Before I start, I would like to say I do know that ARK is spelled with a k. I spelled it as ARC on purpose; it just thought it looked better. *Shrugs* I like being different; don't question it.

But, thanks to all the people who tried to help me by pointing this out. I like getting feedback from you guys to help me out with my writing; so, don't feel shy to point out my faults. I know I still have a lot to learn. :)

Now, on with the story!

"You're… you're gay, Shadow?" You might have thought that this had come from Knuckles underneath Shadow's foot, but no. It was from a newcomer at the left open doorway. It was from Sonic the Hedgehog.

Shadow's mind went completely white. He couldn't think. He couldn't speak. Sonic had heard him confessing to being gay. What would he think? Would he think he was a freak? Would he ignore him as if he had never existed? What would Sonic do now that he knew his third worse secret? Third because it was right behind him loving Sonic and that he was carrying Sonic's child.

Sonic had never seen Shadow like this. He couldn't help himself after he had learned Shadow confessing he was gay. Sonic never would have imagined someone like Shadow being gay. He was too guarded. He was too… well, Shadow. Sonic couldn't put someone like Shadow into words; it would do him injustice.

After he had said those three words, Sonic never would have guessed Shadow would act this way. Sonic had been ready for the other to immediately put up his guard and play it off as nothing. However, he was currently seeing a whole different side of his rival.

Shadow looked like he had seen a ghost. His normal tan muzzle was pale; his mouth was gapped open. Shadow's body was as ridged as a board and he was… shaking. Shaking in anger? Or was it something else entirely?

"So… since you're gay; you and Rouge haven't… done 'that', right?" Shadow's eyes flickered down to the echidna underneath his foot. Knuckles always had to break the mood didn't he? However, one thing Knuckles did right was get Shadow out of his stunned state.

The ebony hedgehog removed his foot from Knuckles chest and let the red echidna get up from the ground. Rouge hurried over and shooed Knuckles out of the room. When both Rouge and Knuckles had left the room, Sonic and Shadow were left, alone, in an awkward silence.

"It- it's not what you th-think, Sonic. Knuckles was… Knuckles was just, ah, accusing Rouge of cheating on him a-and I had to step in since he mentioned m-me. I-I'm not re-really gay, it's just- just something I had to sa-say to get him o-off of Rouge's b-back." Shadow didn't know what else to do, he had to lie or he might lose the newfound friendship between Sonic and him.

Sonic's eyes narrowed; did Shadow really expect him to believe that? Shadow had never stuttered in his life, as far as he knew, and that was a lie if he ever saw… heard one. What he didn't understand was why Shadow would be lying about this. Didn't Shadow see that he wouldn't care if he was gay?

Wait… if Shadow was gay… did that mean that he had a chance? If Shadow was gay did that mean that he had a chance for the other to love him too? He had to find out. He had to get Shadow to admit that what he had just said was a lie.

Sonic crossed his arms across his chest and stepped inside Rouge's house. "Shadow, we both know that was a complete lie. Just admit it, you're gay."

Shadow narrowed his own eyes and clenched his fists at his sides. "So what if I'm lying, faker! Me being gay doesn't change who I am in any way! So don't judge me!" It was no use now, Sonic saw through his lie; no matter how pathetic the lie was.

Now, the best thing to do was to get Sonic to hate him. Sonic hating him was a hundred times better than Sonic feeling indifferent towards him. If Sonic hated him it meant that he had feelings towards him, no matter how painful it was. If he was indifferent… Sonic didn't have any feelings for him. He wouldn't lose any sleep if, let's say, Shadow died.

"I'm not judging you, Shadow!" How stupid could Shadow get? "I don't care if you're gay, bi or even if you've been hiding that you're a girl all these years!" Sonic looked around the room before returning his attention back to the hedgehog in front of him. "You're not a girl, right?"

Shadow flinched; he knew Sonic was joking, but the other hedgehog didn't know just how close to the mark he really was. Shadow crossed his arms across his chest and turned away. "Fine, I'm gay. What are you going to do about it?" Dear God, what was he going to do now?

A bright smile flashed onto Sonic's face, "See, that wasn't so hard." Shadow turned his head back around and raised an eye ridge at the cobalt hedgehog. "Shadow it's okay, I understand. I'm actually bi, so it's fine."

Shadow's eyes widened; Sonic was bi? These past few days had been so hectic and life changing. Sonic had broken up with Sally, Sonic admitted to liking someone else entirely and… Sonic was bi. Could this mean? No, no; he was getting his hopes up. Just because Sonic said he was bi and loved someone else doesn't mean it was him… It couldn't be him; too many good things have been going his way. There was no way that Sonic could love him. Not an emotionless killing machine like he was. Sonic and him had been rivals, enemies for Pete's sake. How could you go from enemies who were trying to kill each other to love? It didn't happen. End of story.

He had to give up on Sonic; he had to put all of his care and love to the child inside him… Sonic's child… No, he couldn't think about that. This was his child and no one else's. Sonic would never know it was his, but… Sonic would find out about him being pregnant; it was only a matter of time. Sonic was… well, clingy; he would find out eventually about him being pregnant, but he would never know it was his.

Shadow knew Rouge wouldn't tell. She may have been a spy, but she didn't give away important secrets like these. She wasn't cruel. The only person Shadow had to deal with was Tails. He would be a hard one since Tails was Sonic's 'little brother'. Those two shared everything together; it would be hard for the little kitsune to keep a secret like this. It was his 'big brother's' child his was carrying after all.

"Hello, Shadow? Anyone in there?" Sonic asked as he waved his hand in front of Shadow's face. The ebony hedgehog blinked and jumped back. Shadow's face heated up and Sonic smirked when he saw the blush.

The blush stayed on his face as Shadow turned around and stalked back down the hallway to his borrowed bedroom. Damn it! Shadow thought, I spaced out again and in front of Sonic this time. Shadow growled and stomped inside his room and slammed the door.

Sonic yelped as the door slammed in front of his nose and jumped back to avoid hitting it. What was wrong with Shadow now? The other had been spacing out and it had started to concern him. He had seen so many new sides of Shadow today that it was starting to worry him. Shock was new; that was seen when he had walked in. Fear in the other's eyes when he had walked in as well. He had seen… was it hope when he had told Shadow he was bi?

"What's the matter, Shadow? You don't seem like yourself today. Are you sick or something?" Sonic asked through the door. Shadow stuffed his face into a pillow and groaned. Even Sonic had seen the difference. "Please open up, Shadow. I want to make sure you're okay."

Shadow's stomach churned and he clenched his fists. Sonic was worried about him… He should just open the door and tell him straight out. He-

"Why the hell are there thousands of used pregnancy tests in here?! And… they all say positive! What the hell is going on here?!" Damn it, Knuckles, why? Why must you always do this? I knew we should have gotten rid of those. I knew it.

Shadow jumped off the bed and raced to the door. He threw open the door with such force that it slammed against the wall and caused a large dent. Damn… another thing I have to apologize to Rouge for. He pushed passed a shocked Sonic and raced to the bathroom.

"Oh, no you don't, Shads. You did this to me once before and I won't let you do it again." Sonic said and followed the ebony hedgehog right on his heels.

When they made it to the bathroom, they found a frightened, cornered female bat and a male echidna about to blow a gasket. "How can you be pregnant?! We haven't… we haven't done 'that' together yet; so, how can you be pregnant, Rouge?!" Knuckles roared at Rouge. The female looked lost for words.

"I'm not pregnant, Knuckles!" Rouge gasped out. She knew who really was pregnant, but she couldn't tell Knuckles and expose Shadow's secret. Not when Sonic was here and watching the argument.

"I knew you and Shadow were doing it! I never once believed the crap of him being gay! There is no way in hell someone like Shadow could be gay!" Without any warning, Knuckles turned around and charged at Shadow. "I'm going to kill you! I knew you were evil! Once someone is with the bad guys, they always are one!"

Knuckles raised his fist and threw it at Shadow's head. The ebony hedgehog, quickly getting over his shock, ducked under the flying fist and allowed the red echidna to fly over him before grabbing Knuckle's ankle. Knuckles yelped as he was suddenly pulled forward and smashed on his back on the tile floor.

Rouge screamed as her floor exploded into dust and flying debris. She jumped back and shielded herself. Sonic, likewise, shielded himself, but instead of jumping back, jumped into the fighting zone. He made out the figures of Shadow pinning Knuckles to the floor and pulled the ebony hedgehog off him. Quick like his name, Sonic got in between Knuckles and Shadow before they could have another round.

"Settle down you two! This is not the time or place to be brawling like this!" Sonic shouted and threw his arms up to further the block in between Shadow and Knuckles.

The dust soon cleared away and Rouge quickly got in position beside Sonic as well. "Sonic's right! You two shouldn't be fighting; this is just a huge miss understanding!" Rouge locked eyes with Shadow, "And I shouldn't even have to tell you why you shouldn't be fighting."

Shadow looked down and got out of his fighting stance. He unconsciously reached up and slowly started to rub his stomach. Sonic, however, caught this little motion from the other hedgehog and raised an eye ridge. Something big was going on here and he was going to get to the bottom of it even if he died doing it. Whatever was happening had to do with Shadow and Sonic would rather kill himself before ignoring whatever was happening to the one he was so in love with.

Shadow looked around the bathroom before turning around and leaving. "Where are you going, hedgehog?! We're not done yet!" Knuckles shouted after the retreating Shadow as Sonic and Rouge had to grab him to keep him where he was.

The ebony hedgehog stopped and slowly turned back around to glare at the struggling echidna. "I'm getting the phone."

All three occupants in the bathroom looked at Shadow as if he had grown a second head. "Why… are you getting the phone, Shadow?" Rouge asked.

The ebony hedgehog snorted, "To call someone, obviously."

Rouge, Sonic and even Knuckles glared at Shadow. Knuckles had stopped his struggles after seeing the weird behavior of the ebony hedgehog. Or, more like he had forgotten for a second on why he had been struggling in the first place when Shadow had suddenly gone out of character.

"Yes, we already know that you were going to call someone with a phone, Shadow. What we really want to know is why you're going to call someone," Rouge droned and rubbed her temples. If Shadow was acting like this because of the pregnancy it was going to be a long nine months.

"You'll see," was all Shadow said before striding down the hallway to the living room. He picked up the sleek, black home line phone and punched in a number. The other three made it to the living room and stared at Shadow. You know, just to make sure he didn't suddenly start to smile and exclaiming how much he loved butterflies, rainbows and glitter.

Shadow set the phone back down on the receiver and set it to speaker phone. Three loud buzzes vibrated from the phone before someone picked it up and said 'hello'.

"Tails?!" Sonic shouted out in amazement. Why did Shadow call Tails?... And how did Shadow even know Tails' phone number in the first place?

"Sonic? Why are you calling me? Usually you just run over here whenever you want to talk to me," Tails asked over the phone.

Before Sonic could speak, Shadow cleared his throat and started talking. "Tails, you're on speaker phone. We're at Rouge's house and Sonic, Rouge, Knuckles and I are here." Shadow paused and, after seeing that Tails wasn't going to speak again, kept going. "Do you remember what you told me yesterday?"

They all heard Rouge suck in a gasp and looked at her. She waved them away and they all turned their attention back to the phone. So, that's why Shadow was getting the phone! Good thinking, Shadow! Rouge thought to herself.

"A-are you s-sure, Shadow? Y-you told m-me not to-"

"It's fine, Tails. Just tell them what you found out and told me yesterday," Shadow sighed. It looked like he had made the small fox scared of him. Shadow felt a twinge of guilt, but shook it off; it was just the hormones talking.

"Al-alright; well, after Sonic punched Shadow in the stomach and caused him to start puking, Sonic carried Shadow to my lab to get him looked at."

Knuckles started laughing once he had heard Sonic had carried Shadow over to Tails house. "Awww, does the great Ultimate Life Form get sick from one little punch and have to be carried by his rival piggyback to Tails' lab to get looked at?" Knuckles teased and poked Shadow in the shoulder.

"Do that one more time and you'll soon have one less hand after I chaos spear it off of that pathetic thing you call a body," Shadow growled out. He was in no mood for Knuckles teasing. Tails was just about to reveal one of things he had been so desperate to hide from Sonic. Rouge… you owe me one after this. I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't to save your relationship with that idiotic echidna, Shadow growled to himself.

"Well, continuing on what I was saying before, Sonic carried Shadow to my lab and I gave Shadow a check up on what caused him to be sick. What I found was something… unusual…" Tails paused for a second, as if waiting for Shadow to blow up and tell him to shut up. When Shadow didn't say anything, Tails continued. "I went over the test over and over again, but the same outcome always came back…"

"Just hurry up and get to the point Tails!" Knuckles shouted ever the impatient one.

"Well, like I said, I did the test over and over again and they all said… that Shadow was pregnant…" The room fell into silence and Knuckles looked like he had seen a ghost. Sonic, however, looked like the news hadn't rattled him at all. He just stood there, with no emotion, staring at the phone.

Shadow turned to the stunned Knuckles, "There you have it, Knuckles. Rouge wasn't the one pregnant… I was…" Shadow was acting like the revealing hadn't affected him at all. It had. Shadow felt like he had died inside; Sonic was acting like he feared he would. He didn't care and probably thought he was a freak. Shadow had hoped that they could at least stay friends through this, but it looked like it was just a hopeless dream. Another horrible outcome in his useless life.

"But how… what? Um… What? How? Shadow… kid… pregnant… WHAT?" Knuckles sputtered out.

Rouge came up from behind him and took his arm. "Come on, Knucklehead. I'll explain it to you, just come with me." She pulled her boyfriend along and they both walked out of the room.

Shadow's eyes widened, that damn bat was leaving him alone with Sonic again!

"Um, Shadow?" The ebony hedgehog jumped and his body tensed up when Sonic's voice spoke out. What was Sonic going to do? Was he going yell at him and call him a freak? Would he just get up and leave him? Shadow didn't know if he could currently handle that right now. He would probably break down on the spot.

"Yeah?" Shadow held in his breath.

"I'm going to help you."

"Wait… what?"

"I said, I'm going to help you Shadow. You're my friend, of course I'm going to help you when you need it," Sonic reassured and placed a hand on Shadow's shoulder.

Shadow took in Sonic's bright smile and almost broke down right then and there. Sonic didn't think he was a freak. He was going to help him. "Thank you, Sonic. You don't know how much this means to me…"

"You're welcome, Shadow. Of course I'll help you; I wouldn't just leave a friend in need." Shadow let a small smile creep across his face. "If you don't mind me asking, but, who's the father?"

Shadow stiffened, "That's none of your business." Even though the cat was out of the bag, Shadow couldn't bring himself to tell Sonic the child was his and that… he was in love with him. Sonic had just called them friends a few moments ago; he couldn't just break that relationship after Sonic had just offered to help him…

"Alright…" Sonic's emerald eyes darkened in sadness. Shadow wasn't in love with him after all. Not when the other was carrying someone else's child… He could get through this! He was Sonic the Hedgehog after all! The most carefree person in the world; not bound my anything…

Right?

They both left the room and headed out of Rouge's house. However, they had forgotten one thing. "Ah, guys? You still there?" Tails' voice called out from the phone. "Why does everyone always forget about me?"

I would like to thank Sonadowlover121 for giving me an idea at the beginning of the story to help me with my writers block!

Oh and see that box down there?

Sonic: What box would that be, Silver?

Oh, you know that box that I try to get people to write in after every chapter. The one that I just want people to write in after I've spent over four hours for a chapter that's FOR MY READERS.

Shadow: You mean that white box that most people ignore?

That exact one that I cry every time I look at since 80% of my readers ignore it…

PLEASE, READ AND REVIEW in that awesome sauce box below or I will be very sad!

Silver: Yes readers, she will be very sad. I see it all the time. You really need to review. :)