Chapter Text
“Shadow! You made it for dinner!”
Sonic couldn’t prevent the massive smile that split his face as he beheld the person standing on his front porch, someone who currently looked to be rather grumpy as he folded his arms tightly over his chest and sneered somewhere in the vague direction of his shoes. Sonic was able to easily ignore his unenthused display, not only because at this point he was used to Shadow’s typical stormy demeanor, but also, because he knew that his grouchiness wasn’t necessarily directed towards him, but rather, what laid inside the Wachowski household.
Social interaction. With people Shadow barely knew. And quite a decent amount of it.
“Of course I made it for dinner,” he groused with an unrefined crinkle of his nose. “I literally told you I would come when I saw you an hour ago.”
Sonic laughed awkwardly at this, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck as he recalled that what Shadow had said was the truth. What sort of shenanigans they had been up to would have to remain a secret for now, for those of you wondering, but regardless. All that mattered to Sonic was that Shadow had actually shown up, against all odds.
“Well, still! I’m happy that you actually came! And didn’t stand me up because that is something you would totally do.”
Shadow let out a huff, because Sonic’s statement was more or less correct, but other than that, did not say anything.
Undeterred, Sonic opened the door further and waved for Shadow to enter. “Maddie and Tom made spaghetti. It’s Tom’s recipe.” Sonic lowered his volume to a conspiring whisper, going so far to lift a hand up to muffle his voice in an action that was quite incomprehensible given that they were still in the entryway and out of earshot of the kitchen. Still, he liked being dramatic, so that’s exactly what he did. “He actually just uses a premade sauce from the can and heats it up in the microwave. Tom calls it dipping sauce and insists that we use it on our garlic bread, so just do me a favor and go along with it and don’t question it too much. He gets sensitive if you call him out for it.”
Shadow nodded, looking like he was more than just a little bit lost. Which was perfect in Sonic’s opinion, because if Shadow had no idea what was going on, then hopefully he wouldn’t have enough knowledge to ask any questions about it.
The walk to the dining room was brief, and though Sonic longed for more alone time with Shadow away from his friends and family (because truth be told, in the past week since they had not only defeated the threat of G.U.N. attempting to claim ownership of them, along with cleaning up the disaster that had been left behind on the Wachowski’s front lawn, time isolated with Shadow had been a commodity that had been exceedingly scarce), the rumbling pangs of hunger in his stomach won out as they joined the rest of the Wachowski family.
Sonic didn’t miss how stiff Shadow’s spine was, or the rigid, robotic nature of his steps. He figured pointing out such a thing, whether it be in jest or in genuine concern, wouldn’t be met with much appreciation.
Instead, Sonic announced their presence with a boisterous call. “Shadow’s here!” he practically sang, hoping that if he infused enough enthusiasm into his voice, it would somehow transfer to the tense atmosphere that had settled over the dining room as everyone’s head swiveled to apprehend their guest standing tersely by Sonic’s side.
Maddie was the only one brave enough to say anything, a trend that would become increasingly apparent as time stretched on not just with this particular, horrendously awkward interaction, but across the board as a whole. “Um, hello, Shadow!” she called out, lifting the prongs that she had been using to stir around the pot of spaghetti resting on the stovetop “Good to see you?”
The way she phrased it as a question, as though she weren’t all that sure that it really was all that good to be seeing Shadow, left the entire delivery a bit lackluster, but Sonic supposed he couldn’t fault her for her efforts. Unlike Tom, who gave Shadow a subtle yet subconsciously wary side eye, Tails who mildly shrunk away in fear, and Knuckles who gave him a fierce glare of challenge, Maddie was the only one making an attempt to make Shadow feel welcome. And for that, Sonic was more than just a little grateful.
And of course, Shadow responded with nothing at all, simply training his gaze upon the floor as his lips twisted and contorted into something akin to displeasure. Not a single word or acknowledgement was given, which was honestly to be expected and did not faze Sonic in the slightest.
At Maddie’s mildly perplexed expression at Shadow’s lack of a verbal, physical, or literally any sort of response, Sonic extended her a huge thumbs up. One that meant to convey that Shadow’s neglect to reciprocate her greeting was normal and not a sign that he was angry, and was instead quite content.
“Okay then,” she said, drawing out the syllables as she set her prongs back down into the pot of pasta, “food’s ready! If everyone wants to come grab a plate and serve themselves!”
Sonic nearly gasped as he saw Knuckles push himself almost violently up from his chair as he prepared to sprint over to the front of the line, and in retaliation, Sonic reached down and nearly grabbed Shadow’s hand to drag him along, however, at the last possible moment, paused.
He couldn’t do such a bold thing. Not here, in front of everyone, not now. Not with his established history with Shadow, not with everything it might imply.
And with that, in his momentary distraction, Knuckles reached the food first and began to pile on obscene amounts of spaghetti onto his plate, dropping several stray noodles in the process as he constructed a staggering tower of pasta.
Sonic’s ears wilted as he gave Knuckles a flat look across the dining room and into the kitchen. Perhaps the reason his fists were so freakishly large, putting even Sonic’s oversized hands to shame, was because that was where he stuffed all of his excess food. Seriously. There was no way he was capable of eating that much. He might be one million percent muscle, but at the same time? This was just excessive.
Shaking his head Sonic did not waste a second in voicing his complaints as he and Shadow approached the kitchen counter where the food sat out on display. “Gee, Knucks, thanks for the leftovers,” he deadpanned as he turned and handed Shadow a plate, something that was accepted with hesitation.
Helping himself to a hefty portion of noodles, a few pieces of garlic bread, and a respectful serving of side salad, Sonic felt his stomach grumble yet again in anticipation. He was hungry, and his portion sizes certainly reflected his ravenous appetite.
Shadow, on the other hand, only sampled the pasta, plating himself just a measly, meager assortment of noodles that flopped rather sadly on the dish as he laid them down.
“That’s all you’re eating?” Sonic asked, eyeing what Shadow grabbed dubiously. “You don’t want anything else?”
Shadow shrugged. And walked over to the dining table without placing a single spoonful of sauce on his pasta.
With a perplexed noise of disbelief, Sonic returned his focus on dousing his pasta in an ample helping of sauce— the amount not quite egregious as Knuckles’, though not nonexistent like Shadow’s. Apparently, one of the stipulations of eating in the Wachowski household was being incapable of doing it like a normal person. In his own special way, completely unique from the boorish behavior of Knuckles, Shadow was a total weirdo when it came to food.
Whatever. Sonic couldn’t bring himself to care, and brushing Shadow’s odd (albeit completely in character) behavior off, went to join the rest of his family at the dining table.
For the first few minutes things were… tense. And that was Sonic being nice about it.
However, after the discomfort had mounted to a nearly unbearable level, everyone avoiding eye-contact with one another as the only thing audible was the clattering of silverware and plates and the dull whistles of wind gusting against the window, Maddie was the first to break the silence with a polite, innocent question directed to where Shadow sat across from her. “So… how’s the cave?”
Shadow grunted, not even bothering to look up at her as he picked at his flavorless noodles on his plate. “It’s a cave.”
Maddie hummed because technically, Shadow wasn’t wrong, but even so, social conventions stated that when asked a polite question delivered under the guise of excruciating small talk, the least the responder could do was, well, try in their response.
“What did you kids do today?” Now it was Tom’s turn to attempt to make conversation, and before Shadow could respond with something blunt, gruff, and overall unappetizing, Sonic inserted himself quite abruptly into the discussion.
“Oh you know, nothing much.” Sonic spoke casually, twirling his spaghetti around his fork with a spin of his fork. “Knuckles and Shadow want to have this crazy, insane showdown-rematch-battle-thing where they fight to the death or whatever, and so we started building an arena for them to fight in all afternoon.” Finished wrapping his pasta around his fork, he took a big bite, and since his table manners were rather abysmal, continued to speak with a full mouth as he waved his fork around to accentuate his points. “And by that, I mean Tails did most of the work, Knuckles punched some rocks, Shadow just kind of stood there and brooded, and I drank some iced tea... which you’re now out of by the way, so you should probably get some more.”
Somehow, out of all of the information dropped, Maddie completely neglected to acknowledge the two most arguably important things, which were undoubtedly the fact that Shadow and Knuckles had a planned fight, along with the fact that Sonic had finished off all of the remaining iced tea. “An arena?” she asked, genuinely curious, though her interest was driven by a very valid concern for the state of their property rather than caring about the setting for Knuckles and Shadow’s rematch. “And where exactly did you build this?”
Sonic stuck a thumb over his shoulder, out the window of the dining room. “The backyard,” he replied candidly, and with that, Maddie’s worst fears were confirmed as she groaned and buried her forehead into a palm.
(Was it ironic that they essentially demolished the lawn within a week after cleaning up the mess G.U.N. had so rudely left upon their defeat at Sonic and Shadow’s hands? Absolutely. Was this irony lost on Sonic? Also absolutely. And was this conversation about to get worse?)
(Absolutely.)
“What—how—why would you do that.”
“It is the most suitable location for such an important structure to be built.” In a completely unnecessary display of aggressive firmness, Knuckles slammed a punctuating fist upon the table. “Nowhere else is worthy of housing our legendary battle.”
“It’s also closest to my workshop,” Tails commented with a light air of innocence that was rather unfit for the conversation. “Makes it easier for me.”
Not lifting her forehead from her palm, Maddie let out a tired sigh. “Oh. I see. Yes. Those are completely valid reasons. Thank you for sharing.”
Her sarcasm was completely lost on all four of them. Tom was the only one to pick up on it as he extended Maddie a consoling pat on the shoulder.
“On a completely different note,” he supplied, seeming eager to steer things away from a topic that was giving his wife a great deal of stress, “Who wants to hear the latest Wade story?”
In unison, Tails, Knuckles, and Sonic all called out their excited and enthusiastic affirmations. Only Shadow didn’t respond, sitting there in quiet confusion, which made sense. He hadn’t met Wade yet, and truthfully, that was a blessing in disguise and it was probably beneficial to extend that ignorance for as long as possible.
As Tom launched into a lengthy tirade about how Wade had somehow managed to shut off the water to an entire string of buildings in the downtown area in a truly stunning display of incompetence, Sonic found himself zoning out, unable to focus as he redirected his attention elsewhere. Across from him, Shadow seemed completely content to pick at his plate of pasta while not only barely eating, but barely participating in conversation as well, his eyes glued toward his fork as he tenaciously avoided meeting anyone’s gaze.
Sonic suppressed a sigh. He was so, incredibly, indubitably awkward. It was equally endearing as it was depressing.
The rest of the Wachowskis more or less carried on in their idle conversations as though he weren’t there, though knowing their true mannerisms from years of raucous dinners and evenings, Sonic could detect the underlying strain, the thin tension that lay beneath the surface.
No one really knew how to interact with Shadow. That much was clear.
However, instead of making an active attempt to solve the imminent problem of their new guest’s failure to successfully integrate into the meshwork of the family dynamic, Sonic simply sat back and observed. He watched as Tom told his long-winded story that was delivered in such a way to elicit several laughs from his audience, Maddie as she mediated the tomfoolery, Knuckles as he dumped nearly an entire container of parmesan cheese onto his pasta and began to eat with his gloved hands, and Tails as the discussion shifted topics and he talked for a little too long about something scientific and unintelligible that literally nobody followed along with.
Before he knew it, people were cleaning up their plates, and Sonic realized with a start that so far at the dinner table, Shadow had spoken a grand total of three words.
“I’m going to go,” he announced, and well, now he had spoken seven words, more than doubling his initial tally.
Without waiting for any sort of acknowledgement, Shadow took his half-finished plate and left it on the counter, and devoid of any sort of pomp or circumstance, hastily marched out of the dining room and towards the exit.
The Wachowskis simply watched him leave, clearly not really knowing what to make of the spectacle of his brusque departure.
“I’ll go see him out!” Sonic all but yelled, scrambling to catch up to where Shadow had just walked away towards. He would return to his family in a minute, and maybe do some damage control in reassuring them that Shadow was nice, just really shy (and incredibly socially awkward to boot), but first? He was going to hunt down that coveted alone time with Shadow, even though it would only be for a brief fleeting moment.
He caught Shadow on the porch; clearly, he had been anticipating Sonic’s pursuit, for he simply sat there in patient silence, his quills tousling gently in the breeze of the crisp evening. Wispy and unkempt, and a little untamed. Sonic knew Shadow was rather fastidious about his appearance and would likely loathe knowing just how wild they appeared at the moment but in a way, he kind of liked the rawness of the look. Even though he knew it to be a temporary state.
But anyways. Seeing that Shadow was waiting for him, and not making the first move, Sonic took it upon himself to initiate. “How was that?” he asked with a cautious, tentative smile. “Did you have… fun?”
Shadow shrugged. If it would have been anyone else, Sonic would have interpreted the gesture as meaning ‘no,’ however, since it was Shadow, it was more or less a ‘yes,’ something that was confirmed as he said, “It was enjoyable, sure.”
Despite his somewhat positive words, the doubt and uncertainty in his tone was so obvious, it may as well have reached out and punched Sonic in the face. “They really like you, you know.”
“How do you know that?”
Now it was Sonic’s turn to shrug. “Call it intuition?”
Shadow didn’t seem to be very satisfied by that answer. “They don’t trust me, do they.”
Lifting up his hands in a placating, almost defensive gesture, Sonic let out an awkward, stammering laugh. “What? No! Why— what makes you say that?”
All Sonic got in response from Shadow was a flat, unamused glare.
“Okay, fine. So maybe things are just a little awkward!”
Shadow quirked a brow. “A little?”
Ignoring him, Sonic pressed forward in his reassurances. “You just have to give it time. Remember how long it took for us to get along? And I mean, I was the one putting in all the effort! If I recall, you wanted nothing to do with me!”
Shadow let out a huff. “That isn’t quite true and you know it.”
Sonic thought back to when he had first came across Shadow after the Eclipse Cannon. He had been distracted and disturbed by the fact that Shadow had essentially sacrificed himself to save not just Sonic, but the entire Earth, to the point that Shadow had occupied his every waking and resting thought. Finding him randomly one evening during a camping trip with Knuckles and Tails had not only been a shock, but a great relief to the immense guilt and worry he had felt towards someone who had been at worst an enemy, at best a temporary ally, and above all else, a complete stranger. Who should have been dead.
But no, finding him in the forest, Shadow had proved himself to be very much alive, thanks to the bruises he had left upon Sonic’s body after he had planted quite the solid kick to his abdomen in order to make a hasty escape. It was honestly insane, to reminisce on their first, hostile, fated interaction, and see where they were now. Gazing at one another in quiet pining, quiet adoration even as they spoke about the fact that the Wachowskis were very uneasy around Shadow, and the sentiment was very much reciprocated.
“You guys will warm up to each other eventually! I promise.” He gave Shadow a cocky grin, placing his hands on his hips as he leaned forward with a cheeky glint in his eye. “You’re with me, after all! And I happen to be an excellent judge of character, if I do say so myself.”
Shadow scoffed at this, clearly interpreting Sonic’s statement that Shadow was ‘with him’ in a completely different context. “They don’t even know about us.”
Sonic fell silent at that, the only thing audible on the porch being the light rustle of pine needles in the breeze that passed by overhead. The leaves from the deciduous trees had long since finished falling, fading from the vivid shades of oranges, reds, and yellows, and muddying into hues a bit more deadened and brown. What this meant, was the season of fall was coming to a close, and with that, winter would soon be approaching.
Winters in Montana were brutal. An entirely different beast. Sonic had grown used to them, though it was from personal experience that he knew that living in a cave during a snowstorm, or worse, a blizzard, was a torturous thing to endure. Frequently, in the past, he had almost thought that he would become a hedgehog popsicle (translation: freeze to death) on days where he was unfortunate enough to get snowed in. Usually, if he had the foresight that there would be an intense storm rolling in, he would attempt to find refuge in a heated garage, barn, or toolshed, but he wasn’t always so lucky.
He really didn’t want Shadow to go through that same experience. Not if he could prevent it.
Shadow was adamant about staying in his cave, though, and not moving into the Wachowski house. It was a fair thing to want, Sonic had to admit, primarily because there were no more rooms in the house. Sonic was in the attic, Tails in the spare, and Knuckles in the basement… basically, if Shadow wanted to live with them, he would have to move in and become someone’s roommate.
Knuckles was a brute, for lack of a better term and not suitable for cohabitation. Tails had a deathly fear, almost a phobia of Shadow. Which left Sonic as the only remaining feasible option.
Because his parents were explicitly clueless to the true nature of Sonic and Shadow’s relationship, they had to tread lightly. Every interaction was careful, deliberate, planned whenever they had an audience, and sure, they both craved it, to spend the night with one another and explore all that may entail, however, they refrained to do so within the confines of the Wachowski household. Nobody knew about them. And that would be a prime location for their little secret to be revealed.
But anyways. That was a tangent, and certainly not one that would become significant later on. Nope. Not at all. “I haven’t told them about us, no.” He paused, leaning back and allowing his hands to drop to his side as he abandoned his arrogant posturing. “But that’s because I have a very good reason! One that is completely valid, and when I eventually tell you about it, you will be like ‘oh Sonic, that makes so much sense! You’re so smart!’ so until that happens, you can just sit back and—”
“It’s because you’re scared to.”
Sonic grimaced. Shadow had hit the nail right on the head. Unfortunately. "What... uh... makes you say that...?"
"You literally look terrified about the fact that I just brought it up."
“I mean… you’re not… wrong…?”
“You make everything more difficult than it needs to be.”
“Well, if that’s the case, then why don’t you tell them?!”
Shadow stepped back at this, glaring at Sonic through narrowed eyes as he scoffed. “Why would I be the one to tell them? I barely even know them. And they sure as hell don’t trust me. I doubt they would even believe me.”
Sonic sighed, running a hand through his quills. Shadow had a point. Which, of course he did. He always did, always made sense amidst Sonic’s insanity and hyperactive antics. “You’re right. You’re right. I guess…” Sonic’s roving hand dropped to his side in defeat towards his admission. “…I am just a little scared, but not because of you. More so because I’ve never done this before. I’ve never… been with anyone before. It’s just kind of, I don’t know, awkward? And private? Like I have no idea how to bring it up… and so it’s just easier to not.”
“You haven’t been with anyone before?”
Sonic paused in his wallowing to look up incredulously towards Shadow. “Was that a serious question?”
Shadow stared back at him without saying anything. Which told Sonic that yes, for whatever damn reason, that had been a serious question.
“No. I haven’t, but at the same time dude that should have been, like, super obvious. Anyways.” Sonic waved off the line of conversation, directing them back on track. “I mean… do you want them to know? About us?”
“Truthfully? Not really.”
Sonic let out a sigh of relief. Crisis averted, temporarily at least. Shadow’s hesitation, mirroring his own, meant that he could buy himself some more time to think of the best way to go about things. How exactly he was going to sit Tom and Maddie down, hold them by the hands, and tell them you know that black and red version of me who’s really scary and you barely trust because he makes you all super uncomfortable? Yeah, well, we’re in a romantic relationship! Ta-da!
Or at least, that’s what Sonic thought that he and Shadow were. Hm. He would have to clarify that at some point, because until now, between their ample time spent together both intimate and not, he had always just assumed it to be the case. However, since they hadn’t technically had that conversation yet, what their mysterious, official label was would have to be solved with a good old-fashioned heart-to-heart.
It would have to happen at another time, though, because it was getting late and he could tell that Shadow was itching to return to the safety of his cave. Preferably with Sonic, as he had asked so many times before, however, with a heavy heart, Sonic had always refused. Primarily because his family didn’t have the slightest clue that they were technically dating, and so sudden and frequent sleepovers would definitely ring some alarm bells and garner quite a few questions. So until Sonic sucked it up and confessed the truth of the nature of his companionship with Shadow, he would have to simply settle for bidding him goodnight and going up to his room to sleep alone.
“Well, thanks for coming over for dinner tonight. It was great to have you, as always.” Sonic snuck a glance over his shoulder, and seeing that they had no unwanted witnesses, hastily grabbed Shadow’s hands in his own and leaned forward to give him a fleeting, chaste peck on the lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
Shadow’s pernicious demeanor softened, his expression easing up as he gave Sonic a small, tentative smile. “Tomorrow. Yes.”
And with that, along with a great deal of reluctance, Shadow retrieved his grip from Sonic’s and stepped back, and with a small, albeit fond incline of his head, disappeared in a flash of white light. Sonic shook his head good-naturedly; he knew Shadow performed the dramatic exit just to annoy Sonic, and while it certainly did the trick, it was only a minor nuisance. After lingering on the porch for just a little longer, shivering in the crisp breeze that carried the scent of winter and snow in an icy, foreboding promise, Sonic went back inside, trying to ignore the gaping hole that Shadow’s departure left in his heart.