A/N: Cue the dramatics.

Pining Drunks 2

"So, arrrrre we going to talk about what happened tonight?"

"Fuck off, Sonic." It wasn't her intention to eavesdrop on them. Really, it wasn't, but after catching a glimpse of them from the corner of her eye, standing just a couple feet away from each other, Rouge couldn't resist the burning temptation. She gave in to her curiosity and lowered herself to the ground; out of sight from the hedgehogs in the kitchen. There was something about the underlying tension seeping in the room that told her something was amiss.

With Sonic and Shadow in particular. For one, they weren't fighting with each other.

Just that alone was enough to tip her batty senses off.

The fact that both of them were actually sharing a space together and talking to each other was enough of an oddity in itself. Not arguing, not throwing snark and trading slanderous barbs at each other, but having an actual normal conversation.

With each other.

Honestly, was there no end to the madness? This group of merry go-getters just got weirder and weirder by the hour. Shadow was about to rip this hedgehog's throat open for all the wrong reasons just a couple hours ago. Now all of a sudden, here they were in the kitchen, trying to have what sounded like, a heart to heart conversation. It's amazing what alcohol could do to these folks when the consumption rate was high enough.

Rouge wasn't even sure if Shadow had the ability to feel drunk.

If caught, Rouge would ask forgiveness later because she was not leaving until she received some type of understanding around this web the three of her comrades seemed to be wrapped in for the past month. Especially, if it involved Knuckles.

"No seriously! I'm not messin with ya, 100% genuine Sonic the Hedgehog here." Sonic's laugh was carried over the sound of running water. He must have been at the sink washing out cups.

Rouge tried to peek in curiously from the dark hallway, doing her best to make sure she wasn't too visible from the entryway of the kitchen. The lights were dimmed down low but she could still spot Shadows form leaning against the other side of the kitchen island; his back facing her. She couldn't see Sonic from her angle, not without sticking her entire head through, but she could tell he wasn't far off from Shadow's right. If the clattering of dishes didn't indicate it already.

"I haven't heard much from either of you two for a while now." Sonic said, sounding exasperated but fondly amused. "I'll be honest, I was a little worried after the last time I ran into ya. Thought you'd clock me right in the face the first chance you got, buuut from the looks of it, it seems you were definitely too smitten to pick a fight with me. Which is, of course, nothing short of amazin. Shadow the hedgehog? Tolerating lil ol' me. Impossible!"

Said hedgehog furrowed his brow in annoyance. "You don't make it easy in the slightest."

"Haha! Of course not! But still, hear me out will ya? " He paused to flick off some soap suzz that had gotten on his nose. " I'm understandably shocked. I thought it'd take a little bit longer, give or take a year, for the both of you to get where you're at right now. It really seems you guys have this whole thing-" Sonic gestured with his hand. "-between the two of you figured out! Couldn't take notice of anything last time because… well, you were trying to kill me." Sonic caught the sarcastic snort Shadow let out and his grin even widened. Definitely Shadows way of saying without words 'If I really wanted you dead, you would be.' "-but still to be able to see the fruits of my labor presented right in front of me… it's nice." He shrugged. "Yknow?"

The blue hero couldn't see the way the dark hedgehog frowned at those words.

Sonic, unknowingly, continued his awkward praise, smiling to himself as the words poured out. "I really didn't think you'd take me up on my bullshit and actually acknowledge that you have feelings. Especially since it was for someone prickly like Knuckles. I mean, since when do you ever listen to me?" Shadow frowned, unsure of whether he was hearing things of if there really was something truly condescending in the tone of Sonic's voice. "So, you gonna admit that I was right? Or am I gonna have to squeeze that out of you too?" Nope. He was definitely being condescending.

There was a long long list of snarky insults Shadow knew he could spit back out at him, all memorized, vicious, and 100% true. However, verbal sparring with Sonic wasn't what Shadow had come here to do. He wasn't about to let himself get side-tracked by… tempting but all in all, petty arguments. So, instead of snapping at the blue sonuvabitch, he held his tongue.

That caught Sonic's attention. Within the next passing moment, his hands halted in their tedious chore to listen more carefully, the cluttering of dishes no longer distracting his auditory senses. The blue hero had been expecting to hear one of Shadow's signature clap-backs at his no doubt annoying jab at the hedgehog's expense but was only met with silence for his audacious behavior. That was unlike him.

Too unlike him.

With a curious blink, Sonic turned his head to take a glance over his shoulder. Either he was being upright ignored by the pondering hedgehog or something was up. It wasn't in Shadow's nature to fidget around like that and to see him toying with that empty shot glass in his hand like a stress toy was unnerving. He was glaring at it, angrily so, as if it'd been the one to take a jab at him and not Sonic himself. Shadow didn't even look at his direction or even acknowledge Sonic's obviously unasked question when the Ultimate Lifeform knew that he was being stared at. That made the blue blur frown, disapprovingly. "You do have feelings for Knux, right Shads?"

The hand toying with the shot glass froze and Shadow's face scrunched up in irritation. Still no eye contact. Sonic's frown deepened. "Quit asking me stupid questions Sonic." He went back to flipping the empty cup between his fingers to hide his discomfort.

"Answer this question Shadow and maybe I will." It was an odd thing to hear, Sonic actually saying his name. The blue idiot seemed to prefer calling him anything but. It must have been that anomaly in the other hedgehogs' speech that made him look up at him this time around. The fingers rotating the glass abruptly stopped. Shadow, a little taken aback that Sonic's face wasn't set into its normal easy-going grin. His mouth was down-turned into a deep-set frown; eyes hard and disturbingly observant for such a laid-back personality. It was a look that the Ultimate Lifeform couldn't ever recall seeing on that hedgehogs face.

'Huh, so you are capable of being serious when the occasion calls for it.'

"Of course I do."

Sonic's stare didn't budge an inch, continuingly looking at Shadow with an unnerving amount of scrutiny. It seemed for a little while that two were in some kind of stalemate of a sort. Shadow bloody eyes glaring back at Sonic's own accusatory glare. Rouge could feel the tension steaming from the both of them… which was weird, to say the least. Shadows judgemental glares were something she was well accustomed to seeing but Sonic's?

It was interesting to say the least, seeing a bit of that hedgehogs protective side peek out from beneath the cockiness of his personality.

It took a few silent moments of this awkward standoff o hold weight before that frown twitched at the corner of his lip and then finally dropped from the blue hedgehogs face. The smile came back, much to Shadow's disappointment. He almost preferred the hedgehogs glare instead. "Alright then!" He said, and just like that, he went back to scrubbing away the mess in the sink. "Just making sure. After all, it's a best friend's job to make sure that their boyfriend is treating them right, y'know."

"Tch." Shadow scoffed with a dramatic roll of his eyes. He was a bit put off by the sudden change in temper but chaos knows he wasn't going to show it. "I'd be more inclined to believe you if you weren't the same person who almost had Knuckles emptying his stomach all over the sofa just a few hours ago." Shadow sneered. "Tequila? Really Sonic? Disgusting."

"Ehh, to each their own." Sonic tossed a miniature bottle of vodka over his shoulder and Shadow caught it with ease, not even looking in his direction. "Loosen up a little, we're technically adults now. It'd be a waste if we didn't get sick to our stomach drinking terrible alcohol at least once."

Rouge didn't need to see him to know that Shadow was definitely rolling his eyes. Probably thinking along the lines of 'Speak for yourself.'

"I'm happy for you two y'know." The obsidian hedgehog looked at Sonic again. This time with suspicious eyes narrowing at the back of the blue hedgehogs head. "Proud too! A few months ago neither of you would have thought to be all snuggled up with each other, especially around the rest of us. You guys are making some serious strides."

Unbeknownst to Sonic, that caused the dark hedgehog to look down at his hands once again, as he chose to say nothing. It felt strange to receive praise for something he hadn't truly initiated. Especially since Knuckles's alcohol influenced behavior was entirely to blame… or in this case, to give credit too.

It was a strange feeling, being the main receiver of the echidna's affections. To his significant surprise, Shadow found himself really liking the drunk version of his boyfriend very much. Even though the echidna became… almost as bad as a sober Sonic when he did. But such a personality being wrapped up in his favorite red package made Knuckles so terribly endearing. He highly appreciated how Knuckles didn't hesitate to put his hands on him. Grabbing and tugging him around, leaning against him. Shamelessly asking for his attention multiple times. Not to mention that unnecessary drunk confession. After blabbering out those heartfelt convictions, the guardian had continued to treat Shadow as if he was his favorite person in the room for the entire rest of the night.

…least until he passed out. Neither the less, such affection made every crevice in his body fill with incredible warmth and content.

It was far too much for Shadow to handle.

He remembered how badly his hands shook when Knuckles decided to nestle onto his right rest his head on his shoulder. Squinting and trying to peek at his cards despite not knowing how the game they were playing even worked. His hands shook even more when his head hadn't moved even after he'd lost the game. Then the worst of it happened that almost had him rolling within his guilt fueled glee, Knuckles grabbed one of his hands.

He held onto it with a strong grip and looked up at Shadow from his place on his shoulder, mouthing the words 'you alright?' to him. As if, he was shaking from anything other than intense glee.

It was great, more than great.

…but he'd never acted like this around him before.

So as nice as it was... it didn't feel right, and it left him at a serious loss of what to do.

"You're mistaken."

Shadow had spoken so lowly that Sonic had barely heard him at first. Naturally, the blue hero turned around to ask his fellow hedgehog to repeat himself, but then, stopped dead in his tracks after catching a glimpse of the visible discomfort pinched on Shadow's face. Fingers twitching around the shot glass, almost as if he was… nervous.

Sonic couldn't remember if he'd ever seen any display of nervousness or uncertainty come from Shadow before, so the fact that he was even able to spot it on first glance threw him for a loop. After all, this guy wasn't an open book. The complete opposite actually. He didn't wear his heart on his sleeve, or even his face for the matter, like so many of Sonics other friends. And Sonic was no expert when it came to handling the Ultimate Lifeform, so for a few moments there, Sonic was unsure of what to do.

Come to think of it… why did Shadow follow him into the kitchen in the first place? He had a perfectly warm blanket burrito of a boyfriend in the other room to cuddle up with for the night. So why in the world was he seeking out Sonic's company of all people? He'd expect the hedgehog to be ready to smack him upside the back of the head or shove his head in the sink, as payback for that stupid stunt he pulled earlier. Sure, it ended in his favor and Knuckles had succeeded in getting rid of Shadow's steaming rage for the rest of the night, but Sonic still expected some kind of rebuttal.

"Shads?" The grip he had around the shot glass tightened and Sonic noticed it almost instantly. It was at that exact moment that the blue hero's eyes widened. A rush of clarity hitting him straight in the face through his tipsy demeanor. Something was wrong and he mentally kicked himself for not being able to spot it earlier.

Shadow was worried about something.

Instantaneously, he turned the faucet off. Abandoned every dish piled up at the sink to turn around and really take a good look at his rival. Noticing how the grip he had around that glass had the knuckles on his fingers tensing with agitation when Sonic's attention fully rested on him.

Okay, now Sonic was concerned. This was not usual Ultimate Dickhead behavior coming from his dark counterpart, but he knew better than to just waltz his way across personal boundaries with someone like Shadow. Who wasn't familiar with the feeling of bwinf vulnerable, let alone showing it to someone else.

So, how was he going to navigate this?

Sonic fully acknowledged that he was stepping on eggshells the moment he decided to give attention to Shadows distress. So, instead of questioning him like he normally would, he took a few determined but cautious steps to the brooding hedgehog; and mimicked his lean against the kitchen island.

The blue hero didn't expect the other to acknowledge him immediately. Probably still swallowing the nasty pill of asking his rival for an ear, in his own passive-aggressive manner. Therefore, in a show of patience and good faith, Sonic tugged the now empty shot glass from Shadows tense hand.

"What's eatin at ya bud?" It was a simple enough question; not coated in any mock concern that Shadow could detect, but nether less, still put him on an edge. He hated that Sonic was really the best person to go to when it came to his concerns about his boyfriend. It was an annoying and uncomfortable pill to swallow but, nevertheless, worth swallowing if he could receive the answers he was looking for. Just getting the words out of his mouth though seemed to be one of his bigger challenges yet.

He could feel the light grind of teeth in his mouth in retaliation, an instinctive reflex that he didn't realize he often did until Knuckles pointed it out, Of course, because Knuckles spotted a lot of shit he didn't know he did.

Shadow didn't respond right away and from the hard-pressed lines of his lips, Sonic wouldn't have been surprised if the hedgehog decided to remain quiet and not talk to him at all. However, eventually, the dark hedgehog sighed and relented under the pressure of his own thoughts.

"I am at a loss." Was the first thing he said, before pausing long enough to give Sonic time to butt in. The blue hero, instead, tilted his head enough to become more visible within Shadow's peripheral vision and nodded for him to continue. Shadow did. "I think that I've been going at this attempt of a relationship with the echidna entirely wrong."

Sonic nodded again but frowned in confusion. "Alright." He said slowly, revealing his confusion to the other. "How so?"

Shadow took a moment to cross his arms in front of his chest, trying to create some sort of barrier between him and his hero counterpart. Even though Sonic stood beside him, the position helped Shadow ground himself in preparation for what was about to come out of his mouth. "As of tonight, I'm unsure of what Knuckles really needs from me as a…a-" Shadow stumbled, lips turning up in disgust at the word sitting on his tongue.

This was almost painful for Sonic to watch. "As a boyfriend?"

"Yes… as a boyfriend." Shadow almost looked like he was going to blush of all things. Sonic had to fight every urge in his body that was screaming to tease him for it. Now was not the time, not when he was actually getting this prickly emotion deprived mess of a biohazard to talk to him.

"Okay, go on."

Shadow exhaled a heavy sigh. " And... I am finding myself feeling guilty for taking this night for granted. It might have been wrong to enjoy the odd level of affection Knuckles both gave and required of me tonight due to his inebriated state. I feel it was... dishonest of me to bask in that level of intimacy, but still was relishing in the fact of how… easy it all felt. It was so much easier to actually touch him when he wasn't being himself."

…Sonic had to pause for an ENTIRE second and calmly remind himself not to beat Shadow's ass and that Shadow was just really fucking bad at wording his emotions and definitely wasn't talking about assaulting his best friend while he was drunk.

…

-but just to be clear.

"What kind of touching are you talking about here?" Shadow turned to him and frowned.

"Are you joking? You were there, you saw us together."

"So, you mean… domestic shit. Like, cuddling and holding hands type of stuff yeah?"

"Yes." Shadow's frown deepened. "What else would I mean?"

"Just checking, just checking." Sonic let out a sigh of relief. "And no, no, you're right. Drunk Knuckles is 100 times friendlier than normal Knuckles. Did you know he hugged me like three times tonight? I can still feel my ribs breaking." Sonic grinned, trying to quickly change the direction of the conversation. "It's gonna be too weird going back to hanging out with the regular thing tomorrow. After he gets back to being all grumpy and cranky again." Shadow face pinched even more, but this time Sonic took notice to it. "Is that what's bothering you, Knuckles going back to being… well, Knuckles."

"No." Shadow shook his head. "That's not it. As endearing as the behavior was... I prefer Knuckles as he is. Sober and cranky all the while." He paused. "But I did enjoy seeing this new side of the guardian. It was different..." He severely understated. "But I feel wrong." Sonic blinked in surprise, brows scrunching together as he tried to understand what it was the other hedgehog was saying. "Knuckles slipped into this person I wasn't familiar with and even though I enjoyed it, it made me a little uncomfortable. Do you understand what I'm speaking of?"

Sonic was about to nod his head... but he caught himself and decided to be honest about it. So he shook his head no."I-I don't think so." He admitted. "What are you saying? That Knux was making you uncomfortable?"

"No." Shadow denied instantly. "Knuckles isn't the problem. I'm the... - it's me." Shadow scowled, trying to rack his brain for the right words for him to get his… feelings (god he can't believe he was dealing with those now) across. Sonic stood next to him patiently, giving Shadow the time he needed to pull his thoughts together. It was so strange to see the Ultimate Lifeform at a loss for words and so vividly bothered by something. "I was uncomfortable with my own enjoyment, that I felt while basking in a side of the Guardian he did not reveal to me before, willingly."

'Ooooo, now I get it.' Sonic thought, brain finally able to pull the pieces together. He supposed in that regard he could understand, but then-

...

'Wait a minute.'

"Shads, all you guys did was cuddle up together like a couple of mushy potatoes and hold hands. You mean to tell me that the two of you never did anything like that before tonight?" Sonic's horror only tripled when Shadow nodded his head to confirm what he'd just asked. "But, you guys are dating, right?"

Shadow nodded. "We are."

"Since winter?"

"Yes!" Shadow replied exasperated.

"And you haven't done anything even close to holding hands? Anything? Like, at all?"

"Not… not since his birthday, no."

"WHY?"

Shadow jumped at the outburst, his black ears curved down instantaneously. Sonic would have thought it was adorable if he wasn't so fucking baffled. "Alright, no. Explain this shit to me, right now."

Shadow was so surprised at Sonic's outburst that all he did for a few seconds was blink owlishly. It was a very unlike Sonic thing for the other to do. After recovering from the shock the hedgehog returned Sonics stare and elaborated on his position.

"It's important between the Guardian and I that we have an established level of trust for one another and respect certain boundaries. Up till now, I have been determined to abide by them, believing that this was something unchangeable between us and was just fine the way that it was." He explained. "But I do not think I can keep my previous intention after tonight, and that's why I'm concerned. I think I have been reading into this relationship wrong. Ever since we established feelings for one another, I have been developing much stronger urges to reach out and actually touch him, but I never thought it'd be appropriate to do so. Knuckles doesn't like to be touched so I wanted to show him that I respect that and not make him uncomfortable by behaving differently."

"But..." Sonic facepalmed his forehead and dragged his hand down his face. "But... but, Shads. Oh my god." Sonic pinched the brim of his nose and let out an exasperated sigh. He wasn't sober enough for this kind of conversation. "Shads, you're not just his friend anymore, you're his boyfriend. Those rules don't apply to you."

Shadows eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How do you know that?"

"Because he-!" Sonic paused, and sputtered over himself, making sure to catch whatever it was he was about to reveal about his best friend. It was not his place to do so. "Because... because… that's just how romantic relationships work! You are supposed to be closer than friends with the one you like, that's what makes it a relationship in the first place. The least you guys can do is hold hands!"

"And you think he'd like that?"

"I -I don't know man, have you asked him?" Shadow froze, suddenly realizing that no. He never asked Knuckles about anything. Shit. "Shads..." His name came out as a drawn-out whine from Sonic's mouth. "-really? How you gonna know what your boyfriend wants and doesn't want from you if you don't even talk to him about it. Just deciding 'Hey I'm not going to touch him at all, and see how this works out' is a really bad solution to that problem."

"Ah." Sonic had a point there.

"What if he wants that from you?" Sonic pushed himself off the counter to stand in front of him. God, Rouge was right. These two knew absolutely nothing about dating. "Alright, let's get to the point here. If you had any doubt in your stubborn head that Knuckles wouldn't want that kind of affection from you, consider tonight as a message to how wrong your guess was."

Shadow nose scrunched up. "Are you sure about that Sonic? I mean, he was heavily intoxicated."

"Bud, I know Red acting like a totally different person threw you for a loop, but getting drunk doesn't literally make you a totally different person. It just makes you do shit that you'd normally think about doing instead of actually doing it." Sonic smiled amusingly. "Why do you think I wanted to get Knuckles drunk in the first place? It's no secret that he's a big softy, but he'd rather choke on rocks than admit he actually likes to be given attention. And considering how much he was all over you tonight, I'd say that Knux thinks about doing that stuff with you more than any of us should probably know."

Shadow went quiet again but seemed to be taking what Sonic was telling him. "So, what you're saying is that Knuckles does want a more physical relationship with me."

"Oh god, you're making this sound so wrong. And this is just about holding hands! I can't believe the two of you are putting me through this."

"You're not making this any easier for me Sonic." Shadow deadpanned.

"I'm making this a hell of a lot easier for you! You wouldn't have even known Knuckles wanted to do cute shit like that if I hadn't dragged him down here and gotten him wasted."

Shadow growled. "Sonic…"

"Fine, fine. I'll let it go."

"What should I do?"

"Meaning?"

"Since apparently, I haven't been doing the things we assume he wants from me, what should I do about it? Neither of us are very forward about this relationship and we tend to end up sidestepping around these... feelings, more often than not. We don't handle them well."

"I've noticed." Sonic crossed his arms. "You guys are more out of whack with your own emotions than Eggman is with his own shitty robots."

Okay, now he was starting to get on his nerves. "Are you done?"

"Yea, yeah I'm done."

"Good. So, tell me what I should do."

"…what?" Sonic had to do a double-take just to make sure he was hearing correctly. There was absolutely no way that Shadow was very clearly and plainly ask him of all people for relationship advice; but, just by taking one look at him, Sonic could spot nothing but open sincerity on his rivals' face.

Shit, Shadow was really asking him for relationship advice.

"What should I do about it Sonic?" Sonic blinked in a stupor, still shocked by the surprisingly non-aggressive shift the conversation taken.

He'll admit, he was getting a bit catty in his agitation and jabbed a little too hard at Shadow's already open wounds; and felt bad about it. But in all honestly, he was preparing for a bit more of a backlash.

Believe it or not, Sonic had rehearsed what he would say to Shadow should they ever get into a confrontation about how to handle being affectionate in a relationship many times in his head. Sonic and Knuckles, while not seeing each other very often in person, had a good number of conversations that consisted of him explaining to Knuckles that it was okay. That he wasn't dying or having a heart attack, or becoming too soft. That he wasn't coming down with the shits after eating one of Sonic's greasy chilly dogs but was actually experiencing the butterflies of anxiety and excitement. (Seriously, this actually happened.)

That these were just normal things to feel when you're, inevitably, falling for someone.

Knuckles was so damn hard-headed though. The blue hero didn't know what was worst, his stubbornness, his pride or his temper; because all three of those things had succeeded in giving Sonic a headache anytime he got into a conversation with Knuckles about this kind of shit.

So, getting into a similar conversation with someone EQUALLY AS STUBBORN if not MORE than the echidna himself had him prepping and bracing himself for when the time would arrive. Which is why Sonic was expecting some rebuttable, maybe a bit of name-calling, shit, outright denial at the very least. He prepared his argument with backups upon backups specifically to combat Shadow's own... if he were put up a fight.

...but he didn't get any fight.

So everything he planned on saying to defend his point was now rendered completely useless and left him with little to nothing to say.

His mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish, as he searched his brain to try to come up with an answer- no, not just any answer. The right answer. I mean, this was Shadow here, someone who swore he didn't know what the world 'help' means. Yet he stood here, openly displaying his lack of understanding around having a relationship, looked Sonic straight in the eye and asked him for it.

What other choice was there, but to make sure he gave him the right answer.

…and it was here at this moment, that he realized that there was no way that he could possibly have it.

Sonic rubbed a hand across his face and returned to his recline against the island counter, shoulders slumping in defeat. "Bud… I-" He started- "I really can't give you the right answer to that." He admitted and immediately felt like shit when Shadow's face flickered from determined to disappointment. Sonic was quick to explain his position. "I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear, and that you were really set out on getting answer, but you gotta understand, even if I wasn't semi-drunk right now, there's no way I'd be able to give you the right one. Sure, I got answers but none of them would help because-"

"Because what?" The dark hedgehog scowled at him.

"Because that's not a question you should be askin me to begin with." Shadow's eyes widened ever so slightly, slightly taken aback by Sonic's chiding tone. "You shouldn't be asking me what I think you should do. You should be asking yourself what you want to do." Sonic addressed him. "And I want you to really take some time to think about this for me here, cuz I don't think you've taken this into consideration long enough. If you had, you probably wouldn't be here talking to me in the first place." Sonic joked before turning towards his rival completely. "Think about it really hard in your head right now, what do you want Shadow?"

Shadow's frown somehow managed to deepen and he shifted his gaze away from Sonic's face and down to the floor, his crimson eyes narrowing in deep concentration. Sonic made sure to drop all traces of humor from his face because this… this was a big deal.

Shadow asking anyone for help was one insane milestone entirely on its own and now he was actually making the Ultimate Lifeform think about what he wanted out of his relationship. Something that had absolutely nothing to do with fighting, scheming or preventing the execution of some catastrophic event.

Something so sickeningly normal that it threw Sonic's own stomach into a nervous flutter of butterflies, and he wasn't even the one with the relationship.

Sonic often had to remind himself that for Shadow, just having feelings or urges that related to romance in any form were still incredibly new concepts to him. Thinking about himself and what he wanted from his own life were practices that Shadow was learning on the go, as he did them. His path towards simple companionship and now... romance, a much more complicated aspect that almost no one knew how to do correctly, was a road of constant trial and errors. Layered with distrust, paranoia... and alien-like sensations that probably made the Ultimate lifeform disturbed and uncomfortable when first discovering these extra parts of himself. Because these weren't the things that Shadow was wired to do. The dark hedgehog was built for war and destruction, to carry out duties ill suitable for mortals to do. To be a symbol of hope and ultimate resistance in the face of chaos and warfare. The people who created the hedgehog probably never intended for the Ultimate Lifeform to even grow feelings let alone act on them.

Shadow was forming his own personality outside of what he was originally made for and Sonic had to remind himself that, it wasn't easy. That he had no idea how having to piece yourself together like that from the ground up felt like.

When putting it in that perspective Sonic felt a little guilty for becoming irritated with his friend. Just the fact that he was asking Sonic for his opinion on how to handle his relationship with his best friend was such a huge stride for him. His story may be different, but Sonic meant it when he said it was hard for him not to become fond of Shadow when he was so much like Knuckles himself.

"I want to touch him." Sonic almost choked on his spit.

'And the Oscar for dubious sexual innuendos of the century goes too...'

"Uhm…" Sonic coughed. "C-Can you be more specific?" God he hoped Shadow wasn't saying what he thought he was saying or else he may have doomed them both to the most awkward and uncomfortable conversation they'd ever gotten into.

Shadow was quiet, for a few more baited moments, his brows narrowed in fierce concentration as those eyes searched his mind for the answers Sonic had encouraged him to look for; and then... the look on the obsidian hedgehogs face softened, in the blink of an eye. "I want to hold him." Shadow's shoulders began to droop, as if his sudden realization was releasing a heavy weight off his shoulders. "I want-" He paused in mid-sentence, to give himself some time to gather his words. "-to be able to do what we were doing tonight, and more. Holding hands with him, hugging him, those quiet moments of true togetherness, I want to do all that and more." One of the hedgehogs loose hands balled into a loose fist at the declaration.

"I want him to be able to reach out to me like this again. With no hesitation, confidently. Just as he did tonight. You saw it for yourself Sonic, he didn't even think twice about it." Shadow's voice went so soft that Sonic's eyes widened in surprise. "He just... grabbed me and glued himself to my side like there was no other place he'd rather be." All the air had left Sonic's lungs as he watched the torn conflict of emotions cross over Shadow's face. He looked nearly heart-broken, and Sonic would have believed that his friend was in anguish if he hadn't heard how he was speaking about his boyfriend.

"But then I remembered that, if he was sober Knuckles wouldn't be so bold. Which in itself is odd because it goes completely against our nature. Both of us are blunt and straightforward individuals, but when we come together and it's time to face the feelings that we have, we lose our grit. It shouldn't have to be this way... I don't want it to be this way." There was no hiding the upset in Shadow's voice. "If you're correct Sonic, that Knuckles is just as confused about how to act upon this as I am, that he wants the same thing that I do, then I want to be able to bridge that gap between us. So we can be closer to one another. Not because we are intoxicated, or under the influence of alcohol; tangible. Real." Shadow spoke as if he had reached an epiphany and looked back at him with so much intensity it stunned Sonic to silence. "I want this kind of intimacy to become something real."

Sonic was stunned speechless and was openly staring at Shadow with surprised awe at the heartfelt proclamation he definitely, did not ask for. Nonetheless, he felt his own heart being moved by the pure amount of emotion he had never seen come from his rival before. His crimson eyes burning in fierce determination. He could not hold back his smile, humbled by Shadow's sudden self-discovery.

It was at this point he knew that nudging these two together was an A-plus idea.

"That's perfect Shads." He responded with great pride with surprisingly little dragging to his words. It was only now he noticed just how much this conversation had sobered him up. "That's fantastic! What are you going to do to make that happen?"

His eyes shifted around curiously, now coming to another roadblock within his path to discovering the proper solution. He had been perfectly honest up until now, it would be a step back if tried covering up his uncertainty with his ego now. "I'm not sure." He spoke. "Do so… spontaneously?"

"Pfft." Sonic didn't mean to laugh but, Shadow hugging someone spontaneously was unimaginable. "No no no, don't do that. I mean, yeah you could do that. But, it'd be creepy. That's more like somethin Amy would do. No no no, what do you think YOU should do?"

Shadow looked even more frustrated and looked at Sonic like he'd run out of ideas. "Cmon, Shads." He nudged him with his arm. "You're the best at communicating with Knuckles out of all of us, you spend most of your time with him! Before all these feelings surfaced and got in your way, what was the best way you guys communicated with each other?"

"Just… talking."

"Exactly!" Sonic exclaimed. "You're one of the few people who actually knows how to talk to Knuckles. He's not transparent, not even a little bit. No matter how well you know him, you can't just assume you know what's best for him. You gotta ask him bud."

Shadow face scrunched up in disgust. Not at Sonic but at himself. Clearly displeased that he could not come to that conclusion on his own.

It was such a simple solution too. He'd been running an obstacle course in his mind about the best course of action for hours, all for it to wrap itself up in one of the simplest blows ever. Since when did he start to complicate things so needlessly?

Of course, the obvious solution was to talk to Knuckles about it.

"You need to get out of that head of yours buddy." Sonic elbowed him. "Relationships aren't a one-sided thing, and they tend to get real confusing if you just spend your time thinking about it too much. Just talk to him Shads. I promise ya, it'll be a good conversation." Sonic winked. Shadow didn't even have it in him to roll his eyes anymore, still too angry with himself with not being able to come up with such an obvious answer. He'd gone and embarrassed himself in front of this blue idiot for no reason, how shameful.

"Who knows, you'll probably even get a kiss."

So caught off guard, the dark hedgehog didn't have enough reaction time to remember to stop himself from showing the wide-eyed look of eagerness that flashed across his face. "Pfft! PAHAHA! The look on your face!" He looked to Sonic in absolute horror, watching the blue bastard burst into hysteric laughter, in which the Ultimate Lifeforms face just barely managed not to turn red. His nostrils flared in rage.

SMACK!

Shadow slapped Sonic upside the back of his head. Hard. "YOW!" Sonic jumped from his side and cradled the back of his head with his hands. "Dammit Shadow! That hurt! Uncalled for!"

"Sorry." He said sarcastically, blowing imaginary dust off his wrist. "Looks like I don't know my own strength. Must be the alcohol."

"Oh, you think you're so funny."

"I'm hilarious." He deadpanned back to him.

There was an angry pout on Sonic's face. "A little gratitude would be nice y'know. I just helped you!"

"Yes." He confirmed, calmly. "Yes, you did." Sonic paused in rubbing the back of his assaulted skull while Shadow pushed from the table to stand up straight and turned towards him, a look of content now resting on his previously agitated face. It wasn't a smile, Sonic was sure that those were reserved for Knuckles and only Knuckles. But it was enough for him to know that Shadow was back to being old self. An asshole.

Sonic grinned regardless, not able to imagine him any other way. "What, not going to say 'Thank you for all your help Sonic. You're so smart and wise; you just know the answers to all my problems. What would I ever do without you?" He said in an overly girlish voice.

Shadow returned the look with a massive eye roll. Sonic was sure he was going to make Shadow roll his eyes to the back of his head permanently one day. "Delusional. As if you were ever deserving of such acknowledgment from me." With that, he turned around to walk his way out of the kitchen. Sonic's pout grew as he watched him walk away. He expected nothing less from the Ultimate Dickhead and understood that saying a plain Thank You, just wasn't Shadow's style. Still, it annoyed the fuck out of him though.

To his surprise however, right before the Ultimate Dickhead completely left the room, he halted in place from his spot in the doorway. Sonic gave the back of him a perplexed look, wide eyes blinking in surprise. Shadow turned to glance back at Sonic one more time and they locked gazes. "You have my gratitude Sonic." He spoke slowly and clearly. "Make sure what we spoke of never leaves this room."

…oh. Did he just-

Holy shit he actually just got a thank you out of him. HOLY SHIT HE ACTUALLY GOT- wow and now, he was sworn to secrecy, how lame. He couldn't even tell anybody! Honestly, he really didn't get what was with them with the whole secrecy thing. Everyone by now already knew they're dating!

'Ugghh' -but stupid as it was, if he could promise Knuckles his privacy he supposed extending to Shadow wouldn't be hard to do as well.

Sonic sighed. 'No one would probably believe me anyway.'

"Yeah yea, I get the gist. Make sure no one knows how gay the Ultimate Shitstorm actually is. I hear ya, I hear ya." Sonic decidedly dismissed the glare Shadow gave him and gave him a perky thumbs up. "No worries Shads. Your business stays with me buddy."

That seemed like enough confirmation to satisfy him. He nodded, and left Sonic standing in the kitchen by himself.

Luckily, when the dark hedgehog left the room, Rouge the bat was nowhere to be found.

Rouge had, had enough.

She'd heard far too much for her bat ears to handle. Much more than she had intended too.

There were just no words for what she'd had laid witness too. On one hand, Sonic and Shadow apparently had this weird friendship thing going on. That was a fucking hoot. Which she could have been more ecstatic about, if only for the fact that the topic they were discussing left absolutely no mercy on her feelings. It'd punched her hard, gut clenching in shock and anxiety as if she'd just been hit with a brick.

Shadow just went through a list of similar, complicated emotions and processed all of them so quickly. It was hard to believe that he'd come to this monumental realization just from one night of shenanigans and nonsense.

Rouge had no idea Shadow's feelings ran this deep. Deep enough for him to swallow a good chunk of his pride and physically go to Sonic, of all people, for help. Sonic. It shocked her even further to find out that Sonic was this much involved in their relationship as well, apparently since the very fucking beginning; and was so much of a trusted source that Shadow had SPECIFICALLY sought out his blue rival in search for advice.

Advice, on how to be more intimate with a partner.

'Is this real life?' Rouge questioned in her head, 'Is this really happening right now?' She'd swear on every diamond in her collection that she didn't see any of this coming, It was like she blinked and everyone suddenly decided to date and be friends with their arch enemies.

Well, that was a little overdramatic. Not everyone, just the people she considered to be on the top tier of her friend list that she actually cared about.

There was so much changing within this circle of friends of hers that she didn't fucking know about. How much had slipped under her nose while she wasn't paying attention? Why did no one find it important to tell her? Why did Shadow think it'd be such a good idea to keep this a secret from her for this long? Wasn't she his best friend? Was he planning on hiding this from her forever?

Listening to their conversation, it sounded as if they've been dating since Knuckle's birthday. That was in winter.

It was now the middle of fucking summer.

Rouge hand cradled her temples with two over her gloved fingers. Her mind was going into pointless circles. She wanted answers; upfront, clear, and honest answers. There were just too many pieces to this skewered plot that she was missing and she was going to find and track down every, single, one.

Which is exactly how she found herself standing right outside of Knuckles door.

A/N: Bro's look out for bros.

I feel like I write Sonic speaking to much with my Brooklyn tongue, idk why.

I'm actually really happy I made these two semi friends in this story though. Like it wasn't what I planned on writing but it just happened as I continued on with this chapter.

I like the outcome though, idk what yall will think of it.

What do you think of the whole conversation between Sonic and Shadow though? Did ya like it? Did ya hate it? Was it weird?

I honestly spent so much of my time editing and perfecting that specific part of the chapter that everything else probably pales in comparison.

Rouge and Knuckles gets their own chapter next. (͒ 〰͒) Oohohoh, its gon be spicccyyy