22 - Recovery - 22

6:00 PM

As the sky began to darken, both Sonic and Shadow returned to their friends. As the fight had escalated, they had moved further down into the jungle without even realizing, it so it took them a while to make it back to them. By the time they did, the females of the group immediately ran to hug them. They went on and on about how they were worried, how they saw a literal tiny death cloud rise from within the jungle and thought the worst happened. When they saw how bruised and injured they were, especially Sonic, they immediately took them to Knuckles' bunker. The echidna claimed he had plenty of stocked up food and herbs inside that would quickly help heal their bodies, including everyone else's. He and Amy volunteered to heal the others first, taking from the red guardian's pantry to pick out certain plants. Both Knuckles and Amy were knowledgeable in plant science, and got to work on fixing up fresh wounds. Some of them stung, some reacted with brief hollers of pain, but it was worth it when it died down and was replaced with relief. Gauze was wrapped around limbs, blood was cleaned from fur and plant leaves littered the floor of the living room.

Rouge and Tails sat in recliners and both Sonic and Shadow sat together on the couch. When the red and pink Mobians were finally done treating everyone else, the bat and the vulpine decided to take over, switched seats and follow their instructions carefully. A metal bowl and some damp cloths laid on a wooden table, along with a small pile of wild Angel Island herbs. Amy had pulled her sleeve down from the collar of her dress to allow Rouge to treat her shoulder wound, while Knuckles closed his eyes shut tightly as Tails gently tapped a cotton ball against his blue-purplish left cheek. As they did so, both Shadow and Sonic were quiet, more so Sonic. The hero was looking down, his eyes downcast. His expression was guilty, and he looked upset with himself. Shadow saw this, but he could tell why. His friends got really hurt because of that guy, and it was someone who looked like him that was causing them pain. He felt not only responsible, but as if he practically hurt them himself.

He was going to reach over and grasp his shoulder, until Knuckles spoke up. "So," He suddenly broke the silence while turning his head in the two hedgehogs' direction. "We gonna talk about how that that guy said Shadow was Sonic's boyfriend?"

"Your hero and his reformed villain for a boyfriend are still coming with me, whether you lot like it or not."

Sonic fell head first off the couch.

"S-Sonic!" Amy cried as she helped him up, who was kind of wishing she didn't and let him rot.

The echidna snorted a laugh. "Judging by that reaction, I'm guessing I didn't hear that wrong." He glanced at the others with a grin. "I'm not the only one who heard that, right?" The atmosphere instantly became awkward, and Shadow suddenly found the nearby wall very interesting. Rouge gave the echidna a harsh glare as she sat next to him, but then looked at Shadow, who was refusing to gaze in their direction.

Seeing how uncomfortable the two were, Tails figured that maybe he could say something to soften the blow. "Yeah I heard that too," He said with a bored tone, as he leaned back in his seat. "But I already figured as much. It's not a big deal, honestly."

To this, Rouge smiled a little at the fox. She appreciated what he was trying to do. The pink hedgehog, after getting back in her seat from assisting Sonic, nodded with a small smile. "Yup! I've known for a while too, it's cute." Her voice was delighted, but she also came off as if she didn't find this information much of a big deal either. "Rouge, how's your neck?" She quickly changed the subject without even batting Knuckles an eye.

The white bat winked at the girl with gratitude, before going along with their game and moving her neck side to side. She flinched with genuine pain though, rubbing the back of her head with her hand. "It's gonna be sore for a while, sweetheart. I probably won't be able to turn my head to the right for at least a few weeks."

A little put off by their metaphorical hand-waving of this conversation, Knuckles stood up stubbornly. "H-Hey! Are we really just gonna ignore this?"

Tails rolled his eyes as he pulled out his smartphone from his namesakes and began tapping his thumb away on the screen. "Knuckles," He quietly said with a curt tone. "Now's not the time, read the room. Leave them alone already."

With a small vein throbbing on his head, the echidna crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine, whatever."

"Hey." Sonic suddenly said, causing everyone to look at him. He then tried to make his voice sound more relaxed, even feigning a sheepish smile to pass it off. However, he was fooling no one. "I don't know what that guy was talkin' about or what he wanted with me and Shadow." His smile faltered a little. "This is all super confusing, but I didn't mean for you guys to get involved in whatever the hell that was. Neither of us know what's going on, and I don't know why that guy or Eggman's swearin' up and down that I'm the devil. If I had known about that clone of mine, I would have dealt with him myself so nobody else would have gotten hurt. That," Sonic folded his hands on his knees. "Could have went really bad. It was my mess, and I should have handled it on my own." He bowed his head low to them. "Sorry, guys."

Rouge crossed her legs, and leaned her elbow against the arm of the loveseat. "Sweetie," She began softly. "You didn't know about him, it's not your fault."

Amy nodded and made an understanding smile. "You don't give yourself enough credit. It's okay, Sonic."

Knuckles, still salty about the others ignoring his previous question, concurred rather tersely. "Yeah yeah...Just don't get yourself killed next time if you try fighting that guy again. You both looked like a train ran over you."

The vulpine lifted his eyes from his phone and smiled at his older brother. "It's cool, Sonic. You're good." He then put his attention back to his phone. "And there's nothing evil about you, either." He scoffed. "That guy must have been gorging on some shrooms from Mushroom Hill or something."

The bat laughed at that. "I know, right? Who even came up with that nonsense? Big Blue's a good boy, through and through."

The pink hedgehog made an angry pout and crossed her arms. "I don't understand how anyone could think something like that. Sonic never did anything wrong."

"Ahh I dunno about that." Knuckles cut in. "Asshole nearly got my island blown up at least five times. My whole lawn's ripped up and-" A ball of gauze tape was harshly shoved directly at his mouth, causing the echidna to stumble in his seat. "W-What the hell, batgirl!?"

"You and I are having a very long talk when everyone goes home, you understand me?" The bat growled in a tense whisper as she pointed her finger at the guardian, who flinched at this. Knuckles immediately yelled about why he was in trouble, to which Amy pleaded that he lowered the volume of his voice. The three began to banter, with Rouge specifically arguing with Knuckles about his lack of tact and his inability to read the room. The pink haired botanist tried to mediate between them, but she was failing and now they were both getting on her nerves too. The fox just watched with amusement, then glanced over at the two silent hedgehogs. Shadow looked more at ease, his eyes closed and his breathing steady. Probably meditating, Tails assumed. He then saw Sonic, who was in the same position as he was before. His big brother was always so hard to read...While he obviously didn't look completely devastated by what happened, anyone could sense that he could feel a lot of remorse. Sonic didn't care about fighting if he was the only one taking the hits, and he loved it when his friends joined in—When they were fighting badniks. Not powerful, random, mysterious lookalikes who could have easily murdered them if they truly wanted to.

He didn't like seeing Sonic this way, so the fox walked over to the blue hedgehog and placed a hand on his shoulder. He smiled at him gently, his baby blue irises reminding him of older times when they were younger. Sonic smiled back, but it quickly disappeared and he looked away. He was probably too distracted, thinking about everything that's been leading up to now. Tails knelt down and tapped his knee, trying to get his attention. "Hey," He said quietly underneath the loud bickering. "I'm pretty sure Shadow's got enough energy to teleport off the island, now. Why don't you both go home together? We'll figure this all out later but for now, go rest up. You had it worse than any of us."

Blinking in shock at that, the hero slowly faced his little brother. "...You're cool with this? But Tails, I should at least take you home. I can't just leave you guys-"

"Sonic," Tails said firmly, but kindly. "We're okay. And," He added. "We're not scared of you. I don't know what Eggman or that lookalike of yours was talking about, but you're not a bad person. We all know that, and we all trust you." His smiled brightened. "We always will, especially me."

The thing is, Sonic knew better. Tails wasn't completely telling the truth and only wanted to make him feel less guilty, but the fact that he did warmed Sonic's heart a bit. While he could tell his little brother still had a small level of fear of him from that incident, the hero could feel some relief exit out of his own tightened chest. He let out an exhale he didn't realize he was holding in and closed his eyes. "...Good, okay." Sonic opened his eyes and stood up off of the couch. He hugged the fox closely and patted his head, before letting go and walking passed Shadow. He slyly tapped his leg as he went. Shadow opened an eye, before directing his attention to Tails. He watched the fox nod, shooing them. He wanted them to leave quickly before anyone else noticed, because he knew firsthand how annoying their pals could be.

The biohog nodded back, silently thanking the fox for his indiscretion. He stood up and grasped Sonic's hand. "See you later, Tails." Shadow respectfully greeted, having been one of the rare times he had ever used his name. "Chaos Control."

In a green flash, they were gone from the bunker and Angel Island itself.

Tails then turned to glance back at their group of bickering friends.

"Do you have any idea what the word 'sensitivity' means?" Rouge spat, standing up from the loveseat and glaring down at her boyfriend. "Obviously not."

Knuckles grit his teeth angrily. "I was just asking a damn question, I know I'm not the only one who was wondering that!"

Amy interjected with matching venom. "You are, because you're the only one they didn't tell, you big jerk!"

"W-Wait, what? Why me?!"

The boy genius just closed his eyes and shook his head.

Empire City

Evening, 7:00 PM

The blue hedgehog stared at one of the many tall windows of the apartment, watching the sun die out and give rise to the moon. The lights of the city all appeared like tiny flames of candles, the skyline creating an almost glittery metropolis against the dark starry night. He was sitting in one of the lounge chairs in the living room, just watching time fly by. His shoes were off and beside him on the rug, his legs lifted up and laying against the arm of the chair. His lime eyes were staring without blinking, as if trying to find the answer to something he didn't even know how to question. To question something, you needed a concept of something that caused your curiosity in the first place. But he was so confused as to what was going on, that he couldn't settle on asking himself anything. He was tired, and his body was weary. But his mind...It was so troubled, racing with thoughts of utter puzzlement and disarray. The hero hated this, but he hated even more that for some odd reason, he was the reason any of this nonsense was happening. And this all started because of what happened three years ago, when he used that stupid demonic super form.

What even was that? How did he do that? Why did he do that? It didn't matter if he was angry, he would never snap on someone so violently like that, not even Eggman. Ever since then, it's been one train wreck after another. The bombings, Infinite, Christmas Island and now some mysterious military double of his comes out of nowhere to beat the snot out of him and his friends. Not only that, but he realized just how weak he was despite his tremendous growth over the years. However, he wasn't too worried about that. Sonic adapted very quickly, and he knew that no matter how strong he could get, there would always be someone out there just a teensy bit stronger. He learned that the hard way with Knuckles and Shadow. However, it was still a lingering threat he couldn't stop thinking about. What if that Zonic guy appeared again with a vengeance this time? If it wasn't for whomever called him on his...Weird collar transceiver thingy, he would have kidnapped them and taken them to God knows where. Sonic was stressed, tired and sore in so many different places. The plants of Angel Island were amazing to say the least, because while Sonic was still very sore, his wounds were closing up very quickly in a span of only a little over an hour. He wasn't bleeding, he no longer had any open cuts or bruises. Soon, he was able to take the bandages and gauze right off without too much trouble. When he and Shadow went home, they showered together to get rid of the caked blood and dirt that covered their furs. It hurt a little to do so, but they were all cleaned up now. Shadow's biologically superior body was able to regenerate, so he healed much faster than anyone else.

He felt a kiss against the side of his face from behind. Sonic instinctively smiled affectionately and looked up to see Shadow standing over him behind the chair. "You're lost in thought, that's rare. Are you okay?"

The hero internally laughed at that. Shadow still didn't realize that Sonic was always thinking, he just didn't make it that obvious most of the time. "I'm...Hnn," Sonic couldn't lie. "I'm confused, and I think that twin of mine was right...I can feel that something else is going to happen, something huge, but I don't know what. It's the same feeling I had before the bombing." He admitted with a sigh before looking back at the skyline. "I mean, what the hell has been happening for the past two weeks?"

Shadow just shook his head, his brows furrowed. "I have no idea. This...Is a huge mess. I don't even know how to explain this, any of this." He looked out the window alongside Sonic, and it reminded him of when he and Maria would look out the Ark's windows down to Mobius together. As he stared, Sonic took this time to gaze at the elder hedgehog. He was so stunning to just stop and look at. His faintly glowing amber red eyes, his unique velveteen black and red striped fur, his powerful frame and body. It didn't matter if he was scowling at the world or making a ghost of a smile, he was just a treat to gaze at. His voice suddenly woke him out of his daydream. "And that card that faker of yours gave me, I don't even-" The sound of a buzzing vibration interrupted Shadow. That was his phone, again. Shadow swore that one of these days he'd chuck that thing right off of the thirtieth floor. "I need to take that," He rubbed his hand against his peach shoulder before walking away. "Don't go anywhere." He walked over to the coffee table in front of the couch and bent down to pick up his smart phone. He held it up to his muzzle. "Hello-" His eyes widened at the voice from the other end. "Infinite...?" From afar, blue ears perked up at the sound of that name. The biohog had nearly forgotten all about him. If Eggman was arrested while Infinite was in a pod, how the hell was he even talking to him? "How are you calling me right now? How'd you even get my number?" Shadow asked with a dubious voice.

"Shadow," His voice sounded off, as if something major had just happened before the jackal called him. "I realized something." A brief pause. "You're...Important to me."

The black and red striped hedgehog blinked. What did that even mean? "What are you talking about? How are you alive? Weren't you hooked up to tubes and wires in Eggman's base?"

"I have the ruby now, Shadow. I have the Phantom Ruby." He sounded almost as if he was inebriated. Was he on something? Was the ruby doing that to him? "I'm going to use it to set things right, but I need your help."

"But why-"

"Meet me in Eggman's base on Monday at 6:00 AM. Don't make me wait."

"Infinite-!"

He hung up.

Shadow scowled, staring at the screen of his phone in disbelief. The number was glitching with this strange magenta coloring on the screen. Did Infinite do that? He couldn't call him back if he wanted to. What kind of call was that? He was a little afraid of touching the screen of his phone at this point, in fear of it malfunctioning. He sighed and just placed it back on the coffee table. He wanted to meet with him in his base at the start of next week, but tomorrow at the crack of dawn? Why? What was he going to use the ruby for? He had a bad feeling about this, a really bad one. He sounded so cryptic and drunk on the phone. Not literally, but as if his mind was somewhere else. Like he wasn't all there. But if Eggman was arrested and had no hopes of getting out, what would Infinite do? "Sonic?" He called, he had a curious question.

"Yeah?"

"Eggman said he found the Phantom Ruby on Christmas Island. You never knew about this object before any of this started, right?"

Without getting out of his seat, the hero continued to lean back comfortably. "Nope. Don't think I ever heard or saw something like that as a child, either. Eggman claimed it was on Christmas Island, but I never saw anything like that there when I was young." He explained in an unsure tone. "This might sound naive, but I never thought I'd see another powerful gem other than the Master Emerald or Time Stones in my life."

Shadow figured as much. Damn it. "I'm too annoyed to deal with this right now..." He mumbled. He wanted to sleep this off, his body needed to restore the energy he wasted today. It may have been way too early to go to bed, but he was too annoyed and exhausted to deal with anything else. He walked past the couch and began to exit the living room. As he did so, he called for the blue blur again, this time with much less seriousness in his voice. "You. I want you in my bed, come on."

Sonic turned to the side with a laugh. "Freakin' what? That's not how you ask for sex, babe."

"I don't want sex, just get in here. I need something to lay on."

Standing up from his seat and traveling to the elder hedgehog's bedroom, Sonic couldn't help but chuckle at his demands. "You could have just asked to cuddle, dude." As he walked in the bedroom, he shut the door and pulled off his gloves. He saw that Shadow was already in bed on the right side, turned over. After he placed his gloves on the left nightstand, Sonic pulled over the sheets and climbed into bed along with him. He got close from behind and wrapped his arms around him, nuzzling his face into the back of his shoulder. As he rubbed his hands up and down his striped arms, he gently pressed a peck against his shoulder blade. "Everything okay?" He asked, half-knowing that the call Shadow just had was most definitely of some concern. "Let me know if I touch a bruise."

"It's fine," The biohog replied tiredly. "Tired."

"Yeah," Sonic completely agreed. "I feel ya there." He wouldn't probe him about the call, he wanted Shadow to be comfortable enough to tell him on his own. Even if he wouldn't tell him immediately, he was fine with that. He pressed more kisses leading up from his neck to his muzzle. His hands traveled to his chest, rubbing underneath his chest fur. He could feel him purr against him. He felt him grasp his hand, but he didn't want him to stop. "This okay?" He asked softly. He felt his partner nod his head silently, so he kept touching him. "Feel good?" Sonic felt him nod again, and he could hear him lowly moaning. He pressed a few more kisses close to the corner of his mouth, continuing his massaging motions on his chest and abdomen with his hands. "Hey," He whispered. "Thank you for helpin' out. Could have went down a whole lot differently if you weren't there."

Lightly blushing, the biohog continued to nod. "O...Of course..." He never realized how good this felt to just have someone caress and handle him like this. He felt Sonic lay his leg over his, pressing himself more against him. He turned over onto his back and placed his hands around Sonic's waist to guide him to get on top. The blue hedgehog did exactly as he desired and climbed to sit right on top of his lap. The lights were off, the curtains closed, but small bits of moonlight shined through to illuminate the hero's figure. Shadow was absolutely mesmerized, he was so beautiful. Even with the faint cuts and wounds, he was perfect. His enchanting lime irises, his velour-felt royal blue fur, his peach arms and torso, his athletic body. He was warmly smiling down at him, his eyes half-lidded with both drowsiness and great fondness. When tiny taps began to hit against the window, they realized that it was raining. He held up his arm to caress the side of his peach muzzle, and Sonic placed his hand on top of his tenderly. The hero leaned down with his arms at both sides of Shadow's body, and closed his eyes as he pressed a passionate kiss on his tan lips. As the kiss became more heated, Shadow hungrily sucked against his bottom lip before they disconnected. "You taste so good..." He huskily murmured.

His cheeks now reddened from his comment, Sonic bashfully laid his face against his upper chest, his white chest fur tickling his nose. "...Are you okay with our friends knowin' about us? Won't GUN have a problem with that if it gets out?"

Shadow caressed behind his ears and rubbed his fingers along the blue fur of his head. "I don't care if they know or not. If anything, I'm sure Tower would actually find it quite advantageous for GUN that I'm dating the Hero of Mobius. I was more concerned whether or not you cared about that."

The hero shook his head as he pressed hidden kisses onto his chest. "I don't really care either." He made a small pout. "But I definitely don't feel like hearing Knux's mouth...He's so insensitive. I mean I know that's rich coming from me, but geez. Talk about taking a freakin' hint." His ears twitched in delight as he felt Shadow scratch behind them. "Heheh..."

"You aren't worried about how the media views us?"

"Media? You mean the public?" Sonic rolled his eyes. "I couldn't care less about that." He continued to lay his face against his elder lover's chest, his voice slightly muffled. "There's plenty of people out there who'll hate that I'm bisexual, and there's plenty of people who'll love that I'm bisexual. It's too many different opinions, I don't have time to worry about that. I got a world to save, people to rescue. If a bunch of magazines and modeling companies drop my number, who cares? I can give to charity without their publicity."

Shadow felt his cheeks redden even more as he thought of something. "Yeah...Erm, about your...Charity events," He spoke carefully. "Do you...Um, mind...sending me a few photos of yourself?" Gradually, Sonic lifted his head up from his chest with a huge smirk. The biohog sat up immediately. "That's not what I meant!" He exclaimed quickly.

"You want naughty photos, don't you?"

"I do not. I just...would like-um," Shadow looked away as the tips of his ears turned red. "Just...More pictures, of you. I told you, my greatest regret is not having any photos of Maria. I try to keep images of things that I value, and I only have a few digital photos of your magazine covers from Rouge."

Sonic's smirk softened into a sweet smile, and he crawled off of Shadow to lay beside him on the bed. He pulled his smartphone from his quills and held it up in front of both of them so he could see along with him. After he unlocked it, he went to his photo app and began cycling through images in a specific album. There were a lot of photos of him and friends, hanging out and just having a good time. There were even a few with Rouge. Then they came upon some selfies that Shadow found worth keeping for himself. There were also a few photos that someone, probably one of his friends, took of him full-body. They were nice photos, honestly. There was one of him sitting next to a waterfall in Green Hill Zone, there was another of him shaking hands with the president, and there was another one of him holding a bunch of chao. He looked just as beautiful in these photos as he did right now in real life, but nothing compared to the real thing. "Want any of these?"

Shadow nodded. "Yes, I'd like a lot of these actually."

"Okay," Sonic made a few taps on the screen, and in seconds, the photos he selected from his album were sent directly to their shared private messages. "Just download those on your phone, and they're yours." He saw Shadow faintly smiling at his phone. "I know you're not a selfie-guy, but I'd like some pictures of you too eventually."

"Thank you." Shadow replied gratefully. "As for me, I suppose I could try and...Ugh," He grimaced. "Take a picture of myself one of these days and send it to you in return." His eyes saw that the hero had a bunch of photo albums. There was one dedicated to food, one dedicated to only his friends and one for...Huh. It just had triple x's across it. "Wait, what's that album?"

The hero gave Shadow an alarmed expression. "Oh no. I don't think you wanna look at that, babe. Those are nudes, really nasty ones too."

Was he trying to say he wasn't prepared to see him naked when he's literally been doing that all weekend? Please. "I want to see it." The biohog countered adamantly.

Sonic scoffed and shrugged, he didn't feel like debating his stubbornness. He'd regret that in a second. "Tch. Okay, suit yourself." He then clicked on the album before completely handing over the phone to his lover. "Don't say I ain't warn you."

Frowning at this, Shadow took the phone and began to swipe through the images.

And the second he did, he felt great heat rise in between his legs. His face became that of a tomato, and his eyes were bulging out of his skull.

These photos...They were the holy grail of Sonic's body.

Of course, most Mobians were technically nude to begin with since many barely wore clothing at all, especially males. The only time society officially declared them as naked was if they didn't wear gloves and shoes. Even then, nothing was explicitly provocative in this instance. It was only when a Mobian revealed their genitalia hidden within their fur that they were truly naked. And in these photos, Sonic was very much in his birthday suit. But that wasn't even the biggest issue, because the problem that Shadow was currently having and causing a rising erection under the sheets, was that Sonic was posing quite sexually in every image. There were some where he was showing off his lower body, specifically his legs and lower abdomen but especially his backside. In this one for example, he was bent over and taking a selfie in between his legs. Then there were some where he was showing off his flexibility, usually with splits and a lot of spreading of his legs. For instance, this one had his legs stretched behind his head with his crotch centered in the camera. There was one with his back turned to the phone, with nothing but his ass in full view. He had just got out of the shower with a towel around his shoulders-Wait, was that Shadow's bathroom? Did he take a selfie here? When did he even do that? Oh and this one was just a straight up penis-Okay, he was having a hard time looking away from that one. And as Shadow kept swiping, they got even worse. There was one where he was stroking himself, one where he was clearly showering with his ass up against the glass-Oh God.

There was even one where he was...Oh. Oh sweet Chaos. Was he fingering himself? And was that a video of it!? Oh shit, he didn't mean to tap it. It was playing and all he heard was moaning and...Oh.

Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off now.

...

Oh sweet Lord in heaven-

Shadow immediately returned the phone with his face almost literally on fire. "..."

Raising a brow, Sonic stared at him with a "I told you so" expression. He just leaned his elbow against the bed with his chin in his palm. He easily took his phone back, cut it off and placed it back in his quills. "You want a napkin to wipe up your drool, big guy?"

The ultimate life form had never been in such a difficult position before, and his erection was just tearing through the comforter. "..." He had no words.

"Now what did we learn?"

"...That I'm still not ready for sexting."

"And why?"

"Because I'm silently losing my shit right now."

Sonic nodded in approval. "Good boy."

Reactively closing his legs together, Shadow shut his eyes with a frown. He attempted to force his mind to focus on controlling himself and calming his hormones, before he tried to pin Sonic against the bed. He truly didn't want sex right now, he was too tired for that but God was Sonic making that difficult. That was all his own fault, though. He should have listened. "...Why do you even have those on your phone?" He asked slowly as he glanced at the blue one.

The hero flagged this off. "Ah nobody touches my phone, so I don't worry about anybody seein' 'em. Oh and FYI, I'm not one of those guys who doesn't allow his partner to look through his phone. You absolutely can if you want to and I don't mind if you know my password, 'cause I don't really care about that kind of stuff." Shadow noted that it was nice to know that Sonic trusted him so much. But then again, Sonic was too carefree about petty things like that to begin with. "Anyway, those were for the assholes I used to screw around with. I don't talk to any of them anymore, but I kept the photos—and videos—in case I started diggin' someone again." He then flashed Shadow a sultry smirk and licked his lips. "And I did~" He booped his nose with his pinky. "Someone I plan on being with exclusively might I add, so I think I'll keep 'em and add a little more to my collection. Just let me know when you're ready for me to send one. Or," He tilted his head with amusement. "I could take a new one for you, I don't mind requests. Or," He leaned closely against Shadow with hazy eyes. "We could make a video together. You fuck me in the shower, and I could scream your name while my phone's recording. Or I could have you scream mine while I bend you over your desk, and watch as my cum drips down your legs. Then you could replay it to yourself at night, over and over whenever you feel lonely~"

Shadow could feel blood beginning to develop from his penis to the inside of his nose. "I think I'm gonna have a stroke."

Sonic wheezed before snorting a laugh. "Okay, okay, I'll stop. No more." He then placed his hands on the sides of Shadow's head and pulled him in for a strong kiss. He lightly pressed his tongue against his, sharing a chaste but passionate French kiss. When they broke the kiss, Sonic advised that they should probably head to bed before they obliterated Shadow's headboard. "Just wanted to do that before you head off to sleep, handsome. Let's turn in before we ruin your apartment." They slowly laid down against the pillows together before cuddling up to each other. They held each other's hands and nuzzled each other's muzzles. Their legs locked around each other's and they stayed liked that as the night went on.

The biohog loved the feeling of him being beside him like this. "...Sonic."

"Hmm?"

"You make me happy."

The hero blushed. "...Yeah?"

Shadow nodded. "Yes." A wave of drowsiness washed over him. "..." He said nothing else, he had fell asleep.

Sonic meanwhile, could feel his heart beating rapidly. How was a moron like him able to make someone who was so angry and sad for so long, happy? He didn't know how he managed that, and he most certainly didn't know how the hell he even got Shadow. He didn't deserve him, not in the slightest. But damn it, he'd prove to himself that he did because the last thing he'd ever do is let him go. He caressed Shadow's sleeping face, noticing how relaxed and peaceful he was when he was adrift in slumber. Not glaring, not scowling or brooding, just at peace. If he could make someone like him happy, then he was at least doing one thing right in his life. The hero smiled lovingly, he really...

...No, it was still too soon for that. Maybe not now, but soon.

Soon, Sonic would be sure and he'd tell him.

The blue one closed his eyes and fell into a much deserved deep sleep along with the ultimate life form.

Right now, he was happy too.

22 - END - 22