Sonic awoke after a good nights rest. He felt the light of the morning sun warming his back as he lay in bed, facing the blue painted wall. Another day, another Olympic event to tackle. But first, he wanted to cuddle Shadow. So, with his eyes still closed, he rolled over and reached out his arms, ready to snuggle up to his partner. His fingers touched an empty space where Shadow should've been.

Sonic opened his eyes and sat up, glancing around the room that he and Shadow were sharing over the course of the Winter Olympics. Shadow was at the other side of the room, knelt down and putting some sport equipment into a bag, though Sonic didn't really see what it was.

The black and red hedgehog glanced over his shoulder, noticing that Sonic was awake. He quickly zipped up his bag and stood up, walking over to the edge of the bed. "Morning sleepy head." Shadow greeted, though his tone was the same as ever.

Sonic rubbed his eyes sleepily "Morning." He replied.

Shadow knelt down and picked up a tray, which had a plate with eggs and bacon on it. "I got you breakfast." He stated simply, walking over and placing the tray on Sonic's lap.

Sonic grinned and began to tuck into his morning meal "Mm. Still warm. Thanks Shadow." He said gratefully.

"It was nothing. Still, just don't eat it so fast, there's no rush. We still have half an hour before training."

"Oh, yeah, training. I almost forgot." Sonic murmured, still eating his breakfast. "What is tomorrow's event?" He asked.

"Skating." Shadow replied simply.

"You mean like speed skating? Because I'm great at that. I won a gold medal in the last Olympics and set a new world record."

Shadow shook his head "No Sonic. Figure skating." He explained "With a partner." he then quickly added.

Sonic almost choked on a bit of egg "What?!"

Mario and Peach were practicing out on the ice rink while Shadow and Sonic waited on the sidelines. Shadow was standing ready and waiting, though Sonic was still sitting on the bench, struggling to get his ice skates on.

"You don't understand, Shadow, I'm terrible at figure skating." Sonic told him. "Stupid ice skates!" He exclaimed in frustration.

Shadow got down on one knee "Here, let me help you." He offered, taking hold of Sonic's skates and putting them on for him.

Sonic sighed "Thanks, Shadow. At least we'll be working together."

"Yeah, about that..." he trailed off.

"What is it?" The blue hedgehog questioned.

"I'm not going to be your partner. It's teams of males and females. Can't be both of one or the other." he explained.

"But I was looking forward to working with you. We've always been competing against each other, it would've been nice to win something as a team for once." Sonic replied sadly.

"I don't make the rules, Sonic. Sorry." Shadow apologised. "There we go." he muttered, finishing putting on Sonic's skates and rising to his feet.

Sonic also got up, but almost lost his balance on the ice skates, only to quickly recover "Wait, if I'm not working with you, then who is?" He questioned.

"Oh Sonic!" He heard a voice exclaim.

Sonic looked at Shadow with an expression of pure horror "Oh no." Was the only thing he managed to say. The next thing he knew, he was being suffocated by Amy, who considered what she was doing to be a 'hug'.

"I'm so excited to be your partner! It's like fate that we were put together." Amy said cheerfully.

"Yeah, great..." Sonic muttered, feeling rather breathless. He then turned to Shadow "Help me out here" he pleaded.

"You're on your own." Shadow replied, a smug look on his face. He then walked away and approached Blaze, who Sonic assumed was his partner.

Amy finally released Sonic from her 'hug'. However, his freedom didn't last long. She immediately grabbed hold of his hand and practically dragged him over to the ice rink "Come on, Sonic, let's go practice!" She cried enthusiastically.

"Sure thing, Amy." Sonic sighed, admitting defeat. There was no way out of working with Amy, so he just had to accept it. Who knows, maybe she wouldn't be so bad to work with. She had come second place for figure skating in the last Winter Olympics. Maybe her skills could rub off on him. Even still, he just wasn't sure if he could do this. He had never figured skated before, and the event was tomorrow. How could he be possibly ready in time? All he could really do was make the time he had now count.

Sadly, that was not the case. Sonic just couldn't master the routine. His steps were all wrong and he couldn't do the death spiral. And when it came to lifting, he just kept dropping Amy. She was patient at first, but after the fourth or fifth time of being dropped, she began to get frustrated. Though she did try her very best to not show it.

"Well, you've gotten better!" Amy commented at the end of the training session. She was trying to stay positive. "Just try your best, I'm sure we'll win tomorrow."

"Yeah, sure." Sonic replied glumly. He didn't share the same enthusiasm she had.

"I'm off to get some rest so I'll be awake and refreshed for the event." Amy stated. "See you tomorrow!"

Amy skated to the edge of the rink and got off. Sonic watched her go, before turning to look over at Blaze and Shadow, who were talking to one another. As he too made his way off the ice, he managed to listen in on a bit of their conversation.

"I never knew you were so good at figure skating, Shadow." Blaze told him.

"I still have some secrets." Shadow replied.

Sonic sighed, walking passed Shadow quickly in order to avoid getting into a conversation. Tomorrow was going to be a disaster.

Sonic buckled up his ice skates and went back onto the ice. It was quiet, with not a single person around. If he was going to stand a chance tomorrow, he had to practice the routine until he got it right. Maybe he'd be able to master it better on his own without having to worry about Amy.

He practiced his steps. Then he had to jump and spin. That went about as well as he expected, since as soon as he landed he lost his balance. He would've fallen if he hadn't managed to grab the edge of the rink.

"Sonic?" He heard a voice call out to him.

He looked over his shoulder to see Shadow at the other side of the rink. How long had he been standing there? Sonic skated over to him. "What are you doing here?" Sonic asked.

"I could ask you the same question." Shadow responded.

"I just wanted to get this routine right before tomorrow. I thought I might be able to learn it on my own... But it's not going as I'd hoped." He admitted.

Shadow looked down at the ground for a brief moment, and then looked back at Sonic "Wait there, I'll be right back." He stated, giving Sonic's hand a gentle pat before walking off.

Sonic skated to the centre of the rink and waited for Shadow to return. He wasn't gone very long, and came back wearing ice skates.

"What are you doing?" He questioned.

"I'm going to help you practice. I'll fill in for Amy." Shadow told him.

"But, we're competing against each other, why would you help me?"

"I'm not going to let us being on opposite teams stop me from helping you. Now let's get practicing." Shadow held out his hand. Sonic hesitated for a moment before taking his hand and began to skate with him.

He started off well, but then came the lift. "I'm not sure if I can do this. What if I drop you?"

"You won't. And even if you do, we'll just keep trying until you get it right."

Sonic placed his hand on Shadow's chest and lifted him up in the air. He lost his balance and almost dropped him as soon as they began the lift. "Sorry!" Sonic cried out.

"It's fine." Shadow replied. "Again."

Sonic tried the lift once more and failed.

"Again."

He tried for the third time. He failed.

"Again."

He tried for the fourth time and failed once more.

"I can't do it!" Sonic exclaimed in frustration. He let go of Shadow's hand and skated to the edge of the rink. He sat down on the ice, feeling the chill rush through his body. He tried to ignore it and pulled his legs up to his chest.

Shadow skated over to him and knelt down beside him. "You can't give up, Sonic. You have to keep trying." Shadow told him.

"But no matter how hard I try I don't get any better. I'll end up letting Amy down. Maybe I should just drop out... But even if I did I would still disappoint her. Either way I'll lose... Maybe it's not too late for her to get a new partner, she'd be better off without me."

"You know that's not true. You can do this, you just lack the confidence. But I know you can do this, I believe in you, you just need to believe in yourself. You've always been there to give me advice when I needed it, and our friends too, you've never stopped believing in us. Now it's time for you to take your own advice, and just keep trying." Shadow offered Sonic his hand "So do you want to give it another go?"

Sonic lifted his hand, glancing up at Shadow, who gave him a reassuring nod. Sonic glanced at Shadow's hand and then finally took it.

It was the day of the event and Sonic and Amy were about to go onto the ice. Shadow and Blaze had been on just before them, and their performance was remarkably good. Amy was nervous, but was also trying to keep her cool "It'll be fine... It'll be fine..." She muttered to herself. She then looked at Sonic "We can do it!"

Sonic felt someone take his hand. He looked around to see Shadow standing behind him. The black and red hedgehog gave him a small smile "You can do this." he encouraged him. He then leaned in and kiss Sonic on the cheek "For luck."

"Oh, Sonic, it's us! We're on next!" Amy exclaimed.

"Here goes nothing..." Sonic muttered, following Amy onto the ice. It was now or never. Before they started, Sonic noticed Shadow waiting on the sidelines with Blaze. He gave him a nod, and Sonic returned it. He could do this, he knew he could.

And he did. He didn't mess up, not once. All that practicing finally paid off in the end. Amy hugged him "We did it, Sonic, we won!"

"We did?" Sonic stammered, surprised by how well he did.

"The award ceremony will be starting soon, we have to get ready."

Sonic glanced over at Shadow "I'll be there in a second." He replied. He picked up one of the flower bouquets that had been thrown onto the ice after the performance and skated over to Shadow. "These are for you." he said, holding the bouquet out to him.

"Thanks," Shadow said gratefully, taking the bouquet "And congratulations on winning" he added. "Not bad, for a beginner."

Sonic chuckled "I couldn't have done it without you."

Sonic and Shadow arrived back at their room after the award ceremony, both adoring their medals. Sonic's being gold and Shadow's being silver. Shadow removed his shoes and put on some slippers, while Sonic just kicked off his shoes.

"You know..." Sonic began, slowly removing his medal. "You deserve this medal as much as I do."

"You don't give yourself enough credit. I didn't do anything, it was all you." Shadow responded supportively.

Sonic smiled. He walked up to Shadow and put the medal around his neck "I award you this medal for being the best partner in the world."

Shadow couldn't help but laugh, breaking his usual serious tone "That was so cheesy." He commented.

"I know." Sonic replied, leaning in and kissing Shadow on the lips. He may have won the competition, but he still owed Shadow a lot. It just wouldn't have been possible without his love and support.

A/N: Isn't it great how Shadow can just make breakfast out of thin air?

Honestly, I gave up halfway through this one. I was even considering jus scrapping it and not posting it at all. From my perspective it seems pretty... Uh... Shitty. Pardon my language. I don't know why it ended up like it is, and it pains me to see this idea so poorly done. But maybe you thought it was, good, I don't know. I'll let you form your own opinion on that. Just let me know.

The worst part of it is that I was really looking forward to writing this one...

Still, you don't want to read how I don't like my own writing (sometimes, not all the time). I don't know what idea I'll be writing next so here's a few from my list, and you could perhaps pick one and whichever idea has the most votes wins. I don't know how long I'll wait before I stop counting votes.

(Please don't write just the vote in the review, I really need to know if this chapter really is as bad as I think it is. I don't mind your honesty at all)

So here's some to pick from:

Body swap (not between Shadow and Sonic themselves)

Sonic is injured and Shadow has to nurse him back to health

Sonic and Lancelot

That's it. All three will be written at some stage, just which one do you want to see first.

One last thing, about the chapter itself, I don't want to make excuses about why it might not be up to standards (I don't know how you feel about it until I see for myself in the near future) but things are a little rough for me outside of writing at the moment and it's all beginning to pile up and really starting to get to me. I'll be fine.

But it's still not an excuse and I'm sorry if I let you down. I'll do better next time.