worse enemies than Shadow. But now, he was cornered, and Shadow was dangerously close to him. He wasn't quite sure what to do at this point. Their argument was going in circles, and he was aware that this was a pointless conversation. They'd either just end up in another fistfight or he'd have to kick Shadow out of the house. Somehow. But now that Shadow was actually close enough, he could very well see that his streaked counterpart's eyes were just slightly bloodshot and ragged. He had even noticed at the bar when he arrived that some of his quills weren't combed into place. It wasn't like him.

Shadow tended to keep to himself. If he was stressed out, nobody could have known due to him bottling things in. And this was how their argument had begun in the first place. He had acted strange, even more mentally exhausted than they had imagined, and seemed tired the whole time. It gave the impression that he did it for attention, or that he was just overly-angsty, which enabled the pink hedgehog to tell him to 'lighten up'. Unbeknownst to them, he was already on the verge of snapping. Having a drink at the bar was one way for him to relax, and with Sonic and his whole gang there causing a stirring noise, it was hard to keep under control.

But their main problem was that nobody knew what Shadow's issue was, what made him so stressed and upset right now. And what had started out as a tiny spat, turned into an overreaction and caused the situation to escalate into a fight over an immature comment on his mental instability. A part of them all most likely had a mutual agreement that this was ridiculous, but could also tell that there was something very off with the ultimate life form.

Sonic, however, had to admit to himself that he was curious. The two of them were rivals. They had a mutual level of respect for one another and their abilities; while their personalities might clash, they did, in some way, understand one another. Which was exactly why Sonic knew the two of them were acting absolutely absurd at the moment. Upon looking at Shadow's eyes up close, his anger shifted slightly into a minor bit of concern.

Shadow hadn't been acting well for the last few days, and the more Sonic looked at him, the more it showed. Something had to be going on in that twisted mind of his. Something had to be wrong for him to get so upset. Despite this, Sonic immaturely tried to cling to that cloud of infuriation at how Shadow had reacted to his friends earlier, as well as him.

Shadow's breathing brought the sapphire one back to his current predicament. There was a hesitating glare on Sonic's face, while Shadow looked ready to clobber him again. There was a moment of silence, and the longer Sonic stared, the more it brought out the exhaustion on his face. As he watched it appeared that the rage on Shadow's face started to melt away into a pathetic expression that showed he was just fed up with the situation and where it was going. They both had to come to the same conclusion that they were acting ridiculous.

...Perhaps making a jab at Shadow's deceased friend was a little too low.

When Sonic spoke, he lowered his voice from his usual yelling. "Geez, man...sorry."

Shadow's gaze averted to the floor past Sonic's shoes, his eyes became half-lidded and he slowly reeled back, his grip on the speedster's shirt loosening. He saw Shadow's ears flatten against his head for a second before returning to normal. He whispered, "I've had enough." before standing up straight and turning to walk away and pick up his coat.

"Wh—" Sonic was disoriented for a moment, blinking rapidly before reaching to grab the sleeve of Shadow's shirt. "Hey! The least you can do is tell me what the heck has you in such pissy state lately! You're not acting like yourself."

The ebony hedgehog turned and sharply shrugged off Sonic's hand, glaring at him once again. "What good would that do? I'm 'blowing things out of proportion', remember? Not only that, but it's a problem I need to sort out for myself."

Sonic threw his hands into the air. "Ugh! Not this again...you always have to sort things out on your own, don't you?"

"I believe the bar incident further proved my theory on this."

"Everyone started acting like jerks, okay? Yeah, alright, Amy did start to get a little annoying with picking on you when you were already in a mood but you terrified her, you ought to know I'll defend her if something like that happens."

Something in Shadow's expression shifted when he said that. Sonic couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he definitely noticed a change in the way he looked at his azure counterpart. Shadow had his own way of being vague. He waited a moment before responding.

"Yes. Of course."

"Shadow—"

"I am finished. This has gone on long enough and I believe we have reached the impasse of the argument." He turned again to walk towards the middle of the room to pick up his jacket.

Sonic clenched his fists at his sides, unbelieving of how Shadow was so quick to try and drop the subject. In a way, he couldn't blame him, but he wasn't just going to let him off the hook without an explanation. "That's it? You're not leaving here until you tell me what the hell's going on with you."

"I don't think it'll be much help right now. You seemed eager to get me to leave when I first got here, anyway." Shadow idly raised a hand to wipe some of the half-dried blood from his nose.

He had almost grabbed his coat until it was Sonic's turn to be assertive, he gripped the other's shoulder and spun him around to face him, taking two fistfuls of his shirt and shaking him slightly and pressed their noses together to further drive his point home when he spoke.

"You just don't get it, do you? Am I gonna have to find a way to inject this into your head? I'm pissed at the whole thing too! Except I want to know what's bothering you! I want to know what your problem is, I want to find out because maybe then I might be able to help you get it off your chest! Why can't you understand that? You don't always have to deal with things on your own, you have people who will stand behind you even though they might try to pick on you to attempt a sense of humor. Others might not be so willing to approach you about it but I'm right here! I want you to tell me what's going on because I'm willing to listen even if you don't think it'll help, because I want you to get it through your thick skull that you aren't alone anymore!"

The only response he got was the widening of Shadow's eyes, his expression going from frustration to shock, and possibly a realization hitting him at the same time. Silence dropped heavier than a bag of bricks, leaving the two to stare at each other, waiting on some kind of reply, whether it was physically or verbally, Sonic just wanted to get something out of him. He no longer cared about what happened at the bar, all he was interested in now was trying to get his rival to talk. Shadow was no stranger to this side of the hero—while most of the time he did act rather careless, free as the wind, but if someone he cared about was feeling down, he would immediately try to help sort things out.

And then, something clicked in Shadow's mind. He was finally starting to realize what that meant.

He ran a few responses in his head, trying to figure out how he should best explain himself or what would be the best action. He had tried everything to avoid this, and he mentally cursed himself and the situation for being unable to get out of it. But now Sonic knew something was definitely wrong, and here he was, right in front of him—he wasn't going anywhere this time. Of course, he could just go down the 'cold shoulder' route and shove him off and run home. But when he thought of it, it would only make the situation worse. He started to figure it was now or never. He had to do something. He'd just have to deal with the consequences afterwards.

Very slowly, the ultimate life form raised his shaking hands up to grip Sonic's shoulders and gently led him back to the wall, pushing him back up against it and holding him in place. Sonic bore a confused look, but didn't seem intimidated from the action.

"...You really want to help me sort this problem out?"

Sonic raised a brow, trying to decipher the question he was asked. "Yes, that's what I've been trying to get across to you. I'm not gonna do what Amy did. Talk to me."

Shadow hesitated. Sonic could feel him tense up, neither of them released their grip on one another. The ebony hedgehog suddenly became unrealistically afraid of what could happen. This was what it had led to, and he had to treat it as delicately as possible or it could backfire horribly. ...Though, he thought, it most likely will anyway. This is a bad idea.

Sonic was completely unsure of how to react on what happened next.

Shadow started to lean in closer, which of course caused Sonic to reel back until his head was against the wall and Shadow just kept getting closer and closer and oh Chaos what is he doing finally he closed his eyes and let his lips meet Sonic's in a very gentle, chaste kiss.

It hadn't lasted very long, but it was long enough to lag Sonic's train of thought and completely discombobulate him. Shadow had just kissed him. Shadow. Kissed him. He could have shoved the other away, but his scrambled brain was preventing him from reacting logically at the moment.

What...what just happened...

Shadow waited when he broke the kiss. Sonic hadn't screamed or kicked him away, so he slowly pulled his head back to look at the other. He was not surprised when he saw the utter shock spread across his rival's face. Making eye contact with Shadow seemed to partially wake Sonic up, and he had managed to focus enough to see the regret, anxiousness and panic that started to well up within the elder hedgehog. His eyes widened further as if he had just made the biggest mistake of his life when there was virtually no response to his actions, and that was enough to tell him that he shouldn't have gone through with it.

"Sh...adow...?" Was all Sonic squeaked.

Shadow chose to bail out.

He wrung himself from Sonic's grip and spoke quietly, too afraid to raise his voice. "There. You got your answer." This time he attempted to bolt directly for the door, not caring for his jacket anymore.

Unfortunately for him, Sonic was faster, damn him he was always faster, "Shads, wait! Wait!" he fumbled after him and managed to grab at his arm again, harshly yanking him back away from the door and facing him again, only he didn't give Shadow time to react.

Sonic had no idea what he was doing, or why, but his mind was completely out of place and he was trying to solve the situation the only way he currently knew how. He still didn't even finish figuring out what had just happened. Internally he was freaking out as he was trying not to upset the dark hedgehog further but at the same time was trying to keep his head on straight.

Why am I doing this. He's upset. Fix it. Panicking. Can't think. Work on instinct.

Sonic grabbed Shadow's collar and pulled him back in for another kiss, only Sonic's was a little harder and rougher than Shadow's.

Instincts bad.

Sonic wasn't sure himself if what he just did was intentional or not. This was Shadow's problem, wasn't it? Clearly he had some sort of attraction, or feelings for his blue counterpart. This time he seemed hesitant in returning the kiss, but reluctantly did so anyway, Sonic felt him press back. Why was he doing this? Did he really want to see him cheer up that badly? Was he even aware of what he was doing right now?

No. I don't...what am I doing? ...No, yeah I'm kissing him. I'm definitely kissing him. Rather heavily.

The more that voice in his head told him to stop, the more he went against it. When he felt Shadow's hands slip back over his arms and onto his shoulders, the realization dawned on him and made things clear as day despite the hazy situation he was in.

This was what had been bothering Shadow. This was why he hadn't been acting like himself, why he had seemingly been stressed out, why he had snapped at Amy and Sonic alike. This wasn't something he could just get over. He couldn't diminish this with the snap of a finger. He liked Sonic, and even though the hero never thought he liked him in that way before, he finally got his answer in full form. He had noticed the awkwardness in the interactions Shadow had with him over the last week, but he never would have guessed that this was the reason behind it. He was trying to hide it, possibly even somehow make the feeling go away, but at this point, Sonic wasn't about to let that happen.

He broke the kiss to breathe, keeping his forehead tilted slightly against the other's, trying to keep a firm hold on Shadow to make sure he didn't try to run again. Eyes half lidded, he looked at Shadow, and there was such an adoration and appreciation in his eyes that Sonic couldn't help but just feel good for what he just did.

"Is that...what you meant...?" He spoke in a whisper, breathing in-between words.

Shadow watched him carefully to make sure this wasn't a trick. He couldn't describe what he had just felt, or how it had given him a dozen butterflies in his stomach at how the hero had willingly pulled him back into it, expecting him to react in disgust. He visibly swallowed to gather himself.

"I...why did you...?" It was suddenly hard to speak, he tried to cram several questions into a single one.

Sonic decided to just go with the flow. Hell, what could the damage possibly be? He wasn't sure if he felt the same way Shadow did, neither was he aware of how deep this ran for the dark one, but right now he felt as though he did something right. The argument would surely be forgotten in the morning, anyway.

"If you won't talk to me," Sonic began, a very small smile forming on his lips. "then I'll take matters into my own hands. Though..." He gently trailed his hands down Shadow's arms and curled his fingers around his forearms. "I think this is one of those situations where talking doesn't do much. Actions speak louder than words, don't they?"

Shadow, at first, was speechless at how nonchalant Sonic was approaching the matter. Shadow was positive he felt something for this hedgehog. But time and again he had tried to just push it to the back of his mind, try to wipe it out, figuring it was a futile effort and a useless subject to even consider tackling. And now, Sonic had proved him wrong once again, making it even harder for him to keep those feelings restrained. Whether or not Sonic felt the same, he didn't know, but all he knew was that right now, he felt elated.

"I don't...understand how you're so calm about all this..."

"Well hey if you wanna talk too, that's fine by me."

When Shadow spoke, a flicker of irritation went across Sonic. "...Do you know what you're doing?"

The blue hero paused. "...No, not exactly. But I'm not appalled. I like living in the moment, and that's what I'm doing right now." Sonic then bore a more serious, but gentle expression. "But it's one or the other. You tell me. I'm not going anywhere and neither are you until this is fixed. Your move."

He resisted the urge to grin and felt as though he could melt when he saw Shadow's face soften, so, so soft Chaos help him the way he looked at him this man felt something for him. That was the moment where it was ultimately decided that no amount of words would fix this. The ebony one needed to show him, to get him to believe that this was real and he still had no idea of what the consequences would be, but as Sonic had said, living in the moment was the best option. They could decide later if they regretted it or not. Right now? Not a chance.

Black clawed hands tightened and loosened around Sonic's upper arms. He was still reluctant, still hesitant, he didn't want to dive right into this and ruin the whole thing. It would be like stepping on glass. The speedster tried to ease him into it by carefully caressing his counterpart's arms, releasing a kindly smile that simply tore down any remaining walls Shadow had built up.

"You're so..." Shadow whispered, pressing his forehead back against Sonic's; it was one of those moves that was both out of dominant nature while leaning into a kiss at the same time. Neither of them were aware that Shadow was leading him back against the wall. "I just..." He raised his hands to the sides of the other's face.

Sonic exhaled. "Shadow...?"

"I just...adore you."

Sonic's back hit the wall.

All restraints snapped loose, and Shadow dove in, capturing Sonic's lips in a more powerful, endearing manner. His hands tightened on Sonic's face as the hero tilted his head to deepen the kiss, finally able to ignore any protesting voices that told him to stop. The two were pressed up against each other, their bodies in a battle of who was the most powerful, Shadow managing to force Sonic against the wall as much as he could as his hands slipped back down to his shoulders to firmly hold him in place. There was such a hunger in Shadow's body language, such a desperate need all while having the feel of complete genuineness and care in the way he touched the other—it was pressing in a way that told Sonic everything he needed to know, how much this hedgehog needed him, wanted him, it told him so much more than any words or explanations ever could.

He couldn't deny it, he just simply couldn't. Their mouths parted just barely enough for them to take a gasp of air before locking once more, and this was repeated several times to save breathing. He felt Shadow dig his claws in through his sleeves and against his arms and it erupted something within him and he responded by releasing one of his hands and forcing it into the top of Shadow's shirt to unbutton it, giving him the ability to flex his hand within the white tuft of fur on his chest and roughly, deeply, obsessively run his fingers through that soft patch. This caused a chain reaction to Shadow releasing his own hands—although he seemed extremely reluctant in doing so, he needed to have some kind of grip on the other to hold him close—and moved them down and underneath Sonic's own shirt, his hands traveling up the azure speedster's back in a soft, caring way.

Sonic let his hands explore everywhere hungrily, running them along his neck, hips, shoulders, chest, though they made their way back to the chest fuzz and gripped tightly again, the other hand pulling at his collar to bring him even closer. Shadow gasped against Sonic's mouth and raked his claws down Sonic's back and heaven help him it felt so good he was practically seeing fireworks in his eyes right now, he knew exactly where to touch and how to touch and it forced a desperate moan out of Sonic's throat.

Both of their emotions were running haywire, their touching session was becoming even more intimate as the youth's hands found their way to unbutton the rest of Shadow's shirt, who seemed uncaring of the action and simply clung viciously to his counterpart. Shadow was now letting his mouth explore everywhere on his rival, he began biting, nipping, licking around his neck and shoulders and oh Chaos Sonic's skin beneath his fur was practically on fire he was going wild. Indescribable words were breathed out through his lips as Shadow touched him and by now his shirt was also unbuttoned, the ultimate life form ran his claws down the other's peach chest and stomach and deriving the same reaction from him, only this time causing him to unconsciously raise a hand to bite his knuckles on while trying to stifle another moan.

Sonic quickly recovered however and returned his hands to his ebony counterpart's hips, leaning into his neck and licking once, breathing against him, visibly making him shudder and sharply exhale while trying to hold back a loud, guttural purr as Sonic placed soft kisses down his chest, lingering for a bit on that adoring, soft white tuft of fur, nuzzling into it slightly before continuing his exploration.

Shadow had to place his palms against the wall, raking his claws down and unable to bite back the moans at how his rival was touching him, making him feel, damn it all he had never felt this way before and he was going mad. Sonic's kisses made it down to his stomach before a hand raised to curve a finger through a belt loop, tugging only slightly—

"Sonic? Is that you?"

Both hedgehogs nearly jumped out of their skin. Reality had never delivered such a painful kick to the head before.

"Shit—"

Sonic stood back up within a flash, complete and utter panic and fright visible on his face. Shadow's fur most likely just paled into a lighter shade of gray.

Tails.

"Please don't tell me that's—"

"Yes, that's Tails, oh shit that's Tails you've got to—you've got to—there!" The two spat in whispers before Sonic grabbed Shadow and ordered him into the bathroom behind him, slamming the door shut and trying to button his shirt back up and smoothen out his quills.

"Oh, hey! You're home!" Tails was around the corner in that instant.

Sonic squeaked and, if Tails saw right, he had tried to spin around to face him so fast that he did a full 360 degree turn and almost created a miniature tornado.

He blinked.

"HEYyyy Tails! Yeah I'm home! I just got here the others decided to stay at the bar everyone. Stayed at the bar."

Silence. Tails blinked again. "You're acting kind of—wow, you look awful...what the heck happened back there?" He approached him rather worriedly. Tails had tiny black smears on his hands, assuming he'd been in the garage as before.

"Oh this? Ah it's nothing I just got into a small bar fight ahahaaa...really I'm fine don't worry about it."

His little brother raised a brow. "...There's blood on your shir—Sonic your shirt isn't even buttoned up properly." He went to examine this further. Tails was very young, but he wasn't stupid.

Sonic fumbled. "AAAah listen I am...really tired so if you could do me a huge favor and just find the small medikit and bring it to my room I would really appreciate that, I can just patch myself up there."

Tails looked skeptical still, but nodded in response. He was used to this happening to Sonic, the hedgehog had been in enough fist fights with Knuckles to prove it. "Alright, alright...just go lie down and get some rest. I'll get some water, too."

Sonic smiled and ruffled the fur on Tails' forehead. "Thanks, little bro." The fox kit beamed up at him and turned back to exit the room.

Once he was gone, Sonic went back into panic and yanked the bathroom door open. Shadow peeked out hesitantly. "Is he gone...?"

"Yeah but he's coming back around to my room to bring some bandages." The ebony hedgehog turned to look at the other, seeing a devilish grin form on the speedster's muzzle. As if he caught onto what the hero was thinking, his own grin slowly formed as Sonic took hold of his wrist and led him out of the living room and down the hall, straight into his bedroom.

Unbeknownst to them, the fox kit saw them sneaking around.

He decided to give them enough time to find Shadow a new hiding place before he knocked on Sonic's door.