Rouge was panicking a bit as she sat on the couch with the microphone. For some reason the microphone had disconnected, so she had no idea what happened between Shadow and Sonia. Hopefully Shadow didn't ruin his chance, Rouge was beginning to lose hope on Shadow.

She had to admit, she DID have a small crush on him. When they had first met, Rouge was a bit smitten with how he looked. He had such a serious and stoic demeanor that Rouge found appealing. However, she knew he wasn't the affectionate type, and he did not share the same feelings she had for him. Then of course, there was also Knuckles the Echidna, and Rouge somehow fell even more for him. So then Rouge just decided to be best friends with Shadow, and all was well between them.

Of course she was worried about Shadow's social life. For a hedgehog stuck in a cryogenic state for years, she wasn't at all surprised though when the jet black asked questions about the latest technology.

She sat on the couch with a big sigh. The front door then opened. She smiled when she saw Shadow come back.

"Shadow!" Rouge perked up. "How was your date?"

However she was certainly surprised when she saw Shadow with a smirk on his face.

"...I'm assuming it went well?" Rouge asked as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"...It did go well…" Shadow said. He had his arms crossed and the smirk still plastered on his face.

"...What exactly happened?" Rouge asked calmly.

"We had dinner together…. Then afterwards we went to see the stars…" He explained. "...Then when I went to take her home… her brother was… Sonic…"

"SONIA IS SONIC'S SISTER?!" Rouge exclaimed.

"Yes." Shadow nodded.

"Wow… small world…." Rouge muttered. "How was dinner?"

"Dinner went well…" Shadow began. "We had a really incompetent waiter… but Sonia handled him."

"I see…" Rouge nodded. By then, Shadow went back to his neutral state and just stood there with his arms crossed.

"...So…." Rouge started. "...Was she hot?"

Shadow merely rolled his eyes.

"I am not a simpleton Rouge…" Shadow replied. "I believe she is kind, yes… Appearance is just a mere mask to hide someone's true intentions…"

"Are you going to go on another date with her?"

Shadow thought about this for a while. This first date was nice, yes, but he was unsure if he had the energy to go out onto another date. Though seeing the look on Sonic's face would be amusing.

"...We'll see what happens…" Shadow replied, as he went to his room.

"Oh Sonic… did you see that…" Sonia said in a dreamy tone.

"YES AND I HATE IT!" Sonic exclaimed. By now the two hogs were in their house.

"I had the most wonderful date today~" Sonia said as visible hearts surrounded her.

"Hey Sonia!" Manic came in with a smile. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing amazing Manic~" Sonia replied.

"Awww, that's great!" He said with a thumbs up.

"...HOW ARE YOU OKAY WITH THIS?!" Sonic yelled.

"We had our dinner date, it was so nice~" Sonia said with a grin. "And then we went out stargazing, and it was soooo nice! It was so beautiful on this hill we were on!"

"You guys were alone?!" Sonic exclaimed, fearing what happened between them tonight.

"Well yeah, we were on a date, Sonic!" Sonia replied. "Of course we were going to be alone!"

Sonic frowned. He truly was happy that Sonia seemed to finally find someone who would be interested in her romantically, as she had previously moped that no one would be interested in her and that she would die alone. Of course, she was merely exaggerating, but Sonic did feel bad for his sister.

But why Shadow of all people?!

Sure he wasn't evil anymore thanks to Amy's pep talk, but Shadow was still… Shadow. They were rivals for pete's sake! He was annoying, overly edgy, and whenever they would fight it would end up not going in Sonic's favor.

What in the world did Sonia see in him?!

The Blue Blur sulked on the floor. Sally came by to check on her husband.

"Sonic… what's wrong?" Sally asked gently.

"Sonia went on a date with Shadow…" Sonic said with a frown. "AND SHE LIKED IT!"

"Really?" Sally gawked. She really wasn't expecting Shadow to be the romantic type. From all of the interactions she had with him, he was generally just alone and brooding. Sonia was a good choice for Shadow, she was a really sweet woman after all.

"Well that's nice!" Sally said with a smile.

"NICE?!" Sonic exclaimed. "YOU APPROVE OF THIS TOO?!"

"Well yeah," Sally said with a shrug. "If Sonia is happy, then I'm happy too!"

Sally's response to this was muffled screaming from Sonic, who did so onto the floor.

Shadow laid in his bed still awake. His room was dark with one single night light in the corner of his bedroom. He had a big full size mattress to himself as he slept in the middle. He thought long and hard about the events that took place today. They had only met but he went on his first official date with someone. Huh, that certainly went by fast.

But he was in no means experienced in any of this stuff. He hoped that Sonia at least enjoyed today. He hated to admit it, but she did indeed look very nice. There was something about that shade of purple that she wore that was extremely appealing to him.

Wait. Didn't she say that she was a singer?

Shadow chaos controlled out and back into his room with a cassette in his hand. He took out his walkman and placed earbuds as he listened to the bands' songs. So it was a family band with Sonic huh? Whenever the Blue Blur would sing he would skip it. Same with another guy, who was revealed to Manic, Sonic and Sonia's younger triplet brother. However, when she would sing though…

It was the most beautiful thing he would have never heard.

Shadow felt himself get chills as Sonia would serenade her audience. She was quite talented in her career, he could see that. He had secretly heard music from Taylor Swift or Sabrina Carpenter, as good as singers they were, none of them had that vocal talent compared to Sonia.

Shadow pulled out a tablet from the hammerspace and began to research all about Sonia. She hailed from a loving family with two brothers and was raised by someone named Lady Windermere mostly. He also discovered that she had her fair share of romances. One in particular that stood out to him was Knuckles the Echidna. So Sonia and Knuckles were a thing back then huh? He shrugged. It really was a small world after all. This wouldn't go over well with Rouge if she found out. Though he wondered what happened between them to split.

Aside from hearing original compositions, Sonia had her fair share of cover songs. Eventually for him, he decided it was time for bed and put the things away. Though, the Ultimate Lifeform could not sleep. He was wondering about that burning sensation in his chest whenever he thought about Sonia and her voice. It truly was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. But he could not just shake off that feeling.

Was he dying?

Rouge's room was in stark contrast to Shadow's. It was decorated with expensive jewelry and pictures of friends, including Knuckles. Rouge had an eye mask as she laid down next to a chibi-style Knuckles plush.

"Finally, I can sle-"

"Rouge, I think I'm dying." Shadow's voice declared.

Rouge yelped and jumped out of bed and landed with a thud.

"What the hell, Shadow?!" Rouge exclaimed. "And what do you mean you think you're dying?!"

"I have this burning sensation in my chest whenever I think about Sonia." Shadow began. "And I turn red and I sweat."

Rouge giggled a bit, much to the chagrin of Shadow.

"This is no laughing matter, Rouge!" He exclaimed. "This is serious!"

"...You're not dying, Shadow," Rouge reassured him with a smile. "You're just developing a small crush on her!" The white bat declared.

"Which means… I owe Knuckles and Amy even more money…" She sighed in defeat.

"A… crush?" Shadow repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes; it's an infatuation." Rouge replied. "Think of it like this… Amy's former crush on Sonic!"

"I see…" Shadow nodded, before he remembered and cringed at how she used to act.

"...Is it also like… how you are when you're with Knuckles…?" Shadow asked, causing Rouge to scrunch her face up in embarrassment.

"It's not a crush, we're just…." Rouge started. "...really close!" She replied with a sheepish grin. Shadow just raised another eyebrow with this.

"The point is, it's really nothing to worry about, Shads." Rouge replied gently. Shadow frowned at his nickname. "Who knows? Perhaps this could be a sign of a possible relationship! Just think of all the fun you'll have with Sonia!"

"Fun?" Shadow repeated. Rouge nodded before she turned off her light to regain more of her beauty sleep. Shadow chaos controlled back into his room.

He closed his eyes again and began to rest, until he heard his phone beeped.

"Hm? Who could that be?" He asked out loud. He looked at his smartphone and received a text message from Sonia. It was a photo attachment of the two together. Sonia had edited it to add a cute border around the image. There was an edited caption that read "Our First Date".

Shadow gave a half smile at the photo, still feeling weird about his "crush" on Sonia.

Sonia's phone was the only thing illuminated in her dark room. Everyone had gone to bed by now. She was laying back up as she held her phone in her hands, texting the Ultimate Lifeform. She had a smile plastered on her face and the phone keyboard was clicking and she sent an image of their first date together. She felt a bit nervous when she sent the photo, as she had edited it to make it more appealing. She hoped Shadow didn't think it was lame. Her phone beeped and she got a notification.

Shadow 3 just sent you a message:

Looks good.

Sonia's heart skipped a beat and she was internally doing backflips. She kicked her feet in a happy state as she buried her face onto her bed and let out a muffled squeal of happiness. Shadow was just so charming in his own way. Everything that took place today turned out to go so well! Sonia didn't get so lucky with relationships, and with the paparazzi constantly following her every move and asking too many personal questions, she admittedly felt overwhelmed by them all. She longed for some companionship before she would grow old.

Hopefully Sonic was only kidding when he constantly brought up him and Shadow being rivals. Sonic was a friendly guy anyways!

Shadow was still awake, holding his phone. Hopefully the response he gave to her was good and didn't scare her away. He looked up at his ceiling and then back at his phone. Today was a nice day; he met someone nice and who treated him well. It wasn't like anyone else didn't treat him right. Of course there was Maria Robotnik, his beloved best friend. He wondered if she was proud of him for going on his first date.

The Ultimate Lifeform stared at the photo and felt… different. It was strange. It felt weird. This was new to him.

But he felt like companionship was not that much of a necessity. Sonia was merely just another hedgehog who just so happened to be fond of him. It's not like he needed to reciprocate these feelings for her. Not to mention, she was related to Sonic, his arch rival since his first meeting.

Though it would be extremely hilarious to see the torture Sonic would go through should he continue to go through this process of dating. Now that would be entertaining to see. He drifted off to sleep with a very small smirk on his face.