Author's Note: Hey, readers. I'm sorry this chapter is posted uber-late. But, school is a top priority for me, so it comes first! HAHAHA (It has to. My parents will kill me -_-)

Annnywhooooo, I just want to really thank EVERYONE for my reviews because I enjoy them so much and I also enjoy the fact that you guys seem to be enjoying my story. I, personally, think that it could be better, but it's my first fanfic, so I decided not to completely beat myself over the head with my shoe if it doesn't turn out exactly how I want it, y'know? And one more thing, I know there are rules about this that I can just probably read, but can someone tell me how I can keep my fanfics from getting taken off of the site, pretty please with cherries? I read that some people's fanfics got taken off, and I had no idea why. Wellllll, obviouslyyy (in my Huntsville rapist song guy voice; haha –if you don't know what it is, youtube it.) plz R&R! ENJOY! : )

P.S.- You guys can count on me having one or two more chapters up during my 2 weeks of Christmas break which I think starts next week! ; )

The Stepbrother

*Beeeep* *Beeeep* *Beeeep* *Beeeep* *Beee-BOOM!*

Sonic's hand instinctively slammed on the noisy alarm clock sitting on his nightstand. It obviously wasn't nighttime anymore and Sonic knew that the ringing of his alarm clock meant that it was around six in the morning and it was time to wake up.

Just a few seconds after he had silenced his alarm clock, he struggled to open his eyes. When he opened them halfway, he brought his right arm up to shield his eyes from the brightness of the sunlight peering through his window. He opened his mouth to let out an ear-to-ear yawn and he opened his eyes a little wider. However, when he tried to bring his left arm up to his face, he felt a force on the left half of his body that prevented him from doing so. Confused, Sonic looked to the source of his struggle and instantly found the answer. His eyes, finally open almost as wide as they could go, were the size of oranges when he discovered the hindrance. Holding down half of Sonic's body, from his left shoulder all the way to his left leg, was his stepbrother, Shadow, lying peacefully on his little brother.

Sonic's cheeks flared red as the past night's actions came flooding back to him like a tidal wave. He shot his arm out from under Shadow like fire, and Shadow began to stir. He slowly lifted his head up from its resting spot and he sat up, rubbing his eyes in a half conscious state and yawning tiredly as Sonic had previously done. With half-lidded eyes, he innocently asked, "What's going on?" He could barely identify his brother's blushing figure sitting in front of him. Everything was hazy and blurry for a moment. "Sonic. What are you doing up?" He questioned some more.

"I-it's time to get up." He replied.

"Oh." He simply answered. His eyes had opened wider with every few passing seconds until they were finally open enough for him to see. "What's wrong with you?"

" . . . why are you asking me that?" Sonic questioned, nervously. He wondered why it was that his stepbrother seemed to be able to read every one of his facial expressions. Shadow was looking him up and down as if he was studying Sonic or trying to figure him out. They sat there on the bed; Sonic was avoiding Shadow's gaze as hard as he could manage, and Shadow simply sat there examining Sonic before he finally replied.

"Your face is red." He answered, bluntly. "And you're acting weird and stupid, again."

Sonic's blush soon faded away into a face of annoyance. "Nothing's wrong with me." He stated as he got up out of the bed and walked toward his bathroom to wash up. "And I'm not acting stupid!"

"It's okay if you admit it. You would only be acting what you are." Shadow replied, smugly. Sonic turned his head to glare at Shadow.

"Look, you emo-idiot. I'm probably one of the smartest hedgehogs you'll ever meet in your miserable life. I'm just about as stupid as the sky is blue!" He stated proudly before he realized what he had said. " . . . w-wait. Th-that didn't come out right . . . I meant . . ."

Shadow's chuckling interrupted Sonic. "I wouldn't say anything more to further prove my point if I were you." Shadow finally got off the bed, also, and began to walk toward Sonic in long slow strides. "And besides, shouldn't you be worrying more about getting ready for school and less about trying to impress me? Hmm?" Sonic and Shadow's faces were now mere inches away from each other. Shadow was standing a couple of inches taller than Sonic, and Sonic was trying to figure out why and how he ended up backed into the wall beside his bathroom, again.

"I'm . . . I'm not trying to . . . impress you. I was just— "

"You were just what?" Shadow interrupted, again while looking into Sonic's emerald orbs.

"I was just . . . I was just going to go and get dressed, now." Sonic quickly slipped out of Shadow's trap, ran into the bathroom, shut the door, and locked it. The next noise that Shadow heard was the shower water running. He laughed to himself at his little on-the-spot scheme of making Sonic feel uncomfortable. He loved the reactions that emitted from his little stepbrother. Sonic was just so easy to mess with! Shadow opened the door of the bedroom and walked down the hall to take a shower in another one of the three bathrooms of the house. As much as he was having fun bothering Sonic, he knew he had to prepare for school.

~.~.~

A few minutes after Shadow had gotten out of the shower, he walked back to Sonic's bedroom with sexy black jeans on and a towel swung around his neck. When he opened the door, he quietly gasped at what he saw. Right in front of him was Sonic the Hedgehog. Nothing was completely out of the ordinary . . . except for the fact that Sonic was totally bent over on the floor reaching for something under his bed. Sonic clad in a plain green T, a navy blue jacket, and his underwear and nothing more. Shadow had an incredible view of the blue hedgehog's behind, and he struggled to keep his jaw off of the ground.

'Damn! What an ass!' Shadow thought. 'It's all I can take to keep from pinning him down and giving him a heated . . . hard . . . merciless fu—'

"PERVERT!"

That was all Shadow heard before a hard punch knocked him straight into the wall. SMACK!

"What was that for, you asshole?" Shadow demanded acidly.

"Because you're a pervert!" Sonic mimicked, using his hands to shyly cover up his already-covered backside.

"How do you figure I'm the pervert when you were the one bending over when I walked in?" Shadow asked.

"You could've at least warned me you were coming!" Sonic retorted while putting on and pulling up his blue jeans.

"Right. Because I usually send warnings to people before I walk inside of rooms." Shadow said, sarcastically. "You really are an idiot." He shook his head and walked to retrieve his shirt.

"And you're an emo-freak!" Sonic picked up his book bag and almost made his way to the door, but Shadow grabbed his arm from behind.

"HEY! What are you—OOF!" Sonic grunted as he was slammed to the floor on his back and pinned down with Shadow on top of him, once again.

Looking up, he, all too well, recognized a sinister smirk plastered on Shadow's face. Sonic wore a look of confusion on his face because he was unaware of Shadow's motives. Suddenly, Sonic felt a rough tug on the button area of his jeans and his face lit up with surprise.

"Sh-shadow! What are you doing?"

"I'm about to show you just how much of an 'emo-freak' I can be." Shadow explained and chuckled darkly.

Sonic gasped and attempted to pry Shadow's hands off of him, but it didn't give him much assistance. Shadow laughed at Sonic's inability to stop him and he tugged harder all the more. Sonic couldn't take it. Everything that was happening at the moment brought back memories of last night's events; Shadow getting on top of Sonic, laughing darkly, and touching him in places he shouldn't have touched.

"No, Shadow! Stop!" Sonic ordered, but he started to feel that his pleas were of no use in this situation. He became even more freaked out when Shadow had finally undone the button on Sonic's pants.

"SHADOW!" Sonic yelled louder, hoping to heaven that someone would hear him. This further amused the black hedgehog in control.

"What's wrong, Sonic? Where's your little tough guy attitude, now? Hmm?" Shadow was now roughly pulling down the zipper to the pants.

"N-no . . . Shadow! Shadow, please! Get off!" Sonic bucked and writhed profusely to get Shadow off of him and escape any way he could. It was no use. It seemed that Sonic was out of luck.

Until . . .

"Boys?"

Both Sonic and Shadow snapped the half-open bedroom door.

"Boys? Sonic and Shadow? Are you there?" As the voice got closer and closer, the hedgehogs both recognized it as the voice of Bernadette. Shadow jumped off of Sonic in the knick of time before the door opened up to reveal Sonic's mother.

"Are you two ready for school, yet? You're going to b— . . . Sonic, why are you on the floor?" Bernadette asked, puzzled. Sonic froze and quickly tried to think of a reason. It was then that he realized that his feet might be a little quicker than his brain. But, Shadow jumped in before Sonic could speak.

"He fell off of his bed and onto the floor, Bernadette. I apologize for his clumsiness." He said and quickly grinned in a sly manner at Sonic's direction. Sonic glared hatefully back at Shadow. Bernadette managed to catch Sonic's glance toward Shadow, but she somehow missed the sneaky look of the latter. Deciding not to press into the matter any further, she continued to speak. "Well . . . okay, you two. But, let's prepare to leave. You don't want to be late for your first day, Shadow." Bernadette told him before looking in Sonic's direction. "And you, Mister. You don't want to be late, again. Hurry hurry, boys." And with that, she left the room.

When it was assured that she was out of earshot, Shadow glared at Sonic and stated, "You're lucky I didn't take anything further than what I did, moron." Sonic mumbled under his breath, "Stupid emo-bastard", and he began to push himself off of the ground. But, Shadow heard him, and when Sonic was almost off of the floor, Shadow shoved him right back down just as hard as before Bernadette entered. Then, he threw on his black and red jacket, picked up his book bag, and headed for the door.

"ARRRGH!" Sonic yelled in rage. "Why are you such a— . . ."

Shadow turned his head coolly to give Sonic the coldest glare that he had probably ever received. Sonic simply shut his mouth and took this look as a warning. Shadow stared Sonic in the eye as if making sure that Sonic understood to keep his mouth closed. Sonic seemed to pick up on the signal Shadow was sending him. He didn't want a repeat of a mere few minutes ago, nor did he want a repeat of last night. When Shadow figured that Sonic understood, he turned back around and walked out of the bedroom and front door. Sonic picked himself up and his book bag, and swore in his head without opening his mouth. He didn't know how well Shadow's hearing was, but he didn't feel like testing it out at the moment. The azure hedgie followed a little ways behind Shadow and he was soon out of the front door, also.

~.~.~

When he got outside, he looked up and saw Shadow standing in one spot and staring at the ground, waiting for Sonic. When Shadow heard the front door close again, he looked up and saw Sonic walking down the front steps. Sonic pretended not to see Shadow and walked right past him. Shadow glared at the back of Sonic's head, but followed him. Sonic made an effort to avoid eye contact with Shadow and vowed to do so on the entire walk to the school.

'The school's only five minutes away.' Sonic thought to himself. 'I can be quiet for that long . . . I think.' The hedgehog obviously wasn't known for being a quiet one.

As the two hedgehogs walked to school, the chilly breezes of autumn hung in the air. The once beautiful, luscious, green leaves of the trees turned into that of vivid and bright orange, yellow, and red hues. The crunching of the Sonic and Shadow stomping on the leaves made them clearly aware that summer was over, and fall was here to stay for the moment. Every few seconds, a cool soft breeze would blow in the faces of the creatures, and then it would stop making a continuous repeat throughout their walk. It was a nice, quiet scenery and a total contrast of the area that was about two minutes up ahead. Up ahead, the area consisted of loud noises of honking cars and city people rushing to get to work, school, and other important places. But for now, the hedgehogs were still walking in a place of total silence.

Shadow the hedgehog wasn't one to care for noise. In fact, he liked being in mostly peaceful places where he wouldn't be forced to hear the harassing hustle and bustle of people he couldn't stand. But, the fact that he noticed that Sonic was intentionally staying quiet, ignoring him, and trying to stay a certain distance away from him, bothered him. He didn't know why, but it did. And Shadow was slightly determined to get Sonic to talk to him. No matter what.

"Why are you trying to stay away from me?" Sonic heard Shadow ask from behind him. "And why are you not speaking to me?"

Sonic was aware that Shadow was talking to him, but he tried to hold strong to the promise that he made himself, earlier on. Shadow also knew that Sonic heard him, and he became slightly irritated that Sonic was giving him the silent treatment. Honestly, Shadow and Sonic just met, and Shadow couldn''t, for the life of him, understand why he could never seem to be on good terms with people he would just meet. But, he decided to press further and get Sonic to open his mouth. So he decided to annoy Sonic by asking more questions.

"Are you going to ignore me for the rest of the way to school? And where is this school, exactly? Are there a lot of people there or is the school small? Why is this area so quiet when the city is five minutes away? Are you really blue, or is there some kind of body-dyeing soap? And how many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop? And why does . . ."

"SHUT! UP!" Sonic stopped, turned around and yelled. It was clear that he had enough. And it was a miracle that he wasn't heard in China because that's about how loud he shouted.

"I was merely asking questions, you overheated loser."

"And I was ignoring you!"

"Which, obviously, led me to ask you more questions. See how that works, Nicky?" Shadow asked, rhetorically, with the same smirk on his face as usual.

Sonic and Shadow stood face to face, eye to eye. The shorter, blue hedgehog glared at brother with an intensity that seemed as if it could burn greater than fire itself. But, the hateful expression wasn't mirrored. In fact, staring the blue hedgehog in the face was the taller, onyx hedgehog who showed how amused he was by simply half-smiling directly in the other's face. But, Sonic wasn't the least bit amused. He was just about ready to make himself an only child, again.

"I'm staying away from you because I just met you yesterday, and you're already tearing my life apart! What the hell do you want from me?" Sonic asked, exasperatedly.

Shadow, now in a stoic mood, just kept a gaze on Sonic and plainly answered, "Hn." Shadow started out, "Do I have to want something from you in order to ruin your life?" Shadow asked while closing the small amount of distance between his little brother and himself so that there was almost barely any space between them.

Sonic stood and stared at Shadow in disbelief. Shadow had no ulterior motives for being so troublesome?"

"If you've noticed in the past 24 hours, Nicky, I'm really not the type of guy who gives a damn about how people feel." Shadow said as he got closer and closer. "If I want to do something to annoy you, I'm going to do it without thinking twice and without regrets. And I actually find annoying you entertaining because of the infantile way in which you respond."

"I'm NOT a baby, you emo—"

"And just to warn you, if you call me an emo-something one more time, I swear I'll do something you really won't like." Shadow threatened.

"Just because you threaten to hurt me, doesn't mean I'll be too scared to—"

"Oh. I didn't say I would hurt you. I said I would do something you really won't enjoy . . . but that doesn't mean that I . . ." Shadow seductively looked Sonic up and down until his eyes landed on a particular area. " . . . won't enjoy it." Sonic's blushed hard when he discovered where Shadow's eyes had landed and realized what Shadow was implying. Why would his mother pick out a man with such a perverted son? And with a perverted son who would seem attracted to his own little brother?

The whole thing was too graphic for Sonic to want to process at the moment. Sonic whipped backed around and continued on his way to school. He was now determined to keep an even farther distance between Shadow and himself, and he hoped that Shadow could and would leave him alone until they both got to school. All Sonic could think of on the way to school was how miserable he thought his life would be with a new brother in the picture.

On the other hand, all Shadow could think of was the fact that Sonic was trying to avoid him, and he didn't like it. Shadow wasn't the loud, outgoing person that he heard Sonic was, but he didn't like to be unnoticed or ignored. Almost everytime and everywhere Shadow walked into a room, his looks alone demanded attention from all males and females. So, Shadow had to admit that Sonic's vow of silence was pushing him a little over the edge. But, he managed to stay at a calm level of sanity.

'It doesn't matter. Soon enough, I'll have him in a position so uncomfortable, he'll never be able to ignore me again!' Shadow thought and smiled to himself. And strong-minded as he was on that subject, he continued to follow his little brother to their destination: Emerald Hill High.