*There is light sexual content in the latter half of this chapter.

33 - Amends - 33

August 7th - Empire City

DAY 28: Thursday

Evening, 8:00 PM

The apartment door closed as Shadow walked inside. As he did, he tapped away on his new smart phone that was aptly paid for by GUN, since his last one was destroyed during his kidnapping. He was texting Rouge, and he had been talking with her all day privately via chat. Team Dark was completely separated today, as they were all tasked with individually investigating all the locations Infinite had been to after he got the ruby. Rouge went to the Chemical Plant ruins, Omega checked the faux-shack underground prison Shadow kept him in, and the GUN SEA was tasked with investigating Green Hill Zone. While he was in Green Hill and saw all the mess of Eggman parts of mobiles and vehicles, he thought of his training session with Sonic there. He also remembered that the hero's house was only a mile or two away within the biome. Once he thought about that, Sonic stayed glued to his mind all day. He was still upset with him, and wouldn't even answer the door when he knocked before he left this morning. To be honest, Sonic might not have even been in the building, and he might have went home without his knowledge. He almost wanted to check, but decided against it.

Shadow, out of desperation, reluctantly told Rouge about their disagreement. She said that they were both idiots and shouldn't be arguing with each other at such a sensitive time, that they needed each other now more than ever due to what they've both been through. Since they both literally died, the least they could do is cut each other some slack. When he told her what he said to Sonic however, she grew a little irritated with him and even called. She said, "You said what to him? Shadow, I thought you were done with that kind of thinking. Why are you so willing to throw yourself to the wolves like that? You have people who care about you, including Sonic. How could you say something like that? He already feels guilty about what he became." She continued to berate him about the way his harsh way of speaking always betrayed what he actually meant, and always mistranslated poorly to the person receiving his point of view. He just silently listened, he knew she was right. After she scolded him for half an hour, she eventually deflated and apologized. "You know I'm not one to apologize but...I'm sorry. I don't mean to spazz at you, but Sonic's right. You have this genuine resentment of yourself and it's awful, Shadow. It consumes you like a void. You don't just blame yourself, you hate yourself. How are you supposed to love someone when you don't even love yourself?" When she said this to him, he knew she was even more right. He did have some deep seated enmity of himself, and it's been an issue ever since Maria's death. What could he say? It was hard not to think that way after all this time. "Look, Big Blue's a friend and all, but you're my best friend, Shadow. I want you to be okay, and you can't be okay if you keep thinking about yourself in that way." She sounded very concerned, and he knew why.

They eventually went back to texting, and she's been telling him what to do to mend the situation. She said that since things were said in the heat of the moment, they both said a lot of cold things to each other that they probably didn't mean. The feelings were true, the words just weren't. She said they both needed to apologize to each other and get over it with...sex and cuddling. Shadow personally didn't think cuddling or sex were the answers for all of this, but he somewhat understood what she meant. He was in a bit of a sticky situation because he was worried about Sonic's health. He still wasn't one hundred percent, and for all he knew, he could have passed out from another crazy fever. Not only that, but this was his God damn apartment. If he wouldn't open the door this time, he'd have to break it down and lay down some of the rules around here. He'd try to be as nice as possible, but he wasn't going to continue being disrespected. The only person allowed to slam and lock any doors in his home was Shadow himself, thank you very much.

...Well, that's what it sounded like in his head.

But, thinking about it now, that was probably a bad idea. He'd only piss Sonic off even more, and that could make him leave and run off to God knows where alone. Assuming he wasn't already gone, that is. He could have thought that staying in the apartment was a bad idea and left hours ago. Shadow could have tried to text him but...Ugh, this was frustrating. It was easier when they weren't together, he didn't hesitate about his actions as much. They didn't care about each other like this, things didn't matter. Now, things did matter. He really didn't want to hurt his feelings again so...He'd have to be more cautious.

Fine, he'd be the bigger person and apologize-

Oh my, what was that smell?

Shadow could sense a fantastic aroma coming from his kitchen. Like a mouse lured with the promise of a block of cheese, he unconsciously followed the scent down the hall to his kitchen and immediately went inside. He saw a savory pot of pasta lying on the counter, piping hot. Feeling his mouth water, Shadow walked over to it to see its beauty. Wow, the sauce looked so thick and creamy, and he could smell a bunch of different cheeses inside of it. There was a little green of garnish on it, probably some herbs. And ooh, was that lemon?

"I see you're home."

Shadow didn't know how he didn't see the blue hedgehog, he was literally sitting at the counter island on his phone. He immediately skipped Sonic and went straight for the food. Maybe he was just as much of a glutton as the hero was. "Err," He felt a little awkward..."You cooked?"

"Mmhm," Sonic replied casually as he scrolled through his phone. "You barely had any ingredients in here, but yeah, I did. Hope you don't mind. I destroyed that pizza last night so it's not like there were any leftovers." He then gestured for him to sit down. "Go ahead, get some. You had a long day, no doubt."

Yeah he did, actually. Nodding, Shadow carefully sat down at the counter across from Sonic to scoop out some pasta from the pot. "What is this? It looks amazing."

"It's-" Sonic was going to explain, until he saw a whole fork load dive into the biohog's mouth. He got some in a bowl that fast? "Oh my God Shadow, you've gotta stop doing that."

"Dmmng whmm?"

Fighting the urge to smile, Sonic just shook his head and looked back down at his phone. "Nothing. Anyway, it's lemon-dill tortellini. Vanilla showed me how to make it years ago. It's just cheese, lemon juice and butter." As the elder hedgehog continued to gorge on dinner, the hero placed his phone down and sighed. "Yo. Listen, I-" He suddenly said, making Shadow pause with a piece of pasta hanging from his mouth. Again, Sonic fought the urge not to grin. "You...You got a little..." He pointed at his own muzzle. When Shadow blinked at this, Sonic reached over to hand him a napkin. "Dude, wipe your mouth." Okay, now that he was done babysitting his boyfriend, Sonic finally continued with what he was saying. "Look at me." With a more humorless expression, Shadow did indeed give his full attention to the hero. "Alright. I'm," He made a shameful look. "I'm sorry."

The striped hedgehog lowered his fork. "...Why are you sorry?"

"Because," Sonic began slowly. "I keep forgetting that none of this is easy for you, and I'm not being patient enough to understand that. You don't think like my friends and I do. You," He tried to find the right words. "You lived a good chunk of your life thinking your only purpose was to live for someone else. And when you were sealed away, you thought that exact thing for fifty years straight. Maria was all you had and, I'm sure she was the only concept of happiness and affection you understood at the time. You put all of your emotions into her, and when she was...taken away from you, you thought you had nothing else." He was speaking carefully, not wanting to say anything dishonest, offensive or inaccurate. "When I threw you that party, I wanted to show you that you had other people here for you who were willing to give a damn about you. That other people would jump at the chance to be your friend, me included. I wanted to show you that everyone, even your own coworkers at GUN, really care about you and want the best for you. You had Rouge and Omega, but now you have Tower, my friends, me...And plenty of other normal citizens who see you and think, 'Hey that's the guy who stopped that terrorist attack all by himself. He's a pretty good guy.'" He folded his hands together and placed them over his mouth for a brief moment, deep in thought to meticulously think about what he'd say next. "The moment we started dating, I felt like...You forgot about all of that. I think you forgot that you had other people besides me who really like you. Now you're putting all your emotions into me, so if something were to happen to me, you fall apart. You think you have nothing left, so you start hating yourself and blaming yourself for me not being there. You're doing with me exactly what you did with Maria."

Frankly, that kind of claim did indeed offend the ultimate life form a little, because he felt strongly that nobody truly understood the way he felt about Maria but himself. Despite this, he chose not to say anything for now. "..." However, his expression did grow a little hostile.

Sonic could see this, but he decided to keep going. He needed to hear this. "You don't...love yourself, or even like yourself. And you hate yourself because of the things that you did, things that you think you allowed to happen. I think you get really angry when everyone just says you made 'mistakes.' I get it," The hero added. "You think we're understating the severity of what you did in the past, and to a degree, I can kinda agree with that." With a slightly anxious tone, the blue hedgehog continued. "You fucked up. You fucked up really, really bad, more than once. But the thing is, the part that you will not understand," He said this part with a little exasperation of his own. "Is that we didn't just hand wave everything you did because 'oooohhh friendship'—We forgave you because you actively made an effort to repent for what you did. You saved the world with me and tried killing yourself to make up for your first mistake. The second time around, you used a giant fucking laser to blast your own dad out of existence after you realized you were siding with the wrong crowd. Not to mention you had amnesia, you didn't know who to trust at the time, yet you still did the right thing. This is why my brain is doin' freakin' trigonometry with you, Shadow." He took another deep breath. "If you took it upon yourself to fix your wrongs all on your own, and never did anything bad to that extent ever since, why in Chaos, do you still hate yourself? Why the hell are you keeping such a burden and letting it weigh in on your chest and your mind, and letting it screw you up from the inside?"

Quietly, Shadow's expression softened. He couldn't deny there was truth to what he was saying.

"Then I remembered who you are." Sonic glanced away for a moment. "I remembered what you were put through, and what you were 'created' for. It is biologically in your nature to hate yourself, because all you think you're supposed to do is serve. You still feel like you have to serve Maria, even in death, since it was her dying wish and all you had left to care for. The moment you fail at something, anything, you burn yourself alive with this self loathing. And now that you've found something else to care for, me, you make it ten times worse for yourself. The moment something happened to me, you felt you needed to pay for it by killing yourself again. Shadow," His voice shook a little, he was hurt. "That's not okay. Not if you want to be with me. You can't take yourself out before you can do any good, you can't have it both ways." He stood up from the stool and walked in front of Shadow, then he knelt down and placed his hand over his. "I know you felt like shit when I died, and I know that in itself is a huge understatement. I know you felt like the world was ending when that happened, and I know you felt like it was your fault that I turned into a monster. I know that because that's how I felt when you went off with Black Doom. That's how I felt when you started attacking me out of nowhere when you were having amnesia. That's how I felt when you died." He squeezed his hand. "I'm not trying to compete with you on who angsts the most, and I am so sorry if that's what you thought I was trying to do. But I'm telling you that saying you're the only one at fault for all of this bullshit happening, is unfair. You hurting yourself is unfair to me, but especially to you. This is your life, and you have the right to live it. If the world suddenly ended, I'd die, everyone else would die, but before all that...You'd die. And what would anything matter at that point? How can you enjoy anything if you're gone? You're not the only one who feels like shit about all this, and you're not the only one who hates himself." He lowered his head disgracefully. "I hate myself too sometimes, I really do."

A little shocked from that confession, Shadow asked, "You...do?"

"Yes, Shadow." Sonic glanced up at him and gazed into his eyes. "Right now I hate myself. Because I let Tails get shot, you starved yourself to death because I was too late to save you, you hate yourself because of me and I...Fuck," He cursed with frustration. "I forged that contract all on my own and willingly gave myself to a demon, just so I could live and kill someone. I ended up scaring everyone half to death, and I caused so much havoc and fear. I didn't even get to Infinite because the thing using my body kept playing with him too much. It was all a big, epic fail on everybody's end. Not just yours. But," He added strongly. "I also know that I didn't have a choice. I was either gonna die and never see you or my family again, or turn into that thing for a temporary amount of time, potentially have a chance at getting rid of the bad guy and saving everyone. I think there was an obvious choice there." He rubbed his thumb into the knuckles of his gloves affectionately. "I know as a hero I have to make really tough decisions, which includes killing someone. It's what I've been doing for years, and you're an elite government agent. In this line of work, we might die like...all the time. Death is...more obvious, we just choose not to look at it. The decision I made was tough to make, and I made it with this in mind. Even though I fucking hated every damn second of it," He closed his eyes. "I still stand by it and I do not regret it. Because if I didn't make that decision, all of us could be dead right now."

Silently, Shadow watched Sonic as he rubbed his hands in his lap. He felt a lot of emotions right now, emotions he hadn't confronted in a very long time. When he laid it all out in front of him like that, he truly felt foolish for what he said last night. Even if it were things he didn't want to hear, he couldn't deny the truth to them. He didn't want to hear this, and yet this cloud dampening his mind was starting to fade. But he wasn't used to having a clear head, he wasn't used to...Accepting himself. He wasn't used to accepting the fact that right now, his life was good despite it all.

That's when the hero opened his eyes and posed an honest question to the ultimate life form. "...Be honest. Would you have really been okay with me killing you in that form?"

Ruefully, Shadow averted his amber red eyes and turned away from him. He regretted telling him something so cruel, he should have never uttered such a terrible thing to him. "...No. I..." He saw Sonic stand up and walk in front of him so he couldn't avoid looking at him. "I didn't mean to say that." His grimace stiffened. "The only person who deserves to kill me is you. Only you, because...I did so many terrible things to you and your friends. You're the one who helped me fix everything, I owe...I owe everything to you. I know saying that hurt you, I'm sorry."

"And are you really okay with you starving to death, or you dying at all?"

Shadow shook his head, still trying to look away from him. "N...No." If he didn't, he'd break him. "I just...I just didn't want to..." He couldn't even get a complete sentence out. "If I stayed alive, he could have did something terrible to me...he could have used me to hurt you and I...I didn't want that..." He couldn't break in front of him like this, he couldn't let him do that. Even though he had intended to lie, he couldn't. "I just didn't want to hurt you again...so no, I...I don't." He was making it so that Shadow couldn't lie anymore and it was hurting him. "I want to...stay with you and be with you and..." He couldn't finish anything he was saying, what was happening to him? Sonic was destroying his walls and he didn't want him to, but the feeling of having this darkness dissolve was so tantalizing. The feeling of finally thinking clearly was right within his grasp after so long.

"And why's that?"

"Because..." His expression wrinkled painfully, he was breaking him. He was breaking him. "...I..."

"Because what?" Sonic wanted him to say it.

Shadow placed his head against the counter and gripped the back of his own quills with his hands. "Because...I...I have..." His body shook as tears began burning his eyes. He closed them and a few drops slipped down his hidden face.

...

"...a life worth living."

...

...He broke him.

He felt Sonic grasp his shoulder gently.

He got up from the stool and they embraced each other tightly. Shadow had his face hidden against the nook of Sonic's neck and shoulder. The blue one silently held him close, stroking the back of his head with his eyes closed. Being in his arms like this, the biohog felt true bliss, more than he ever had before in his entire life. He had been tortured, beaten, starved, touched and he thought none of it bothered him. It was all coming out. This feeling was so soft, welcoming, warming, calming, forgiving...

...Loving.

...

They both stayed like this for a while.

Evening, 9:00 PM

The pot of pasta was put away in the fridge after they got bowl-fulls of some to eat. No, Shadow didn't have enough and very much wanted seconds. They both went to Shadow's room to eat and watch TV in bed together. Apparently, Sonic was still really cold with a fever, but was trying to play it off like he was fine the whole time. Shadow admitted that when they were in the kitchen, he couldn't tell at all. Although, now that they got comfortable, he was suffering in silence. This made the biohog thoroughly but calmly reprimand the hero for doing something so stupid. He was now currently wrapped in the blanket he had from last night, sneezing and shivering constantly. He at first didn't want to be in bed with Shadow, saying he might get him sick with his germs all in his sheets, but then he remembered that Shadow was more than likely immune to any kind of illness or disease that existed. Actually, Shadow took it a step further and pulled Sonic as close to him as he could. Their legs were tangled with each other, and they leaned against each other as they ate from the bowls in their laps.

They were watching that crappy B-movie from last night that they never got to finish. It was so bad that it wasn't scary in the least bit, and they found it completely humorous. The story was ridiculous, the acting was absolutely over the top, and the gore didn't even look realistic. There was a part where a victim was apparently strangled to death easily in under a minute. Shadow pointed out that this was actually very inaccurate. After Shadow placed his finished bowl on his nightstand, he gave a scarily precise summary of how the process worked. "Hmph, it takes much longer for someone of such low strength to kill someone via strangling. You need at least five minutes. Even then, if you don't apply an appropriate amount of force against the carotid arteries, they'll only fall unconscious, not dead." Feeling that there was no answer, Shadow slowly glanced at Sonic, who was squinting at him harshly. "What?"

"...Babe, you literally just told me where and how to strangle someone to death."

"Well maybe if this movie wasn't so dogshit, I wouldn't have to explain it."

Snickering, Sonic shook his head. "Dude, you didn't have to explain it at all."

Shadow crossed his arms. "Subjects such as anatomy and forensics are very important to understand."

"Mmn," Sonic scoffed as he placed his now empty bowl on the nightstand on his side of the bed. "Says the man who can't work a new phone without whining."

Pursing his lips, the biohog glared at him. "You know just as well as I do that these damn things are way too complicated to use. I mean," He further complained. "Why do I need to press two buttons at the same time to take a screenshot? That's stupid."

The blue one snorted a laugh as he sipped his bottle of water. "You are so old."

Mumbling, Shadow looked somewhere else. "Yeah, well this dick ain't old..." Immediately choking and feeling water enter his lungs, Sonic beat his own chest several times to try and get himself to breathe normal again. He couldn't see, but Shadow was silently smirking at this. "You okay?" He asked with faux concern.

Sonic instantly glared at him with an accusatory finger being pushed into his chest fur. "Oh screw you, don't act like you didn't just say that!"

"Say what?"

"Ohoho, fuck you."

"I'd love to."

Blushing rapidly, the hero had nothing as a comeback. He was too ill and too easily flabbergasted from that emotional conversation they had earlier. So he just conceded with a middle finger. He pouted as he sat back against the headboard. Then, he frowned. "Actually...Shadow," He said softly. "Are you okay? I mean, with...You know, doing stuff like that."

The ultimate life form blinked and shrugged. "I don't know what you mean, we've been 'doing stuff' since we got together. Technically before, actually."

"No, no, I mean..." Sonic knew he was bad at being delicate, so he tried not to come off too insensitive. "Infinite...when he, touched you...Did he-"

"What?" Shadow rose a brow. Then he realized what Sonic was trying to ask. "Oh God, no." He flagged this off and shook his head. "Not at all. The most he'd do is force me to kiss him, but every time he did, I'd bite the shit out of him. I think his lip is permanently torn open, now. There's no amount of power that'll fix what I did to his face, so he gave up after a while." He apathetically picked up the remote and turned down the volume of the TV. "I never reciprocated, nothing ever felt good because I hated the bastard and I'd never betray you like that." He then yawned, not realizing how tired he was. "Anything else was him grabbing me, groping me...Stuff like that, until he got bored of me. It didn't bother me as much as you think it would, he didn't do it that often. Plus, I'm used to not having privacy over my own body. I wasn't ever taken advantage of on the Ark, but plenty of scientists grabbed and touched me in places I most definitely did not appreciate. I never had an actual right to my body until Gerald actually started to care about me, because he realized I wasn't just a tool for him to use at that point. By that time, the only form of physical expression I accepted and understood was hugs from Maria, and only Maria." He then made a dark expression. "Now if that little bitch ever tried to have his way with me, I would have died trying to kill him days before I starved. I can promise you that."

As much as he didn't like hearing how his boyfriend was assaulted, used, abused and starved, he was relieved to hear that cowardly jackal never went that far with him. "Oh...Still, I'm sorry about that. I wish I found you faster before he could do any of that stuff."

"How did you find me, anyway?"

"Oh that? Um," Sonic scratched the side of his face. "Tails went uber genius mode when you went missing, and he managed to detect energy from the ruby. Anytime its power was activated, he could sense it on this little doohickie he made and well," He shrugged. "I found ya. Getting in the sky was hard, though. The damn armada kept teleporting in different places. I borrowed his plane and crashed it into the side of the ship when I finally found an opportunity. I slipped in during the crash and just started whoopin' ass, pure adrenaline at that point. Shame about the plane though, it was a childhood classic of his." He then mumbled something else. "Well, it was my plane..."

The biohog blinked. "You know how to pilot a plane?"

Smirking and rubbing his finger under his nose, the hero shrugged with a cocky tone. "Ehhh, just a little bit. Been flyin' since I was little, but eh, you know. People don't realize that Tails' Tornado 1 is a hand-me-down." Sonic also didn't like that Shadow basically grew up never truly having his body to himself, but it certainly explained his mindset and how he felt about intimacy. He was simple about it. If he didn't want it, he didn't want it. If he wanted it, he wanted it. He didn't want just anyone and he surely didn't want Infinite, but he wanted Sonic and only Sonic. Which on that note, made Sonic very flattered. "So...You..." He blushed. "You never liked being touched that way, until you got with me?"

"Yes. Rouge already tried-"

Sonic snapped his finger with a grin. "Haha! I knew it—Get ready to pay up fifty rings, Ames." He muttered with a mischievous giggle. When he saw Shadow staring at him, he apologized for interrupting. "Heheh, sorry."

"Uhuh," Shadow replied slowly while continuing to gaze at him dubiously. "Anyway, I obviously didn't quite understand what she wanted at the time, but even knowing now, I still didn't like it. The way you touch me just feels...Correct. And really good, of course."

Fully red, Sonic covered his face with the blanket bashfully. "O-Oh. That's...really nice..."

"If you're asking if you can touch me that way, it's fine, you can. I'm not traumatized by what he did to me."

"Oh, no, I wasn't going to. But, you sure?" Sonic asked again with concern. "Dealing with something like that's real sensitive. You may not think it's hurting you, but it might be deep down in your heart somewhere. I mean," Since they were being more than honest, he figured he should tell him something. "I've been assaulted before myself."

Flames of chaos energy instantly erupted in Shadow's eyes. "Names."

"Chaos-Not recently! Chill, man!" He held up his hands defensively. "I-I'm just sayin', it might not seem like a big deal at first, but it might start creeping up on you after a while. I was never kidnapped or anything, but I was touched, groped, forcefully kissed...They're all either exes who got blocked, or exes that got their asses kicked and then arrested. But yeah, I've gone through it. It's why Amy and Knux hate that I sleep around. A lot of fans can get real handsy sometimes, too. It's small stupid shit, 'cause that's as far as they go. Still, eventually, it can really bother you." He rubbed his own arm with a frown. "Sometimes it makes you feel ashamed that you were touched like that. You might even blame yourself, too."

"Hmm," The fire in Shadow's eyes gradually dissolved as he took in his words. "I see what you mean, and I'm more than positive Rouge went through that. Maybe if I was normal, I would have seen it that way."

Sonic elbowed him. "Shadow, you are normal."

"You and I both know that's not true." Shadow deadpanned. "But I understand. It's unfortunate you suffered through that in the past, and I appreciate your concern. If I had known, dating or not," He crushed his hand into a deadly fist with a dark voice. "I would have painted their blood on my walls. However," His tone quickly shifted to be more gentle. "I assure you I am not going through that." With a small blush, he gave him a consolation. "The conversation we had earlier kind of...cleared what was going on in my head, including that. If I ever have an issue, I'll tell you. You're," He quickly turned his eyes away. "Easy to talk to about that kind of stuff."

Delightedly flattered and exalted once again, Sonic poked his fingers together with a dreamy smile. "Ohh, I'm glad."

"With that said," Shadow leaned over and whispered to him sultrily. "If you want to do something to me," He pulled down the blanket from Sonic's head and brushed his lips against his muzzle. "Anything at all," He pressed a teasing kiss against the corner of his mouth. "I give you full permission to have me however you please." He then grasped Sonic's hand and placed it between his thighs, letting his palm rub underneath his private area. "Right now, if you want."

Crimson dripped from Sonic's nose. "H-Huh...? Oohh..." He started staring at his crotch. "Ooooh..." Focus, Sonic. Focus! He shook his head, took his hand away from Shadow's hold and rubbed his nose with the back of his arm. "N-No, no. I'm sick, we're both still recovering from what happened, so we probably shouldn't." He then quietly made a sheepish request. "But um," He stammered. "I would like to kiss you, though-" His lips were suddenly captured by the biohog, who pushed him down onto the bed and held him close as he caressed his body. "M-Mmnn!" He pushed Shadow away a little to gasp for air. "H-Hold on, you tryin' to strangle me with your mouth?"

"If you'll indulge me."

With a sweat drop, Sonic had to ask himself if he was dreaming. "Okay, you're making it really hard to practice abstinence."

"Who says we have to?" Shadow replied nonchalantly.

"Damn it, I do, you dummy." He booped Shadow on the nose. "I wanna slow down and I only wanna make out with you tonight, nothing else." He saw how much Shadow was pouting and decided to up the ante just a little. "Alright, maybe a little grinding for flavor, but no more. Capisce?"

Shadow frowned. "Hmph, you're no fun."

"Did we swap brains or something? You're talking like me now."

"Oof," The GUN agent winced, he was right. "That's a horrible thought."

"Fuck you."

"I want to."

"Will you shut up and kiss me already?" And once again, Shadow moved much quicker than Sonic anticipated and had a kiss stolen from him for the second time that night. "N-Nm..." He moaned a little from how enthusiastic he was acting, but he was also being slightly rough and he liked that. He kissed him like a famished stray, but Sonic could understand why. They were separated for a week, and when they finally found each other again, Sonic passed out for two days. Then they got into an argument, and didn't talk to each other for some hours. He'd be lying if he said he didn't miss having Shadow touch his body like this. He had to say, he was much better at kissing now—A stark contrast to how he kissed Sonic the first time. His lingua brushed against the blue blur's lips, and he opened his mouth to fully indulge himself with Shadow's tongue. He gripped his shoulder blades as they pushed and rubbed against each other's tongues, saliva mixing shamelessly as they continued the sloppy French kiss. Shadow groaned hungrily as he fully tasted his lover for the first time in weeks, and began to move his hips against his pelvis. "Mmnn~!" Sonic clutched at his shoulders tighter, feeling the bed lightly rock as he pushed himself against him. "Mmnn~"

He loved hearing those little noises he made, it drove him crazy. A string of spit fell from their lips when Shadow broke the kiss, and he grabbed Sonic's hips beneath the sheets as he moved a little faster. "Do you have any idea," He whispered huskily. "How long I've waited to touch you? To hold you, to have you in my bed?" He thrusted himself against Sonic, earning him a surprised pleasured gasp. "I want to wake up next to you, feel your body heat against me...Every time I look at you, I can't even think properly. All I can see is you," He thrusted again. "Moaning for me, pleading for me to touch you more. You're a tease every second you're around me and it's getting harder for me to control myself." He dived down for another chaste kiss, staring at him with wildly insatiable eyes. "God I want you," He thrusted again, moaning from how he feels under him. "I want you so fucking much..."

"A-Ahh...You have me, you have me, I promise..." Sonic murmured back. "Just-Aahh..." He rubbed his hands up his back. "Just wait a little more...I promise, I'll let you have more..." They shared a longer, heated kiss this time. "Mmmn, you gonna wait for me? Hmm~?" He whispered in between kisses before pressing his lips back against his. "Nmm, mmmnn..." He moaned more into the kiss as Shadow rocked their hips together, creating a highly enticing friction in between their legs. When they broke their kiss again, Shadow kissed down to his collar bone and on the side of his chin. "Oooh...Ahh...Wait...Don't you-Ah!" He felt him lightly bite his shoulder. "Don't bite...! A-Ahh...You're making all kinds of marks on my-" He gasped sharply when he felt his fangs dig deep into his flesh. "Ah!" He had no idea why that felt so damn good. He gripped his fur painfully as he arched his back. "Oh my God...S-Shadow...! Fuck, you're making me so hard..." He placed his hand behind his head to tug at his quills. "H-Hey, hold on..." When he did so, the biting got a little softer. "That feels good, but...Take it down a little, huh? You-Ooohh..." He made a lengthy whine when he felt his tongue lick at the wound he just made. "Baby, you're killin' me..."

With a hushed whisper, Shadow licked up under his jaw and proceeded to make small hickies on his body instead. "Sorry...I'm just so hungry for you..." He rubbed himself against him faster. "I'll wait for you...I'll wait as long as it takes..." He then replaced those hickies with soft kisses as he continued to grind against him. "But I want to be inside of you...I want you inside of me...I don't care which..." He hugged Sonic tightly as he thrusted harder. "I just want you all to myself...!"

"Yeah, just like that...Keep going...Yes...Aahh..." He turned his head to the side to give Shadow full access to his neck. "Wait, wait, get behind me..." He felt Shadow move to get behind him and wrapped his arms around his abdomen. He continued to kiss against his neck as he resumed grinding against his ample bottom. "Yeah...Feels way better, don't it?" A sexual growl was his answer. "Heheh~ You like that?" He asked sensually as he rubbed his arse against his crotch.

"I love it."

"Mmn~ You're pretending you're fucking me, aren't you?"

"You have no fucking idea. I wanna spread your legs into a split at this point."

That was turning Sonic on even more. "You're so dirty...You're making this so hard...You feel so good against me..." He gripped Shadow's wrists against his body as they laid against the pillow, their grinding becoming slower and softer. His kisses became less rough and much more gentle, and instead of growls, he was hearing light moans in his ear. He felt his hands travel up to his fawn chest and squeeze a little onto his pectorals. "Ahh...You always end up touching me there..." He smirked when he felt that Shadow was finally starting to calm down, as his sex drive was definitely put on hold for a while and he couldn't wait to get it out. Now that he has, he was getting over it. Sonic had to admit that all felt really good, though. Finally, Shadow slowed to a stop but he didn't cease kissing against him. "Feel better~?" He asked sweetly.

"Yeah," Shadow whispered back. "I can finally think clearly again." He sighed with relief and nuzzled his nose into his cheek. "Thank you, I needed that." He didn't realize he didn't need to have an orgasm to feel release, that was good to know.

Sonic turned over to share one last passionate kiss. "Mmmn~ My pleasure, babe. I guess I needed it, too-" He suddenly turned his face away to sneeze. "Shit." He coughed and sat up to cover his mouth with his arm. Shadow sat up as well, a little concerned at his abrupt coughing fit. Sonic held up a hand. "I-I'm fine-" He sneezed again with a miserable expression. Sniffing, he held up a weak upturned thumb. "That's why I said it's best we don't-" Another sneeze. "-Go too far. Just need a little more rest I guess, heheh."

"And you pushed yourself for my sake." Shadow frowned at this. "Didn't you tell me not to do that?"

"Okay fair, but-" Another sneeze, and a small coughing fit for good measure. "-You literally just got away from a handsy incel. Meanwhile, I'm super sick but we both needed that. Also, I'm the one with the most experience here, so my word holds much more authority than yours!"

"Oh my dearest apologies," Shadow replied facetiously. "And who's the dumb ass fool who made that decree exactly?"

With a proud smirk, Sonic slapped his own chest. "Right here, baby." He sniffled up another potential glob of snot and pointed to himself with an arrogantly beaming aura. "King of Pleasure, that's me."

Shadow suddenly turned over with the covers over his body. "Screw that, I'm going to sleep."

"H-Hey!" He glomped onto Shadow with a pout, causing the elder hedgehog to make an irritated grunt. "Don't leave me oouuut, I wanna sleep with yoooouuu."

"Sure, if you shut up."

He pressed a playful kiss on his cheek. "Thank yoouuu~" Shadow allowed him to climb over and snuggle against his chest, placing his face directly into his chest fur. He made a satisfied noise of delight. "Ahh yes, my fur pillow. Just as soft and plush as I left it." His voice was half-muffled by it.

Smiling a little, Shadow pet his head, feeling him purr against him. "Thank you, Sonic." He whispered. "For everything. I promise I'll work on...loving myself, so I can be better. And I won't just do it for you, I'll do it for me."

He could feel the blue hedgehog smile against him. "Good. I'm proud of you." His voice became drowsy rather quickly. "G'night~"

"Goodnight."

33 - END - 33