Red Plaza. All decked out and colorful in preparation for… Halloween, Sonic guessed. It was the next holiday in the lineup. Funny, he didn't remember Halloween colors being pink, purple, and rainbow. Men walked around in funny outfits handing out badges with triangles on them and gave them oddly friendly smiles, and women seemed to be the minority, all huddled in a group like they were...

Shadow was mortified. She had completely forgotten about the LGBT promotional visit to the most romantic place on the continent (for all lovers, apparently). It was clear that Sonic had, too; otherwise he never would have invited her! …Or maybe he was trying to say something.

"I wonder what everybody's so happy about?"

Okay, so Sonic was just entirely unaware of the event. Shadow, in order to avoid further contact with anybody in rainbow spandex, grabbed Sonic by the chest fuzz and dragged him into the ladies restroom, hiding near the sinks. Sonic, confused as he was, protested.

"Shadow, we're in the girls' room? I don't know if you're just lost or what, but the boys' room is on the other side of the-."

"Shh! Sonic, what are we doing here?"

"I don't know, I don't have to go to the bathroom, and-."

"I meant: 'at the mall'! What are we doing at the mall?"

"Um. I don't know. Shopping or something? I just wanted to hang out…"

"There are a million places to hang out in this city, Sonic; why'd you have to choose the place where the LGBT are today?"

"LGBT?"

Shadow leaned back against a pinkish stall. How could a twenty-one year old be so naïve?

"LGBT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender."

"Oh my G-!"

Sonic froze, apparently having some sort of mental breakdown.

"Sonic? Sonic, snap out of it! Wake up!"

'This is all your fault!'

'That's amazing, dude; I didn't remember!' Uncharted Territory laughed, pointing at Shadow, 'Now he's gonna figure it out! Whether you want him or not!'

"Shadow, I didn't know!" insisted Sonic, his shoulders shaking, glancing back and forth between Shadow and Uncharted Territory, "I'm not- I mean; you know I'm not-!"

"Sonic, relax," sighed Shadow, already forming a plan of escape. "Let's just get out of here and maybe come back some other time."

Uncharted Territory's expression blanked. He stared at Shadow with a quizzical stare.

'He…He wants to leave, already?' he looked away, unfamiliar emotions in his eyes. Thoughtful. Worried.

"Okay, Shadow," said Sonic, a tiny hint of disappointment in his voice, matching Uncharted Territory's visage, "let's get out of here."

Shadow immediately jumped up and grabbed Sonic's hand.

"Chaos Con-!"

"WAIT!" exclaimed Sonic, letting go of Shadow's hand, Shadow stopping her invocation. "Wait…"

"What..? You'd… rather stay here?"

"I know you might be… uncomfortable around them, but I'm sure if you get to know them, they're… not bad? I don't know. I didn't think they were weird. I mean, they just like different people, I guess. What I'm trying to say is- …can we at least get something to eat at the food court before we leave?"

'Listen up, boy blue; you're retarded.' Groaned Uncharted Territory, slumping against a stall door before accidentally falling in.

'Wow,' said Shadow, shaking his head, a dumbfounded expression on his face, "just… wow. Okay, we'll get lunch. Just…"

Shadow was in awe, following Sonic out of the restroom and toward the food court, smiling and waving at all the unfamiliar- wait, was that Dr. Epperson?
Um. The unfamiliar… Wow. She knew a lot of people here, actually. They waved back at her, a raised eyebrow all that showed any 'what are you doing here' in their expressions. Shadow really couldn't complain; they were nice people, just… misguided? No… what could describe what made them different? Shadow shook it off as Sonic approached a submarine sandwich store, just as Shadow was craving a BLT...G? What wouldn't they rename for a special occasion?

Uncharted Territory sat backwards in a chair at a table adjacent to Sonic and Shadow's. Shadow munched his BLT with a mystery ingredient that composed the G part of the special one-day-only name, and Sonic had practically already eaten his spaghetti-sauce-and-meatball sandwich. Uncharted Territory sighed loudly and obnoxiously.

'Does he know you're gay, yet?'

'If I was gay, he would," groaned Sonic, mentally. In real life he spoke: "You figure out what the G is, Shadow?"

"I think it's… garlic. That's the only G-thing I can think of off the top of my head. Doesn't taste like garlic, though."

'He said G-thing; that is hilarious.' Sighed Uncharted Territory, staring at Shadow's sandwich.

"Maybe it's gherkin. You ever had a gherkin before? Like a cucumber, except you have to cook it special."

"Maybe that's it. Hey!" called Shadow, to the nearby cashier for the sandwich shop, "Does the G stand for gherkin?"

The man nodded, giving a thumbs-up. Shadow smiled.

"Guess I haven't tried everything, have I?"

"Now you have," joked Sonic, laughing a bit.

'And Sonic the Hedgehog saves the day.'

Sonic's expression blanked. 'You said seven words.'

'So what if I said seven words?' retorted Uncharted Territory, saying seven words again.

Sonic looked around a bit, confused.

'You said seven words, and all this time you've only been saying six; all day you've only been saying six words per sentence and now you're saying seven?'

"Something wrong, Sonic?" asked Shadow, breaking Sonic's concentration.

"No, not really," said Sonic, making unsteady eye contact with Shadow.

Shadow had an inner debate. Be forward and tell him you're worried about him? Or be cool and tell him to stop spacing out? Be cool, definitely.

"You make me worry sometimes, you know that?" Oops.

Sonic lowered his head, seemingly feeling guilty.

"Sorry. I just… I'm having a sort of… inner debate, you know? Ever had one of those?"

"All the time," deadpanned Shadow, feeling as if somehow Sonic was reading her mind.

Sonic nodded, glancing down at Shadow's hand across the table, still with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry about bringing you here. I honestly didn't know about the… G-L-… -something people. We'll leave when you're done eating."

Shadow reached over, touching Sonic's opposite hand, trying to cheer him up a bit. Gee, that sounded kind of weird, actually. Cheering up Sonic?

"Hey, we're tight, remember?" Shadow reassured, "if you want to hang out with those people, that's fine with me. I actually know quite a few of them, looking through that crowd…"

"Really?" asked Sonic, somewhat at ease.

"Well, they all live around here, so-."

"I meant: 'really, we're staying awhile,' Shadow," chuckled Sonic.

"We keep doing that, don't we," sighed Shadow, smiling back.

Today still had the potential to be good, so why not?