"GUYS!" He shouts. Everyone turns to him. "Sonic hasn't resurfaced." Knuckles face visibly pales. "Rouge, get off me."

"What, why?"

"SONIC CAN'T SWIM!" Knuckles starts trying to get Rouge off of him, but Shadow has already dived to find Sonic. As Shadow saw him, Sonic let out his final air bubbles. Shadow grabbed Sonic and swam back to the surface. He heaved Sonic onto the side of pool and quickly pulled himself up. Shadow checked for a heartbeat. He couldn't hear one, and Sonic wasn't breathing. Shadow began performing CPR. One. Two. Three. Four. He did thirty palpitations and then two rescue breaths. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. After thirty more palpitations, Shadow was growing concerned. He performed two rescue breaths again. He began performing thirty more palpitations. "Faker, I swear that if you die, I will never let you live it down." Two rescue breaths. Shadow felt like crying. He began performing palpitations again. "Damn it Sonic, I will let you call me whatever you want if you just BREATHE!" This sparked something in Sonic because he started coughing up water. Shadow sighed in relief and turned Sonic onto his side so he wouldn't swallow anymore water.

"Why didn't anyone say he couldn't swim?" Blaze asked. "Because he's embarrassed by it." Knuckles said. "Someone should go get James." Silver says. "On it." Rouge says. She leaves the room. Sonic sits up. "You need to keep laying on your side." Shadow tells him. "What happened?" Sonic asks, ignoring Shadow. "So, help me Sonic, lay back down on your side." Shadow tells him. "Not until you tell me what happened."

"You almost died. You stopped breathing and your heart stopped beating." Shadow tells him. Sonic lays back down on his side like he was told. "Sorry." He says quietly. "You don't need to be sorry." Knuckles tells him. "It's our fault. We shouldn't have pushed you so hard. Had it been Rouge or Blaze and they hit their head it would have been just as bad."

Rouge comes running back in with James. "You can't swim?" James asks Sonic. "No."

"And you didn't think you should bring this up?"

"Thought I could handle it." James facepalms. "Has he coughed up the water?" James asks. "I think so, can't be sure if he got all of it." Shadow tells him. "Let's get you to the nurses office." James says and helps Sonic stand up. "I thought no one was here?" Sonic asks. "There isn't, but I could better help you there." Sonic was still pretty discombobulated, so Shadow slung his other arm over his own shoulder and helped James get Sonic to the office. The rest of the group followed, concerned about their friend.

James started running around the nurse's office looking for different things. "You really scared us." Silver tells Sonic. "My bad."

"I think you scared Shadow the most." Rouge teases. "I wasn't scared." Sonic got kind of sad for a moment. "I knew he'd be fine." He finishes. "It didn't sound like it." Rouge teases. "I'm inclined to agree. Your tone and phrases to the unconscious Sonic made it seem like you were very concerned."

"I wasn't. He doesn't know how to give up, I knew he'd be fine."

"You told him if he died, you'd never let him live it down." Knuckles says. "So, it's true." Sonic was fighting the urge to laugh. "You called him by his name once. You never do that." Silver said. "That doesn't mean anything." Shadow was starting to blush a little. "You said, and I quote 'Damn it Sonic, I will let you call me whatever you want if you just breathe.'" Rouge said. Sonic started laughing. Shadow was frowning, but the red that graced his cheeks gave away that it was true. "Whatever I want?" Sonic asks. "I didn't mean it." Shadow says. "Your tone implied otherwise." Blaze tells him. "Aw, Shads." Sonic says. "I told you not to call me that."

"Alright, well, let me just go throw myself back in the pool." Sonic says and tries to stand. "NO!" Everyone shouts, even Shadow. "Never go in the pool again and I will allow you to call me that." He emphasizes the last word venomously. "What else could I call you?" Sonic says to himself. Sonic sees a very good opportunity to flirt. "How about faker?"

"Don't you call me that already?" Shadow was confused, but smirk that appeared on Sonic's feature's showed that he wasn't done. "Grumpy," Shadow frowned, of course that's why he was smirking, dumb tease. ", loner, rival, idiot,"

"I do not appreciate being insulted." Shadow glared at Sonic, but Sonic's increasing smirk showed that he wasn't done teasing. ", handsome," Shadow didn't see that coming and wasn't able to stop the blush from reaching his cheeks. Sonic got up and started walking close to where Shadow was leaning against the wall. ", honey, sweetheart,"

"I don't think..." Shadow was feeling very flustered, and he wasn't sure if he liked it. ", sweetie, love, good-looking, darling," Shadow didn't think he liked the glint that flashed in Sonic's eyes as he got right into Shadow's face and whispered ", mine." After a moment of shock, Shadow reacted. "Okay, well, looks like you're feeling better. I'm just gonna go practice my archery." Shadow weaved away from the wall and walked out of the room. Once out he started running to his room. His face was hot, and he had no idea how red his face was. Once he got to the room he climbed into bed. He realized he was getting water all over his bed and he realized he had been shirtless the whole time. So naturally, he screamed into his pillow.

Sonic watched as Shadow speed walked out of the room. He felt a little disappointed, but at the same time he couldn't exactly fathom what came over him. After a few seconds, Rouge burst out laughing. "Oh man, you really flustered him." She finally giggled. "That wasn't the goal." Sonic said. "Then what was the goal?" Silver asks. "You know, I'm not exactly sure." Sonic looked at the group. The four of them looked at each other and then they all burst out laughing. "What, what's so funny?" Sonic asks offended that he's not a part of the joke. "You're both idiots." Knuckles told Sonic. Sonic frowned.

Shadow had finished screaming in frustration into his pillow and thought that he should probably go find his suit. He put on his regular clothes so that at least he wasn't walking around everywhere in his swimsuit. He didn't want anyone to see him because he was still trying to recover from Sonic being a flirt. The word 'mine' kept echoing in his mind. Every time he heard the word echo in Sonic's voice, he felt his face grow a deeper shade of red. Shadow knew why it flustered him so, he just chose to ignore it, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore.

The other day when Silver dared Shadow to tell his biggest secret, Shadow (obviously) lied. What's the actual biggest secret you ask, simple. Shadow had a crush on Sonic. He'd known he had a crush on the blue idiot for a while. A little over a year ago, Shadow saw Sonic smile at school. A genuine smile, one of those that he used to hate. He used to hate everything about Sonic, but it seemed like a switch had flicked in his brain. The tapping of Sonic's foot that he used to hate, didn't bother him one day. Then Sonic's laugh, he realized kind of liked it. Then Shadow started to notice other things. Like how determined Sonic was. He noticed that somehow Sonic always knew exactly what to say in any situation. Whether it was taunting an opponent or comforting a friend. Then he noticed that Sonic was always working hard. Then Shadow saw Sonic smile. A genuine smile and not a cocky grin and Shadow thought it was adorable. That's when he knew that he had a crush on Sonic. That meant that Sonic's behavior today made Shadow feel a few things: flustered (a feeling he still wasn't sure about), frustrated, elated, like Rouge had said something, and like he wanted to grab Sonic's face and kiss him.

Shadow arrived at the pool and opened the door. He went into the locker room. He grabbed his uniform and walked back out. When he opened to door, Rouge was standing there, hands on her hips. "You're an idiot." She bluntly stated. "What did I do?"

"You just walked away from an amazing opportunity."

"An opportunity to what, make a fool of myself?"

"No, to make him yours." He heard Sonic's voice in his head "mine" and turned red again. "He was just flirting, it's what he does."

"He does not. Have you seen the way he acts with the others. He doesn't do that."

"He's just a natural flirt like you. It doesn't mean a thing."

"He called you sweetheart?" She stares at her friend. "He called me a lot of things."

"Like darling."

"Like grumpy."

"Handsome."

"Idiot."

"Honey!"

"Faker!"

"Darling."

"Loner."

"He called you his." The voice echoed again 'mine'. Shadow couldn't even argue back. "Aha!" Rouge said. "Don't pretend like you're doing better your highness." Rouge stared at him. "Knuckles."

"We're just messing around." She defends. "The blush on your face says otherwise."

"We're just two idiots who like two other idiots huh?" Rouge chuckles. "That sounds about right. Except I'm not an idiot."

"You literally ran out of the room where your crush was flirting with you." He wanted to argue but couldn't come up with a good one. "He hates me doesn't he." Shadow said, sounding defeated. "I think he himself is a bit confused. I don't think he understands any of this." She gestured to all of Shadow. "He even said he doesn't know why he did what he did."

"I told you, because he's a flirt who likes to mess with me."

"I think because he doesn't understand how he's feeling." Shadow scoffed. "I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight at 4 pm." Shadow just walked out and back to his, thankfully, empty dorm room.

Sonic was still reeling from what he had just done. "Why did I do that? Why? What's wrong with me?" He asked himself. "You're a moron." Knuckles told him. The others had left the med bay. James had finally found whatever he had been looking for and walked over to Sonic. He took Sonic's temperature. "Well, you're not running a fever or too cold. So that's one thing we don't have to worry about, but we'll still have to be careful for the next 48 hours. Monitor you and make sure that you're still breathing normally and that nothing happens to your heart." James grabbed the stethoscope and put it on Sonic's chest. "Why is your heart beating so fast?"

"The doctors at home have always said I had an unusual heartbeat." Sonic replied. "That's not the only reason." Knuckles teased. Sonic punched his friend in the arm. "What's the other reason."

"There's no other reason." Sonic insisted. James turned to Knuckles. "Was it Shadow?"

"Yep." Sonic stared at James, mouth open, face a light shade of pink. "I'm not oblivious, unlike you." James said and put the stethoscope on Sonic's back. "Deep inhale." Sonic complied. Then he exhaled. James moved the stethoscope and Sonic did it again. "Did they kiss or something?" James asks. "No, Sonic just decided to be a big flirt."

"It wasn't flirting, it was teasing, as rival's do."

"You called his handsome." Knuckles says. "I called him a lot of things."

"Someone needs to back up and explain what happened." James says. Knuckles explained what happened to James back at the pool. "I didn't know he had it in him." James says. "Yeah, well, I started using to power that was bestowed upon me in the rightful manner."

"By calling him sweetheart." Knuckles chuckled.

"Again, I called him a lot of things. It was to see what kind of reaction I could get." Sonic threw his hands in the air. "No, it wasn't." Knuckles says. "Because if it was, I will clock you." Sonic looked away. "I still don't know why I did it, okay! It was like and invisible force possessed me."

"It's called a crush." James told him. "No, it isn't." He was becoming less and less sure about how he felt about Shadow. Did he like Shadow? "What did he call Shadow?" James asks Knuckles. "The good stuff or all of it?"

"We'll go with all of it." Sonic didn't like this. "Shads, grumpy, loner, rival, idiot,"

"How do you even remember all of this?" Sonic asked. ", handsome, honey, sweetheart, sweetie, love, good-looking, darling, and his." The word 'mine' start echoing in Sonic's mind. He really had no idea why that had come out of his mouth, but he liked it. He wanted to say it again.

James was laughing so hard. "You two need serious help." James told him. "We do not."

"You're oblivious." James told him. "I am not."

"I think the only one who is close to your level of romantic struggle is Knuckles."

"I am not struggling. I don't even like anyone."

"What about Rouge?"

"She's absolutely batty."

Sonic decided to take back over general ridicule. "The blush on your face whenever she gets close says otherwise."

"I do no such thing."

"You do too."

"I don't."

"You do!"

"At least I'm not denying my feelings for someone after getting all up in their face and calling them mine."

"Sonic was in his face." Sonic was reaching new levels of red. "I wasn't in his face."

"You were! Your noses were inches away."

"Yeah, well, I didn't choose him for chicken!"

"I didn't either. Rouge chose me!" James sighed heavily as the boys continued to argue about who was more helpless all the while denying that they had a crush at all, and they totally, most definitely did.

Sonic was forced into bed and told that he had to stay there and rest for two days. He didn't like it at all, but he decided it would give him time to think. Did he like Shadow? That was the question (and the answer was yes, you freaking moron, seriously). When everyone left in the morning for their training, Sonic pulled out his phone. When he turned on the screen, he saw 15 missed messages from his brother. Sonic realized he hadn't talked to his brother since the first day and he was feeling really, very, guilty. He looked at the messages

Tails: How was the second day?

Tails: Hey, you still up?

next day

Tails: You okay?

Tails: I'm starting to get worried

Tails: Are you alive?

next day

Tails: Is something wrong?

Tails: Did I do something?

next day

Tails: Hey

next day

Tails: Sonic, are you there?

next day

Tails: Sonic, I'm getting worried

Tails: are you okay

Tails: Did something happen

next day

Tails: do you just not want to talk to me?

Tails: because I can leave you alone?

Tails: if you want to talk, I'm still here

The last message was three days ago. Sonic between training and everything else going on he had totally forgotten to text his brother, and Sonic was feeling super guilty. Making sure he was alone, Sonic pressed the call button. After three rings, his brother picked up the phone. "Hey." Tails sounded sad. "Hey Tails."

"You know Amy doesn't like it when you call me that." Sonic now knew that Tails was really hurt. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you. A lot has been happening and I just..."

"It's fine Sonic." At least Tails wasn't mad enough to call him by his birth name. Sonic wanted to make up for ignoring his baby brother by telling him everything, but he still couldn't do that. Besides, what if he didn't actually graduate training? "Is there something you wanted to talk about?" Tails asked. "I just realized that we hadn't talked in a while and wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm doing okay. Amy is running herself ragged preparing for her 17th birthday party in a month. I've been busy planning for it. I actually was asked to build some security bots and I was working on that when you called. What have you been doing? Shouldn't you be in class?"

"My teacher is making me rest today and tomorrow. He's been keeping us really busy with class and different activities and it's really kind of exhausting."

"What kinds of activities?"

"Well, we have a very small class, and he wants us all to bond and when we just kept arguing the teacher trapped us all in the elevator."

"Is that even legal?" Tails was concerned. "Well, it worked. Now all six of us get along pretty well. We played truth or dare in the elevator that day. We've also been having our meals together, playing archery in the yard, and we went swimming yesterday."

"But you can't swim."

"And now everyone knows it." Sonic says, clearly embarrassed. "Well, you could have just stayed in the shallow end."

"That was the plan, but life doesn't work like that, especially when you're playing chicken." There was a pause on the other end. "Sonic... what happened?" Tails was starting to put the dots together of why Sonic had to rest for so long. "I got knocked off and drowned."

"SONIC!"

"I know, I know. But I'm fine now. Everything is under control, mostly."

"Who there even knows CPR?"

"Shadow."

"Shadow performed CPR on you?"

"Yes." Tails started laughing his head off. "Is not that funny."

"Oh, but it is. Did you ever consider that that meant your lips touched?" Sonic paused. He had not considered this, and now it was all he was thinking about. Tails continued to laugh. "Oh man, what happened after that?"

"I got a check-up."

"If I asked Knuckles, would he say the same thing?"

"No."

"That's what I thought." This opened the perfect door to vent to Tails about how he was feeling, but he almost didn't want to. "What happened?" Tails asks. "Well, turns out, while doing chest compressions, Shadow may have said some things?"

"What, did he say, 'I love you'?" Tails teased. "NO." Tails laughed again. "Knuckles, Rouge, Silver, and Blaze told me that he told me that if I died that he would never let me live it down and that if I would just breathe, I could call him whatever I want."

"And I'm assuming you used this information to your advantage."

"Yes."

"What did you call him?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Uh huh. If I called Knuckles, would he say the same."

"Knuckles wouldn't even be able to pick up because we're not supposed to have our phones."

"Ah, that explains why you haven't really texted."

"I just keep forgetting I have it."

"That makes sense. Now that I know I won't be offended if I don't get another call or text for a while. Just try to make sure to let me know your alive."

"I will."

"Good."

"But about Shadow..."

"Tails!"

"Doctor, are you positive about this scheme?" The red robot with the round head asked. "Yeah, and are you sure about the plan?" The yellow robot with the square head asked. "Quiet you morons. This plan is genius." The doctor told them and wacked the round one on the head with a magazine. "This will work, and I will rule."

Shadow was putting everything into his training, if only so he didn't have time to think about a certain word that was spoken from a certain person. Today, he was doing target practice with his chaos spears (since he could now actually form them). He was hitting every target with everything he had. He didn't always get the bullseye, but he did actually hit all of the targets every time.

James watched from the sides as Shadow hit every target. Eventually, the targets couldn't take the onslaught of chaos spears and turned to ash. Once all of the targets were decimated, Shadow began to hit the wall. "That's enough for today." James said. "No, I need to keep training." Shadow said. "No you don't. You're done for the day." James started pushing Shadow out the door. "Go talk to Rouge or something."

"No."

"I command you to go talk to Rouge." Shadow didn't like it, but if it got James off his back, he would. He started wandering the halls looking for her. "Shadow!" He heard behind him. He turned around and saw Rouge walking towards him. "Look what I got." She shows him a large green emerald. "I finally got it." She says. "Congrats."

"James told me to come find you. What's up?"

"I'm supposed to talk to you."

"Oof. You must hate that." She smirked at him. "I'd much rather be training, but for some reason, James told me enough."

"Maybe we should talk about your feelings."

"No." He crossed his arms and glared at her. "I don't know, seems like a smart idea to me."

"It's a terrible idea." Then they started arguing back and forth about whether or not it was a good or bad idea to talk about feelings.

After a day of rest for the whole group, James deemed Sonic ready to resume training. Sonic noticed, however, that Shadow was avoiding him. Every time Sonic looked at him Shadow would turn away. This really bothered Sonic, and he didn't know why (because you like him, idiot). Sonic thought back to the rest of his conversation of Tails.

"Why won't you just admit to yourself you like him?" Tails had asked. "Because I don't"

"But you do. Somewhere inside you know it. All the signs are there. You heart rate elevates, your face flushes..."

"Because I don't think he likes me."

"So, you do like him?" There was a long pause. "Yeah, yeah I do."

He guessed that that is why it bothered him, being ignored by the guy that he just realized he had a crush on (about darn time).

"Hey James." The girl on the other end said after the fourth ring. "I have a mission for you guys."

"About time!" A boy on the other end shouted. "Stop it." The first girl said. "No, you shut up." Now the girl couldn't talk. "Tuma, let her talk."

"Fine, talk as you please Sam."

"What's the mission James?" Sam asked. "Do the four of you remember the night during your training where I woke you all up to go guard those fake crown jewels?"

"Wait a second?" He heard another boy on the phone. "Tonight, same place. All four of you, dress in all black. You can wear earpieces so you can talk to each other." He heard the four of them cheer.

AN: Hey Guys. I wanted to thank you for reading this far. In case you have read any of my other works on this sight, I assure you that I haven't started posting this until I finished every chapter. Every single one is written, edited, and ready to post. Last item, comments, questions, reviews, favorites, follows, and constructive criticism are always welcome and appreciated. Thanks. Nerd Out.