Disclaimer: Knuckles will come after me if I claim I own him, and I'll be destroyed/decimated by the power of the Master Emerald, so I most certainly don't own Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Dude, Shadow's living with you now? Are you CRAZY!?"

Sonic had prepared for the shout, though he had not expected it to be so loud, since it rang in his ears even with them pinned back.

Knuckles looked like he was going to start tearing through the house in search of the biohog that instant and Sonic hadn't even told him they'd kissed twice already. Granted he definitely wasn't about to tell his volatile-tempered friend ever if he could help it…

Violent violet eyes glared at him, and one fang glistened under the overhead lights as the echidna growled quietly, fists raised as though about to punch through something.

Sonic blinked slowly and took a step back out of the range of fire. "Hey, hey, Shadow's not all that bad," Sonic said in defense of the absent hedgehog. "He just has some issues."

"He helps Eggman!" Knuckles growled, narrowing his eyes before adding, "Not to mention he tried to destroy the world not once, but twice!"

The blue one couldn't help but puff up at the feeling of a need to defend the black hedgehog, and bluntly shot back, "Eggman's tricked you into helping him dozens of times, and Shadow couldn't help it those times. Sure he had reasons for what he did, but he always got over them and helped us out in the end when we needed it!"

Trying to come up with a logical argument good enough to refute Sonic's, Knuckles guiltily had to admit he had helped Eggman himself many times, and he definitely wasn't proud of it in the least. "At least I don't willingly help Eggman when I know what he's really up to; Shadow doesn't give a damn so long as it benefits him!"

Opening his mouth to shout something back at the echidna, quills bristling, the words died in his throat before they had even formed. He couldn't deny it, because Knuckles was right. Shadow liked to help Eggman sometimes, and so long as he got something out of helping him, he didn't care at all if Eggman wanted to destroy half the world.

Satisfied that Sonic wasn't going to shout anything back in defense of the hedgehog they were arguing about, Knuckles decided to press on with his win, to attempt to get Sonic to see things his way. "How do you know Shadow isn't going to turn on you and let Eggman in sometime, or just kill you sometime?" he asked, scoffing quietly under his breath because they both knew Sonic couldn't answer him at all. Shadow was a loose cannon, and you never knew when he was going to explode.

Quills bristled more than ever as he realized he really couldn't answer the question rightly, Sonic threw a glare at the Guardian of the Master Emerald. "I trust Shadow!" he said loudly, "That's all you need to concern yourself about!"

"You're a fool to trust him, if you were smart at all you would kick him out first chance you get! It's all that asshole deserves anyway, after how many times he's beat the shit out of you for any little thing!" Knuckles shouted at him, fists curling more at the sudden spike of anger because the other just wasn't listening. Here he was, bothering to show concern for the blue speedster, and Sonic was just shoving his concern aside, even going so far as to defend that murdering hedgehog.

"This is my house and my life, and if I want Shadow here then he can be here. I'm not a little kid, I can take care of myself Knuckles!" Sonic growled, ears going back from the heatedness of the sudden argument. They had been having a nice chat, and then suddenly he'd let slip that Shadow was staying with him and now Knuckles was going crazy over it.

"And he's going to stab you in the back the first chance he-" before Knuckles could finish his sentence, he was suddenly roughly falling forward, stumbling as he tried to gain his footing again but failed and was sent sprawling to the ground in an undignified heap. The loud and sudden reverberation of his hitting the floor bounced off the near-empty walls in the hallway.

A white-and-red skate was put on the red echidna's back, and the weight of an annoyed hedgehog was put fully on him. (A soft woosh sound was heard as all the air in the echidna's lungs was suddenly rushed out from the crushing weight on him) While a cry of pain escaped the crushed echidna, a cold voice softly said, "It's impolite to insult someone behind their backs."

Sonic squeaked and looked into the cold, blank eyes of the hedgehog both he and Knuckles had so vehemently been arguing about just seconds prior to his sudden entrance. A fierce blush stole over his cheeks as he realized Shadow must have heard him defending him so passionately.

"I would advise you to check and make sure the one you're talking about is not around before insulting them, echidna," Shadow said, softer than before, and with a dangerous, warning edge to it that promised certain doom should the echidna under his foot not listen to him. With that said, he stepped over the echidna, took a step towards Sonic, eyes narrowing, and coldly said, "As for you…"

Sonic gulped, worried that he had offended Shadow by defending him, or if he was pissed that he had thought himself good enough to defend him, or maybe even it was that Shadow was mad that he had been arguing about him behind his back too. Behind Shadow, he could see Knuckles trying to gain his breath back, and then he gave Sonic an 'I-told-you-so' look.

Another step and Shadow was well within Sonic's personal space, his face so close Sonic could tell their breaths were mingling and he could smell a faint cinnamon taste from the other. A gloved hand slowly came up, golden ring around the wrist catching the light and glistened in it, and Sonic defiantly stared at Shadow. He could hit him all he wanted, but Shadow was his friend, and so he would defend him against anyone whenever he wanted to, whether Shadow wanted defended or not.

A sudden, startling pressure on his ear made him jump, and when Shadow's hand started petting his blue-furred ear, Sonic couldn't help but relax and even lean into the contact a little. His eyes slipped closed against his will, wanting to enjoy this feeling more, and so he missed the slightest softening in Shadow's cold eyes.

It was almost good enough to cause a purr to come from his throat, but Sonic forcefully held it back. It would be excessively embarrassing to start purring in front of both Shadow and Knuckles, even though the later was still recovering from being used as a doormat. Shadow seemed to pet his ear for hours on end, and Sonic most certainly didn't want him to stop anytime soon, and when his other ear started to receive the same attention, he just couldn't stop the purr from escaping him even if he had wanted to stop it.

Unseen to Sonic, Shadow's ears pricked up to listen closely to the interesting noise, and judging that it was loud enough, softly whispered, "Thank you."

Bliss caught the blue hero on all sides, and the only sound Sonic could hear was his own purring, before it was suddenly cut off when the petting of his ears stopped. A startled and slightly annoyed sound revealed that he hadn't wanted the black hedgehog to stop at all. Emerald orbs peered curiously as eyelids opened just a bit, a frown tugging at a peach muzzle, wanting to be informed of what was so important that it would cause Shadow to stop.

A sly grin slipped onto a dark tan muzzle, and fiery red eyes narrowed, hands returning to black-furred sides.

"Have fun with your argument, though I don't think the echidna will be up to continuing it anytime soon, or you either."

With those parting words, the mysterious one turned, walked on Knuckles to get over to the door, (A loud cry of pain escaped Knuckles and he wheezed out curses) and was gone.

He was beginning to see a pattern of Shadow always leaving right after doing something with him, and he felt a growing sense of annoyance at this. He was going to turn the tables on the cocky hedgehog, and he'd figure out how to do that once Knuckles calmed down and was no longer threatening to "Murder that black-ass punk!"

"OW!"

Probably should have warned the echidna that Shadow had closed the door before he went racing after him too.