Sonic/Shadow
Lucky for Sonic, the library was only a short jog from his dorm. He arrived just a few minutes till 6:00. Hurrying away from the quickening downpour, he strode into the library. Since he couldn't be bothered to actually own an umbrella, he shook off rain clinging to his spikes, flinging the droplets around him in a wet halo. The tired woman at the front desk gave him a glare as some of the water splashed on the wood beside her. Sonic winced as he caught her eye, cheeks flushing at his puppy-esque move.
Though Shadow might not believe it, it wasn't Sonic's first time in the GHU library. He'd come by to rent a few books in the past, though he'd never actually used it for any other of its intended purposes. Like studying.
Well, I'm a little early, so maybe I should just wait here for Shadow? But he may already be here, in which case I should try and find him? Uggghh, but then I could miss him coming in, and make him think I'm even more careless for being late again.
Instinctively, Sonic reached for his phone to try and text Shadow.
Oh wait, that's right. Captain Crabby hasn't allowed me the privilege of modern social convenience.
He huffed out a breath, annoyed. Sonic liked to think of himself as the least bitter person he knew, but maybe Shadow's coldness was rubbing off on him.
Well. He could go with Plan C, which was just shouting Shadow's name throughout the building until he found him that way. Cupping his hands, he fully intended to act on this impulse, if it weren't for the sound of the library's automatic doors hissing open behind him.
Shadow, knocking off the residual rain from his umbrella, slinked into the library. He looked up, catching Sonic's eyes. A faint twinkle of surprise touched his own. "Sorry I'm late," he mumbled, walking past Sonic.
Sonic checked his phone. It was 6 on the dot. "Whaddya mean? You're right on time," he asked in a hushed voice, feeling a bit vindicated for beating Shadow here. And for the semi-genuine apology.
"If you're on time, you're 10 minutes late," he whispered at Sonic, as he lead him towards his usual secluded corner of the library. A few giggles slipped from Sonic without his explicit permission, barely concealing a much deeper laughing fit he was desperately trying to keep quiet.
"Shhhh! What is so funny," Shadow angrily whispered at Sonic, who was now crouching on the ground, hands over his mouth, trying to calm down.
"Ha, haaaah, ha—it's nothing, nothing at all. It's just—" He couldn't let on exactly how adorable he found Shadow's old-fashioned personality. He took a deep breath, holding the straightest face he could muster, "I greatly admire your diligent and responsible personality." Sonic, still holding in his laughter, attempted sincerity through twitching lips.
"...I'm sure you do." Shadow rolled his eyes, and began to unpack his bag. Sonic let out a breath, relieved he hadn't sent Shadow running yet again. But, then again, it's not like he had much of a choice this time.
Sonic slid into the booth Shadow had chosen, hidden in the corner beside the shelves of periodicals—quiet, out of the way, not another student in sight. Fitting, he supposed.
Sonic leaned onto the large table as Shadow pulled out a notebook. "Sooo, partner—" he started playfully, coyly.
Shadow gave another trademark eyeroll. "Please never call me that again."
Sonic shrugged. "Sure thing, buddy." Shadow grabbed the bridge of his nose, the realization of just how long he'd have to put up with this finally sinking in. "So, what's our attack plan?"
Shadow pulled out a binder, laying it before Sonic. The label on the front read 'Home-Ec.' Huh, he's really on top of everything, isn't he?
"The 'plan'," Shadow began, neglecting to concede Sonic eye contact, "Is for you to look through this budget for our…" He paused, wanting to find any other word that would distance him further from the hedgehog across from him. "Our hypothetical household, which I've mostly completed on my own."
Shadow pulled out a printed spreadsheet, listing different categories of expenses and incomes, with half of it filled out with his semi-legible handwriting. "I've done the hard part; I already calculated our gross monthly income versus our net monthly income, and estimated cost of living expenses like rent and utilities based off my own."
The longer Shadow droned on, the more Sonic's own understanding was pushed to its limits. Oh god, more math. In his life, Sonic had never had to think or worry about finances. He and Tails were always taken care of by their parents, even now allowing them a bit of spending money here and there. Sonic really had no idea how money worked.
Shadow, finally looking up to catch a glimpse of Sonic, saw the stupefied look of someone who definitely hadn't understood a single word of his explanation. For a moment, he wanted to berate the freshman as he always felt inclined to. But if he ever wanted to make it through this semester, he knew he needed to exercise more restraint. Rolling his eyes with a sigh, he went simpler. "This box here. It has the amount of money left over after all the essential… stuff is taken care of. Understand?"
Sonic, a little ashamed at his obvious lack of knowledge, slowly nodded his head, "...yes."
"Okay. Now, your job is to take this money and use the rest of it to satisfy the other needs of the household." Shadow slid the paper over to Sonic, who hesitantly grabbed it.
"Right. Got it!" Sonic, trying to push away his building anxiety, gave Shadow a wink and a thumbs up to reassure him. Shadow, unimpressed, pulled out another binder from his bag, labeled 'Med: Organic Chem.' Med, huh? Guess that explains the Biochem stuff.
"I'll be working on this. Please, do try to keep quiet," he gave a noticeably exhausted plea.
"Sure thing, buddy," Sonic winked once more. Shadow gave one more eye roll, for good measure.
Sonic hummed thoughtfully, twirling his pencil through his fingers. He figured food would be easy enough to figure out. Though, it occurred to him that he never really paid any mind to how much he actually spent on food. Like, ever. "Well, surely I can survive on ten dollars a month for food, right," he wondered in a hushed tone, writing the number in with little hesitation.
This grabbed Shadow's attention.
"And 15 dollars for amenities should do the trick," he quickly scribbled in, with the carefree tone of a child.
Oh no. He's being serious.
Suddenly, In a little under two minutes, Sonic had finished filling in the left over blanks on the spreadsheet. Slamming his pencil down, he pushed the page back to Shadow.
"Done. And it's not even 6:30," he said, completely sure of himself, folding his arms back behind his head. There were a few moments of silence before he registered the utter horror in Shadow's face. "What?"
Shadow couldn't think. The sheer idiocy and gall causing his own brain to short out for a moment. "Have you… have you ever even set foot in a grocery store? In what world—" he stopped, processing any conceivable way this could be okay to anyone.
Sonic's face dropped, a wave of shame running through him for a second time that day. "Well… I—uh, I mean—" He stumbled, lacking the words to defend himself. He hadn't even really put that much thought into what he wrote; he just wanted to get it finished.
"For a household of two adults, ten dollars could hardly sustain two days, and that's assuming you're wanting to subsist on rice and cup noodles. And fifteen dollars could maybe buy shampoo and soap, but then what about detergent, toothpaste, toilet paper—"
"Okay, okay! I get it! I'm an idiot!" Sonic snapped out in a heated mixture of frustration and self-defeat. Shadow fell silent, blinking at Sonic's sudden 180. Sonic stared at the table, eyes darting between the stains on the wood, too embarrassed to make eye contact. "...You don't have to rub it in."
The confidence had fled from his eyes, shoulders tensing ever so slightly. He was quiet for longer than Shadow had ever seen him. Much like that time at the bar when Shadow had asked him about his major.
Shadow let out a breath.
"... Look—" Shadow grabbed an eraser, rubbing away Sonic's answers. He leaned over the table, turning the page in Sonic's direction. "We can break these down logically."
Sonic hesitantly grabbed at his pencil.
"On average, I spend five dollars on food in one day, as I don't eat out." Shadow visibly softened a bit, internally channeling all those times he'd tutored a frustrated Maria in algebra. "So, let's assume the same applies to you. That puts it at roughly ten dollars a day for the both of us."
Sonic nodded slowly, beginning to come back to himself. As much as he hated needing the help, there was a reassurance sprinkled into Shadow's usually exhausted tone—a softness to his tired eyes. He kept his voice carefully even, quietly patient. It was probably just him taking pity on Sonic, not wanting this to take any longer than it had to, but he appreciated the rare moment of Shadow's kindness.
"Therefore, at ten dollars a day for roughly 30 days, in a month the budget for food should be—"
"300 dollars," Sonic excitedly shouted. Shadow threw a hand over Sonic's mouth, shushing him. Carefully, he glanced around to make sure no one had heard.
After he was sure no one was around, he looked back down to Sonic, whose eyes betrayed the cheeky grin currently covered by Shadow's palm.
Shadow quickly removed his hand, tucking it into his jacket pocket. He looked away, his usual look of disdain peppered with a red blush.
"Yes," he coughed, "That is correct," picking up again, ignoring the last few seconds. Sonic couldn't help but keep smiling.
They continued on like this, working each one out together. Eventually Sonic was even able to offer more realistic numbers. "How about $150 on entertainment? I always end up going out a few times a week."
"Entertainment is wasteful. It'd be better to put that towards insurance or savings," Shadow said cooly. He at least seemed less annoyed now, voice less strained.
"Alright, gramps, I'll compromise then. $100 to entertainment, $50 to health insurance," Sonic teased, filling in the last two blanks. Shadow grumbled, but chose not to argue. "Now, we add them all together?"
"I'll do it. You have to subtract the income from the expenses for your final total," he said, beginning to total it all into his phone's calculator. He'd never admit it to himself, but he was actually enjoying this. A little. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little curious about Sonic after today's display. But, not curious enough.
"Thanks! If it wasn't obvious, numbers aren't really my thing," he joked, rubbing the back of his head.
Shadow didn't respond, instead focusing in on his calculation, which wasn't exactly working out.
"Dammit. We have a defic—not enough funds. We have to adjust everything else," he sighed, frustrated at the prospect of staying here longer.
"Really? That doesn't seem right," Sonic leaned in closer to see Shadow's phone. "Can I see it real quick?"
Dubious, Shadow handed over his older model smartphone. Sonic looked at it for a few seconds. "Hmm… that sure is a negative number," he deduced. Shadow was unimpressed. "But, our income is a higher number than our expenses. So, I'm no mathematician here, but shouldn't subtracting the smaller number from the bigger number give us a positive number?"
Shadow stared at him, and then at the spreadsheet. As soon as it hit him, a deep red blush rose to his face. Subtract the expenses from the income... He had made such a basic mistake. He leaned his face into his palm, taking a few seconds to repair his pride.
He coughed, blaming it on his exhaustion.
"...Indeed you are correct," he shamefully admitted. "It seems… I have failed you."
Sonic chuckled at this. "Hey now, no need to be so dramatic! It's only fair we both make mistakes, right?" He handed back his phone. "Nobody's perfect," he winked.
Shadow hated that saying. Anything below perfection wasn't worth the time. "Whatever," he mumbled. Looking down at his phone, Shadow noticed that his messages were open instead of the calculator—a brand new message tab opened, with an outgoing message already sent. The name at the top read 'The Miscreant.'
That little—
Sonic met his glare with smirk. "Well, there was no other way I was gonna get your number."
Shadow immediately opened his mouth to object, but Sonic cut him off with a hand raised in a classic 'scout's honor' pose. "I promise to only use this for Very Official Homework Things™—nothing else."
Shadow let out a resigned breath. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. "Fine. You win."
"Haha, yes," Sonic pumped his fist, beaming. Shadow, as much as he hated it, realized the convenience in being able to contact him, especially if they were forced to actually work together on the rest of this tedious task list. But the mere thought of letting this track star golden boy anywhere near his bubble—reserved only for the three people that mattered in his life—unsettled him. Attempting to escape any further socialization with his newfound partner, Shadow announced that they were finished and scooped up his binders to began packing his bag.
In his shuffling, a few papers slid out of his home-ec binder and fluttered to the tacky carpet below. "Shit," he whispered.
"I gotcha, buddy." In an instant, Sonic had plucked them from the ground.
"Stop calling me buddy," Shadow said flatly, holding his hand out for his scattered papers.
Before he returned them, though, Sonic's eye was caught by the paper on top of the pile. It seemed to be a printout of the previous budget he had worked on.
"200 bucks a month on sneakers and chili dogs, huh? Aw, Shads, you know me too well, already," Sonic jokingly fawned in Shadows direction.
"Shut it," Shadow snapped, snatching the papers from Sonic's hands and fighting the wave of embarrassment that rolled through him. Sonic giggled, getting more joy out of teasing Shadow than he'd anticipated. "You're forbidden from calling me that as well." He snapped his binder shut, keeping his eyes down as he shoved it back in his backpack.
"Alright, alright. I shouldn't be so mean. You really helped me out today. It was...nice. Thank you," Sonic beamed, genuine appreciation shining through. The sincerity of this sent a heat to Shadow's cheeks (how many times was he going to blush tonight?!); perhaps the freshman was on his way to maturity just yet. "And, y'know, you're kinder than you look, under all that brooding and edginess. It's cute."
Perhaps not. "Do not confuse my efforts for this class as any form of kindness in your favor, kid." Turning his back to Sonic, Shadow slunk toward the library entrance, eager for some much needed alone time.
"Whatever you say, Shads," Sonic breathed, shaking his head with a smile.
Along with his growing annoyance, Shadow felt a slight stuttering in his chest. It was uncomfortable. Perhaps his stress was taking its toll on his body. Must be.