Sonic purred comfortably in the warmth of his friends; his nose twitched from a yellow fuzzy tail tickling his face. He brushes the annoying appendage away. And snuggles deeper into Knuckles' arms, wishing he could stay in the sleepy warm embrace of his friends. But the hedgehog could feel his energy build up inside, legs vibrating with energy as if he had had several cups of coffee. With a silent groan, he caves in to his body's insistent pestering; he starts to move. Reluctantly Sonic opens his eyes and carefully crawls out of the cuddle pile; looking at his still sleeping friends, he notices one clump of spikes missing. Where's Shadow?

Crawling out of the fort, Sonic enters the dark living room and sees the light coming out of the kitchen. His ear twitched to the sound of clattering dishes. Pushing himself on his feet, he unsteadily walks into the kitchen. Sonic rubs his eyes in disbelief when he sees Shadow clad in Amy's apron, humming a tune and head slightly bopping to the beat while preparing breakfast.

A small smile twitches on his face turning into a full-on grin as he watches Shadow. It was quite a sight to see the dark and brooding hedgehog acting so contrary to his usual behavior. Perhaps the dark hog was turning a new leaf?

Crossing his arms, Sonic leaned onto the table, "Looks like someone's in a good mood this morning." Ruby eyes blink; Shadow turns to see who was up so early; he was surprised to see Sonic cheekily smiling at him.

"You're up early!"

"Eh, not really. I'm always awake around this time." he shrugs casually, "Funny, I only sleep for a few hours a night, yet I haven't seen you get up once." Sonic scratches the back of his head, "Yeah, I don't know why I just always have. It kinda sucks waking up so early. Nothing is open, and one else is up around this time, so I try and keep myself occupied until everyone wakes up." Shadow hums, nodding in agreement. "Well, perhaps we could keep each other company during those times. By the way, how did you sleep last night? I was afraid that nightmare you had would make you... more irritable than usual."

"Me? Grumpy? Pfff, as if! I could never be as sour as you!"

"I'm just more serious about life than you," Shadow smirks, returning to his cooking. "What was your nightmare about? You were pretty upset." He asked again. The blue hedgehog raised a brow, "I was? I don't remember."

"Yeah, you were kicking and whining in your sleep. It took a few minutes for me to get you to calm down."

"Aww, gee Shads, you didn't have to do that."

"It's ok... it's what Dada's do." Sonic's face lit up red, the smile fell from his face, and his ears dropped. He stammered, "Y-y-you heard that, didn't you?" Shadow briefly peeked over his shoulder, chuckling. "Kinda hard not to hear a baby screaming his first word when you're in limbo." Sonic covered his face, rambling in embarrassment, "Oh, Chaos! Shadow, I didn't mean it! You know how I am in that state, I-I-I didn't know what I was saying! I know your not my dad. It was just-"

Shadow held a hand up, silencing the blue hedgehog, "No need to apologize."

"You-you're not...mad?" Sonic blinked; a pink blush grows on Shadow's cheeks as he pulled the last few pieces of bacon off and turned the coffee maker on. He was crossing his arms, making sure to look down so his rival couldn't see his slight blush and leans on the counter. "No...I was actually kind of...flattered when you called me that. Besides, I've changed so many of your diapers. It's kinda hard not to feel like your Daddy." Sonic blushed back, "Really?"

"Yeah, no one's ever called me anything using that term of...affection, before, or well at least...not for a very long time."

"Shads wouldn't be an affectionate term?" Sonic asked sarcastically. The ebony hog huffed and shook his head, blush fading, "You know I don't like that nickname you so graciously gave to me." Sonic laughed, "Shads is a no go, but Dada or daddy is ok?" Shadow just smirked, shrugging, and pulled out the eggs from the fridge. Sonic laughed even harder, "Hahaha! You are so weird! But I think I can manage that." he winked and plucked a piece of bacon.

Shadow slapped his hand, "Ah, ah, ah. Not yet." Sonic released the slice of meat pouting and whined, "But Daddy, I'm hungry!"

"You can eat..." Shadow pinched his diaper, "after your change." he picked up the wet speedster and took him into the nursery.

Setting him down on the changing table. Sonic smiled and laid down, keeping perfectly still, allowing Shadow to change him. Twiddling his thumbs as his legs were lifted out of the wet diaper, "Hey, Daddy?" he asked, changing his tone to a more childish one."Yes, baby?" Shadow wiped clean the area and powdered, not blinking at the change of voice. "Um, do you think you and Mommy could find some diapers with pretty pictures on them? Like one's with dinosaurs or chili dogs?" Shadow blinked, ear twitching confused as to who Sonic was referring to. "You mean Amy and me?"

"Yeah, you and Mommy!" Shadow poked Sonic's blue tail into the hole and tugged on the front, making sure it was snug before taping the sides, "I think we can manage that." he smiles. Sonic sits up and hugs Shadow with his tail, wagging, "Thank you, Daddy!" Shadow blushes and hugs him back, a broad smile creeping on his face, tail wagging slightly also. "You're welcome, baby." he kisses him on the forehead, "Now let's go have breakfast." Shadow picks up the freshly diapered hog clapping his hands, ready to fill his belly.

As Shadow and Sonic eat their breakfast, the rest of the gang slowly wakes up and joins them. Once everyone is awake, Sonic recounts his time with Eggman the previous day (excluding a few embarrassing parts) and explains how the doctor's brilliant plan this time was to adopt the blue hedgehog.

"Are you serious?! Eggman was gonna adopt you?" Tails exclaims, "That's what he said. He even had this whole process set up so that I would 'bond with him.' It was totally weird."

"I wonder what Eggman had in mind with his bonding?" Amy mused, "I don't know? I couldn't figure it out." Sonic shrugs, Tails recalls something relating to what his brother experienced, "I've read that infants bond by having frequent contact and time with their caregivers. Did you spend a lot of time with Eggman?" he asks, taking a bite of bacon. "Uh, yeah. I was with him almost constantly. He wouldn't even let Mom-bot hold me."

Amy covered her mouth to try and keep in her snickering. Sonic made a face at her, "What?" he asked. "It's just that...Hahaha, ah!" she laughed, not able to keep it in any longer. Everyone stared at her, not catching what was so funny to the pink hedgehog, "It's just trying to image Eggman taking care of a baby Sonic. It's so f-f-phffff, hahaha!"

"Aww, man! Can you imagine Egghead cuddling and kissing you?! Hahaha!" Tails laughed, Sonic's face turned tomato red, "He didn't do that!"

"No, but I bet he did change your diaper. Oh, I would have loved to seen the look on his face!" Shadow bent down, hiding his quivering smile, but his shaking shoulders gave away that he was laughing now too. Sonic growled, embarrassed, but he had to admit it was a funny image to configure up. "GUUUUUYYYYYS!"