I am SO excited for the next couple of chapters — they contain the fluffy scenes which sparked the inspiration for this story! — and I'm really pleased with how this chapter turned out, as I agonized over several decisions about it! It's Halloween, baby (even though this is being posted in August, but shhh let's pretend)! ;D
Replies
Thank you ever so much to: tsuki-shining, IslandoftheMidnightSun, cheru, RC12, Failsona, jWatson-Holmes, Guest and Speeshulartz! All of your reviews were so lovely and encouraging — they really made my day, thank you :'3
tsuki-shining - Gaahh, thank you so much! :') I'm so flattered and happy that you like my interpretation of Silver, especially that he feels real! Mephiles is certainly a spanner in the works who will cause some trouble for their relationship ;) Thank you~! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
IslandoftheMidnightSun - Thank you very much! I really wanted to make Shadow's change feel realistic and natural — hence we're nine chapters in and they're still dancing around each other, ha ha — so I'm so happy that you're liking that! Mephiles will definitely be a troublesome addition for them, with his mind games and manipulation. This chapter touches upon their training, but the next one will actually show one of their sessions! ;D
cheru - *squeals* Oh wow, that's so sweet, thank you! :'D AWW! THANK YOU! I'm very glad about that, because their chemistry is very important to me! Oh heck yeah, having Shadow bash Mephiles in the face was so satisfying, haha! xD Thank you ever so much — the portrayal of the rest of the gang was also something that I wanted to get right, because whilst Silver and Shadow are the main characters, the others really do have important roles to play. Eee, yay! I hope you like this chapter just as much!
RC12 - Awww, I'm so glad you did too! :'3 Thank you very much for understanding. That is so kind, thank you! Hahaha, my apologies, I love pulling the rug out from underneath people! ;D Mephiles has finally returned to wreak havoc! Ooh, yes, definitely keep the tarot card reading in your mind! Gah, it makes me very happy to hear that! :D
Failsona - Oooooh, an interesting theory! That is very true — Mephiles is certainly taking a particular interest in Silver and very much enjoys tormenting him! HAHAHA, that really cracked me up, I am so using the phrase "white hog ass" at some point X'D Mmm, you could be onto something, perhaps there's some unrequited love not only from Blaze but Mephiles too! Dayum, Silver is quite sought after, haha! Thank you so much for your review — it really made me smile!
jWatson-Holmes - Hahaha, Tails is nothing if not factually accurate! ;D It was quite a steamy dreamy for Silver, wasn't it? It will be getting just as steamy (and probably more so) later on, but I'll put warnings at the start of those chapters, just to be safe! I haven't absolutely decided if I'll be including an M scene — perhaps I'll add it additionally, once the story has ended — so don't worry, it won't surpass the current rating yet :)
Guest - AHHHHHHHH I'M SO GLAD YOU FEEL THAT WAY! Hahaha, don't worry, I'll keep fueling your Shadilver addiction ;3 That is so amazing to hear, I'm so glad! Aw, life is pretty good at the moment, thank you! Ooooh, I'll be curious to see whether your prediction about the tarot card is correct! Ah, I'm glad you mentioned Blaze because my heart breaks for her so much in this story — I have such a soft spot for victims of unrequited love. Eee, yay, thank you! Haha, have no fear, I will definitely be exploring the other ships alongside Shadilver; I think you'll enjoy this chapter, then ;)
Speeshulartz - I have replied to your review over PM, as you know ;D It's time for some Halloween costumes! And once again thank you so much for your amazing fanart — the link is posted at the bottom of this chapter, so people can definitely see it!
9. Dressin' up for You
AGENT Shadow: You are shopping with Rouge now, correct?
Silver smiles down at the communicator, dreamily. Whenever he sees the name 'AGENT Shadow' flash up on the screen, he can't help but bite his lip in a grin and hold back a pleasurable shiver. Sometimes, there are long silences between their messages, but there is always a reply — without fail — and Silver thinks he's starting to become a little addicted to that BEEP sound.
Most of the time, the messages are just arrangements for their training schedule. Shadow has been true to his word: every morning at seven, while the sun is still low in the sky, the two of them meet in a particular clearing in Mystic Ruins and spend an hour training together, before Shadow clocks in at GUN HQ for nine. In the first few sessions, he'd gotten Silver back into shape, using a couple of GUN's exercise regimes — the grey hedgehog's initial lack of fitness had been shameful, compared to Shadow's honed athleticism. But after many exhaustive, gruelling mornings, Silver is fitter than he has ever been before and is well on his way to matching the Ultimate Life Form.
Silver is looking forward to when they move onto fighting techniques. Shadow has already gotten an idea of the potential of his psychokinesis, first-hand, but there's still room for improvement and Silver needs to gain some experience of hand-to-hand combat. Running up to each session, Shadow often sends a message detailing what they'll be doing, so that Silver knows what to prepare for.
They don't usually talk about other things, either when training or over the communicators. But sometimes Shadow might ask about the on-going search for Mephiles, as he blocks Silver's punches, or Silver will send a jokey message about something new he learned that day, and he'll ask if it's a different-time-stream-thing or a Sonic-is-messing-with-him-thing.
(A lot of the time, Shadow doesn't actually know which one it is.)
But lately, the casual need for them to hear what the other has to say — about practically anything — has increased, for both Silver and Shadow.
Silver taps out his response.
- Yeah. They're trying on clothes now. I'm waiting outside, heh ^.^"
(The sweat-drop-face is another thing he's learnt from Sonic. The blue hedgehog had laughed and asked "Just who're you talking to so much that you need all these emojis, anyway?" Silver had stuttered a pathetic excuse and fled the room.)
AGENT Shadow: They?
- Blaze is here too
The next reply takes a little longer.
AGENT Shadow: I see. Are you all looking for costumes for Amy's party?
Amy's Halloween party is a well-time, welcomed distraction for all of the gang, not just Silver. Eggman's latest attack and Silver's run-in with Mephiles has put everyone on edge: Tails gives Silver and Blaze daily updates on any unusual energy signals picked up by his satellites, in the hope of locating Mephiles, but so far everything has been silent. Sonic is adamant that Eggman currently has a bigger scheme in the works. Knuckles says the Master Emerald has been distant and cold over the telepathic link. Team Dark are under increasing pressure from the Commander to destroy the growing drug syndicate in Central City, despite the lack of leads. All of them are edging closer to a mental implosion.
With everyone being so stressed and scattered about, Amy decided that a relaxing little get-together is exactly what everyone needs.
She's probably right.
Silver glances up at the changing room curtains, looking for any swishing of fabric or clacking of coat-hangers that might suggest that either Rouge or Blaze will soon be emerging. It's quiet and still, so he goes back to typing.
- Blaze and I didn't know we needed to dress up — Halloween isn't really a thing in the future. Rouge is helping us to come up with ideas
AGENT Shadow: Have you decided what you're dressing up as?
- No. Have you got a costume?
AGENT Shadow: Yes. It was also Rouge's suggestion. I'm not sure about it: it's a bit brash.
Brash? Silver wonders what he means by that.
- What are you going as?
AGENT Shadow: I can't say.
- C'mon, tell me
AGENT Shadow: I am sworn to secrecy.
- Says who
AGENT Shadow: Rouge.
AGENT Shadow: She's very serious about these things.
- You're really not going to tell me? :(
"Seriously? I swear, Silver, you're worse than Shadow with that thing. His eyes are always glued to the screen, whether it's waiting for updates and orders from the Commander, or looking to see if he's got any new messages from you. If he develops one more suspicious behaviour, I'm going to have to stage a 'Let's-Talk-About-Our-Feelings' intervention. And those things aren't pretty."
Silver snaps his head up and drops his hands into his lap, fruitlessly pretending that he wasn't waiting for another message to appear on his wrist. Rouge is standing before him, with a hand lazily poised on her hip and a knowing smirk curving on her lips.
"What do you mean suspicious behaviour?" He asks.
"This is Shadow we're talking about. Him talking is suspicious," She shakes her hair out behind her head and spins in place, revealing the back of her outfit to him and tossing her head over her shoulder, "But there are more important matters to deal with. What do you think of this dress? Sexy, tarty or dull?"
Silver taps his finger against his lip, as she poses in different angles. The cherry-red rocker dress is mid-thigh length and fits closely to her body, as it reaches the waist. There's only one shoulder, leaving one arm entirely bare up to her chest, and the other sleeve has slashes all the way along it. The dress is emblazoned with a black cross in the centre, sharp and bold. Rouge looks really good. If Silver weren't completely hung up on Shadow, he'd find it very attractive.
"What are you going as, again?"
She sighs, "A vampire. C'mon, I need your full attention on this."
Silver hums as he ponders, watching the hem swish about her legs, "It's not tarty. It's sexy, but...I don't know. I don't think of vampires when I look at it."
Rouge nods and disappointedly plucks at the fabric, "I was thinking the same thing. Shame, it's really quite nice. I'll have to look at the top, instead."
Then she disappears back behind the curtain.
Silver runs a hand through his quills and sinks back into the changing room chair. He doesn't mind this, clothes shopping — despite the doom that Sonic and Knuckles had predicted he would be subjected to — but he thinks that the excitement of it is passing over his head. It's clothes. Nice clothes, but still clothes. Not much to be excited about, really.
Rouge and Amy would vehemently disagree.
"Silver?"
He looks up.
"Wow."
Blaze blushes and quickly looks away, trying to hide the rosy hue of her cheeks. She looks stunning: her dress is short-sleeved and made of velvet, with the skirt ending above her knees and flaring out into ruffles and see-through fabric. The black lace vibrantly stands out against the indigo. Attached to the dress and trailing from her hips is a long, train of material, which Blaze lifts with both hands, to avoid tripping over as she steps forward. She's slightly taller than usual: her feet are encased in high, rounded purple heels.
Rouge saunters out and briefly admires herself in the mirror, before catching sight of Blaze and grinning, "Damn. That is the dress for you, Honey. You look gorgeous — all we need is a crown and you're all set to be a Halloween queen."
Blaze smooths down the dress at her chest and glances at Silver, "What do you think?"
"Blaze, you...you're..." He grins. She looks so beautiful. Whoever she's going all out for is one lucky guy, "It's jaw-dropping."
He's complimented her like this before — because she always looks good, especially when she dresses up — but usually she rolls her eyes and groans and fondly tells him to shut up. But now she's not doing any of those things; she's staring directly at him and beaming, "Thank you."
"You two are disgustingly adorable best friends. In all the time I've known him, Shadow has only ever said that I look 'polished'," Rouge bemoans, but she's smiling all the same.
Silver grins back at her and pointedly admires the new top. Coincidentally, it's also made of velvet, but it's jet-black and long sleeved — the sleeves droop down, billowing out from her wrists, in a gothic style. The top itself is quite low-cut, revealing a lot of cleavage, but a criss-crossing thread of string ties the neck-line together and stands out against Rouge's skin.
"You look a lot better than polished," He tells her.
"Down, boy," She winks, "You're such a charmer; thank you. But don't get too settled in that chair — as soon as Blaze and I change and pay for these, we're searching for your costume next. I know exactly what you should be," Rouge dramatically strides back into the cubicle.
Covering her mouth, Blaze quietly starts to laugh, "Prepare yourself. It sounds like you're about to be transformed."
"Lucky me."
She snickers and disappears behind the curtain, nervously playing with her hands.
BEEP.
Silver blinks and looks down at the latest message. Briefly confused, he scrolls back through the previous ones to see the flow of the conversation: Rouge.; She's very serious about these things.; You're really not going to tell me? :(
*NEW MESSAGE*
AGENT Shadow: ;)
A few hours later, all dolled up and ready to party, Silver and Blaze are standing on Amy's doorstep in silence.
"I know I saw you in your costume earlier, when you tried it on...But it— hm. I— You look really good."
He glances over at her, trying to read her expression in the darkness of the evening. Blaze is carefully adjusting her crown into a comfortable position on her head; it's constructed from long, windy twigs, pointing upwards to create the appearance of spikes. He stares, wondering where that comment came from, but she's determinedly not looking at him.
"Really? Thank you," Silver has to admit that he doesn't look all that different than usual, but he appreciates the compliment all the same. A pair of white, fluffy wings are strapped to his back, with the tips of the feathers stretching down the entire length of his spine. A headband sits between his quills and his ears, keeping upright a wire which holds a metal, golden halo above his head.
He's an angel.
It was Rouge's idea. He actually kinda likes it. Just wishes it wasn't so ironic.
"Really. You're very handsome, Silver," Blaze is always serious, but never this kind of serious. She's thankfully stopped toying with the crown, but her back is uncomfortably tense and the awkwardness is transferring into Silver.
He decides to lighten the mood, somewhat, "A bit different to when we were kids then, huh?"
"Not particularly. I've always thought you were handsome."
Silver's breath is sucked away. Gears clunk and grind in his mind. What does—?
"Hey, guys! Wow! You both look amazing!"
They snap their heads upwards towards Amy and cling to the merciful distraction that she brings, as she warmly gestures for them to come in. Silver steps into the hallway and glances around: it looks noticeably different to when he was last here. The dainty, floral wallpaper fades away in the low light and the walls are transformed by giant sparkly cobwebs and pumpkin string lights. It's suitably spooky.
"Thank you, Amy. You do too — I really like your dress," Blaze compliments, prompting Silver to turn around and soak in Amy's attire.
It's clear that Blaze's newly-found make-up skills have been largely influenced by Amy — Silver recognises the similar flicks in their eyeliner. However, Amy's is accompanied by thick strokes of deep purple eyeshadow, making her eyes look much bigger than usual. Her teeth glow brightly against black lipstick. A charcoal dress hugs her petite figure, but it trails along the ground and hides her feet, almost as if she's floating. Silver squints at Amy's unraveling sleeves: there's a cobweb pattern in the fabric.
"Thanks! Everyone looks so good in their costumes! Head on into the living room and take a look — we're still waiting on Team Dark to arrive. I'll just be in the kitchen, if you need me. I need to grab some apples!"
Apples?
He shares a bemused look with Blaze, before trekking into the living room.
"Yo, Silver, Blaze!" Sonic raises his hand in greeting, as soon as he spots them. Knuckles, who's standing next to him, turns as well, "You made it! Took ya long enough!"
"Careful, Sonic. That sounds like you're challenging us to a race," Blaze smiles, wryly, and takes a sip from the plastic cup that she's collected from the table. Silver is standing close enough to receive a faint waft of it: it smells like peaches.
Then he steps forward and bumps Sonic's proffered fist, "You and Tails have done an incredible job of helping Amy to set up. The place looks great!"
"Thanks, dude!" Bashfully, Sonic crosses his arms behind his head and grins. He and Tails had left the Workshop in the late afternoon — a couple of hours before the Halloween party — to assist in decorating Amy's house. Neither of them had been wearing their outfits when they left, though, so Silver and Blaze had spent the walk over to Amy's wondering what the blue hedgehog and twin-tailed fox would be coming as. Sonic gestures to himself, "Say, wanna take a guess at who I am?"
"Um." Silver sweats. He honestly has no idea.
"I'll give you a free pass with this one, 'cause you guys haven't met Metal Sonic," Sonic winks, tipping his cardboard cut-out helmet forward, teasingly. The helmet is cubic-shaped and bright, metallic blue, fitting rather closely to Sonic's head. There's a matching box attached to his torso and he's wearing robotic gloves, with long, spindly steel fingers that are a little unnerving.
"Metal Sonic?" Blaze repeats.
"Long story short: the evil robotic version of me, created by Egghead. It tried to take over the world and I kicked its butt, with the gang. But Knuckles still had no clue what my costume was! Unbelievable!"
The echidna lets out a bark of laughter, "That's because you don't act a thing like Metal. He's the strong-and-silent-type. You really aren't."
"Metal can get pretty chatty when he's banging on about being the one true Sonic."
"Don't worry, Blue. You're definitely the one true Sonic — no one can match your idiocy," The Guardian of the Master Emerald takes a swig from the beer bottle that he's holding. Knuckles' outfit is a little bit more identifiable than Sonic's: the long, brown leather overcoat and matching Stetson give off an explorer vibe, but Silver is still too out-dated (or is it in-dated?) to know what Knuckles is meant to be.
"Okay, Indiana Jones."
"Van Helsing, Sonic! I'm clearly Van Helsing!"
"Maybe I woulda guessed that if you acted more like him."
Tails and Cream venture over from the other side of the room and the fox's shoulders shake with quiet, stifled laughter, "He's got you there, Knuckles." Tails delicately fixes the position of his wig, which has slightly moved out of position. It's wild and electric-white and fuzzy and sticks upwards rather than outwards. He's wearing a long, adorably-hanging-over-the-length-of-his-wrists pristine labcoat and a pair of bottle-thick, round black glasses. Silver feels relieved: he knows this one. Tails is dressed as a mad scientist.
"Mr Silver, I really like your outfit!" Cream hops from one foot to the other — in time with the music, Silver belatedly notices, as he suddenly becomes aware of the low thudding bass — and admires his wings, reaching to brush her fingers against the tips of his feathers, "You're so pretty as an angel!"
Silver laughs, "Thank you, Cream. But you're the pretty one — you have wings too and they're much more impressive than mine!"
The rabbit giggles and absent-mindedly strokes her own clipped-on wings. They're much pointier and glittery than Silver's, what with their pink fabric and cotton-candy fluff. Her dress is of a similar style: sparkles and sequins shine at the top, as it poofs out into reams of bubblegum netting below her waist. Cream is clutching a light-up fairy wand in her left hand.
"Angels and fairies are equally impressive!" She declares, glancing up and down between both of their outfits.
The time traveller smiles.
"—I'm telling ya, Tails waaaaay outdoes Egghead, if you compare their tech. He's gonna make history with that brain of his! I bet everything I have that some of the tech you and Silver use in the future has been created by Tails."
The two of them turn back to the discussion between Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Blaze.
Tails nudges Sonic's hip, lightly, "Firstly, everything you have includes the Workshop — which we both jointly own — so you're betting my house on this, which is not cool. Secondly, whilst I really appreciate the encouragement, I think you're overselling my abilities, Sonic. I just tinker with stuff for a hobby."
"Dude, your tinkering has saved the world countless times! Knux, remember how he stopped Eggman from detonating that missile, back in the whole Chaos thing? Don't sell yourself short, Tails — you're one of a kind! S'why you've got your tails; they make you even more unique!"
Tails tries to cover his growing smile, by lowering his head. But Silver catches a glimpse of the look in his eyes, of the pride and the relief and the gratitude, towards Sonic. This isn't the first time that Sonic has said something like this. This isn't the first time that Tails has needed to hear it.
"You two have a remarkably strong bond, despite not being brothers by blood," Blaze observes. Their interaction has clearly warmed her heart.
Tails nods, "I can't imagine my life without Sonic."
The blue hedgehog looks down at him and beams, "Me neither. But, uh, other way 'round. Duh."
"And the moment is ruined," Knuckles jokes, but he's wearing a fond smile too.
The doorbell suddenly rings and Silver hears the pad of Amy's shoes in the hallway, before she yells, "Team Dark is here, guys!" There's a beat of stillness and then the living room door swings open even wider.
"Hello, everyone," Rouge greets.
Silver instantly notices the heels. Or rather, The Heels. Blood-red and glistening, they rhythmically tap against the floor as Rouge moves — she has impeccable balance in them, walking with practiced ease. They must be at least five inches tall. Dangerous-looking, black spikes run up each heel's spine.
Rouge's lipstick is an identical shade of red to her shoes. She's also wearing the top from earlier, accompanied by a flowing, dark chiffon skirt which has a seductive slit running up one leg, all the way to the top of her thigh. The outfit hugs her curves wonderfully and is enhanced by the billowing red cloak tied around her shoulders.
She bears a grin as everyone stares at her, entranced, and Silver focuses on the false fangs poking out against her lips.
"Bat got your tongue?" She teases, sliding her hands over her hips.
Sonic snickers.
"Lovin' the crazy scientist look, Foxboy," Rouge affectionately ruffles his wig and Tails laughs, before batting her hand away. She runs an appreciative eye over Sonic's costume, "Metal, huh? Original. I like it."
"HA! See! Rouge remembered!" Proudly, Sonic throws his hands up in Knuckles' direction. The echidna huffs and fumes.
"Bite me."
"Nah, I'll leave that to her."
Knuckles grumbles and blushes.
"Don't get all coy, Knuckie. I'm loving the leather," Rouge has a purring lilt in her voice, as she trails her eyes over his form.
He flexes, slightly, and pinches the rim of his hat — then he runs his thumb around the edge of it, "I'm Van Helsing. The Vampire Slayer," He shoots a knowing look at Sonic, sounding proud. And pleased that she's noticed.
"Ooh," With her gaze lingering on the hat, Rouge smirks, "And I'm a vampire. How fortunate. Or unfortunate, depending on whether or not you're going to try and slay me."
"Stay on my good side and I'll restrain myself," Knuckles tosses back, suggestively. Silver wonders if he knows that he's flirting. Maybe it's the beer; maybe it's not.
"I can't promise anything," Her voice grows sultry, as she reaches behind him to pick up a glass of red wine from the table. They're very close now.
"Guys, please! Public space with innocent bystanders!" Sonic chastises, clamping his hands over Cream's ears, who's laughing at the Blue Blur's charade. He jokingly yells over his shoulder, "Tails, cover your ears! I don't have enough hands but I can't have those two ruining your innocence!" The fox joins in with the laughter.
Rouge smirks and purses her lips, possibly poised to say something equally outrageous, to bait either Knuckles or Sonic. But her mouth instead stretches into a smile when Omega clunks into the room.
Sonic and Cream go wide-eyed. The blue hedgehog distractedly drops his hands from her head.
"Whoa!" Tails lowly whistles, "You came as a tree? That is awesome!"
"Very impressive," Blaze adds.
Silver, too, is slack-jawed. Omega is decorated, head to toe, with bark chippings — Chaos knows how they're sticking to him — and papier mache branches are fixed to his shoulders, stretching out and holding a canopy of tissue-paper leaves above his head. The foliage rustles as he walks, mimicking the sound of wind in a forest.
"Is it all homemade?" Silver asks and blows out his breath when Omega gives an affirmative nod, "Wow. That's fantastic!"
Knuckles strokes the underside of his jaw, thoughtfully, "Just how did you get all that tree bark on by yourself?"
Rouge laughs, "Oh, that was Shadow's handiwork. He spent hours sticking it onto your panels, right, Omega? He has much more patience for that kind of stuff than I do."
"Shadow's assistance was extremely appreciated," Omega states, "I am pleased by the result of his labour."
Silver smiles, wistfully and painfully. Shadow is surprisingly domestic in many ways and yet frightfully cold in many others. Just how many other sides are there to him, that Silver doesn't know about?
"Chao, chao! Chaaaaao!" Cheese pops up out of nowhere (or perhaps he flew in from the kitchen, judging by the chocolate syrup smudged around his mouth, which he quickly licks away). The chao's head is poking out of a star costume, which encompasses his entire body and looks like it's swallowed him whole. Cheese twirls in the air, confidently, and proceeds to spin in a circle so quickly that he flows into a tornado of baby-blue and glittering gold.
Omega whirrs and angles his scanners downwards, as the little chao dances about in front of him.
Cream giggles at Cheese's antics, "Cheese loves your outfit, Mr Omega! You both have a nature theme — Cheese is a shooting star! Doesn't he look cute?"
"I'd approximate that the blue chao qualifies for eighty-seven percent of a maximum total of cuteness," When the rabbit cocks her head in bemusement, Omega straightens and visibly checks himself, "Yes. I find it to be cute."
"Aw! Did you hear that, Cheese?" Cream chirrups, accompanied by pleased singing from Cheese.
The rest of them join in the laughter, finding the entire display profoundly adorable.
It's only when his laughter starts to fade away that Silver happens to look up and see Shadow strolling into the room.
He's a masterpiece. Shadow's sullen expression doesn't even detract from his attractiveness — in fact, it even seems to add to it. His red streaks are beautifully complimented by the devil horns and tail attached to his body and Shadow twirls a plastic, red pitchfork with such skill that it's enough to make Silver swoon.
Lust flares up and it feels as though his stomach is swallowing. Shadow in a devil costume is more than enough to fill Silver's mind with sinful things and temptation. The strapped-on angel wings become a little heavier on his back, all of a sudden.
And to add to Silver's overload of feelings, it seems that Shadow is drinking in Silver's appearance also, slowly and carefully.
"How's that for a coincidence?" Sonic raises his eyebrows and gestures towards them both, "Silver and Shadow are a matching pair! I'm sorry, Knux and Rouge, but they might outdo you for the couples' costume!"
Knuckles shakes his head, "Sure, if any of us were a couple."
"Could've fooled me," Rouge says, ambiguously, and then smirks.
The Angel and the Devil share a long, silent look.
Then Amy appears in the doorway, lugging a box of apples into view, "Okay, guys, now that everyone's here, how about we start off with a traditional Halloween game? Who's up for Bobbing for Apples?"
Oh. Apples.
"Would you like some help?"
Silver grunts, as the bottle-opener unsuccessfully snaps off the bottle cap, again. Glancing over his shoulder, he smiles and accepts defeat. Shadow is idly leaning against the kitchen wall, dangling a half-empty bottle between his fingertips.
"If you don't mind?" Silver steps aside, leaving the items on the counter.
Shadow deposits his own drink beside Silver and removes the beer cap in one swift flick of his wrist, before tossing it into Amy's bin. He gestures towards the beer, as a wispy vapour curls out of the lip, but he doesn't move back.
"Thank you," Silver says, holding his gaze, even as he approaches, picks up the bottle — their arms brush — and takes a cold sip.
The Ultimate Life Form raises his chin and does the same.
Silver places his drink back on the counter, desperately trying to ignore the way Shadow's bottom lip curls against the rim of the bottle, all plush and pillowed.
"I didn't know that you drank," The time traveller comments, picking at the beer's label.
Shadow gives a short hum of acknowledgement, "Rouge's influence. She owns a nightclub and I help out, sometimes. We live in the apartment above."
I know. Silver involuntarily smirks at this thought, but schools his features into something less suspicious and less drunk. Dammit — it suddenly washes over him — he's drunk. That's probably not good.
"You help run a nightclub?" Silver repeats, slowly swaying, just because it feels kinda nice. Luckily, Shadow hasn't noticed, "What's that like?"
"Rowdy, mostly."
Silver laughs, open and unrestrained. He's still wearing a gummy smile, even as he straightens up — huh, he must have rocked forward, at some point — and he grins even harder when he sees Shadow smiling. Confused, but properly, noticeably smiling.
"You're not a regular drinker," Shadow states, eyes flickering over Silver, still smiling, oh-so-softly.
"I'm that obvious?" Silver doesn't even worry about how liltingly flirty that sounded.
Taking another sip, Shadow smirks, "A little."
Silver laughs again.
"You should laugh more often."
"Yeah?" The grey hedgehog ignores the growing warmth in his chest. It's an innocent comment. He shouldn't read into it too deeply, "Why's that?"
Shadow shrugs, a bit embarrassed, "You— I've heard it's good for you."
"Maybe I'll give it a try then," Silver hauls himself up onto the kitchen counter, "Might as well. Nothing else is helping to make me feel any better about Mephiles."
WHY DID HE SAY THAT?!
The two of them hear a sudden eruption of laughter from the living room. The others are supposedly playing Never Have I Ever — a PG version, of course, for Cream's sake — but when Silver had excused himself to get another drink, the game had descended into a wild, unhinged jaunt down memory lane. Silver suspects that he's not the only one who's a little bit tipsy. Tails, Omega and Cream have never touched alcohol, and Sonic took one sniff of beer before being reminded that he "hates the stuff, it just makes me feel woozy, even the smell sucks." But Blaze has been delicately sipping cocktails with Amy and is a lot more giggly than usual; the pink hedgehog is rosy-cheeked and a little off-balance, but she's revelling in having Sonic fuss over her like an out-of-his-depth boyfriend.
Which, who knows, maybe he is.
It's hard to tell whether Shadow has passed his tolerance or not. He's been steadily drinking all night and it's much easier to make him smile, but not much else is different.
Silver snorts, quickly and happily pushing Mephiles out of his mind, "They sound like they're having fun."
"Yes," Shadow distractedly agrees, toying with his devil horns. Silver watches for a moment and wonders what Shadow would do if he was suddenly pushed up against the wall and kissed, "Would you like to join me outside? It's warm in here and it will sober you up."
"Um. Sure," Because why would he say no?
But when Silver doesn't immediately follow, Shadow takes a hold of his wrist and waits for Silver to slide down from the counter, guiding him out of the kitchen, through the hallway, past the stairs, towards the front door. Silver's mind screams touching touching touching as he stares at Shadow's fingers wrapped firmly around his hand.
Then Shadow abruptly stops and Silver just about manages not to walk into a face-full of sharp, black and red quills.
"What is it? What's—" Silver paws at Shadow's hand — which is still holding, gripping, lingering — before turning to see what made him stop, "Oh."
Knuckles and Rouge are heavily making out on Amy's staircase.
Silver is briefly transfixed. Rouge is lying against the right-angles of the stairs, elbows propped up, one leg bent, vampire cloak discarded. Knuckles leans over the top of her, with his hat dangerously close to sliding off and his hands remaining at her sides. Their eyes are closed and they're deeply kissing, somehow getting even closer to one another every time they bob their heads. There's no sign of them stopping.
Curious and inebriated, Silver's mind conjures up thoughts before he can push them away: Does Shadow kiss so vigorously? Would he be on top? What does it feel like? How did they get to this point? What do I have to do to get to that point?
Shadow clears his throat and all three of them jump.
Knuckles springs away from Rouge, narrowly managing to stay upright as he leans against the wall for support. The ivory bat leans further back and laughs, triumphant and sultry.
"Hello, boys. You could've picked a better time, you know."
"Perhaps you should have picked somewhere less public," Shadow snaps back, suddenly ruffled and irritated. Silver frowns.
Knuckles stretches up to his full height and starts wildly shaking his head, "No, we weren'—! It wasnnn'—! I swear s'not—!"
Shadow huffs, "It clearly was."
Folding her arms, Rouge sits up and points an accusatory finger at the ebony hedgehog, "Don't be so sour, Shadow. It's not his fault that I won the bet."
Silver glances at Shadow. What bet?
"Rouge."
"Looks like you're doing the dishes for the next two weeks."
Shadow then jerks away and releases the latch on the front door, storming out into the night air, with Silver stumbling after him. Shadow still hasn't let go of his wrist.
The door loudly slams shut, just as Rouge proclaims that they will continue, so don't wait up, Grumpy.
Shadow slackens his grip and Silver's wrist falls back to his side.
"What was that all about?" Silver muses aloud, watching as Shadow strides away from the house and then turns back around. The time traveller leans back against the wall and folds his arms, as warmth against the light chill. Soon enough, Shadow joins his side and exhales.
"Hell if I know."
Silver actually wasn't only asking about Knuckles and Rouge.
The wall is cold and faintly wet — Silver's not sure how that's possible, because everything has been bone-dry for days — and the clouds in the night sky look like they're suspended in water, sailing across an invisible ocean. Silver's gaze drifts towards the moon; it looks different to his own, but he knows that it's the same, just two-hundred years older. This moon is partially shattered, with shards of rock visibly floating, close to the crater, where pieces used to fit together to make a whole. Silver's moon is unbroken and full — he's ashamed to say he doesn't remember enough history to know when it was fixed.
"What happened to your moon?" He asks.
Shadow doesn't raise head, instead drifting in a whole different bubble of thought, "Eggman broke it."
Silver's head whips around, "You're kidding me. How does someone even do that?"
"I've told you about the Space Colony ARK," His tone is flatter, more grounded: it's a difficult subject, clearly. Silver nods, as Shadow runs his hand across the bumpy surface of Amy's house.
"Yeah. That's where you lived, for a while?"
"With Gerald and Maria," Shadow's voice abandons him on the last syllable. The 'ah' drifts off into the air, "Aboard it is the Eclipse Canon, which Eggman used to destroy half the moon's surface, using the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Gerald was the one who built it, originally."
Silver nods. He's never heard of this Eclipse Canon, but he's keeping up, "How did Eggman find out about?"
"I led him to it," With resigned dejection, Shadow turns to give Silver a look which damn near breaks the time traveller's heart, "He awoke me from cryostasis — he read about me in Gerald's journals, who was his grandfather — and I was confused. I'd been ejected from the ARK, after GUN's shutdown of it, and I had no idea who I was, what my purpose was or what this world was like. All I knew was that there was no Maria and this Doctor knew a lot of the answers. So I worked for him."
Maria, again. Whoever she was, she was extremely important to Shadow.
"I don't blame you," Shadow frowns at Silver's confident assurance. But it's true — there's no part of Silver that blames Shadow, none at all. He knows how easy it is to be misguided and manipulated, "I did the same thing, once."
Shadow's shoulders droop, "You didn't nearly destroy the entire planet, in your confusion."
"No," I did much worse, "But I did nearly destroy time itself."
They lock eyes. Shadow's stare runs across the curves of Silver's face, intrinsically, searching for a hint of mockery or sarcasm. He finds none and, whilst his eyes soften in regret, a sad smile pulls at his lips, "That would have posed a problem."
"Destroying half of the moon doesn't sound so bad now, does it?" Silver wryly (and brokenly) grins back at him. If it were anyone else — if anyone else had tried to smile at Silver's situation — he would have crumbled in despair. But Shadow is different. He's in the same boat and is, maybe, even more damaged by it all than Silver is.
Shadow sighs, "But you learnt from your mistake. I went on to fall for the same thing, years later, and create even more damage," His teeth go to worry at his lower lip, but he stops himself and clamps his jaw shut, "I know Rouge told you about Westopolis and the invasion."
"Only the bare details. She didn't want to invade your privacy."
"It's all over the internet. I have no privacy," Suddenly, Shadow's eyes gloss over and he begins to narrate a rehearsed explanation that he's probably told a hundred times before. Maybe Silver was wrong: maybe this was the event that broke him, not the ARK, "I was suffering from amnesia when an alien race called the Black Arms invaded. They came out of nowhere — their leader, Black Doom, came to me and said he knew about my past. I agreed to help him, in exchange for information. It's exactly the same as before! Only, this time, Sonic pled with me to stop, but I was merciless."
"You stopped them, though. Rouge told me you saved the world."
"When I finally came to my senses, yes. But it didn't save the hundreds of lives that had already been lost."
"No. But it saved millions that might have been lost. They wouldn't be alive, if it wasn't for you," Silver consoles himself with similar thoughts daily, when he starts to think about what could have happened if Elise hadn't been able to bring Sonic back; what could have happened if Amy hadn't stopped him; what could have happened if Solaris had won, "I feel the same, when I think about what I did. It's not easy, but I have to find a way to live with myself."
Shadow looks at him, like he's seeing Silver for the very first time in his life, "You're the first person who actually understands what it's like."
"I wish I didn't. I wish neither of us did."
"...I wish that too."
Silver's palm is flat, resting against the wall, slowly freezing as the chill seeps through his gloves. The two of them continue to watch each other, in disbelief, as they finally realise that perhaps they're not quite as alone as they first thought.
Then Shadow's hand touches Silver's, tentatively — their hands are still pressed against the wall, still independent, but the edges of their palms are connected. Neither of them move.
"There you guys are!"
Shadow snatches his hand away.
With a dopey grin, Knuckles stumbles over and places his hand on the Ultimate Life Form's shoulder, leaning against him for support, "O-kay. Hi. Whatcha up to?"
"Nothing," They say, simultaneously.
"Cooool."
"Are you drunk?" Shadow snaps.
"A lil'."
"Why are you even out here?"
"Shadow..." Silver breathes, pleadingly, and raises his eyebrows when Shadow frowns in response. Utterly serene, Knuckles lets Shadow's rudeness wash over him and patiently waits for their heated look to die down, not really taking anything in.
Sighing, Shadow shakes his head, before turning back to the echidna, "What do you need?"
"Oh, 'nuffin. I just wann'd to talk. About what you saw. Yanno?"
"No."
"You know! The thing! With me!"
"Please just stop talking."
"Do you mean the thing between you and Rouge?" Silver interjects, before Shadow can shove Knuckles' face into the wall. He can tell that the ebony hedgehog is becoming more and more exasperated. He feels a small spark of pride that this has only developed since they were interrupted, "You wanted to talk to us about that?"
"Yeaaaaaah. Yeah, that."
"Okay. So...?"
"Oh, right. Cool. Um, d'ya think you guys could keep it under tabs?"
"Under what?" scoffs Shadow.
"Tabs?" With varying volume as he speaks, Knuckles glances over both shoulders before raising his index finger and roughly shoving it into Shadow's face, just missing his lips, "Secret? Roushhe said I wouldn' wan' people to know. Somethin' about Sonic..."
Silver smiles, watching Shadow grumpily batting Knuckles' hand away. He innocently shrugs when Shadow sends him a questioning look, even as he fights a blush, "It must be important. He shushed you and everything."
"Feel free to step in whenever you like," But the ebony hedgehog rolls his eyes gently.
"Maybe Roushe had a point about you guys..."
Stiffening, Shadow glares at Knuckles, "What does that mean?"
"Uhhh. Nuffin. Jussss...she said you guys are even more sshubborn than me," The echidna blinks, "I don't think thatsh a good thing."
There's an uncomfortable silence. Silver suspects that Rouge perhaps said more to Knuckles that he's letting on; despite the slurring and the general out-of-it-attitude, he doesn't seem to have lost all of his inhibitions to drunkenness.
"That's rich of Rouge to talk about stubbornness."
Silver glances at Shadow: he's mad now. A seething, boundless-energy kind of mad. But his face is utterly tranquil and it's a little bit frightening (but also a tiny bit attractive). From observing this reaction — and witnessing the tense shortness between Shadow and Rouge on the stairs — Silver suspects that there's a point of contention, between the two GUN agents, about something and it's causing bad feeling between them.
"Are you okay?" Silver asks.
"I'm fine!" After a pause, Shadow sighs, guiltily, at the grey hedgehog's hurt expression, "Really. I'm just... working through things. Knuckles, can you show me where Rouge is? I need to talk to her."
"Sure," The echidna heads towards the door, pushing it open and waiting for the Ultimate Life Form in the hallway.
Shadow follows after him, but stops and looks at Silver, "I'm sorry."
"I-It's okay," He says, completely taken aback. He hadn't been expecting that — everything has turned, so quickly, from when they were giggling in the kitchen together, "Really."
"You deserve better."
Shadow disappears inside. Silver has no idea whether he meant for him to hear that.
Thank you for reading this chapter! I'd love to hear what you thought of it!
Also, Butterflies with Broken Wings now has some beautiful fanart! Speeshulartz ever so kindly drew a scene from Chapter 1, when Shadow intimidates Silver, and it looks freakin' incredible! I love it and implore you to check it out! I have posted the link below, in Chapter 1 and on my profile! :D
Who Sent You? by Speeshulartz ( speeshularts. tumblr post/ 163155677235/ w-h-o-s-e-n-t-y-o-u-i-wanted-to-draw-a)