Shadow woke up in her own bed; more awake than she'd been in days. She ignored the pain pills on her bedside table and put on some day clothes. A green hooded sweatshirt with blue jeans; again, nothing special. She didn't have to worry about working anytime soon, anyway; the diner had completely burned to the ground. She reached into the pocket of her apron, hanging on the back of her door and retrieved the Chaos Emerald, slipping it into her shirt pocket as she left the room; freezing in surprise as she entered the kitchen.

She had actually expected Sonic to leave before she woke up, but here he was, munching some chips out of a half-empty bag from the counter, his feet up on the table, the chair he was in tilted back onto its back two legs and looking fairly precarious.

"Morning, Sonic…"

Sonic looked up, surprised. The front two legs of the chair touched down. He brought his feet off of the table and hurriedly closed the chip bag.

"No, you can have those. I'll never finish them…"

Sonic smiled sheepishly, re-opening the bag.

"Thanks… You sleep well?"

Shadow nodded, sitting down and putting her feet up on the table, crossing her ankles. "You?"

Sonic shrugged. "You have a nice couch. Microfiber. Repels quills. Smart choice."

Shadow smiled. "When you're a hedgehog, you become self-aware fairly quickly. Sour cream and onion?"

"Second favorite to barbecue. Already emptied that bag. You've got quite a selection, actually."

"I try to expand my horizons. You should see how many kinds of cheeses there are in my fridge."

Sonic chuckled a bit, putting his feet back up on the table. "I like cheese."

"Brie? Limburger? Jalapeno and Cayenne Cheddar?"

"Never heard of them. Taste any good?"

"Brie tastes creamy but it's got a weird aftertaste. Limburger tastes… to put it bluntly, like dirt. And that last one is kind of spicy, I guess."

"Wow."

"Not that spicy. It's more like pepperoni or something. That kind of spicy."

"I meant: 'wow, you're really smart about food,' kind of 'wow'. Sheesh."

They laughed a bit. Irony.

Sonic started moving his pointer finger in the air, but Shadow cut him off with fingers crossed. Sonic looked at him, and then looked at his hand. He crossed his fingers.

"What does that mean, anyways? Good luck? I'm lying?"

"We're tight."

"Oh! Okay. I'm good with that."

"Why do you keep doing that pantomime-love-you thing?"

"Um..."

Sonic turned his head to his left, his ears perked as if hearing something. He kept his eyes on Shadow, though.

"Sonic?"

"We're like, brotherly love, kinda. I think. Friendly love?" sputtered Sonic, snapping out of his daze.

"Oh. Well."

Brotherly love? Did Sonic think she was a guy or something, now? Maybe he had brotherly love for her. Like a brother. That made more sense.

"I love you, too." Sisterly love? That sounded like she was a nun, which she most certainly was not…

Sonic had thought that maybe Uncharted Territory had been a hallucination of his food-deprived brain. He hadn't appeared until Shadow had asked about that charades thing he'd been doing. The little devil, not so little anymore, actually, had told him to confess his feelings, and Sonic had responded that he didn't have any, to which Uncharted Territory gave him a very sarcastic glare and disappeared.

Now he was back after Shadow's response.

'I think he digs you, really. You should totally go for it. Look at those eyes, he's sad. Disappointed in your 'brotherly love' shtick. Smile at him, cheer him up!'

Sonic did smile at Shadow, and Shadow smiled back. Sonic noticed his eyes. Red. It was his favorite color… But he also saw a tiny, metaphorical flame behind them, a spark showing in his pupils. Sonic shook off the thought. Since when was he metaphorical?

Sonic glanced back at Uncharted Territory. He had gotten his ears pierced in the time Sonic was thinking.

'You are on your way, kid. Now, you don't have any plans. Does he have anything planned, today?'

"You doing anything later, Shadow?"

"I'm not doing anything now! …You got anything scheduled?"

"No…"

'Make your move, Sonic; he's waiting!'

"Wanna head over to… The… Mall?"

'Nice one, bonehead; shopping with Shadow.'

"Sure. Might wanna stop by the police station first, thought. Turn in those rings."

'You are one brilliant sonuva gun.'

"I'll need to stop by the bank, then. I haven't got anything on me right now."

Shadow raised an eyebrow, standing up and heading over towards the door.

"I broke the doors, I'll pay the rings. I've got more than enough, anyhow."

"Shadow, I-…"

'You picked the right guy, pal. Rich, pretty, smart, sexy, and rich? Quintuple threat there, my friend- brilliant.'

'I am not that kind of guy, Uncharted Territory,' insisted Sonic as Shadow left.

'Right, 'beautiful soul' and all that. Well, you focus on that, pal. I will take care of downstairs.'

''Downstairs'? What do you mean 'downstairs'?'

Uncharted Territory grinned, clicking his tongue.

'Not sure if you're ready, kid. You're twenty one, but you're… naïve. For twenty one, anyway…' his eyebrows narrowed, 'screw it. I am talking about sex, Sonic.'

Sonic's eyes widened. 'You're not suggesting Shadow and me-? Sex-? No! Shadow's not-! How do two guys-? No! I don't even wanna know!'

'Virgins; you kids crack me up. Now, you're going to the mall. What is next on the agenda?'

'I'm still on the whole sex thing! Is that your goal? Your filthy… sent-from-hell mission?'

'Who the heck says 'filthy,' Sonic? And no, that's not my objective. You want it, he wants it. I am putting it all together. You don't have to 'do it'.'

"Thank God," muttered Sonic, under his breath, getting up from the table and meeting Shadow by the door.

"You work something out with yourself?" joked Shadow, holding open the door.

Sonic's answer caught in his throat, but he nodded as they left apartment 217, Shadow locking the door behind them and putting the key in his pocket.