I'm sorry for the long delay...
I had some problems, but you're alright now.
Well, I hope you enjoy ^^'
Once Tails left, Sonic could finally relax and breathe, once he never grew so nervous in his whole life. That question was still haunting his mind, annoying him. Why would him be so nervous? Soon closing the door, he locked the whole house, feeling outworn.
He wanted to see him, maybe the ebony hedgehog was better, but he was afraid of waking him up. Thinking about that, he stopped his hand before reaching the doorknob, soon turning back and walking towards the kitchen, seeking for something to distract his mind with. He looked at the empty cabinets, some even with cobwebs, due to lack of use or cleaning. He would fix that later.
Sonic sighed, afraid of going to the bedroom, once, even if sedated, Shadow needed a long and peaceful night of sleep. Dark circles showed the Ultimate Life Form's lack of sleep, and the Blue Blur wanted to prevent anything from disturbing the other's recovery. Once noticing the Sun was rising, even though there were still some rebel clouds blocking the light. Tired of this long night – and beginning of a tiring day –, he fell in the couch, not caring about that, once he was in great shape, differently from Shadow, and that was enough to weirdly disturb him.
With a sigh, he closed his eyes, soon falling asleep.
Waking up with the sunlight that came through the window and reflected on the TV screen – which was annoying, in a way –, he soon sat back up, stretching slowly, not finding himself surprised with the loud sound of his bones snapping, and stood back on his feet, yawning.
Walked to the bathroom, and, after using it, went straight to the kitchen, just to remember there was nothing to be found. Resigned, he decided to get to the closest market, once he saw no other option, yet he feared leaving Shadow alone, and would ask Tails for help, but soon gave up on that idea, once remembering he already bothered the young Fox in the middle of the night for his own incompetence.
Sonic was leaving the house when noticing how colder the weather was getting since the last time he went out. According to his experience, it wouldn't be long until it started to snow, he just hoped it wouldn't bother him while he ran through the highway, so fast he could barely be seen, while laughing when hearing soft screams, due to the wind of his speed that always rose dresses. In a way, he was already used to the consequences of his speed, and sometimes laughed at these.
Entering the supermarket like a hurricane, the Blue Blur was fast, yet careful enough to not mess up the hundreds of canned soup units that could be found everywhere. Reaching the cashier with his hands full, he noticed he forgot his wallet, and cleverly asked the cashier to write this value down to Knuckles' account, soon thanking it and leaving, with his arms and hands full of bags.
Lost in his thoughts, he ended up bumping into someone, gulping nervously when noticing the one who fell down was the Echidna, himself.
"Hi, Knuckles! Err… I… I g-gotta go, see you later!" Quickly jumping back to his feet, Sonic just ran away, leaving the Echidna with a confused expression on his face.
"Weird… What happened to him?" Knuckles muttered to himself, scratching his head when watching the Hedgehog running away. Shrugging, he stood back up to his feet as well, turning back towards the supermarket, once he needed to refill his cupboard.
Finally back at the ebony Hedgehog's house, it seemed that many time had passed since he left. The sun was clearly present in the sky, even with the cold weather. As soon as he entered, Sonic lost no time and quickly stored the food he bought, before beginning to clean the place, which he honestly hated, yet, after a good while, found himself forced to do that, muttering to himself. Even though he hated the idea of cleaning, a stronger thought was present on his mind: that Shadow needed a clean place to breathe and slowly recover his health, which Sonic thought about while opening each and every window so some air would flow inside the place while he worked.
Hours had passed while the Hedgehog occupied himself with such task. It wasn't THAT bad, after all, yet his back was sore and he had calluses on his hands. Soon, a knock could be heard at the front door, which he quickly answered. It was Tails, who soon fell on his back, laughing.
"What?" He asked, slightly annoyed, wearing an apron and holding a duster.
"What happened to you!? You look like a MAID!" The young fox lost control over his own laughter, while Sonic glanced madly at him.
"Hilarious, Tails." The Hedgehog answered, sarcastically.
"S-sorry, sorry, I couldn't hold it back." Tails answered, running a hand to his head and rubbing his slightly sore – due to such hard laughter - belly with the other. "So, did you notice any sign of change on him?"
"Err… Well, to be honest, I didn't get there since earlier, so I don't know. I didn't want to end up messing it up." His voice showed a hint of embarrassment, before he looked down, trying to avoid visual contact with his friend.
"I understand, but I wouldn't mind that for now. Yet, he needs to eat something, otherwise his natural defenses will drop back to the levels we saw before. Luckily, I've got everything I need at home." The fox reassured, with a smile.
"Tails… I don't know how I could thank you for everything you did and do for me. I can't even find words to express my gratitude." Sonic answered sincerely, glaring at the blue eyes of his young friend.
"Let's postpone that, I'll need help with the tubes." Tails answered, with a serious expression on his face. Now it was time to 'work'. Helping his friends always made him happy, and he obviously took this task as a work. It was a natural aspect of the fox's personality, he never felt forced to anything involving helping Sonic or any of his friends. Not that he considered Shadow a 'friend', but, if he was Sonic's friend, he was also his friend.
"Tubes..?" Sonic asked, confused.
"He's sedated for a while, I cannot clearly estimate how long until the effect wear off, but if my estimates are correct, he might wake up tomorrow." The Fox said, slightly rubbing his chin.
"That long?" The Hedgehog asked, surprised.
"You saw his initial state, it's good to let him 'sleep'. That might replenish the lost energy. Also, the medication will not be administered orally. The serum will hydrate his body, so… There's nothing to worry about." Tails smiled, confident.
"If you say… C'mon, Tails, get in!" Sonic answered, allowing he Fox in.
"And oh, before I forget, Knuckles is furious. I don't know what you did, but he asked, better, yelled that, if he catches you… You'll be left in a coma until the next Christmas."
Sonic slightly shivered with Knuckles' delicate message, while closing the door and walking silently after Tails. Both entered the bedroom, while the Fox checked the ebony Hedgehog's vital spots, besides the bandages and the serum bag.
"Tails… Is that really needed?" Sonic asked, looking at the countless bandages applied to the other Hedgehog.
"Hm?" Tails blinked, rather confused. "Don't you remember how you found him? You probably didn't notice, in the hurry, the infected wounds he has. These bandages are nothing but a preventive measure." He touched Shadow's forehead, measuring the Hedgehog's temperature. "Hm… The fever is slowly fading away."
"Wounds? What happened to you, Shadow? You seemed so healthy when we last met… Shadow…" Sonic thought to himself, absorbed in his thoughts while glancing at Shadow, until a hand waved right in front of his face.
"Hey? Sonic? I need your help here!" He called his friend, looking a bit suspicious at him.
"Oh! S-sorry, Tails. I think I got distracted." He smiled, a little shy.
"You think?" The Fox answered, with a little laugh. "Come on, Sonic. I need you to hold him while I insert the tube. Hold him firmly and open his mouth. It's not hard, but I need to be quick, otherwise he can choke. Got it?" He asked, already with such tube in hands, using a transparent latex glove.
Sonic nodded, yet felt pretty anxious and certainly fearful when doing it, yet Tails was right, it wasn't hard. Once the tube was in the Hedgehog's throat, the young fox added a syringe to the exposed edge of the tube, looking disgusted at this content. He didn't want to even know what it was, just turned his face away.
To touch his rival's face, to feel the other's breathing centimeters away from his face made him nervous, even if it was needed to medicate and feed Shadow. Praying for his nervousism to remain unnoticed before the 'patient', Sonic had no idea of what caused such feeling, what made his heart beat so fast, in an uncommon manner.
"That'll help enhancing the immune system." Tails muttered, injecting another syringe with a colorless liquid wth the serum. "Maybe he can even wake up earlier than expected, only time will tell." The young fox commented, with a smile.
"Thank you, Tails." He sighed. Sonic had absolutely no idea that this task would be a little different and baffling, and wondered if he was also treated like that, in the many times he fell unconscious. Deep inside, he disapproved the fact Tails touched the other Hedgehog so freely, but the Blue Blur soon shook his head, avoiding such thoughts.
"Well, like I said, you gotta wait. Maybe he'll wake up earlier than expected, if his immune system recovers properly, the sedative's effect will wear off in little time. Again, I cannot estimate clearly, once his system is a little more complex, in a way, once he wasn't, let's say, 'born' like us, we can face variations of how his body will react when he's awake. My guess, though, is that he will face dizziness that's why I ask you to keep him in the bed, for at least two weeks." Tails concluded.
"I need to ask you a little favor. Since I'll be here, if Eggman decides to do anything, I'll leave the task of kicking his butt in your hands. Ultimately, he had been weaker than before, so it'll be easy." Sonic smiled.
"Right, thanks for trusting us, hero." Tails answered, ironically.
"…" Sonic just scratched his head a bit, laughing shyly. "See you later?"
"Yes. Oh, if he wakes up, call me. I'll need to examine him further to ensure his recovery and that he's following my advice. And, take this." He gave the Hedgehog a chart with twenty small pills. "It's an analgesic, it can be useful. Remember, medicate him every eight hours, if he's sore."
"Got it. See you later, Tails." Sonic walked the young Fox outside. "Well, I ask you to keep this whole thing between us. Please, don't tell anyone about Shadow or what we're doing here." The plural pronunciation still troubled him, but he ignored that.
"Amy?" The Fox asked, raising one of his eyebrows.
"Shadow…" Sonic answered, with a sigh.
"Got it." He smiled and waved. "Later, Sonic! Hope things get better." The young fox followed his way, in order to head back to his workshop, where he was working on the last details of a engine prototype for his plane.
"Me too…" Sonic whispered to himself.
Headed back to the bedroom, where he found Shadow 'sleeping', his breathing slow. Sonic replaced the towel to the other's forehead, once he began sweating once again, as if he was having a nightmare. His painful expression was a torture for the blue hedgehog, which simply couldn't resist the temptation of touching his face in order to comfort the ebony Hedgehog, even though he had absolutely no idea of why he did that, though he couldn't help but find Shadow's expression sort of cute. "You're gonna be alright, Shadow… I'm with you."
Comment if you like this... I like know as is the story ^-^'
See ya, guys.
by: Shadow Shirami.
(and thankies Kazu for helping me with this ;-;)