Sonic: Hello again everyone! I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!!! (Is slapped by author) OW!!! What was that for?

STOP CHANGING THE COLOR OF YOUR FUR!!! fIRST IT WAS DARK BLUE, THEN LIGHTER BLUE, AND NOW LIGHT BLUE!!! IT'S CONFUSABLE!!!

Sonic: I can do what I want with my fur!!

DIE!! (shoots Sonic) I don't own him so you can't sue me!!!!

- - -

Phase X: Accept or Deny

"Sonic are Shadow are what!?" Knuckles screamed, only to be hit on the head by Rouge.

"Pipe down!" she ordered. "Are you trying to let everyone know about this!?"

"Wait. No one knows?" the red echidna asked, completely ignoring the fact that he wanted to hit Rouge back.

The snow white bat sighed, placing a hand on her hip. "Knuckles, if you were going out with another boy would you go around telling everyone?"

"Of course I would!"

"Really?"

"If I was actually going out with another boy but since I'm not then I can't. But seriously, Sonic and Shadow? Couldn't he have chosen someone else? I mean Shadow's not the type that shows his emotions. And he can be uptight, and miserable, and...and...emo!"

Knuckles sighed and placed a hand on his forehead. He had to admit that finding this bit of information was quite a shock to him. Sonic was his best friend, and it concerned him that Shadow was his mate. Sure the ebony hedgehog could be cool at times, even though he would never actually admit that to Shadow, but he could also be cold and harsh. Sonic and Shadow were just too different. Where one would be silly and laughing until he cried, the other would just be sat frowning with his arms folded.

"Earth to Knuckles!"

Said echidna snapped out of his thoughts and looked in front of him to see Rouge and Sonic both staring at him. "Er...did you say something?" he asked, feeling stupid.

Sonic sighed, smacking his forehead. "Yes. Five times," he replied.

Knuckles blushed slightly, suddenly feeling more stupid as he made a small 'oh'. "Wait a minute! You and Shadow—"

Rouge smacked him over the head before he could say any more. "How many times do I have to tell you to be quiet!" she hissed. "Show some respect! Sonic here has been trying his best to hide the fact that he and Shadow are deeply in love a secret so that he can still remain friends with all of us!" She placed a hand on her cheek, a distant look in her eyes. "It's just like a cute, romantic love story."

Knuckles looked over at Sonic whilst rubbing his sore head. "You kept it a secret so that you would still have friends?" he asked.

Sonic nodded, looking ashamed. "You know that there are people out there who are strongly against boys dating other boys. And if any of you were like that, and I turned up one day saying that Shadow and me are dating, then you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore."

Knuckles looked at the hedgehog sympathetically. Most people would see heroes as people who can't be hurt anything in any shape or form. But as Knuckles could know see, heroes are nothing without their friends to support them. If they lost all of their friends, then they may lose the will to help everyone.

"So are you and Shadow serious about this relationship? I mean, you're both too different."

A smile tugged on Sonic's face. "That's why we're a perfect match. Where one is lacking something the other makes up for it. But you've gotta promise not to tell anyone, okay?"

"Tell anyone what?" a sinister voice suddenly asked, causing the animals' fur to stick on end as the sound reached their ears.

- - -

"The nerve of that guy! Who does he think he is?"

"Amy, calm down! I may not know Shadow as well as you, but what I do know is this: he's a selfish, arrogant jerk!" Wave said, as she filed her nails. She had originally been in their room reading a mechanics magazine when Amy burst through the door and began complaining about Shadow.

"I mean, why does Shadow care whether or not I see Sonic? All I wanted to do was see if he was okay. He did disappear for the entire day! I was worried sick! So sick that when we came back to this place I didn't eat anything and went straight to bed!"

"If your boyfriend disappeared then wouldn't you be overprotected when he came back?" The swallow quickly smacked her head against the table. 'Stupid! Stupid!'

"Well what did you think...I was...doing...What did you just say?"

"I said nothing! It was just a bunch of gibberish! You know when you say something that completely has no meaning whatsoever? That. Like the word 'shnibble'. That has no meaning!" Wave said, quickly.

Amy frowned at her. "No, you said something that had a meaning. You said that if your boyfriend disappeared then you'd be overprotective when he comes back. You said that, didn't you?"

Wave nodded her head, knowing instantly that she was in a whole of trouble.

"But you weren't talking about me?"

This time, the swallow shook her head.

"Then just who were you talking about?"

- - -

"Shadow?"

Said hedgehog stood in the doorway staring at the three animals and he was not looking like he was in a good mood. Despite the trio's usually loudness and confidence, when it came to Shadow being in a bad mood, all of them tried to avoid him as much as possible. But in this situation, someone had to speak. And unlucky for Knuckles, it was him.

"Uh, hi Shadow. Congrats about you and Sonic," he said. Shadow frowned and slowly began walking towards the echidna, causing Knuckles to back away until he hit the wall. The ebony hedgehog grabbed him by a tuff of fur and pinned him against the wall.

"You know?" he snapped, sounding far beyond furious. Poor Knuckles was pinned against the wall trying to figure out what to say without angering the hedgehog further. "Well? Do you!?"

"Yes!" Knuckles cried and quickly said, "But I'll promise to keep it a secret! If I don't then feel free to harm me!"

"Harm you? I'll do more than that if you go around telling everyone something we've worked hard to keep secret from people like you!" Shadow spat, shaking the echidna violently. "I'll just have you know that I've barely been getting any sleep lately, and do you know what that does to me? I get cranky!"

"Well maybe if you didn't wake yourself up with your snores every night then you'd get more sleep!" Sonic said, a cocky smile and his face.

Shadow dropped Knuckles. "Don't you even think about trying to humor me again!" he said, causing chills to run down Sonic's spine. Shadow looked back at Knuckles, who was being nursed by Rouge, before walking out of the door. As soon as he did, Sonic sighed.

"God, I hate this day."

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Knuckles asked, seeming to have recovered from the threat.

"Don't be mad at him! It's just that it's that time of year again." Knuckles and Rouge both looked at Sonic, looking confused. "On this very day...all those years ago...was when the ARK was invaded. And Maria..."

Rouge sighed brushed some invisible dirt off of her shoulder. "He really should learn to stop living in the past," she said. "What happened happened. There's nothing he can do now. And he has you now anyway. So why the heck does he insist on not letting go of that girl?"

Silence found its way into the room. None of them spoke. It was when a scream was heard that they all spoke.

"AMY!"

- - -

A short while before the scream was heard, Amy Rose was rushing down each of the corridors, searching for a certain hedgehog. There was something she had to ask him. If she couldn't get the answer to her question soon then she wouldn't know what she would do.

As she took another turn, she spotted Shadow about to go into his room. Well it wasn't the one she sought, but he would do. "Shadow!" she called out. Shadow frowned once he saw her. "There's something that I need to know about Sonic!"

"Then go ask him!" Shadow spat back. He was in no mood to have to deal with her.

"But it involves you!" the pink hedgehog quickly said as Shadow was about to walk into his room again.

Shadow turned to the girl and frowned. "Well?"

Amy breathed deeply before asking, "Is there anything between you and Sonic?" Amy watched as Shadow simply stared at her. "Please, I need to know!" She was on the verge of tears.

As harsh and cruel as Shadow could be, the next thing Shadow did was far the worst. "The answer is yes. Don't bother crying about it since you never had a chance with Sonic in the first place. I mean, who would want a girlfriend like you?"

That was all that Amy could take. She tried to lash out at the male hedgehog but he pushed her back against the wall easily, causing a scream to escape her lungs. Almost instantly, a blue hedgehog appeared on the scene. He took one look at Amy, who was now sat against the wall with tears running down her face, before rushing to her side. "Amy, Are you alright?" he cried.

"Tell him to stop it, Sonic," she sobbed. "Tell Shadow to stop making up cruel stories about you and him being together."

It was then that it dawned on him that Shadow must have told her about the not-so-secret secret. He shook his head sadly and said, "I can't."

"Why? Tell him! Tell me that it isn't true! Please! Don't you love me Sonic?"

"I do love you, Amy. But not in the way you love me."

Amy suddenly stood and ran off. The two hedgehogs watched as she did so. "Who knew you could be so harsh," Shadow mused after Amy had disappeared from view.

"Shut it, you! Just because you can't learn to get over something that happened years ago, doesn't mean that you have to take it out on everyone else!" Sonic took one last look at Shadow before running off shouting 'AMY!'. Shadow leant against the doorframe and sighed. He knew in his heart that Sonic was right. He should learn to get over the incident at the ARK. But every time he tried, he couldn't bring himself to do so.

- - -

Amy finally stopped running. She was outside. She sat down on a brick wall that was close by. A tear fell down her face. She had finally realized that Sonic, the love of her life, didn't love her back. And what made it worse was that it was a guy, and not just any guy. It was Shadow. What did he have the she didn't?

The young girl was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice someone sit down next to her until he spoke. "There you are."

Amy didn't need to look to see who it was. "Stay away from me," she said, clenching her fists.

"And just how are you going to make me?" Sonic asked, smirking. "You couldn't hurt me if your life depended on it."

"I so could!"

"Prove it!"

Amy sighed and relaxed a little. "I can't," she replied, quietly. "I love you too much."

"Amy," Sonic said, softly. "You need to understand that I do love you. But as a sister. If anything were to happen to you then I wouldn't know how to live with myself."

"Is that all I'm worth? Why did you choose him over me?"

"If I were to be honest, I don't know. It just sort of happened."

Amy sighed. "Well if you're in love with Shadow and not me, then I guess I'll just have to learn to live with it. You love him, and there's nothing I can do to change it. Like they always say, there's plenty more fish in the sea." (My grandma said that to me)

"Are you sure you're okay with it? You're not going to do anything rash are you?"

"Sonic, you've known me for a long time. Have I ever done anything rash? On second thoughts, don't answer that question." They both laughed a little. "So how long have you been together?"

The blue hedgehog looked up at the cloudy sky. "About two months."

"And you're both serious, aren't you?"

"Hopefully, yes. We had a little fight yesterday but we sorted things out. It's because of that little argument that I ran off."

"And who else knows?"

"Well I think Manie was the first to figure it out. She walked in on us while we were in bed together."

"I bet that was embarrassing."

"Yeah, it was. I'm not sure who found out next but Rouge was the next mention it to us. Then after that, Tails. Just recently Knuckles, and you."

"I think Wave might know. Rouge talks to her a lot."

"And you're positive that you're okay with it?"

"I'm fine. You really don't have to worry about me."

Sonic smiled at her. "You know, I'm actually glad that you found out. Because now that I know you're okay with it I feel like I can tell the others. Thanks."

Amy smiled back. "No problem. And if anyone doesn't accept you then they'll have to answer to me! Just because our relationship isn't as strong as yours and Shadow's, then that doesn't mean that I'll love you any less!"

"You don't have to do that. I don't really want my friends pounded to a pulp."

"Sorry."

- - -

Later on that day, Sonic had asked everyone who came on vacation with them to meet him in the games room. Of course he made sure that no one else would go in by putting a fake note outside saying that they were doing something with all of the furniture.

"You're all probably wondering why I asked you all to come here," Sonic began, standing in front of everyone. "Well, the reason is because there is something that I want all of you to know. Some of you may already know about this but I'd feel a lot better telling it to everyone at the same time. I don't really want to drag this out much longer so I'll come straight to the point. Shadow and I are dating."

There were a couple of gasps from the others before they started mumbling stuff to each other. Had they accepted it or not? "Well I say congratulations," Tails said, standing up. Sonic smiled. H could always count on his little buddy.

"Same here," Knuckles said, also standing. "Sonic, I don't care if you're gay, straight, or a bit of both. You're still my pal."

"Hey, that's what I said to him!"

"That's my baby brother!" cried Manie, running over to her younger brother and hugging him.

"I worship you!" Vector cried suddenly. "If I was in your position, then I'd never have the guts to say it aloud in front of everyone. It's like Knuckles said, we don't care. Ain't that right, guys?" Vector turned to the others who nodded.

Rouge gave Shadow a little shove. "Go on. We wanna see the two of you together," she said. A ghost of a smile appeared on Shadow's face before he walked up to Sonic and kissed him smack on the lips.

"Eww, gross!" Charmy joked, covering his eyes.

"We should have a little celebration for the two of you," Lady Vanilla suggested, clapping her hands together.

"That's a grate idea!" replied Amy

"For all those who are of age, the drinks are on me!" Vector said.

Sonic couldn't be happier, everyone accepted Shadow and him.

- - -

Later that night, after a great party, Sonic sat on the bed in his room looking through some photos he had taken on his digital camera. The first few were from the party; pictures of everyone laughing and having a good time. He couldn't help but smile when he came across one of Tails and Cream dancing together, and the fox was blushing big time! After the photos from the party, he came across one he had taken about two months ago. It was one he had taken right after he and Shadow had fallen in love. Shadow had his arms wrapped around Sonic's middle and leaning his head against Sonic's. Sonic had both arms outstretched from where he held the camera. Both were smiling.

A pair of gentle hands touched Sonic's shoulders and began to massage them. "Mmm...That feels nice," the azure hedgehog said just above a whisper.

"I remember that day," Shadow's soothing voice reached the other's ears. "How could I forget such a wonderful day?" He kissed Sonic gently on the cheek.

"You're being affectionate all of a sudden."

Shadow continued to massage his lover's shoulders. "I'm proud of you. Up until today you were afraid of everyone knowing about us. You did anything you could to keep it a secret. But today...Today you faced your fears and became triumphant."

"Thank you, Shadow. That means a lot to me." Sonic yawned and rested his back against Shadow. "I love you Shadow. You'll always know that, won't you?"

"Of course I will. And about what you said earlier today about not getting over what happened at the ARK. I'm going to try my best to put it behind me and concentrate on one thing."

"What's that?"

"My love for you."

- - -

(Bawls like a baby) That was so cute!!!!! And if it wasn't as good as the others then don't complain, I WAS LAZY!!!!

Sonic: Well, everyone accepted it. Is that the end?

Nope! You're still on vacation.

Shadow:...(whimpering) Maria...

If only he could try to get over it here.

Sonic: Hey, I've got a tip for ya.

Oh yeah? What?

Sonic: Never piss Shadow of when he's like this.

Why?

Sonic: I'll show you! (Smacks Shadow's ass)

Shadow: WHO DID THAT!?!!?!?!?!?!? (His entire body is surrounded by flames)

Wow! What a display!

Sonic: Yeah! And you know what you shouldn't do when he's like this?

What?

Sonic: MOVE!!!! (Is hit so hard that he lands in Africa) Cool! A giraffe!

GYAAAH! Calm down Shadow! Holy shit I'm getting out of here! Please remember to review!