Wow, first upload here. Odd feeling. Any case, quick warning: this piece has no central plot. Hence the fail description and title.

Now that that's been said, enjoy the story!

Shadow was sunbathing peacefully, enjoying the day at the beach as best he could. He wasn't exactly a fan of water, though his dislike wasn't nearly as bad as that of a certain hero.

The sound of raised voices broke him out of his peaceful trance. He cracked an eye open, glancing over to see some stranger yelling at Silver, who was beginning to exhibit an all too familiar twitchiness. Shadow decided to step in before the telekinetic did something he might regret.

He got up and approached, catching only a word or two of the conversation, not enough to tell him anything. Then the stranger looked up and paused, prompting Silver to turn as well. He relaxed a little when he saw Shadow.

The dark hedgehog stopped beside them, arms folded calmly. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing important," the stranger said with a scoff. "Just an insensitivity to basic social graces and respect to fans."

Shadow raised an eyebrow at Silver and received a shrug in return. "Apparently I'm spending too much time around people who rightfully belong to the fangirls."

"Oh?" Shadow said, conveniently not noticing the stranger's outraged reaction to the description. "I assume that refers to me and Sonic." Silver shrugged again, so he turned to the stranger. "You have no right to tell him, or us, who we can or can't spend time with. In any case, Silver has his own right to our time."

"Oh, really?" the stranger said, voice dripping with doubt and not a little petulance. "And what makes you say that?"

"This." Shadow pulled Silver in close and kissed him. He kept it short and chaste (for Silver's sake more than the stranger's), pulling back after a moment and smirking at the look on the stranger's face. They backed away slowly, eyes never leaving them.

Uproarious laughter from behind caught their attention, and they turned to see Sonic nearly doubled over. "Chaos, that look-! That was brilliant, Shadow!"

The Ultimate Lifeform smirked. "I know."

Silver, blushing heavily after the kiss, still managed an eye roll. "I wouldn't say brilliant, but it worked. That jerk left."

Sonic sobered a little. "That's a relief. You okay, Silv?"

"Yeah, but I would've snapped if I'd had to listen to that crazed fangirlism much longer."

That got another laugh from Sonic and a snort from Shadow. Sonic slung an arm over each of their shoulders, grinning ear to ear. "Let's just forget the crazy person and have some fun, yeah?"

"Faker, you're the last one I'd expect to advocate for 'fun' by the ocean."

"It's only a problem if you replace 'by' with 'in,'" Sonic said, steering them back to their little picnic site.

Silver frowned at Shadow. "Did you really have to kiss me, though?"

"No. But I wanted to." He tipped his head slightly. "Why?"

"Well, it…" Silver glanced at Sonic, watching the proceedings curiously. "It gives people the wrong impression, y'know?"

Shadow looked confused, but a dawning comprehension appeared in Sonic's eyes. He shook his head, offering a good-natured smile. "Silver, you know we're not much for appearances. What other people think doesn't matter. We've still got our friends, and we've got each other."

"And that's all that matters," Silver finished, smiling a little. Then it quirked a little to the side. "Though it would be nice if other people could let it be that simple."

Sonic waved a hand as though to brush the crazy fans away. "Let them be clueless, it's fine. 'Sides, we've had enough deep talk for today. Let's build a sand castle or something!"

Shadow and Silver exchanged a look as Sonic ran off to find a good spot. Then they got up and hurried after him.