"Ahhh!" Sonic screamed leaning up in his bed and panting, trying to catch his breath. The sun was just rising and he could make out some of the shapes in his dark room. He put his face into his hands, breathing rapidly after waking up from a nightmare.
Sonic reached to his bedside table and unplugged his phone. The time read 5:00 AM, still a good amount of time until Tails would be up. Sonic knew he couldn't go back to sleeping since it was only another hour until his alarm. He went through his messages and found Espio.
'Can you meet me for coffee at 8? I need to talk about Shadow.'
The message sent and Sonic locked his phone. He took a long, deep breath and got out of his bed. Putting on his red sneakers and white gloves, he started some music for his jog and headed outside.
"Just gotta run off this anxiety," Sonic said to himself. He was doing his early running routine, mostly staying on the town sidewalks since no one was up and out yet. He liked the peacefulness of a quiet town, just his music, the wind, and the sound of his feet hitting the pavement. Running was a form of meditation for Sonic. And after that nasty dream, he needed it today more than ever.
Sonic's run lasted through the sunrise. He got a text notification and saw Espio replied and would meet him at their cafe spot. Checking the time, Sonic did some cooldown stretches and jogged his way toward the cafe to meet his chameleon friend.
"Dreams can carry a lot of meaning. Dreams are the mind's manifestations of pure and unfiltered thought," Espio said as he drank some of his coffee. "I learned a lot about dreams during my ninja training. It is an important part of our culture. But why don't you ask Amy? She is a very spiritual person."
"I can't ask her!" Sonic shouted, with some people looking at him. He lowered his voice. "That would be embarrassing! Plus, I know she would tell Rouge and that could get back to Shadow!"
"Ah yes, Shadow, the man of your dreams," Espio chuckled.
Sonic blushed. "Oh, c'mon! Don't say it like that! And it was more of a nightmare."
"Oh, I know. The real nightmare is that you didn't get to finish what you were going to do with your oh-so-loyal-knight-in-shining-armor."
"Get your horn out of the gutter! What do you think it means? I am too shaky to come up with ideas."
"Hmm, alright, well, if things were going well in the dream until you tried to look in his eyes, that does have significance."
"His eyes?"
"Yes, it is said that eyes are the window to a person's soul. Since his were blacked out and nothing was there, it may mean that you lack true insight into Shadow's true self."
"I guess that checks out. He is still so wishy-washy with me: nice when we are alone, and a total ass when we are with others."
"Precisely. This could be your unconscious telling you it is dangerous to pursue him unless you find his true self first."
Sonic sighed and sipped his lemonade refresher. He rubbed his temple and groaned then gave Espio a serious look.
"You're telling me I have to go talk and potentially confess my interest in him to him?"
"I'm not telling you anything," Espio said. "That is what your dreams are telling you."
"Ughhh, fine. I'll go talk to him."
"Text me details after! I am so invested in this now. Sonic the goody-two-shoes and Shadow the mean-bean machine, who would have thought they would fall for each other?" Espio laughed to himself.
"Oh, you're relentless!" Sonic said back, growling at his cheeky friend.
Feeling like he had to meet his maker, Sonic messaged Rouge to see where Shadow was at today. Luckily, she replied and sent him the address of the shooting range he was at for the afternoon. Shadow with a gun seemed even less inviting, but Sonic couldn't wait much longer to figure this out. He couldn't run off this feeling forever. He needed some consistency with Shadow.
Sonic entered the range and borrowed some earmuffs from the front desk. He saw a few people practicing on targets in the field, a few bottles and other junk too. This outdoor field was popular since they got trash to break with bullets as well as target markers. Sonic could never see himself using guns, but he knew Shadow was a bit of a fanatic.
Sonic saw Shadow in the far lane, separated from the rest of the patrons. He sat on the bench behind him and waited for Shadow to finish a clip. Shadow was cold and focused when he shot. Sonic wondered why he even bothered training since he was the 'ultimate lifeform,' but maybe this was his way to let off steam? Shadow removed his clip and turned to his side to grab a reload. He did a double take behind him when he saw Sonic waving to him on the bench. He scoffed and yelled back at the blue blur while he started a new round.
"What the fuck do you want, faker?"
Sonic stood up and walked a bit behind Shadow so he could hear better. "I just came to talk to you about something!"
"I have no business with you. Are we done talking now?"
"No, because I do have business with you! How come you've been coming to my place and being so nice but are acting like a dick in public?"
Shadow finished his clip and sat down his gun aggressively. He turned back to Sonic and got in his face.
"What the fuck are you talking about, hedgehog? I would never come see you unless it was against my own will. You're delusional."
Sonic was taken aback by Shadow's sudden aggression. "L-look, Shadow, you don't have to be so stern about this. I just wanted to know if you coming around all the time was…"
Shadow cut him off. "Was what? We have nothing together! Go annoy one of your other stupid friends. I'm busy."
Shadow walked back to his booth and began shooting. Sonic watched in disbelief and sighed as he walked back out of the venue. He thought since they were alone that maybe Shadow would be honest with him. 'I guess he really just hates me,' Sonic thought. 'I was stupid for getting my hopes up anyway.' Sonic jogged back home, taking the long way so he could run off his feelings.
