A/N: Last night, at a mental health support group I run, a friend of mine - well, I thought he was a friend - made an insensitive comment regarding KagamiPINKAgreste, but rather than blow up at him, I thought I'd write this instead.


It was a cold Friday evening, and Shadow the Hedgehog was hanging out at Martin's Bar & Grill in Quartz Village with his friend Don Navarro, a tall brown grizzly bear with green eyes whom he'd met at a grief support group. While Don wasn't Shadow's #1 best friend, and while there were things that Shadow disagreed with him over, they shared enough in common that Don looked at Shadow as a younger brother of sorts. Martin's was a respectable, democratic restaurant/bar that catered to people from all walks of life.

"So Shadow, sorry to hear about your girlfriend's dad," said Don.

"Well Don, she's managing as best as she can. She's made it clear to me multiple times about how broken up she is over this, but she's thanked me for being there for her. Honestly, I'm grateful that she can lean on me like that."

Don put down his beer. "Right. Say, when's your next anime group?"

"It's tomorrow, at Joey's Pizza. We usually meet at places like Chunanese, Solyanese, Edonese or Adabatian restaurants, but since this is the 'April Fool's Edition' of our monthly get-together, we're meeting at a non-Azhanian restaurant."

"I gotcha. By the way, mind if I ask you a question?"

Shadow's Hedgehog Sense tingled. He could tell that he wasn't going to like Don's answer, but was nevertheless curious about what he had to say:

"Go ahead."

"Listen, I saw this girl named Sarah had signed up for tomorrow night, and I know you already have a girlfriend, but why not practice your skills on a girl closer to home?"

Shadow nearly spat out his Pepsi as he brought his glass down on the table hard. "What the fuck did you just say to me?"

"I mean, Amy's all the way over in Emerald City, and your relationship might not last forever, so why not get a girlfriend over in Western Mobius?"

Shadow grabbed Don by the collar. "Don't you ever, EVER say anything like that to me, you fucking insensitive prick!"

"Whoa whoa, calm down, Shadow! I didn't mean anything by it! I'm just saying…"

Shadow pulled out his Smith & Wesson Model 29 and pointed it at Don's head. "Listen here: it's bad enough that my girlfriend lost the only guy besides me who could make her smile, but for you to suggest that I fucking cheat on her…I'm giving you one of two options: you can either leave this goddamn place in your own car, or you can leave in a fucking body bag. What'll it be?"

His jaw dropped, Don nodded nervously before hastily scrambling out of the place while screaming his head off. Shadow then holstered his Model 29.

(Stupid dickhead. And I thought I could trust him! Oh well, at least I have Amy, Rouge, Cream and Venus.)

However, Shadow's train of thought was interrupted when his Hedgehog Sense alerted him to the fact that a bunch of the patrons and staff were looking at him, and he immediately responded:

"What the fuck are you people looking at!? There's nothing to see here! Get back to what you were doing!"

Not wanting to mess with an immortal alien hedgehog with a .44 Magnum, the patrons and staff obeyed him, while he quickly finished his Pepsi and beat a hasty retreat before the police could catch him. While he lamented losing a friend, he decided that having a few really good friends was better than having a lot of poor-quality friends whom he couldn't trust.


Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.