A/N: Today is National Sibling Day, and I almost didn't want to publish this fic in light of the tragedy that KagamiPINKAgreste suffered, but on the other hand, I know she'd want me to hang tough for her, so I'm publishing it anyways.

It was a cold Wednesday afternoon at Rouge the Bat's mansion, and Shadow the Hedgehog was bored. At the moment, he was doing nothing in particular except looking up information on the upcoming Executioner movie, Acapulco Rampage. With the retirement of actor Carl Muggia, there was much speculation about who would be playing the role of Mack Bolan next, but some of the most popularly-thrown-about names included Jonas Bonaventura, David Bendtsen and Scott Whittle. Eventually, Shadow took a break from this and called Venus the Hedgehog, his adopted sister:

"Hello?"

"Venus, it's me, Shadow."

"Hey Shadow, what's up?"

"So, Amy told me that tomorrow was National Sibling Day, and I was wondering: do you want to hang out tomorrow?"

"Sure! What did you feel like doing?"

"Why don't we go out to eat and go to the arcade afterwards?"

"Can we go to the Glitter Palace after those? Rouge and Amy have said good things about that place, and I usually don't go to clubs, but I wanna try it."

"We can."

"Great! Pick me up at 4:00 tomorrow."

"I will. See you then. Love you!"

"Love you too!"

Shadow and Venus hung up.

The next day, Shadow hopped into his black 1970 Pontiac Trans Am and drove to Venus' house in Quartz Village. He knew she was home because her car – a light blue 1972 Pontiac Grand Ville sedan – was parked in the driveway. After parking his car at the curb, he shut off the engine and headed to the front door. Then, he knocked.

"Coming!"

Soon, the door opened, and…

"Hey Shadow!"

Venus gave Shadow a big hug, which he gladly returned. While this gray hedgehog couldn't replace Amy or Rouge, there was just something special about getting a hug from the girl who was like a sister to him. Plus, she was extremely soft, warm and cuddly, as all women should be. Eventually, she let go.

"Hi Venus." Shadow smiled. "That's a new outfit."

Venus had put on an aqua green thigh-high strapless dress and matching high-heel shoes.

"I thought since we're going to a club, I might as well dress to impress!"

"I see. So, where do you want to go to eat?"

"Rouge told me about this buffet a couple blocks north of the Glitter Palace. Can we go there, please?"

Shadow nodded. "I'll go there."

"Eeeee!" Venus put her hands on her cheeks.

The buffet in question was called Dragon Road Buffet, a Chunanese buffet. Located in the Greenville neighborhood south of Downtown Emerald City, it served such fare as General Tso's Chicken, beef teriyaki and pork-fried rice, plus more traditional fare such as French fries, brisket and bacon-wrapped hot dogs. The soundtrack consisted of traditional Chunanese music, and the restaurant was nicely decorated, with red-painted and gold-trimmed surfaces. Shortly after being seated, they were approached by one of the waitresses, a black cat.

"Hi, welcome to Dragon Road Buffet! Would you like something to drink?"

"I'll have a Dr. Pepper," said Shadow.

"I'll have a virgin piña colada, please," said Venus.

The waitress left to get their drinks.

"So Shadow, what have you been up to lately?"

"Well, remember how you and Amy were talking about that show Avatar: The Last Airbender?"

Venus nodded and smiled. "Mm-hmm."

"Well, I watched a few episodes last week, and I loved it. Also, you don't have to worry about me shipping Zutara. After watching the first episode, I can safely say that even without your influence, I still would've shipped Kataang."

"Well, good. Honestly, the Zutara fandom is a cult."

Shadow nodded. "Yes, I remember you mentioning this before. Fortunately, ever since I defeated Black Doom, I've learned to resist joining cults."

Venus smiled. "See, that's one thing I like about you, Shadow: you're smart!"

Shadow smiled. "G.U.N. once claimed I had an IQ of 200, but I think they're joking. Still, I am very smart."

Venus giggled. "Oh, you!"

The waitress returned with their drinks.

"Can I interest either of you in our buffet?"

"Yes," said Shadow and Venus.

"OK, enjoy!"

Shadow and Venus queued up for the buffet. Shadow ended up getting some General Tso's Chicken, sweet and sour pork, an egg roll and some lo mein, whereas Venus got some chicken wings in sticky sauce, beef teriyaki, a couple of sugared buns and some pork-fried rice. They dug in, and Shadow immediately commented on the food:

"This is very delicious. I can't remember the last time I had Chunanese food this good."

Venus swallowed. "Yeah, this is one of my absolute favorite places to go for Chunanese food!"

Shadow smiled. "Well, we'll have to go here again. Heck, I'll have to invite Amy, too. She loves French fries, and I know she'd appreciate having a huge plate of…"

Shadow was cut off when his Hedgehog Sense tingled. He was somewhat afraid to look because judging by the wet, moaning sounds he could hear, he knew what was going on, but he just couldn't help but take a look. Sure enough, he saw Sonic the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat making out, and then he quickly turned away, much to Venus' concern:

"Everything OK, Shadow?"

"I'm all right."

"Are you sure?"

"Really, it's nothing, Venus."

Shadow began cramming food into his mouth, much to Venus' chagrin:

"Shadow, slow down! You're gonna choke on your food!"

"I don't care."

Venus sighed. Shadow was her favorite adopted sibling, but he was weird sometimes.

Next, Shadow and Venus headed to the Blitzkrieg Arcade. Located in the Lower West Side neighborhood and in operation for several decades, it had a huge selection of classic arcade games from the 70s-90s, plus a healthy selection of pinball machines. What was really cool was that for a flat fee of seven Mobiums, one could play all these games as much as they wanted for free. After forking over their entry fees, Shadow and Venus looked around the arcade for a game they could play when suddenly, Venus tugged Shadow on the arm.

"Shadow, look!"

The game that Venus pointed out was Super Peach World, which on the surface looked like a simple mod of Super Mario World that swapped Mario and Luigi with Princess Peach and Princess Daisy, but in actuality was a conversion that not only incorporated new levels, but some new gameplay mechanics to account for Peach and Daisy.

"That looks fun," said Shadow. "Who's going to be Peach and who's going to be Daisy?"

Venus put her hand on her shoulder. "You go ahead and be Peach. Besides, you like cherry blossoms!"

Venus giggled heavily, trying to stifle laughter. While Shadow would ordinarily not be too fond of others teasing him, there was no denying that he loved his cherry blossom girlfriend Amy Rose. Besides, Peach was also a platonic soulmate and a sort of sister to Shadow. Additionally, ever since defeating Black Doom and Solaris, his mood had improved in general. He smiled:

"All right, I'll be Peach."

"Eeeee!"

Shadow and Venus sat on a couple of stools to play the game. These were located at pretty much every machine because not every Mobian was tall enough to reach the controls and see the displays properly. Shadow hit the "2P START" button, and the game was on. Knowing that it led to the Yellow Switch Palace, Shadow went to the first level, Mushroom Field 1. Like pretty much every Mario game, this was an easy run for him. After he beat the level, the game control switched over to Venus. They played through the game as far as they could until they ran out of lives. In the end, Shadow got a score of 698070, whereas Venus got a score of 947540.

"Eeeee! I won!" Venus pumped her fists.

Shadow smiled. "Well played, Venus. Shall we play another game?"

"Sure!"

Shadow and Venus took each other on in games such as Yars' Revenge, Space Invaders and Tempest. After this, they decided to boogie down at the Glitter Palace discotheque. Ordinarily, Shadow was not fond of disco music, but after dancing with Amy a few times, he decided that it wasn't all bad. Granted, it still didn't hold the same appeal to him as listening to his favorite heavy metal songs, but there was just something special about dancing to disco music with his loved ones.

Anyways, the Glitter Palace was formerly the Imperial Theater, even still having the old marquee, albeit topped with a neon sign that spelled out the club's name. While not the first disco in Emerald City, it was by far the biggest and most popular. Shadow let a valet park his car, and him and Venus entered the lobby, which was decorated with blacklight paintings by E.L. Pendelbury. After handing over their IDs and paying their entry fees – which also granted them two free drink tickets each – they were granted access. As they got closer to the door, the "bump, bump, bump" of the disco beat was gradually getting louder, beckoning them for some Thursday Night Fever.

Finally, they opened the door to the dance floor, and while the club wasn't as packed as it would be on Friday and Saturday nights, there were still plenty of people grooving, and the light display was as dazzling as ever: aside from flashing multicolored lights, the main feature of the Glitter Palace's ceiling was a 16-point "starburst" of flashing multicolored neon tubes protruding from a large flashing orange neon ring in the center of the ceiling. Each point of the "starburst" was sectioned into three neon tubes, and the whole thing could be programmed to flash in different patterns. Hanging from the center of the "starburst" above the dancefloor was a four-foot disco ball. Much of the dancefloor itself was Plexiglas, sectioned into squares underneath. Each square contained a small strobe light surrounded by a flashing square neon ring, and the strobes and neon rings could be programmed to flash randomly or in various patterns. At each corner of the dance floor was a pole with two rows of flashing lights running parallel to each other, and each pole was topped with a Mark XII "police" rotating light. There was a staircase to the left and to the right of the dance floor, each newel of the staircase being topped by a two-foot disco ball. For music, the DJ was currently spinning "Zombieboy" by Lady Gaga.

After briefly glancing over at each other and nodding, Shadow and Venus shuffled on to the dancefloor and began to dance their asses off. While not the most expert disco dancer, Shadow made a most passable effort, and nobody seemed to pay much – if any – attention to him. Judging by the way Venus was smiling, she seemed to approve, though it took her a lot of effort not to melt from sheer happiness due to the way the lights were sparkling. Still, both of them were having an extremely fun time dancing the night away, and even if they were only platonic partners, they felt so emotionally close to each other, and they forgot all about everything that was troubling them. After all, that was what disco music was for: escaping the doldrums and stresses of everyday life. They continued to groove through hits such as "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer, "Shake (East and West)" by Erika and "Menergy" by Patrick Cowley, and then Venus tapped Shadow on the shoulder:

"Shadow, I'm gonna hit the bar; I'm getting thirsty."

"OK, I'll follow you there."

Shadow and Venus headed for one of the bars at either side of the dance floor. After they were sitting down for a bit, one of the bartenders – a tall, voluptuous blonde woman – approached them:

"So, what'll it be, my dears?"

"I'll have a Dr. Pepper," said Shadow.

"I'll have a Coke," said Venus.

"You got it!"

Shadow and Venus each put down a drink ticket, and the bartender served them their drinks, after which Venus gestured hers to Shadow:

"So, shall we toast?"

"To what?"

"To our adopted sibling relationship!"

Shadow smiled. "OK!"

Shadow and Venus toasted, and they drank up, refreshing themselves after boogieing down for an appreciable length of time. However, Shadow's Hedgehog Sense tingled again, and he could hear the faint sound of a slow piano melody mixing in to the current song. As soon as he recognized the song that was coming on, he gently tugged Venus' arm.

"What's up, Shadow?"

"Come on; we HAVE to dance to this song!"

"OK, slow down there, bro! I'm coming!"

The song that Shadow wanted to dance to turned out to be "Silly Love Songs" by Paul McCartney & Wings, also a song that – despite Shadow not being passionate about disco music – was also one he thought was one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded. Even if he wasn't in a romantic relationship with Venus, it was one of those songs that he felt he absolutely, positively had to share with her. She was one of those people who made him feel very good about himself, who had helped him greatly in his life, and this song was one of those that represented how he felt about her. Venus had heard this song too and thought it was all right, but dancing with Shadow to this one really brought new meaning to her. Dancing to it, it reminded her just how much he had helped her out in her own time of need and how much he brightened her life. True to the song, love didn't come in a minute, and sometimes it didn't come at all, and while Venus had yet to find a romantic partner she could truly love and trust the way Shadow loved and trusted Amy, she was feeling more optimistic and hopeful in this moment just because of this one song. By now, not only were her troubles what Kansas would call "Dust In the Wind", but she was absolutely beaming with happiness, and all the disco lights seemed to shine and flash more brightly than they usually did. Overall, she was having the time of her life, and she just wanted to dance forever and ever. She certainly hadn't had enough of "silly love songs", and she wanted more.

As much as Venus wanted to dance the night away at the Glitter Palace, she soon got exhausted from the party, so by the time the DJ was playing "Radar Angels" by Chromium, she decided to call it. However, Shadow wanted to cap the night off with one more activity, so he drove over to Emerald Tower, not just the tallest building in Emerald City, but the world.

"What are we doing here?" asked Venus.

"You'll see."

After parking his Trans Am, Shadow led Venus to the observation deck on the roof of the building.

"You're into stars, right?"

Venus nodded. "I am."

"Look up at the sky. There's your stars."

Venus looked up at the night sky, and despite Emerald City having light pollution like many other big cities, the fact that they were so high up – not to mention the fact that the sky was clear – meant that she could easily see the sparkly blanket of stars plus an almost-full moon:

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Venus put her hands on her cheeks. "Thank you SO MUCH, Shadow!"

Venus wrapped an arm around Shadow, and he returned the favor as they both looked up at the starry sky. As if being dazzled by the disco lights at the Glitter Palace wasn't enough, the fact that he took her to see the stars was the absolute cherry on this sundae of a Thursday. She did, however, have one problem…

"What's wrong, Venus?"

Venus clutched herself as she shivered. "G-god, it's-s-s s-so c-c-c-c-cold!"

"Here…"

Shadow took off his G-1 bomber jacket and draped it around Venus' shoulders. Owing to her voluptuous build, it took a little effort, but he got it. She smiled:

"Thanks, Shadow!"

"You're welcome, Venus."

Venus proceeded to squeeze Shadow's face, which got him smiling and giggling. Even if she wasn't his romantic partner, he appreciated this gesture because it not only felt good, but because there didn't have to be anything sexual about it. Overall, it would be a day to remember for both of them.

*Venus the Hedgehog was originally created by Greybullet/SaberA2/RedHadal

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