Chapter 7 - This is how things are
Silver went downstairs and across the living room. When he opened the door he found his three friends: Sonic, Knuckles and a still slightly wet Tails. He would look so fluffy after that.
-"Silver? What are you doing here man?" – Sonic entered the house without waiting to be invited and sat on the couch, followed by Knuckles; Tails smiled shyly at Silver trying to apologize for their behaviour and finally entered, but stood on his feet. He didn't want to get the couch wet.
-"I've been helping Shadow, since he got his wound because of my fault... I feel responsible for what happened to him so..."
-"Wow, you sure this is Shadow's? What happened to this place??"- asked Knuckles, interrupting him.
-"Oh, I've been doing some cleaning... I had some free time these days so..."
-"You mean you've been here all the time? That would explain why we couldn't find you at your place!" added Sonic.
-"What do you mean...?"
-"We wanted you to come with us here, to visit Shadow. We thought you would've liked that. So, we tried to locate you during these last two days, but since we couldn't find you, we just decided to come anyway" –explained the little fox.
Sonic spoke again: -"Well, Shadow would normally just starve, eating some healthy crap ever once in a while until he somehow managed to recover and re-appear at the last minute. He's not the kind of guy who would willingly enter a hospital. Not if he can avoid it. And I believed he just... wouldn't let someone help him like that either..."
-"Why do you say that?"
Silver got no answer to this, and only he got to see the serious and almost sad look in Sonic's face as his emerald eyes looked somewhere else. Tails had started talking again.
-"We hoped we could see Shadow. We brought him some cake, we thought that maybe he'd like to have it..."
-"I'll go tell him you're here, he still isn't walking much so he's in his room. I'll be right back." – Silver left the group and went upstairs, still wondering about Sonic's reaction.
In a few moments the three visitors were standing in front of Shadow's bed.
-"Hey there." – greeted Knux.
-"Hi, Shadow!" – added Tails.
-"Hey, how are you feeling, big boy?"
-"I'm fine, Sonic. Doing well as you can see. Tails, you can use a towel if you want."
-"I'm... er... I can wait..."
-"Oh, don't be shy, come here" – said Silver, grabbed him by the hand and took him to the bathroom.
-"I can see you're ok. In fact you look a lot better than I would've expected."
-"I guess... Silver's help did a lot." Sonic remained serious.
-"Who would've thought you woud let someone in here like this... I thought you could be alright by yourself? That you could handle any situation on your own?"
-"...I might've been wrong about that."
Why won't he just react?! Sonic felt disturbed about this new attitude. It was like Shadow was playing with him... Shadow and Sonic stared at each other for a few seconds without saying a word.
-"We brought you cake!" Knuckles broke the ice showing the paper bag he was holding.
-"That's thoughtful of you. But I don't think I'll be able to go downstairs to..." - Silver and Tails re-entered the room. Silver was rubbing Tails' head with a light blue towel and the fox just held his arms up, a gesture that looked like he was trying to stop him but didn't dare, almost whimpering words that sounded like "please, don't..." and "so very fluffy...".
-"...as I was saying"- continued Shadow -"I won't be able to go downstairs to share it with you, and besides, I have a headache right now."
-"It's for you, we can leave it in your kitchen if you want and if you're not feeling well then we'll just... leave" –said Sonic. He looked calmed for a moment, distracted by the suspense behind Tails' imminent burst of fluffiness.
-"Silver, why don't you go with them? You haven't had any fun since you came here, you haven't gone out except for buying stuff. You must feel bored. You could use some distraction."
-"That sounds good, really" – said Knuckles.
-"I guess I could do that... if that's ok with you?"
-"We were just going downtown to eat something. You could use some rest too, Shadow." – Said Sonic. He looked serious again.
-"Well then... I guess I'm going then!"
-"Enjoy yourselves."
-"Then it's settled! Bye Shadow, see you around man! Hey Sonic, I bet I can eat more than you!" – Knux opened the room door and stepped outside.
-"See you some other time, Shadow. Get well! ...Hey, Sonic... I don't want people to see me like this..." – said Tails shyly as he followed Knuckles. He now looked like a soft, cute, extremely fluffy bundle of golden fur.
-"Don't worry buddy, I'll help you with that in a second..." – Sonic waited for Silver to leave the room and closed the door behind him. – "Shadow..." he stared silently for a second, examining Shadow carefully. His eyes, his arms, his whole body. Shadow just looked at him without saying anything. Sonic finally spoke to him. - "I can see you are in good hands. I'm just sorry mine weren't as good. Well... ...take care, 'cause you better recover fast. You still owe me a race, remember?"
Sonic then left the room thinking to himself. Shadow... does he have a clue about what he's doing, asking Silver to stay with him? Staying over? Letting him actually touch his wounds? And then they say I'm the clueless one... Even Amy could tell what's going on here! And Silver... Tsk- Bitterness filled his mouth as he clenched his fist.
After Silver gave Shadow something for the headache and everyone left, the striped hedgehog could finally rest. He looked out the window. The sky was still covered with silver clouds. He watched them as they traveled slowly across the window pane and slowly fell asleep.
That night, when Silver returned and before going to bed, he entered Shadow's room quietly to make sure he was alright. The light was off but the clouds had already left the sky and the moonlight was strong enough to enlighten Shadow's body and part of the bed. Silver could see the moment when the dark hedgehog turned his head slowly and opened his eyes a bit. He had woken him up.
-"...Silver?"
-"Oh, I'm sorry... I woke you up, I didn't mean to..."
-"Don't worry."
-"Sorry I'm so late, the guys... you, you must be hungry... I'll-"
-"I ate already."
-"Oh. ...I see..."
-"Did you have a good time?"
-"S-sure! The guys are fun to hang out with. Well, Sonic's been a bit off today... I don't know what happened to him. I just hope he's ok."
-"Don't worry, he will be. He's the toughest man I know. He's been through worse."
-"What do you mean... you know what's wrong with him?"
- "I'll tell you some other time... Just come closer. I can't see you there."
Silver walked until he was standing between the bed and the window, as the moonlight bathed the quills in his back and part of his side. The way it made his fur shine justified Silver's name perfectly.
-"Yes? What is it?"
-"Just a bit closer..." Silver bent a little, so that he could hear better.
-"Like this?"
-"Closer..."
What does he want? Silver got a bit closer... from this distance he could see Shadow's half-opened eyes clearly. He still looked sleepy and relaxed. Maybe that was why he was in that soothing, calm mood... Silver slightly blushed. This Shadow made him feel... warm.
-"Closer..."
-"Sh-Shadow... what..." His own weight was making him lose balance so he grabbed the top of the headboard with his right hand and put the other on Shadow's pillow. Why am I obeying? Just what am I doing? Shadow... is it... his eyes... his deep voice...?
-"Shhh... just... come closer..." Silver's heart was pounding hard now, as their noses slightly touched. Shadow was so close to him... Blush now covered most of Silver's face. Without moving a single inch, Shadow spoke again.
-"Closer..." Silver closed his eyes and leaned forward as told.
He felt Shadow's soft lips brush his own. He swallowed. He couldn't move, couldn't open his eyes. He felt paralyzed. And what he then felt made his heart skip a bit: Shadow's lips moving against his, caressing them as he smiled and spoke again.
-"Almost there."
Silver finally gave in to Shadow's -and now his own- desire and pressed his soft lips against his. The sensation that followed was intense, a rush of excitement run through his whole body as Shadow gently stroked the fur on his chest with his warm hand. Shadow was returning the kiss tenderly to him, moving slowly, silky lips embracing his own in a sweet motion... and it felt painfully good. As he caressed Silver's face with his free hand he eventually ended the kiss and looked at him, still smiling. Silver opened his golden eyes to meet with ruby ones and realized he hadn't been breathing, so he gasped for air, slightly embarrassed.
- "Thank you for everything. And for this." Shadow said. He was blushing a bit too.
-"I, no, I just- uh... you're... welcome...? You... did you just-...? You just kissed me...!" Silver took his fingertips to his own lips. Shadow's warmth still lingered.
-"I think you did. I didn't move at all, see? I lie wounded in my bed, just trying to get some sleep. I guess you couldn't help it 'cause I am so attractive." He smiled ironically.
-"Shadow, I...! ...I... I liked it..."
-"That was the idea. You should get some sleep, it's late and you still have to hold me captive tomorrow- I mean, take care of me." Or else I won't know what else to do or say and you'll get to notice how nervous I actually am. I thought this was gonna be easier! Stupid heart, stop that fierce pounding!
-"Hm, ok... if that's what you want... I guess... I'll see you tomorrow then." Silver couldn't stop smiling nervously as he left the room.
Once he was in his bed, expecting to re-live the moment inside his head and feel that marveolus sensation again, he found his eyes slowly starting to fill with tears, his excitement leaving him. It looked like the tension was still there after all. He turned upside down and buried his face in his pillow. Was this the same that happened to him when Blaze tried to kiss him? No, it felt different. Why was he sad then? He had enjoyed it! He would do it again... or was he afraid? No... it wasn't that... he liked Shadow and wasn't afraid of him... he just was surprised... He didn't exactly feel sad... He felt... like he had shared his privacy for the first time. It was a strange feeling... but he'd do it again... he'd definitely do it again. Holding to that fact Silver drifted in a whirlwind of feelings and thoughts inside his mind, and he couldn't find rest for a couple of hours. His body finally gave in to his tiredness of all the day and finally fell asleep, with a shy smile on his lips ...and new warmness in his heart.