The faint shine of the sun through his eyes lids was the first thing Knuckles saw as he woke up. The weak rays indicated that the day was at an end. The two had slept through it .

Tacking a breath in, Knuckles nostrils were filled with a curious smell. He opened his eyes to their normal width and found a plane of black set out in front of them. The smell that caught his nose was Shadows scent. He smiled as he remembered the feast of pleasure both of them shared. Lifting his head, he saw Shadows sleeping face, so calm and peaceful, his mouth closed and breaths coming in smooth, slow blows. Even in sleep, he was regal and magnificent looking. Knuckles smiled, looking at the face he knew so well yet hardly knew at all. There was nothing besides and name and a few details that Knuckles knew about him, but he wanted to know, very much so. When he felt Shadows hand twitch in his dreads, he figured Shadow was waking.

He was right, the hedgehogs eyes slowly opened and focussed up on the ceiling, his startling, piercing red eyes reflecting brightly and beautifully. Knuckles stared into them, waiting for a response. The hedgehog seemed almost not to notice him as he sat up, unweaved his hands from the echidnas dreadlocks and looked around the room with wide, violet eyes.

" Hey" Knuckles said, sitting up as well. Around Shadow, he felt a little clumsy, his chunky movements somewhat superseded by Shadows grace.

Shadow frowned, seemingly confused at his surroundings. Knuckles tilted his head in questioning, wondering what was wrong with Shadow. The hedgehogs powerful eyes locked onto him and he immediately felt his heart skip, panic ridden and rejoiced.

" You forced me" he said in his dark voice, one which could represent that of an angel or devil from the deepest place in hell. Knuckles leaned back, intent on backing away. He felt worried at Shadows seemingly hostileness towards him. After there connection, he assumed he was would be overjoyed.

" I ...um..." He said, lost for words in Shadows overwhelming presence. The hedgehog continued to stare, unblinking and intimidating for a few seconds, before his mouth tugged into a little smile.

" Thank you" he said calmly and with somewhat of a warm voice, probably all that he could really manage. Knuckles eyes shot open in disbelief, thinking he was in trouble and not at all expecting an apology. His mouth hung open for a while, not knowing what to say, while Shadow stared, waiting for an answer, his smile still present. His breath caught in his throat, Knuckles took a while to say his petty excuse

" I don't know what got into me" he said, still nervous, still excited. The jumble of opposite emotions was turning his mind into somewhat of an oxymoron. " I'm sorry" he added at the end, hoping that would improve the situation. But Shadow's smile disappeared after that and Knuckles couldn't think of what he had done wrong. The hedgehog shook his head slightly, closing his eyes and opening them again in a way which seemed to show his ancient wisdom. Knuckles mouth flopped open as he stared at the beautiful hedgehog.

" No. No apologising. You have done me a favour Knuckles" he said in his calming voice, so wise. The red animals fear washed away at that point, looking deep into Shadows eyes that struck away his hesitance. The approval of his actions from Shadow was all he needed to feel peace. Shadows own face so calm, so still and so mysteriously elegant, Knuckles wasn't sure why he was nervous at all. Shadow was obviously perfect in everyday. Around him, he felt a little undeserving.

But a sudden knocking on the door echoing through the nearly empty apartment and, accompanied by a loud and annoying voice, wiped Shadows calm expression and replaced it with one of deep annoyance and brimming anger.

" Hey Shad! Shadow! You there?" The voice called, slamming his fist into the door over and over.

" Oh great, what's he want!" Shadow hissed to himself, starting to get up to answer the door and let the creature in that was still repeated knocking at the door, yelling for attention. Knuckles meanwhile, froze, and flushed with embarrassment, recognising the voice that belonged to the man who he had originally been looking for when leaving angel island. He touched his cheek and found them red hot, burning through his gloves, but, beyond that, he was far to gone with embarrassment to do anything else.

The person at the door, obviously far to impatient to wait another few seconds, smashed the door open with a speedy charge and gushed into the living room, skidding to a halt right in front of Knuckles and Shadow, who was still half straddled across Knuckles.

There was silence. Shadow froze, Knuckles froze, Sonic froze. No-one made a movement to undo any positions or explain why they were in them in the first place. His eyes wide, Sonic scanned the two, his eyes rolling other each of the two but his mouth stating no conclusion. Knuckles felt a sudden creation of anger rise up for the hedgehog for disturbing his private time with Shadow. But, instead of voicing this aloud to the hedgehog, he turned to Shadow and moaned

" Why the hell does Sonic know where you live?". Shadow shot him a short warning glance but said nothing, as if to scold Knuckles on blaming him for Sonic's untimely arrival. Meanwhile, Sonic, with his mouth still hanging open, raised one of his arms and scratched his head, still trying to think of what to say. His eyes travelled to Shadow's neck and he spotted to two marks, quite obviously passionate bites. Finally, he managed to say

" Have you two been fighting?". Knuckles jaw dropped.

" How the hell did you come up with that!" He accidentally let slip loudly, smothering his mouth with his two giant hands afterwards. Sonic raised an eyebrow, dropped his hand and spoke again, with an almost child like naivety

" Well, your all on-top of each other like you've been wrestling. Plus Shadows got a chunk bitten out of his neck. That must have been some fight. What did you do to piss each other off so badly?" Sonic asked, questions streaming from him so fast Knuckles couldn't remember them all. Luckily, Shadow seemed to have a better solution to Sonic's curiosity.

" How about you shut up and answer my question. Why are you here?" He said rudely, menace creeping up into his voice. Sonic didn't seem to catch it and simply scratched his head again, answering

" Jeez! Someone's a strop arse. I came coz Tails wanted the thing that works machines. Tube things ...um..."

" Batteries?" Knuckles suggested, agitated. He had calmed a little, now the black hedgehog and echidna had managed to separate themselves and got off of the floor.

" Yeah that's um" Sonic said and started fiddling round with his gloves. " Why were you two on the floor again?".

" Why did you come to me for them?" Shadow said coldly, trying to make it as obvious as he could without booting the hedgehog directly out that he was not welcome and ignoring his embarrassing question. Sonic jumped a little at his tone, then replied innocently

" Can't I visit my friends once in a while?. Shadow glared at him.

" We're not friends" he said coldly. Sonic looked a little put off and insulted and was about to ask what had changed. But he stopped. Something in his mind clicked, something that seemed so utterly unlikely that he just hadn't thought of before. But it explained the bites, why Knuckles was in Shadows apartment in the first place and why they were half straddled across each other on the floor. His conclusion exploded his mind into a frenzy of disbelief and shock, so much so he lost his ability to contain himself and so burst out in a shouting voice

" You two had sex!" He screamed, shattering the temporary silence and the two creatures cool. Both let loose a huge, red, flush across there cheeks. Shadow stared at the floor, avoiding Sonic's eyes at all cost, while Knuckles jumped in panic at the word ' sex' and promptly covered his face again. Sonic's eyes went wide as he watched the two's reactions and from them, realised that he was correct. That was all he needed, he simply couldn't hold it in any more. He knew it was wrong, but he really couldn't help it. He burst out laughing.

" You! And ...Knuckles! Your gay! Ahha ha ha ha!" He managed to say, before the giggling took over his speech capacity and he feel on the floor, laughing in irritating, repeating giggles, his eyes tight closed. The shock slowly wore away from Knuckles and his anger was able to replace it, bubbling up to it's highest possible levels, equal to when he had thrown Rouge against the wall, almost knocking her out.

He stormed over to Sonic, picked up the wriggling teenager but the scruff of his neck and bought his face close to his own. Sonic opened his eyes and found him directly staring into Knuckles blaring, violent, violet orbs. He gulped.

" You" Knuckles spat, in a dark, threatening voice " Will not speak a single word of this to anyone ever again. Not even us. If you do, I'm going to take you unused spuds down there and pin them to a wall! With you attached! Do you understand?" He finished. Sonic, not trusting his voice at that moment, nodded feebly. Knuckles sighed, sliding his eyes closed just a little more, then dropped Sonic on the floor like a bag of bones. Sonic giddily got to his feet and started walking to the door slowly and carefully, as if any sudden movement would cause the wild animal that was Knuckles to delve into further acts of violence against him. Knuckles didn't take his eyes off Sonic for once second as he inched towards the door, while the hedgehog tried to avoid Knuckles eyes at all costs. Finally, the blue annoyance opened the door and slowly left, closing the door as quietly and slowly as possibly it seemed.

When he was gone, Knuckles sighed and slouched his shoulders, turning to Shadow and looking at him with a look of worry. Shadow looked back at him with a calmer look, as if he knew and trusted Sonic. Unfortunately, Knuckles didn't share the same trust.

Suddenly, the door opened again and Sonic peeped his head through again. Knuckles eyes widened with rage and he snapped back round too face the hedgehog again. Sonic beamed at him and asked as if the previous situation had never happened.

" Do you have any batteries?" He asked innocently. Knuckles raged.

" FUCK OFF" he exploded. Sonic squeaked in shock and his head zipped out from the side of the door again, gone for good this time. Knuckles growled and flopped down on the sofa, leaning his head back in a seemingly tired manner. " You think he'll tell?" Knuckles asked hopefully. Shadow sat beside him and stared at the wall.

" I doubt it".

Meanwhile, after finally taking some batteries from Egg mans floating egg-walker, Sonic made his usual entrance to Tails house. That was, appearing in a blur of legs and blue flashes.

" Hey Tails, you'll never guess what. Knuckles and Shadow slept together"

Authors notes

Yes, i've been on holiday, as you know. I decided to do a more humerous chapter this time to have a break from all the heavy romance and tension. Keep those reviews coming and feel free to tell me you guesses on what you think might happan and any suggestions you might have!