A/N: Hey everyone. It's like midnight where I am, so I thought 'Hey, I'm up, I'm tired, I have a finished, edited, chapter, that probably has some errors I didn't notice during proof reading and will annoy me later, how about I just post it?' So here I am, it's techinically Valentine's Day as of now, so let's do this.
This one takes place sometime after chapter 18, on Valentine's Day, obviously. Hope you enjoy.
Sonic was pacing up and down his shack, when he noticed that his friends had arrived. "Thanks for coming, gang." He said gratefully as all three of them entered. Tails, Knuckles and Sticks walked over to the table on the other side of the room and sat down, while Sonic continued to pace. "Where's Amy?" He asked.
Tails shrugged "No idea." He responded.
"She said she'd be here..." Sonic muttered "Oh well, we'll just have to start without her." He paused from pacing and stopped in the centre of the room "We have a day to figure out exactly what I'm going to get Shadow for Valentine's Day."
"Wait, why are we helping you with your date, again?" Knuckles asked, scratching his head in confusion.
"Because you don't have a date. Plus I'm having trouble on my own, so I need your help." Sonic explained.
"I have a date." Tails spoke up.
"Oh, that's right." Sonic turned towards the two-tailed fox "It's with Zooey, isn't it?"
Tails nodded in conformation "Yeah."
"What are you doing for Zooey?" He asked. Perhaps he could use whatever Tails was planning to his own advantage. He never thought he'd be learning from his younger brother figure.
"I'm taking her for a meal at Meh Burger. Then I'm going to take her for a ride in my plane. And at the end of the day, we're going to the village dance." He told him.
"Huh. Maybe I could take Shadow to the dance. But I can't take him to Meh Burger, he hates that place. And I don't have a plane."
Tails chuckled "Well, why don't you cook him a meal instead?" He suggested.
"Good idea, Tails." Sonic replied enthusiastically. He then glanced around the shack and frowned "I don't have a kitchen."
"You could use my kitchen." Tails offered "I won't be at home tomorrow since I'll be busy with Zooey."
"Thanks Tails, that makes my job a lot easier."
"Why does one day turn people into lovesick zombies? Am I going to turn into one too? I can't let that happen! I have to get back to my burrow and find my tin foil hats before it's too late!" Sticks exclaimed.
Sonic stared at her blankly. "Uhhh, yeah, sure, go ahead." He said, gesturing at the doorway with his thumb.
Sticks leapt out of her chair and rushed outside, screaming all the while, and leaving only Tails and Knuckles at the table. "So, I'll make him a romantic meal and then take him to the village dance." Sonic recapped "But what should I get him as a gift?" He questioned.
"Can't you just get him something from the village?" Knuckles asked.
"I don't want to get him some cheap heart shaped chocolate box or flowers, I want to get him something special." Sonic explained.
"It doesn't have to be Valentine's Day themed, you could get him something that he might like or make him something." Tails spoke up.
"A homemade present would be the prefect thing to give to Shadow." Sonic responded. "Will you guys help me make it?"
"Sure. I can draw up plans, and Knuckles-" Tails paused, trying to think of a job Knuckles could do. "-Knuckles is pretty good at craftsmanship, so if you want to make something out of wood, he could chip in too."
"Great! I'll start coming up with some ideas for Shadow's present, but first, I'm going to call Amy, see where she is, since we could really use her help." Sonic stated, before leaving the shack to contact Amy on his watch-communicator.
Amy answered only mere moments later "Hi, Sonic." She greeted.
"Hey, Amy. Are you on your way over here? I need your help with Shadow's present."
"Sorry, Sonic, I'm a little busy." She replied "I don't think I'll be able to make it."
"That's okay. Maybe you could come over later."
There was the sound of a door opening and closing on Amy's end before a voice called out "Have we got everything we need, Amy?"
Sonic furrowed his brow "Is that Shadow?" He questioned. "What's he doing there?"
"He's um..." Amy paused for a few seconds. "...Helping me with some ancient artefacts that I found."
"Oh, okay." He didn't really by that accuse but he'd go along with it. "Do you think I could talk to him?"
"Sure. I'll put him on." She replied. There was a moment of silence as Amy presumably handed over her communicator to Shadow. "It's Sonic." She muttered quietly.
"Hello Sonic." Shadow greeted in his usual tone.
"Do you know what tomorrow is?" Sonic asked
"...Sunday?" Shadow responded.
"No..." Sonic replied "A special day." He told him "A special day for couples." He then hinted.
There was a moment of radio silence. "You've lost me."
"It's Valentine's Day!" Sonic exclaimed.
"Oh, that." Shadow responded glumly. "I don't really see the appeal. Why dedicate one day to show affection towards your partner when you should do it on a daily basis? It's more or less a way for the government to make money off of lovesick individuals."
"You started to sound like Sticks for a minute there." He commented.
"It's just what I think."
"Well, I have some stuff planned for tomorrow. Would you care to join me?" Sonic asked.
Shadow chuckled lightly "Despite the fact that I disagree with the whole thing... I'd be more than happy to join you on a date, Sonic."
"Great!" Sonic exclaimed with joy "You won't regret it."
"So when do you want to meet up tomorrow?" He asked.
"Come over to my shack at around 5 o'clock." Sonic replied "I'll be waiting."
"See you then." Shadow said his farewells and turned off Amy's communicator. Sonic proceeded to turn off his own and lowered his arm. He then walked back into the shack and rejoined Tails and Knuckles.
"Alright, gang, let's get to work!"
Sonic was tired. He had been preparing for his and Shadow's date all of yesterday and late into the night. But there was no rest for him, not yet anyway.
He went to Tails' house several hours before Shadow was due to arrive, in order to get everything prepared. He had a bag of fresh food with him, which he would make a meal out of. Tails was still home when he got there, though he was getting ready for his date with Zooey.
"Thanks again for this, Tails." He said gratefully as he began to set up.
"No problem." Tails replied. "What are you cooking?" He then asked, looking over Sonic's shoulder.
"Grilled pheasant. Got the idea off Amy."
"Well... Good luck with that. Just don't let Knuckles near it, unless you want to entertain Shadow with a puppet show."
Sonic chuckled "Believe me, I don't."
The front door opened and Zooey entered the house. She was adoring the same type of dress, red and woven with sequins, and her hair was tied up in a bun, whilst clutching a purse. "Hey Tails." She greeted with a smile. Tails was stunned into silence by the way she was dressed. Zooey then looked over at Sonic "Oh, hey Sonic. What are you doing here?" She asked.
Sonic opened his mouth but Tails interrupted "He's making a romantic meal for his date, since he doesn't have his own kitchen." He explained for him.
"Oh, well I hope it goes okay." She addressed Sonic.
"Thanks Zooey. I hope your date goes well too."
She gave him her usual, bright smile in response. Sonic patted Tails on the back, though it was more of a slap, and winded him slightly. "Go get her, tiger." He whispered. Tails' cheeks glowed bright red as he approached Zooey.
"You... Uh... You look great." He complimented her, scratching the back of his head nervously.
"Thanks. You look nice too."
Tails offered her his arm "Shall we be going?" He asked. Zooey nodded and proceeded to link arms with him. "See you later, Sonic."
"Have fun you two."
Tails smiled at him as he and Zooey left. Sonic clutched his chest and whipped a single tear from his eye. At that very moment he felt like a proud father, which was kind of odd when he really thought about it. He decided the best thing to do was just get back to preparing his and Shadow's meal.
During the preparation, he went outside to set up the table, as he thought it would be better to eat outside and have a spectacular view of the sunset, for the sake of romance. He covered the table with a white cloth and placed a vase full of flowers in the centre. He then added the trivial things, such as knives, forks and napkins. To finish it off, he placed some scented candles on the table, though he doubted he'd lite them. But what the heck, they made it look more romantic.
After the table was set and the pheasant was cooking, Sonic had Tails' house all to himself. It was a nice change of pace from his shack, plus he had cable. In order to pass the time, he watched the Comedy Chimp Show. He was halfway through the Valentine's Day special, with his sides hurting from laughter, that he remembered he was going to meet Shadow at his shack... And that his present was still there.
Sonic jumped out of his seat, dropping the TV remote in the process, and sped over to the shack. He was there within seconds. Shadow hadn't arrived yet, thankfully, and his present was exactly where he had left it; on the table.
He picked it up, planning on taking it back to Tails' house, when he heard footsteps on the porch. He placed the present back down and turned around to see Shadow in the entrance. He looked exactly the same as he usually did, he certainly wasn't done up like Zooey, though Sonic hadn't expected him to. It was Shadow after all.
"Didn't keep you waiting, did I?" He asked.
"No, not at all." Sonic replied, walking up to him.
"I got you this." Shadow stated, lifting his hand, and within his grasp was a chilli dog. The sight of Sonic's favourite food made his stomach gurgle. It also reminded him that he hadn't eaten all day. Even still, he didn't want to spoil his meal... But just one chilli dog couldn't hurt, right? And if this was Shadow's Valentine's Day present to him, it would be rude not to eat it.
Sonic let his stomach take control. He took the chilli dog from Shadow and began to scoff it "You're the best." He said through a mouthful of chilli dog.
Shadow smirked "I know."
Sonic swallowed hard "Don't get too cocky." He warned playfully. "Come on, let me take you to where we'll be eating."
"Lead the way."
Sonic glanced over at Shadow's present before leading his partner over to Tails' house. He'd come back for it later. For now, he just wanted to focus on Shadow and give him the perfect date. If everything went to plan, of course. Which it would. Probably.
Shadow sat opposite Sonic, drinking soda out of a glass and waiting for their meal to finish cooking. Sonic had ultimately decided that he would lite the scented candles, and they really helped to give off a romantic vibe.
"So um..." Sonic began, trying to strike up a conversation. "Did you and Amy finish off whatever you were doing yesterday?" He asked.
Shadow simply nodded in response.
"You don't normally do that sort of stuff, though." Sonic commented.
"She needed some help and you and the others were all busy, so I was happy to oblige. What were you doing yesterday?"
"We were having a group meeting." He lied. It was the best accuse he could come up with at that moment.
"A group meeting that took all day?" Shadow questioned, obviously suspicious.
Sonic laughed nervously "We had a lot to talk about" he said, quickly sipping his drink. This wasn't going anywhere so he decided to change the subject. "What have you been up to lately?" He asked.
"You know what I've been doing. I've been around you most of the time." Shadow replied with a somewhat smart remark.
"I mean, when we're not together, what have you been doing then?"
"Just patrolling, staying on guard. I know Eggman isn't much of a huge threat but I have to remain vigilant." He explained. "What about you?"
"Oh the usual, hanging out with the gang, doing crazy, fun stuff." Sonic told him. "Speaking of the gang, how are you finding it? Y'know, being apart of Team Sonic?"
"Good. Honestly, you're friends aren't as bad as I thought they were. They're still annoying, but I'm starting to get used to it, and maybe with a bit more time, I'll overcome that." Shadow paused for a moment and put his glass down on the table "I thought I'd miss being on my own, but it's gotten to the point that I can't really imagine going back to how I was. Funny how things work out, huh?"
"I'm glad that you've settled in. I really appreciate that you gave them a chance."
"Well, I did do it for you." He commented.
"And like I said, I appreciate that. With you apart of the gang, I finally get to spend more time with you. I know we don't always get to have some alone time when the others are around, and I hope you don't mind that."
"I don't." Shadow responded simply.
"I'm very happy to hear that." Sonic replied, smiling warmly. "But I'll always make time for you, you know that right?"
Shadow nodded "Of course."
"Great."
Shadow glanced over at Tails' house "Sonic, you may want to check on the food - I think something might be burning." He told him, expressing some concern.
"Oh no!" Sonic exclaimed, jumping out of his chair and darting inside the house. He remerged moments later carrying a blackened pheasant. "Um, maybe we could pick out the burnt bits?"
"We'd have an empty plate." Shadow responded.
Sonic sighed, admitting defeat "I'll go make us some sandwiches."
He returned 15 minutes later, carrying a handful of plates. "I made us turkey sandwiches, and some soup and salad to go with it."
He placed the food on the table and proceeded to sit down. "Tails' kitchen is gonna need one heck of a clean up when we're done." Sonic commented "But let's just dig in." He said, picking up his sandwich.
"Aren't you going to make a toast?" Shadow asked.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Sonic replied, picking up his glass "To us." He declared, lifting it up in the air.
"Really?" Shadow questioned, looking unimpressed.
"Can you come up with anything better?" Sonic challenged him.
Shadow sat quietly for a moment, lost in thought, and then picked up his glass "To us"
Didn't think so. Sonic thought to himself, smirking at him. "Happy Valentine's Day." He added as he began to eat.
"Sorry about over cooking our meal." Sonic apologised as they were finishing off their replacement meal "I hope it didn't ruin our date."
"Sonic, you didn't ruin anything. You put so much effort into making tonight prefect. I mean, look at this table, with the cloth, and flowers and candles, not to mention this nice view of the sunset. Burning the food was just one mistake, and you made up for it." Shadow told him. "I enjoyed it."
"That's the biggest compliment you could make." Sonic responded.
"I know, but it's true."
Sonic smiled "We should do this more often."
"Agreed. I don't want this to be a yearly thing. Though I think I should cook next time."
"I think so too." He agreed. "We still have some time before the village dance, do you wanna open your present?" Sonic asked, looking up from his watch.
"You got me a present?" Shadow questioned, though he didn't seem surprised.
"Yeah! Lemme just go get it." Sonic said, before whizzing off. He was back in a second due to his well known speed. "Here you go." He placed the present on the table in front of Shadow "Happy Valentine's Day."
Shadow hesitated before taking off the wrapping paper to reveal a CD sealed within a case, with a CD player to go along with it. "Me, Tails and Knuckles decided to get the band back together. We thought about maybe making you something out of wood at first, but you know what my craftsmanship is like, so we just stuck to singing. We spent all of yesterday writing and recording songs just for you. There's also some love messages on there from me, but I'll let you listen to them later. I also got you the CD player so you can listen to them whenever and wherever you want." He explained.
"Sonic, you really didn't have to go to all this trouble, I would've been happy with a box of chocolate." Shadow told him.
"But I wanted to." Sonic replied softly.
Shadow smiled "Thank you, Sonic. This is a great gift." He said gratefully.
"You're welcome." Sonic sat back down. "That chilli dog you gave me earlier, I liked it, it was a nice present."
Shadow looked up at him after examining the CD. "That wasn't your present."
"It wasn't?" Sonic questioned in surprised.
Shadow shook his head.
"But you didn't know it was Valentine's Day today." He commented.
Shadow smirked "I may have fibbed. You see, as much as I dislike Valentine's Day, I wasn't going to skip getting you a present. I knew you would go all out, so I decided to plan what I was going to get you a week in advance. Amy then helped me make it." He explained.
"So that's why you were over there yesterday! It makes so much sense now."
Shadow got out of his seat "I want you close your eyes and only open them when I tell you to." He told him, walking over and standing behind Sonic "No peaking." He warned.
"Okay, whatever you say." Sonic shut his eyes and waited. He felt Shadow gently untie the knot of his neckerchief. He then slipped it off, only to immediately replace it with something else. He knew it couldn't be his neckerchief, as it felt different. Maybe it was made of another type of material.
"You can open your eyes now." Shadow told him after he tied up whatever it was that was around Sonic's neck. Sonic opened his eyelids and immediately glanced down at his neck, to see a new neckerchief with a blue, black and red colour scheme. The colour of both his and Shadow's fur.
"Shadow, I- I love it. Thank you so much." He said, filed with gratitude. "I'm going to wear it from now on"
Sonic glanced down at his watch once again "The village dance will be starting soon. We should probably head over." He stated, rising to his feet.
"Not yet." Shadow stopped him, placing his hand on Sonic's chest to hold him still. "Let's have a race, like old times. That's something you'd much rather do, right?"
"I do prefer running over dancing, so yeah, I'd love to race you. But where do you want us to race to?"
"You know that lonely tree on the far side of town?" Shadow asked.
"The one on the hill?" Sonic questioned.
"Yeah. I'll race you there. And the winner gets to host the next date we go on."
Sonic grinned "You're on."
"On three." Shadow stated. They both got ready to go. "One... Two... Three!" He exclaimed. The two sped off, neck and neck as they ran passed Sonic's shack, along the beach, and through the town. Sonic managed to get ahead just by the smallest of margins, and reached the tree seconds before Shadow.
"Oh yeah, score one to me!" Sonic exclaimed triumphantly, jumping up and down and punching the air in celebration.
"Well done." Shadow congratulated him.
"Was there ever any doubt? I mean, I've always been faster than you. I'm untouchable, unbeatable, I'm-" Sonic's boasting was cut off when Shadow tackled him and they both ended up rolling down the hill, before landing in a heap at the bottom. Sonic was lying on his back, slightly winded, while Shadow lay on top of him.
"Why did you do that?" He groaned.
"I wanted to prove how untouchable you are." Shadow replied smugly. "Looks like I'll be organising our next date."
"What? But I won the race!" Sonic cried.
"But I pinned you."
"That was never apart of the deal." Sonic responded.
"Don't you think we should take it in turns?" Shadow asked.
"Yeah... After I host the next one, obviously."
"Fine. Have it your way." Shadow replied. "Just promise me that you won't try to impress me. It's getting a bit old at this point. I'd be happy if we did something like this and just spent time together."
"Alright. I worry, that's all. I worry that I'm not good enough for you."
"Oh Sonic." Shadow sighed "Until I tell you I hate your guts and I never want to see you again, you'll always be good enough for me."
"You actually did say that to me at one point." Sonic pointed out.
"I did? Well, if I ever say it again, then."
Sonic chuckled "Okay. I promise."
The two lay there for a moment in complete silence. They could hear the sounds of crickets humming, and a gentle breeze causing the grass around them to sway. The most distinct sound was the music coming from the village, most likely to accompany the dance.
"Do you think they'll miss us?" Shadow questioned, referring to the others, and if they would notice their absence.
"I don't think so." Sonic replied, though he was unsure as to why Shadow would ask.
Shadow slowly moved his hand along Sonic's legs and up his body, before finally reaching behind his back "Then maybe we could stay here for a little while longer. Have some time alone. Enjoy each other's... Company."
Shadow ran his fingers through Sonic's back quills. Sonic shivered with delight and buried his face in Shadow's chest fur momentarily. He then rolled his head back and stared up at Shadow's eyes, and at the intensity of his gaze. Sonic smiled. "I'd like that very much."
...
...
I'm not insinuating anything. What they did after the ending is completely up to interpretation. I can not confirm nor deny that they did some... Business. You can make up your own mind and let me know what you think, if you like. But don't let it overshadow the whole chapter.
This one took a week to write, and it's not even that long. It underwent a rewrite in the early stages and that was a pretty big set back (if anyone would like to see the original-half finished chapter, then let me know, and I might release it as a bonus chapter). I knew I'd be able to finish it in time. Though I had hoped on writing another chapter this week, but no matter. I have four more chapters planned in advance, just need to get around to doing them. You can expect that Sonic Boom chapter in the coming weeks, though this one follows the timeline of chapters 1 and 4, where Sonic and Shadow are trying to keep their relationship a secret from everyone. Though this type of chapter where everyone is aware of their relationship will return sooner than you think.
So, I hope you all have a good Valentine's Day. I'm spending it with my best friend so at least I'm not completely alone. I hope if you have a partner they treat you well on this special day. And if not, then I hope this chapter is sort of a gift to you all. I probably won't write anymore specials unless I think I can make a good short out of a certain holiday.
Happy Valentine's Day and I'll see you whenever I see you.