Chapter 7:

"...right...?"

"...nic...are...right...?"

"Huh?" Sonic blinks in confusion as he finally realizes there's somebody standing before him and talking to him. The cobalt hero shakes his head, to get his mind back into the present moment. "Sorry, buddy. I haven't caught that. What were you saying?"

"I asked if you're alright," Tails repeats himself, his eye-ridges furrowed as if he's deeply pondering something. "You look like if you just saw a ghost," the inventor adds as an explanation for his question.

"I'm alright—I guess," Sonic responds, brushing his fingers over his lips again. The feeling of Shadow's own lips pressing there still present even though it's been already some time since it happened. "Just really confused."

"Why?" Tails asks as he sits down across the other, knowing that it is very unusual for his brother to be up at four in the morning. But judging by the dark circles under the older one's eyes, he guesses Sonic hasn't gone to bed at all. "Did something happen?"

"...Sort of," the cobalt hero says, for a fleeting moment pondering if it is good idea to share what happened with Tails. And then deciding that yes, Tails surely will be able to offer advice. "It's about Shadow. He..." Sonic makes a small pause, still in disbelief that something like that has actually happened between him and Shadow. "...He kissed me."

"Shadow kissed you?" Tails repeats, looking surprised but Sonic is sure it's not as surprised as he looked when Shadow kissed him.

"Yeah..." The cobalt hero nods, once again replaying the strangely pleasant moment with the parasomniac in his mind's eye. He would have never guessed that sleepwalkers could kiss that good. "Well, it was a sleepwalking Shadow to be precise, but you get the gist."

"Oh..." The fox genius furrows his eye-ridges in thought, clearly contemplating what it could signify. "...Has he ever done something like this before?"

"No, he hasn't," Sonic replies, frowning, "And I don't even understand why did he do it!" The cobalt hero throws his arms wide open to convey his frustration with being unable to understand what is going on in Shadow's head.

...and in his own heart as well.

"What were you doing before he kissed you?" Tails asks, hoping that this little fact might help him figure out what did the kiss meant. Could Shadow possibly be secretly romantically interested in Sonic? Or maybe did Sonic just gave some kind of sign that the parasomniac misinterpreted...?

"I was telling him to leave. He didn't listen to me."

"Why?" There is confusion written all over the young inventor's face now. "I thought you didn't mind sleepwalking Shadow coming here."

"I don't..." Sonic confesses quietly, rubbing his upper arm nervously. "It's just...I was just angry at Shadow because of what he said at Monday and I didn't want him to be around."

"'Was'? So you're not angry anymore?"

Am I? Sonic asks internally, trying to recall the intense anger he has felt anytime he thought about Shadow in the past few days. But now it just feels as if the flame of his anger has been extinguished and only a few warm embers remain now...

"Well, no..." the cobalt hero says finally and then he looks down on the table, trying to find the correct words to describe how he feels at the moment. "I'm just irritated, I guess. I don't know what to think about Shadow's behavior anymore..."

Or mine... he adds internally when he recalls how eagerly he responded to the kiss. He had no reason to react like that. He doesn't like Shadow in that way. It's just...

Just...

He just likes being around Shadow—teasing or riling him up with witty and taunting remarks, seeing the anger and contempt that the ebony agent always shows to the world give away under the weight of his never-ending jokes and then change into a mild amusement, enjoying the rare times when he manages to make Shadow smile or laugh in an honest, non-sarcastic way, relishing the nights where his dark rival wraps his arms around him and makes him feel all warm and nice...

That isn't love...is it?

"Then tell me what exactly he's been doing since the moment he started to act strange. Maybe I'll be able to shed some light onto his behavior."

And so Sonic starts, eager to draw his attention from thinking about how exactly he feels about Shadow.

Though somewhere deep inside he already knows the answer to that question.

~O~

"So what do you think about it?" Sonic asks as he finishes the story, curious at what kind of explanation would Tails come up with. Said inventor crosses his arms over his chest, his expression alone saying that whatever the young genius is about to say won't be exactly pleasant.

"Shadow undoubtedly has romantic feelings for you."

Sonic ignores the flutter his heart gives at this as there is one big problem with Tails' explanation.

"He treats me like a trash."

"I have two theories about that." The young inventor raises his index finger and middle finger in a 'V' sign. "The first one is that Shadow doesn't want to acknowledge his feelings for you and that's why he treats you the way he does." He puts one finger down. "The second one is that he acknowledges them and has some reason for actively trying to ruin any chances he might have with you." He puts even the second finger down.

"But what about the way he behaves while he sleepwalks?" Sonic asks, not seeing how would the 'affectionate' parasomniac fit in either of those two.

"When Shadow sleepwalks his subconsciousness is in control—that means neither his morality nor rationality affects his decisions at the time. His behavior is purely impulsive based on his momentary feelings and he doesn't care about whatever reasons he normally has for keeping you at a distance."

"But if the feelings are momentary then that means that he could have kissed me just on the spur of the moment and actually might not have any romantic feelings for me," Sonic argued, finding his explanation reasonable as well. Because what is the probability of Shadow having mutual feelings for him?

But then Tails shakes his head and Sonic knows that there is something he missed. "You are not looking at the big picture, Sonic—you have to look at how he behaves otherwise. He does everything to be in your favor—be it helping you demolish the kitchen—" Tails gives him the 'you better not do that again' look. "—or apologizing for his awake self being a jerk hundreds of times. He wants to be close to you all the time. He even hugs you. When was the last time non-sleepwalking Shadow gave you a hug?"

"Never," Sonic replies, frowning slightly. The last time he tried to hug Shadow—which was after a difficult battle with Dr. Eggman when he was overcome with the joy of winning—he ended up getting shoved to the ground. Apparently, Shadow's distaste about people invading his personal space doesn't fade even during post-victory moments.

"Exactly! Do you see my point now?"

Sonic nods after a moment, only a quiet "Yeah..." escaping him as his mind is preoccupied with trying to answer a different question:

What is he supposed to do now?

~O~

"But we've been through so much, Ruby! How can you-"

Sonic yawns tiredly as he wraps the warm blanket more securely around his body, the voices of the actors on the TV screen not really registering in his mind anymore and instead changing into some kind of humming in his ears—which is bad as the initial plan has been that the movie would keep him awake until Shadow arrived so he could have another heart-to-heart talk with the sleepwalker.

Which sounds kind of ridiculous when put this way, but Sonic's pretty sure that's the most accurate term to label his conversations with sleepwalking Shadow.

Though...he's not entirely sure if he should even want to see the sleepwalker. Because he has absolutely no idea how he should act now. Should he try to deter Shadow's sleepwalking self from coming back to him when that's apparently what Shadow wants to happen?

Because what other reason would Shadow have for starting that argument with him than to secretly manipulate him into being hostile with his sleepwalking self for long enough to discourage the parasomniac from coming back?

Or should he try to put up a fight and make Shadow finally spill the beans? And then maybe convince Shadow to give him a chance?

Because, to be honest, he doesn't want to lose this caring side of Shadow. He doesn't want them to go back to just being rivals—or allies as Shadow put it—he still wants to get to know Shadow better. It wouldn't even have to be a romantic relationship—just companionship. Just being friends would be enough for him...

But Shadow has already voiced his disagreement about that too...

The cobalt hero shakes his head, once again considering the decision about giving up waiting and heading to the bed. He already feels exhausted thanks to waiting for Shadow late into the morning the previous night and his short afternoon nap hasn't really helped with his weary state, so denying sleep definitely won't help him with the heavy feeling of tiredness that has settled in his bones.

And neither with the uneasy feeling in his gut as it seems...

Rubbing his eyes tiredly, the cobalt hero yawns again, thinking that, yeah, he should probably do that. Tails surely wouldn't appreciate if he fell asleep on the couch and ended up accidentally destroying it with his quills.

The blue hero sighs as he uses the TV remote to switch the TV off, causing the living-room to fall into darkness once again. Draping the blanket around himself, he stands up and makes the first step towards his bedroom. However, he doesn't even have the chance to outstretch his leg to make the second one as a loud ringing sounds through the house, his ears immediately perking up in alarm.

The cobalt hero frowns when he realizes what the ringing is. The cobalt hero makes his way over to the device hanging on the wall, unsuccessfully trying to recall when was the last time somebody called on their land-line.

Though he's fairly sure it wasn't in the middle of a night.

Sonic brings up the telephone receiver to his ear, saying, "Hello?" to give the caller a signal he's listening.

He is truly surprised when the next thing he hears is Rouge's voice. "You've got ten minutes to get to Club Rouge."

"Why? Is something happening?" Sonic asks with slightly alarmed tone, worrying that Rouge might be in danger. What other reason she could have for calling him at one in the morning?

"Calm down, Blue. No attack is happening," the female agent reassures him as she has noticed his tone. "I just need to find out if my hypothesis is correct and based on the result I will either call Shadow an idiot in the morning or not. So are you coming?"

Sonic blinks in slight confusion, unsure what to think of such strange remark. But then he just dismisses it as unimportant, nods and adds a short, "I'm on my way," before placing the telephone receiver back into its holder and setting off on his journey.

~O~

"Hey, Rouge! Are you here?" Sonic calls as he steps into the empty and dark club, his eyes unable to spot the bat in the surrounding darkness.

"Over here, hon!"

Sonic turns in direction of the voice, seeing Rouge step out of the shadows, waving, and then gesture for him to follow her. "This way."

The cobalt hero zips over to her, for a fleeting moment wondering why she doesn't switch on the lights. But just a next moment his eyes are assaulted by sharp light as they step out of the club area into the accommodation area she and Shadow live in. Sonic blinks a few times to adjust his eye-sight and then breaks into a swift jog to catch up with Rouge that is suddenly a good few feet before him.

"So what exactly do you need?" he asks, his blue triangular ears turning around to catch some kind of noise but finding the building to be completely silent—well except their footsteps, of course.

However, he doesn't receive an answer to his question. Rouge just asks, "Did you know that Shadow used to suffer from chronic nightmares?"as if she hasn't heard him.

The cobalt hero stills for a moment, greatly surprised by this information and also unsure why Rouge is even telling him this. After a moment he just says, "...No. He never told me," and resumes his walk beside the bat.

"No wonder, he hasn't. He's not proud of it. After all, who would be proud about waking up each night flailing and screaming as if they were being murdered?" Rouge asks in a nonchalant way that in Sonic's opinion doesn't suit such a serious topic like this in the slightest. "He actually never even told me he had them. But he knew he didn't need to. He knew I could hear him. These walls are not thick enough for me not to hear him with my super hearing." Rouge taps on one of the walls as if to emphasize her point, the sound of her knuckles against the solid wall echoing through the mostly empty corridor that they're walking through.

"But then without any warning three weeks ago it just stopped. As if you just snapped your fingers and it was gone," the bat continues, stopping before a brown wooden door, looking at it with strange gleam in her eyes. Somehow Sonic knows that the door leads to Shadow's room even though he has never been here before. "About two weeks ago I decided to check up on him in the middle of the night to ensure he was actually sleeping and not forcing himself to stay awake to escape the nightmares. However, when I came into his room he wasn't there."

The female agent puts her hand on the handle of the door but doesn't open it yet. "A week ago I got a call from Tails in the morning to come and help him end that fight of yours. Shadow refused to explain why was he arguing with you at your house at six in the morning, so I started playing with the idea:'What if the reason why I haven't heard him for those past weeks was because he simply was sleeping elsewhere?' So I started to investigate, choosing your house as the first place to be monitored as it seemed as the most probable choice with the limited info I had. I saw Shadow teleporting into your house night after night. I heard everything you two said at these nights and saw how you behaved around each other. It made me confused."

Sonic knows he should scold Rouge for spying on him without his knowledge but he's too curious about the rest of Rouge's story so he keeps his mouth shut.

"So I decided to ask Tails about you two as I was sure neither of you would want to talk to me about it. And Tails told me everything. I was surprised to find out about Shadow's sleepwalking as I didn't know he had another sleep disorder beside the nightmare one. But there is one particular fact that surprised me even more than the fact that he sleepwalks..."

Rouge slowly turns to him, her teal eyes shining with some mysterious emotion. "This fact was that Shadow didn't have a single nightmare during all those nights that he spent at your house. So I asked:'What is difference between here and your house? Why isn't he plagued by the nightmares when he's at your house?'—and then I realized it." She brings up her other hand to softly poke Sonic in the chest. "You are the difference."

A small frown finds it's way to Sonic's face at being prodded, the cobalt hero slightly leaning backwards to escape it. "That's great and all, Rouge. But you still haven't explained what I'm doing here."

"You are here prove my hypothesis that you are truly what holds Shadow's nightmares at bay," Rouge explains as she draws her arm back to her side and then crosses it with the other one over her chest. "Which I already have some evidence about as without you by his side he already had two nightmares during this night."

Sonic furrows his eye-ridges, for a moment wondering how it come that Shadow has dreamed but not sleepwalked once. Since this whole sleepwalking started, there hasn't been a night where Shadow went to sleep and didn't end up sleepwalking to his house. "He'll throw me out."

"That's the fun part, hon. Shadow is stuck in a some kind of strange loop of sleepwalking and having nightmares, so we don't have to worry about that part." Rouge explain with a grin, but the remark just brings more questions to Sonic's mind than answers. Rouge grasps the door handle again and pushes it down, opening the door just enough for him to catch a glimpse of the room. "So, can you?"

Sonic looks at the darkened room, his brain coming up with thousands of reasons why this is a bad idea. But he knows that most of them are just excuses for avoiding meeting the sleepwalker. And so he slowly walks over to the door, Rouge immediately stepping out of the way to let him pass. He pushes the door open, his eyes immediately sweeping over the room to get at least a vague idea of how is it organized. He can hear the soft click of door getting closed just a moment later and the room gets shrouded by darkness once again. However, the faint moon-light coming through the window is still enough for him to make his way around the room without bumping into anything.

(Though the fact that Shadow's room is minimalistically furnished is definitely a big help as well.)

Sonic slowly turns to look in the direction of the bed, the cobalt hero blinking in confusion when he sees it empty. Maybe Shadow has changed his mind and is now waiting for him at his and Tails' house? Green eyes immediately sweep over the room, trying to find the dark hedgehog that not might even be there.

The cobalt hero turns around, his still-adjusting eyes searching the room carefully for any signs of the ebony hedgehog's presence. "Shadow, are you here?"

"Sonic?" The sound of his name is soft and barely audible, but the cobalt hero still can say that the speaker is truly Shadow. Though his name definitely sounds strange when uttered by Shadow like this—the ebony agent rarely uses it and when he does it's always in much more irritated manner. The cobalt hero swiftly turns around in the direction of Shadow's voice, finally spotting the faint silhouette of his ebony rival sitting in the darkest corner.

"Hey, Shads," Sonic greets him as he makes his way over to the agent, deciding not to question the parasomniac about why he's sitting in a corner. He just sits down cross-legged across the other, preferring this over to looking down at the other—not that he can see much with darkness hanging over the room anyway. "I came to see you," he adds after a moment, his mind running thousand miles per hour to figure out why hasn't the sleepwalker came like usually and then coming to only one explanation. "...To let you know I'm not mad at you anymore."

"...You're not?" Shadow asks, his tone slightly unbelieving. That alone is enough for Sonic to say he has guessed right the parasomniac's reason—so the hero shakes his head, a small smile on his face. "Not at all. I realized I've been way too harsh with you and I want to apologize."

There is significantly larger pause than before until Shadow replies this time, the ebony agent probably surprised he's being apologized to. "...You don't need to."

"But I want to. I'm really sorry for being such a jerk—and I know you're too," Sonic adds, sensing that Shadow was just about to apologize again. "So what do you say? Everything forgiven?"

Peach gloved hand reaches forward, offering peace. Its owner can see crimson eyes stare at with slight disbelief and after a moment, a striped hand, currently glove-less, reaches for it from the darkness and then shakes it slightly thus sealing the proposal of peace.

Sonic lets his smile stretch wider as he holds the other's hand for a moment, trying to ignore the strange tickling sensation that has came to life when Shadow's hand came in contact with his own.

"Awesome! So—" The cobalt hero tries to pull his hand back—only to be suddenly tugged forward and then sprawl awkwardly half across the floor and half across Shadow's torso with a startled yelp. But before he can even try change his undignified position Shadow's arms wrap around his form and pull him up and closer to the ebony body, forcing him into a weird half-sit up as with the dark arms encircling him he cannot but lean against the black and red body.

The blue hero frowns slightly, this entrapping gesture strongly reminding him of yesterday. Though this time he could probably wriggle out if he really wanted. "...You know, I don't plan to go anywhere. There's no need to make surprise attacks on me."

However, he receives no answer this time, Shadow obviously not finding this remark as something he should respond to. Sonic sighs and then twists slightly in the embrace to get into a more comfortable position, now leaning against Shadow more with his side rather than his front or back, with one arm wrapped around the dark form of the agent and with his legs pulled closer to the rest of his body.

And somehow, despite the slight awkwardness of the position, he feels completely comfortable with Shadow holding him like this in a warm embrace...

Is this what it is like to be in love with somebody? That no matter how awkward something might be it feels perfect with them by your side? Sonic muses, frowning as he notices the strange trembling of the ebony body at the same time. "Are you cold? You're shivering, " he says, his frown deepening when he doesn't receive response immediately. "We can move to the bed if you want to..."

"I'm fine," the parasomniac replies, tightening his hold more. "Now I'm fine."

A blue eye-ridge slightly rises at this remark, but Sonic doesn't question it as he can feel Shadow doesn't want to talk about it. Maybe is that shivering some kind of delayed reaction to whatever nightmare Shadow had?

The blue hero sighs as he rests his head on the strong solid chest of the other, feeling the soft thudding of Shadow's heart against his cheek, the rhythmic beating calming and nice...

And suddenly he's asleep and he doesn't even know how.


[Last edited: 2018-07-01]