A/N: Hello my lovelies! I originally posted this on AO3, and I've been super lazy about posting on FFN. In honor of Sonic's birthday today, here it is!
Shadow entered his house and slammed the door. He hated work. He hated that stupid commander. He hated how G.U.N. blackmailed him into staying by claiming he's their property. He couldn't even enjoy his weekend without thinking about that stupid place; two days wasn't enough of a vacation from that hell.
"Fucking bitch Tower," Shadow mumbled. He took off his G.U.N. jacket and hung it over one of his dining chairs. "Can't have a weekend without you in my damn mind."
The air was stale, but Shadow didn't mind. It marked his home and his freedom; he'd take it over grueling cubicle jungles and filthy, unwashed G.U.N. helicopters any day of the week.
He lounged on his couch and turned on the television. Hundreds of channels, yet none of them had anything good; he swore the cable company's robbing him. Yet when all cable had to offer was the news, sports, and porn—and he had no interest in any of those—he wondered why he didn't cancel it already.
A furious knock shook his door. He rolled his eyes and sighed heavily; an unwanted visitor disturbed his peace yet again. He opened the door to a red-faced Sonic, who shuffled from foot to foot and stared at the ground in an apparent attempt to avoid Shadow's gaze.
"What do you want?" Shadow grumbled, not bothering to disguise his annoyance.
Sonic seemed to shrink into himself, and barely managed to mumble, "Wanna race? Or do something?"
Sonic's sudden shyness made Shadow want to smile—he found Sonic to be cute at that moment.
Wait, cute? Sonic isn't cute! Sonic's his rival!
Shadow's eye twitched and his hands clenched into fists. Through gritted teeth, he replied, "No. I don't want anything to do with you, hedgehog. I never want to even see you again. If the Doctor wasn't an insane fool and you weren't there to stop him, I wouldn't even care if you existed. Now get the hell out of here and never return."
Sonic straightened in surprise. Tears filled his widened eyes as his mouth trembled around his developing sobs. Shadow shut the door in his face and went back to his couch.
Sonic's plight bothered something within Shadow. That shyness was a contrast to Sonic's usual cockiness whenever he challenged Shadow, yet Shadow's sour mood made him not ponder about it.
Instead, Shadow had to focus on something that could distract him from his terrible week at work. At this rate, the next situation that blew his fuse would involve chaos spears.
Sonic's tears streamed down his cheeks, heavy and unstoppable. As blunt as Shadow could be, he never wished that Sonic didn't exist. He would just accept Sonic's race challenges and form a coalition against Eggman. He remembered the joy of those times, but now Sonic faced the reality that Shadow wanted nothing to do with him; that Shadow hated him and wished for his disappearance.
He loved Shadow. But Shadow didn't love him back.
Sonic ran to Rouge's club. Her club catered to families every Friday afternoon, just before the weekend headliners performed during the night and the early morning hours. Sonic didn't care about the shows; he just wanted to get away from his heartbreak.
The club was dark; the dim lights from the stage and the low ceiling cast a gloomy shadow over the room. Most patrons were half-lit by the stage, while others were hidden in the recesses of the room. Even the usually cheery bar area couldn't escape the night's sadness, as the televisions broadcasted no major sporting events tonight. Instead, a news channel ran footage of some nameless war on the planet Meridian; its images distant and impersonal.
Nearby, Rouge dried some washed shot glasses with a rag before she approached Sonic.
"Hello, handsome," she greeted him in her silky voice, "What will it be for you?"
Sonic swallowed hard and stammered out, "Just give me anything."
"What's up, Blue?" Rouge asked, frowning at him with worry in her eyes. She grabbed a rectangular shaped bottle of Emerald Spirit, poured some in a cocktail shaker, and added different fruit juices to the mixture. She held up the shaker and looked at it appraisingly.
"It's… Just a rough day."
"Don't worry about that, hun!"
She shook the drink once and poured it into a fancy silver glass with an elaborate stem.
"It's on the house," Rouge added with a reassuring smile. "This is one of my favorites. I hope it helps, handsome."
She winked then returned to drying the shot glasses with a white towel. Sonic brought the glass to his lips and tasted the drink; it was sweet and strong but didn't quite hit the mark. He gulped down the rest of the emerald liquid before slamming the glass on the counter.
"Give me the entire bottle."
She opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it and handed over the half-full bottle. Sonic uncorked it without hesitation and took a deep swig straight from the bottle, letting the fiery liquid burn his throat.
A figure slid onto the vacant stool beside Sonic, but he remained focused on his drink, refusing to let his gaze drift away from it.
"Hello there! I'm Rouge, what can I get ya?"
"Can I get some chili cheese fries and some water?" the patron beside him ordered.
Sonic snapped up when he heard the order—he recognized the voice although he hadn't heard it for years—while Rouge weaved through the bar's tables and vanished into the kitchen. Sonic turned to the guy beside him: a red-shelled armadillo. The same one who helped him several times against Eggman's armies.
"… Mighty?!" Sonic uttered in disbelief.
Mighty turned his head toward Sonic and gasped upon recognizing him.
"Sonic?!"
