It feels like seventy percent of music, regardless of time or place, is about love.

I know at this point it's an old observation, but good golly, I had no idea how true that was until I picked through my playlist. There were songs about falling in love, about falling out of love, about being in love with a special someone, about just being attracted to someone, about loving someone who doesn't love you back, about being loved by someone you don't love back, about breaking up, about getting back together, about getting over someone who doesn't love you, and at that point I gave up trying to keep track because the list never ends. I had no idea I was bathing myself in romance until I started looking.

A love song is somewhere around every corner, and you are helpless to stop it. You can only listen…

I bring this up because I am desperately searching my playlist for something that isn't about everyone's favorite "L-word," and I am failing pretty hard. Normally, music would fade into the background after a while, so it didn't matter what my pick was. But given that I'm seeing Mobius's biggest love maniac tomorrow, I'm trying to cleanse my palette a bit, to give me some time to relax and think about literally anything else. Any talk or thoughts about relationships now will turn my mind to mush, especially since I've been talking about it in some capacity all that. At this point, my flight home is going to be music-free if I can't find anything.

And if you took a trip without music, did you take a trip at all? Philosophically, I mean.

"Come on," I groan. "Is there a single flipping song that doesn't mention love?" Chaos, I've said that word so much it feels like gibberish now.

"I doubt it," a rough voice behind me replies. "Love is a pretty universal subject."

Now, normally, hearing a deep, menacing voice coming in from behind you is cause for an immediate fight-or-flight response. Vector had been drilling me on how to handle moments like that, insisting that I wanted to go out by myself, I needed to know the basics. If the Mobian behind me was a creep that wanted my handbag or to abduct me or anything else sinister, I had a half dozen ways to put him into the ground. I could use some fancy footwork to get away safely, or get my pepper spray, or just pull out ol' reliable- delivering a swift kick to the crotch.

All of this is kind of irrelevant because I immediately recognized the voice. Ol' reliable is for foes, not friends.

"Sh-Shadow?" I turned around slowly, looking up to make sure I was looking him in the eyes. The Robotnik's ultimate weapon hadn't changed a bit since we first met him; I guess that's just what happens when you're practically immortal. He is a somewhat tall, imposingly built hedgehog with a constant stern expression, piercing eyes, and perhaps the most wicked bomber jacket you'll ever see. Lots of women see him as a mysterious heartthrob, and while I can see where they're coming from, the more he's hung out with us, I've come to see him as a cynical grump with a tender heart.

He can also teleport, which may explain how he snuck up on me without me noticing.

"Cream." That grunt is not much of a greeting, but he's never been a particularly sociable Mobian.

I blink, looking him up and down. Aside from his typical handgun holster, he's not armed at all. "What are you doing at Ring Lake? You're not on a mission, are you?"

"No, I'm not." His tone is blunt but not necessarily angry, like it's a simple statement of fact.

I blink. "Um, so-"

He gazes above my head around at the surrounding park. "I'm here to clear my head. Rose's constant badgering got tiring."

"Oh." That's right, Amy mentioned that Shadow got into a huge argument and had to crash at her place. Guess she's been trying to squeeze an apology out of him, to no success.

"Excuse me." He walks around me, heading to the lake in the middle of the park. There's a sort of weight to his strides, as if his shoes are filled with cement or steel. His posture isn't much better, with his head slightly craned downwards and hands in his pockets. I haven't seen him this moody or mopey in a while. Something was going down in his head, and if it was troubling him that much, it'd be wrong to leave him alone. It's corny, but looking at him hurt my heart; literally, there was an ache in my chest triggered by his pain.

"Shadow?"

He stops walking. After a few seconds, he looks over his shoulder, towards me. "Yeah?"

I try to muster my best warm smile. "Can I walk with you?"

"Why?" The question's tone isn't really pointed or trying to offend; more than anything, it's confused, and a bit hurt.

"I just think you might like to be with someone who wants to listen."

"Listen?" He's turning his whole body towards me this time.

"Amy may be my friend, but she's not much of a listener when she thinks she's right."

"And you want to listen to…what, exactly?"

"Your story. From my experience, a lot of good can come from just listening. I've gotten a lot of good Mobians out of a lot of funks from just letting them talk."

"Is that so?" His stony expression starts cracking, exposing a bit of vulnerability and curiosity. A good sign. "Don't you need to be somewhere?"

"I'm sure my mom can wait a little longer," I smile back.

His eyes flick to the ground, then back to me, then back to the ground. After another few seconds of thinking, he nods awkwardly. "Let's go."

For the first several minutes, silence.

I don't want to push him before he's ready to talk. When a Mobian doesn't want to talk, trying to pry them open and force them to is a bad idea. It makes them double down, or lie, or do any other sort of thing that makes actual progress impossible. That's why during our walk towards the lakeside benches, I don't say a darn thing. I crack no jokes, I don't probe, and I don't make small talk. I just walk alongside him, listening to the gravel underneath crunch under our shoes, and the babbling of playing Chao around us. Every so often, I look back up at him to gauge if he's ready, but each time, he seems lost in thought.

Eventually, we find a wooden bench under the shade of a great tree. The lake is in full view of us, shimmering in the late afternoon sun. There are a handful of visitors milling around, a picnic in the distance, and the occasional Chao watcher- a great view, perfect for a painting or picture. I look back at Shadow, and to my surprise, he's taking in the view. He's not smiling or anything, but there's a sort of nostalgic glaze over his eyes. His eyes are fixed on the water. I follow his gaze, watching the reflections dance over the lake water, only interrupted by a duck or two.

"Beautiful," he finally murmurs.

"Yeah," I agree softly. I wait for him to make the next comment, but he doesn't say anything. "Is this why you came here?"

"Mm," he nods. "It's…comforting. Quiet. It calms me in a way other spots just…can't. Beaches are too crowded, rooftops are too loud, and the forests are filled with so many damned bugs. But here? This is still, in a good way."

"I see." Good, he's beginning to open up. A couple of more rounds of this, and he may be willing to share what happened. "Do you come here often?"

"Not really. I didn't know this place existed until-" He stopped abruptly. The glaze in his eyes crumbles away, replaced with a more remorseful look. He closes his eyes and shakes his head, resetting his face to a more stoic expression. "Nevermind."

Uh oh, he's relapsing back into sulking. "Shadow, I'm not here to judge, just listen."

He glances at me, then breathes a heavy sigh. "It was…Tikal. She told me about this place."

"Really?"

"It's the Chao, mostly," he confides, "but she says it reminds her of home in a way."

"I see."

"She's a good Mobian," he admits. "She always sees the best in everyone, even if…" He trails off before shaking his head again.

"Shadow, you can tell me."

"She can be naïve. Not all the time, but…enough. She insists on keeping the peace no matter what. It sometimes gets absurd."

"Is that what happened?"

"You mean what happened last night? The bar fight, so to speak?" I nod silently, which causes him to sigh. "And I suppose you want to hear 'my side,' right?" I nod again. He stares back out at the lake. "It's not pretty."

"If it gets too rough, I'll stop you." He looks down at the grass for a few seconds, saying nothing. "Other than that, I won't say anything until I'm done."

He nods again. "I appreciate it." He pauses for another few seconds, gathering his thoughts. "It started last night, obviously. Rouge invited me to some club downtown to 'celebrate' another mission. I didn't want to go- she was bringing her meathead boyfriend and some of his friends, meaning it'd be loud and obnoxious for hours. I guess that's why she invited Tikal too- to keep Knuckles on a leash. She has no stomach for alcohol, and she can reel in her cousin in a way no one else can." He pauses. "So I went. I guess the calculation I did was that Tikal would put a cap on the drunken antics."

"It…didn't help as much as I thought it would. Tikal's presence did help keep a cap on the alcohol, but it turns out that wasn't the problem. The problem was Knuckles and Rouge brought some of their friends, and they ranged from boring to insufferable. I could only stand an hour with them before I went off on my own. I hit the bar and tried to drown out the party with some, well, questionable drink choices."

I nod. I heard from Tails that it's next to impossible for Shadow to get drunk thanks to his body structure. Something about some sort of healing factor soaking up the alcohol poisoning? Not that Shadow can't get drunk, but he has to really try, so I can only imagine the type of drinks he chose for that purpose.

He continues. "So I'm at a club I don't really want to be at, surrounded by people I don't really like, pounding drinks in order to dull the pain. I'm not in a good mood, and the buzz is starting to kick in for everyone. It's not long before I realize there's this skunk next to me, trying to chat." He grimaces. "He was a nasty piece of work, a real thug. Fitting for what he was, every word out of his mouth invoked disgust. I was able to ignore him at first, but he kept trying to get my attention." He exhales, shaking his head yet again. "If I was actually smart, I would've just gone home, but for some reason, I chose to stay. Maybe I was too buzzed to think rationally, maybe I had some perverse interest in what the skunk was rambling about, I don't know."

He pauses, glancing at me, then turns his gaze back to the lake. "Eventually, he said something that actually managed to get a reaction. Two things, actually. First was some quip about how Knuckles didn't deserve Rouge, or something to that effect. It was…a lot fouler, the way he said it. Something about how low Rouge's standards were. It sat poorly with me- I'm not fond of Knuckles, but he did not deserve a comment like that, and Rouge certainly didn't." He stops, looking at the ground. "It was what he said next that really pissed me off, though."

His eyes remained fixed on the grass for a good half minute, not saying anything. "What'd he say?" I ask.

He snarled. "He said that he was surprised no one 'claimed' Tikal. Said that 'it's always the quiet bitches that surprise you.' That, and a thing about cousins that I won't repeat."

"Holy smokes," I gasp. No wonder he thrashed that guy- yuck! I can't imagine the kind of brain rot needed to say that stuff out loud, especially about Tikal.

"As you've heard, I punched his lights out. In hindsight, it wasn't the brightest move, but I was drunk, and mad as hell. You can only hear so much vulgar shit about your friends before you break."

"Friends?"

He looked a little embarrassed. "Just Rouge and Tikal. Knuckles I am…ambivalent towards. No strong feelings either way."

"I see." I let him gather his bearings before I ask my next question. "Amy told me that's when an argument broke out."

He nodded. "Knuckle and Rouge took me outside. It got heated quickly. I brought up that I was defending them, but that just made them angrier. 'We don't need defending,' they said. That derailed the whole thing- we all just started yelling at each other about past slights and character flaws." He sighs again, looking back at the ground. "Tikal came out to try and break it up, like she always does, and that's when I said the stuff I regret the most. 'Naive' was the kindest thing I called her." He closed his eyes and leaned back. I let him keep his silence for a minute or so. "And you know the rest- Rouge kicked me out, and Amy took me in until I apologize."

"Wow," I say. "That's quite the night."

"An understatement. So now what? You've listened, what're you going to do about it?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"On how you feel. If you feel better, we can just hang out a little longer. If you don't, we can talk. If you don't want to, I can leave. It's up to you." He arches his eyebrow at me. "I'm serious. Mobians who don't want to feel better tend not to budge, no matter what others say or do."

His look turns slightly more appreciative. "An awfully poignant thing to say for someone your age."

"I may be able to fly, but my real superpower is empathy," I smile. "Talk to enough Mobians, and you figure out how they tick."

"Fair enough."

"So, how do you feel?"

He sniffs. "Odd. They have every right to be mad at me, and I feel guilty, but…I'm hesitant to apologize. Tikal absolutely deserves one, and Rouge to a lesser extent, but Knuckles? He was as combative as I was last night."

"Well, two out of three is a good start."

"Amy is telling me I'm busy being childish by not talking to Knuckles," he confesses, "and I can't disagree, but there's a part of me that doesn't want to let that echidna off the hook so easily, especially when it started when I wanted to defend him."

"Yeah, it sounds like almost everyone's in the wrong here, at least a little bit." I think about what's going on in this fight. Knuckles is more often than not a big goof, but when he doesn't want to move, nothing moves him. This looks like a battle between two powerhouses who hate swallowing their pride. If I can just nudge one of them in the right direction…"Can I be honest with you, Shadow?"

"Sure."

"I'd start by apologizing to Tikal and Rouge first. If you aren't ready to talk to Knuckles yet, I don't blame you, and I certainly can't force you. Maybe that'll change if you talk to the others. Just do what you can first."

At first, he looks at me like I'm speaking a long-lost language, but as the seconds unfold, I can see the careful calculations unfurl in his mind. The gears turn slowly but surely.

I continue. "I know you said you don't feel strongly about Knuckles, but I know for sure that you're close with Rouge and Tikal. And I'm not sure it's worth damaging your relationship with them over a bad night out."

He nods slowly. "Right. Deal with the immediate threat."

"That's one way to put it. Look, just do what you can to make things right. Bridges can be burnt, but they can still be rebuilt, right?"

"Not always, but you're right about my next steps." He stands up, still weighed down by his thoughts, clearly, but with a sort of quiet confidence contracting it. "Thank you, Cream. Talking…helped."

"You're welcome, Shadow."

"You want a warp home?"

"No thank you." I giggle nervously. "I don't know how you do it- every warp makes me want to throw up."

He smirks slightly. "Practice. And I'm built differently, literally." He pauses. "Before I go, a word of advice. I owe it to you."

"Hmm?"

"Grand gestures and big speeches aren't always needed when it comes to people we're fond of. Love isn't always as complicated as we make it."

I can feel myself blushing like a tomato. "Wh-wha?"

"Don't worry, I won't tell him. It's not my business to begin with." He braces himself, then disappears in a flash of violet light. I'm just left there, sitting with the bombshell Shadow dropped in my lap. The hedgehog always had a flair for the dramatic, but I had no idea he dabbled in relationship advice too. When the shock and embarrassment subsides, I add his advice to the giant heap of advice already in my head. I really need to sort this all out before my brain collapses under the weight of all this love stuff…

A/N: Cream and Shadow are one of my favorite non-romantic pairings because of the sheer contrast. You don't get a lot of that here, unfortunately, but I'm still pretty happy with how this turned out.