Author's Note: Hey guys ! Sorry it's taking forever to get chapters up. :( School sucks! I'm sure most of you know how it is . And I'm sorry if this chapter bores you a bit. I've been having some MAJOR writer's block on this fanfic for a lil bit. (Or typer's block. W/E) Ha-ha! Buuuuuuut, here's chapter 3! I hope you enjoy, and I can almost guarantee that it won't take forever to put up another chapter like it did this time. R&R&ENJOYYYYY! : )

The Stepbrother

Sonic walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch next to Tails. Sitting across from him on the opposite couch were Bernadette, Jules, and the infamous Shadow. Sonic thought it best to stay as far away from him as possible after that . . . interesting incident to say the least, that happened to Sonic.

When Sonic thought about the situation again, Shadow lying on the floor underneath him, him on top of Shadow's hips, pinning him down, it brought an immediate light red hue of blush to Sonic's face. How could Shadow take the situation like that? Did he really think that Sonic would try something like this? They were brothers now!

Sonic didn't want Shadow to get any wrong ideas, but as Sonic thought more and more about his earlier troubles, he couldn't help the fact that his face was getting redder and redder.

Of course he was oblivious to the fresh rosy hue appearing on his face; but Shadow wasn't. The dark hedgehog had been watching Sonic all the way from the moment he stepped out of his room 'til the moment he sat down on the couch almost across from his own seat. There was something a bit . . . intriguing about his new little brother. Something that interested him in particular; he just couldn't put his finger on it, though. Shadow was the type of guy that liked to test things to see what would set them off, to see what would drive them crazy, to see what would push them to their limit. He liked to be under people's skin and make them nervous around him. He didn't know why he felt that way, but he just did and he liked it.

So when Sonic sat down on the couch and looked around nervously, Shadow kept his eyes locked on Sonic's, and he would continue to keep his eyes on Sonic until the blue blur would notice and, hopefully, go crazy. Shadow kept a blank look on his face as he bore his eyes straight into the emeralds across from him. He noticed that Sonic seemed to intentionally look at anything and everything but Shadow.

'No matter.' Shadow thought. 'He'll look at me soon enough.'

Meanwhile, after Sonic plopped down on the couch, unaware of Shadow's little plan. Jules and Bernadette began to try to strike up conversation.

"So Sonic," Jules started. "How has school been so far for you?"

Sonic, who was looking down at his hands and twiddling his thumbs, looked up at Jules and answered, "Fine."

"Er . . . anything interesting happen Friday?" Jules tried again.

"Nothin' much." Sonic replied. "I got an A on my English test . . . we had a half-day . . . nothing new." He shrugged and said in a bored tone.

"Oh, well that sounds good." Jules agreed.

"Well, I built a miniature space shuttle!" Tails boasted loudly and proudly.

"Wonderful, Tails! Way to use your . . . "Bernadette's praise was cut off by the golden-yellow fox.

"I know! I'm planning on building a life-size one to launch into space. I mean after all, my IQ is one of the highest around. I think it's only fair I share my brilliant, genius mind with the world, right?" Tails, now, stood up from his seat, probably in some hope that this would further confirm his point. "And after that, I plan on making money building millions and MILLIONS of space shuttles. I just know I'll get rich off of 'em! And when I do, the WORLD will see the brilliance that is . . . Miles. Tails. Prower! Bwahahahahaha—OWW!"

Tails was interrupted by a swift, but striking hit to his noggin. He turned around to glare at the owner of his interruption.

"Sonic! What was that for?"

"Because! I love you an' all, but you're such a cocky know-it-all, sometimes. I've told you before and I keep telling you every time you do this. No one cares about what you're gonna do with your life!." Sonic explained to him, quietly.

"Hmph! You're just jealous cuz you're not doing anything with your life." Tails mumbled about Sonic to himself and sat back on the couch.

"He-he . . . well . . . t-that's . . . that's very interesting, Miles." Bernadette stuttered.

"It is indeed." Jules agreed. "Why, I, myself, am becoming fascinated with the fields of space shuttle designing. As a matter of fact . . . " And as Jules went off on a tangent explaining to a fascinated Tails, Sonic let out an exasperated breath of air.

'Why me?' Sonic asked himself as he looked around his surroundings. To him, it seemed he was almost always having the hardest time in life. It wasn't until he snuck a peek in Shadow's direction did he catch the ebony creature staring at him.

Sonic looked away fast, hoping and praying that Shadow would cast his eyes in another direction. But when Sonic took another brief glance, Shadow was still boring holes into Sonic. Sonic tried to force himself to look away from the source of his newfound discomfort, but he couldn't seem to find enough strength to. He looked back at the hedgehog with a confused look on his face.

'What?', he mouthed to Shadow, silently asking why Shadow was staring at him. But Shadow didn't answer. He just kept his eyes on his target, and began to smirk. This made Sonic even more uncomfortable, and he began to squirm, slightly. He bit his lip in exasperation wishing that Shadow would quit whatever charade he was playing. Sonic decided that he would just look away to keep himself from focusing on Shadow, but he found himself glancing back in Shadow's direction. Shadow was still staring at him. Another new and deeper shade of pink and red re-formed on Sonic's cheeks as he blushed, terribly. He rested his chin on his hand and attempted to cover up some of the blush with his hand, but to no avail. Shadow noticed all of Sonic's discomfort.

And he loved it.

There was an indescribable feeling that was building up inside of him that he enjoyed. He had made other people uncomfortable before and he'd probably gotten a similar, if not the same, reaction. But Sonic's reaction was intriguing to him, even more intriguing than anyone else he'd ever messed with. Was it Sonic's reaction that intrigued him? Or was it just Sonic? He didn't know and he didn't understand why, but he decided that he didn't want this feeling inside of him to just vanish at the moment. So, he did what he felt he had to do to keep it alive inside him; he pushed to make Sonic feel more discomfort.

As Shadow continued to stare holes into Sonic's face, he lowered his eyelids in a successful attempt to make him appear a little more seductive. Sonic noticed immediately and began to tense up.

'W-what is he d-doing? . . . why is he st-staring at me like that?' Sonic thought to himself while getting nervous by the second.

"What are you staring at me for?" Sonic quietly tried to ask again, but it was of no use because Shadow wasn't talking. Sonic tried again to avert his eyes from Shadow's gaze, but he found it to be impossible to do so. As he stared at Shadow's eyes, he noticed that Shadow's eyes were scanning him up and down as if he was a delicious piece of meat or something. Sonic swallowed hard at this. Then Shadow re-made contact with Sonic's frightened emerald eyes again, and Shadow slowly and sexily licked his lips at Sonic.

Sonic moved around in his seat trying to find a position of comfort, but it was of no use. Shadow was getting inside of his head, and it didn't seem like anyone else noticed. Jules and Tails were still deeply engaging in their previous conversation, and Bernadette continued to smile and nod, occasionally sipping the tea that she had made for herself beforehand.

Sonic didn't know what to do. Little did Shadow know, Sonic was losing his mind and going crazy. Or did Shadow know? Was Shadow doing this to him on purpose? Acting weird . . . staring at Sonic . . . was all of this a game?

'Stupid jackass!' Sonic thought, angrily. A whole twenty-four hours hadn't even passed yet and Sonic already loathed his troublesome stepbrother. He couldn't take a whole lifetime of this. He simply couldn't. And, once again, this was all his mother's fault. If she had just stayed single, none of this would be happening to him, he thought.

As Sonic came back from staring into space for that brief moment, he looked back at Shadow. And he was still staring at him! And he had a wide smirk on his face, too!

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" Sonic stood up and shouted at Shadow.

Everyone instantly stopped what they were doing, and they stared at Sonic as if he had grown three extra heads right then and there. Everyone except for Shadow. Shadow couldn't have had a more satisfying look on his face.

"Sonic?" Bernadette started. "A-are . . . are you okay, son?"

"NO! Sh-shadow . . . h-he . . . he kept . . . he was . . . m-make him leave me alone, mom!" He stuttered trying to find the words to explain.

"But honey . . . Shadow hasn't done anything. He was sitting there the whole time, minding his business."

"That's not true! Tell her!" Sonic demanded of Shadow.

Shadow closed his eyes for a brief few seconds, shook his head and chuckled; he then opened his eyes and began to speak. "I think you're son's delusional, Bernadette." He stated in his deep, sexy voice that was currently threatening to drive Sonic up the wall. "I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about."

Sonic shook angrily and stalked toward Shadow.

"You little LIAR! Why I yotta . . . "Sonic was interrupted.

"SONIC!" Bernadette called. "That's more than enough! Why must you always be so disruptive?"

Sonic stared at his mother in annoyance before turning and stomping toward the front door.

"And just where are you going? . . . Sonic? SONIC!" The azure hedgehog simply ignored his mother and continued out of the door, slamming it on his way out. Meanwhile, a triumphant, onyx hedgehog was reclining on the couch, sneakily smiling, and proud of his achievement.

'This is just the beginning.' Shadow thought to himself.

~.~.~

Somewhere along a busy sidewalk in Emerald City, a fed-up, blue hedgehog could be found.

This had been the second time that Sonic had stalked out of the house that day, and it was the second time that his 'brother' had irritated him. Two was such an unlucky number for Sonic at the moment.

"Stupid bastard. He comes in my house trynna screw up my life! And I've never even done anything to the freak!" Sonic talked to himself.

He ignored the confused or disturbed stares that he received from the pedestrians he passed by along the walk. He realized that he had left Tails at the house, but he didn't care at the moment. Besides that, not only did it look like Tails was enjoying himself within the company of the adults, Sonic made up in his mind that he needed some time to relax and just unwind. And he figured that he wasn't going to get what he wanted back at his house, which was the complete opposite of what Sonic needed at the moment.

Sonic continued to walk up the sidewalk and pass a numerous amount of stores, malls, and food restaurants. Although Sonic's home was located in a peaceful area, taking a few turns around his block would reveal how busy his home location could truly be. Emerald City was a favorite place known by the public, and Sonic lived nearly two minutes from possibly the biggest city in Mobius.

'*sigh* I shouldn't be getting this mad.' Sonic thought to himself. 'I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, the world's biggest and fastest hero. What do I look like getting upset over somethin' so stupid!'

As Sonic began to unwind even more, the thought of Shadow slowly drifting away, he started to pass his favorite location in almost all of Emerald City: Lily's Chili Dogs.

Sonic the hedgehog was not only known for his speed and nobility, but also for his insane love for chili dogs. One day, he decided to try the place out and ever since then, he hadn't been able to stay away from the place. Not only did he discover his new favorite fast-food restaurant, but he also made friends with the teenage cook of the place, Lily the Cat. Sonic immediately opened the door to the shop and walked right in. He sat down on one of the stools by the counter and ordered.

"Hey there, Sonic!" the cute, pink-eyed, golden cat greeted. "What'll you be gettin' ?"

"The usual." He responded.

"Of course you are." She answered with a smile and disappeared into the kitchen. "Be right back with that order."

As Lily left, Sonic propped his elbow up on the counter and leaned on his hand. This was nice for him, being able to get away from the turmoil for a few moments. Even though the city was noisy, it was peaceful to him compared to the strife he had to deal with back at home. No troubles. No worries. No noise.

"Hey, doofus." A deep, booming voice called out to Sonic.

Sonic sighed and slouched on his stool, putting his head down in his arms on the counter. He knew that voice. It could only belong to one person.

"What are you doing here, Knuckles?" Sonic demanded wearily.

Knuckles was a red echidna, strangely one of the only few of his kind. He had a crescent-moon shaped tattoo on his chest and two razor sharp claws on each of his knuckles. He was also the guardian of a very big and powerful jewel called the Master Emerald, which was a very important jewel that had been in his family for generations. Where Knuckles lacked Sonic's speed, he made up for with his inhumane, incredible strength. He was one of Sonic's best friends and Knuckles was always there when it seemed like Sonic needed him.

"Oh, I'm fine, Sonic. Thanks for asking." He responded, sarcastically. "Y'know, I always knew you to be so kind and caring."

"Well, you called me doofus when you walked in, so it's only right." Sonic remarked.

Knuckles made a face and then continued. "Anyway, I was walking down the street to go back home, but I saw you dragging your way here. And you don't usually come here upset. What's wrong, dummy?" He nudged Sonic on the back.

"Nothin." Sonic mumbled.

"Don't lie to me. Besides, you're not good at it. Now, what's wrong?" He asked once more.

"Everything." Sonic replied. "My mom, her b- . . . b-boyfriend . . . "Sonic struggled. ". . . and my stupid stepbrother!" Sonic spat the last word out with disgust.

"Stepbrother?"

"Yeah. His name's Shadow. Jules decided to surprise us by pulling his secret son out of his pocket and telling us he's gonna live with us."

"Hn. Sound's . . . terrible?" Knuckles said in a confused manner.

"It is terrible! The guy's nothing but bad news! He came in my room uninvited, he lied to my mom, and he tried to flir- . . . "

". . . yes?" Knuckles waited for Sonic to finish.

". . . h-he's . . . he's just bad, that's all you need to know." Sonic finished, looking down and twiddling his thumbs. He couldn't tell Knuckles that his stepbrother tried to flirt with him. Is that what Shadow was doing? Was he even flirting with Sonic? Or was he just trying to get the best of him? Sonic didn't even know, but he decided that before telling anyone what happened, he needed to make sure he wasn't just jumping to conclusions.

"Hmm, well. I guess I should meet this kid and find out for myself then, huh?" Knuckles pounded his fist into his hand. "If he's making my best friend annoyed, and I use the term best friend loosely . . . " Sonic glared at the echidna for his facetious remark. ". . . then I guess I should have something to say to the moron. It's only right! So where is he? Your house?" He questioned.

"Yeaa." Sonic replied. "But, you'll see him in school tomorrow. So don't worry about it today, I guess."

"Mkay. Fine by me. But, make sure he doesn't annoy you too much when you guys are sleeping in the same house tonight. Cause then I would have to pound him for taking my job of annoying you." Knuckles exclaimed as a smirk arose on his face.

"Shut up, Knucklehead!" Sonic replied in a playful tone.

"He-he! Whatever. See ya." Knuckles waved and walked out of the shop.

Sonic shook his head at his friend, the term loosely used by Knuckles. Sonic and Knuckles had a hate-love relationship; sometimes they loved each other as brothers, and other times they would fight and they wouldn't be able to stand each other as brothers. But all in all, they would always have each others back. Thinking of the relationship made Sonic smile to himself. But then, the smile suddenly disappeared, and he replayed in his mind what Knuckles had just reminded him.

Flashback:

". . . fine by me. But, make sure he doesn't annoy you too much when you guys are sleeping in the same house tonight . . . "

Flashback Ended.

Oh snap.

'Shadow's . . . Sh-Shadow's sleeping in the same house with me tonight. Great.' He thought.

Sonic leaned his chin on his hands and some of the uncomfortable feelings he had before Knuckles arrival came crawling back again. And just before he had the chance to remember about his food . . .

"Order up!"