Chapter Text
“Ugh…” Sonic dramatically leaned his head back off the back of the chair. “This is so frustrating…”
Amy rolled her eyes from the other side of the room, fixing her quills in the full length mirror. “I think you’ll survive one night. Besides, you see him all the time, what’s so different about it being at a party?”
Sonic frowned and made eye contact through the mirror. “You wouldn’t understand,”
Amy cocked an eye ridge.
“Okay, well out of all people, I’d expect you to understand,” He corrected himself. “He’s probably gonna be dressed up all fancy, you know. Shadow’s surprisingly fashionable! And I’m not gonna know how to act when I see him.”
Amy spun around to face the former object of her admiration. “I thought you didn’t care about looks,”
Sonic sat up, playing with the collar of his dress shirt. “I don’t. I’d like him regardless, but he’s just,” He gestured wildly with his arms. “He’s hot! And it definitely doesn’t help my heart at all.” He crossed his arms tightly across his chest and sunk into his seat, pouting. Amy made a face.
“I never thought I’d ever hear you say something like that,” She said, and Sonic was unsure if she was grossed out or amused or a mixture of both. She took one last glimpse in the mirror and smoothed out her dress, then strode over to where Sonic was seated. “Ugh, Sonic!” She took him by the shoulders and forced him to sit up properly, then brushed her hand over his shirt. “You’re wrinkling your shirt by sitting like that!” Sonic pouted, but didn’t say anything and allowed Amy to smooth out his shirt. Amy took a moment to glance up at Sonic, then tilted her head after getting an idea. “Have you ever thought about wearing makeup?” She asked.
Sonic stared at her blankly, then shrugged. “Not really. That type of stuff takes too long when I’m in a rush,”
Amy stood up straight, looking down at Sonic. “We’re not in a rush now. Could I try something?” Sonic tapped his knee for a moment, considering it. Then he shrugged.
“Go for it,”
~
Shadow looked at himself in the mirror. “I’m not sure about this, Rouge,” He said, turning his body to inspect himself at different angles. “Are you sure I look okay?”
Rouge peeked out of the bathroom door, her makeup only half done, then smirked and nodded. “You look stunning,” She cooed, then slipped back into the bathroom. Shadow frowned.
“I’ve never worn anything like this before. It probably looks weird on me,”
“You don’t have to wear it if it makes you nervous, sweetie, but I think it looks great on you,” Rouge called from behind the closed door. “You thought it looked nice, didn’t you? You were practically teeming with joy in the fitting room when we first found it,” She was right, though perhaps exaggerating a little bit. Shadow had smiled when he first tried on the deep purple dress, having admired it from afar for the whole shopping trip. Rouge had noticed his staring and asked if he wanted to try it, to which he was shocked that it was even an option. Rouge considered teasing him, before remembering he was a kid from the 1950s and still had a ton of notions about gender norms that hadn’t been completely abandoned. Even now, she’d admit, it was still rather taboo, but with the way his face seemed to light up at the sight of himself in the sleek dress that reached just above his ankles with a slit on his right leg, Rouge was intent on convincing him to get it.
Despite his apparent joy and sudden air of confidence that surrounded him when he first tried it on, he was suddenly apprehensive. Perhaps it was finally settling in that he’d likely have a lot of eyes on him, whether it be out of admiration or judgement. He wasn’t known for being self-conscious, but he also wasn’t exactly excited by the prospect of so much attention.
“I think Sonic would like it, though,” She added.
Well, perhaps there was one person he wouldn’t mind attention from.
Shadow carefully opened the bathroom door and stepped inside next to Rouge and looked at her with annoyance through the smaller mirror above the sink. She smiled knowingly as she applied her own mascara. “Just saying. It’s a gorgeous dress, and you’re already fairly attractive. I’m afraid he might faint when he sees you,” Shadow pursed his lips and retrieved his eyeliner from a small pouch.
“He’s not the type to care about those things,” He remarked, closing his eyes and carefully applying the makeup to his own face.
Rouge opened a single eye. “You never denied that you look attractive, though,” She teased. Shadow removed the small brush from his face and shot Rouge an unamused look. She chuckled and resumed doing her makeup. “I still think he’ll like it. You know that you want him to~,”
Shadow shook his head and continued his eyeliner. “You’re being ridiculous,” He said, trying not to scrunch his eyes too much, yet still trying to convey annoyance. “I could care less if he finds me ‘attractive’. His opinion means very little to me,”
“Mhm. So if he told you he didn’t like how you looked, you wouldn’t be upset?”
Shadow froze. He hadn’t yet considered a negative reaction from him specifically, but now that it was out in the air, it turned into a possibility. He stared at himself in the mirror, increasingly anxious about his appearance.
“I don’t think I should wear this,” He finally said. Rouge’s eyes flew open.
“What? No, Shadow,” She shook her head and placed her hands on both of his shoulders. “I didn’t mean to make you more nervous.” Shadow turned slightly to face her and she squeezed his shoulder. “I promise you he’ll like it.”
Shadow stared at her for another moment, then shut his eyes tightly. “I can’t believe I’m letting that idiot’s opinion affect me so much,” He finally said. He opened his eyes and resumed applying his eyeliner. Rouge smiled fondly.
“You’ve got it bad,” She remarked. Shadow shook his head slowly and let out a deep breath with a small smile.
“I know,”
o-O-o-O-o
Sonic hopped in the passenger seat of Tails’ car with a grin. “You excited? We’ve never been to a wedding before!” Tails laughed, his namesakes moving excitedly.
“Of course I am! I can’t believe Vector and Ms. Vanilla are actually getting married…” He placed his hands on the steering wheel, which he technically wasn’t old enough to use yet, but thanks to exploiting some loopholes and strong arguing, he got his license a few years early. He glanced at the small house he was parked in front of and turned to his brother. “Is she almost ready?” Sonic shrugged. Just as he did, the front door opened again. Amy gracefully made her way down the stairs after locking her door and waved.
“Tails!” She exclaimed, meeting him at his window. “Wow, you look dapper!” She exclaimed, playing with the small bowtie on his shirt.
He smiled sheepishly. “Thanks, Amy… You look great, too!”
Amy stepped away and twirled, the thin pink dress flowing around her as she spun. “Thank you! It’s surprisingly comfortable, too!” She enthused. “Though, if there’s anyone to compliment, it’s him,” She pointed at Sonic, who was caught off guard by the sudden change in attention. Tails turned to face him, confused. “I put some light makeup on him,” She explained.
Tails studied Sonic’s face, who was leaning back as far as he could. “Oh! That looks really nice!” He exclaimed. “Is that glitter?”
“A little bit! It’s kinda hard to notice, but I think it adds a lot. I also gave him a little eyeliner.” Amy said, climbing into the seat behind tails.
Tails waited for Amy to buckle her seatbelt, then started the car. “I’m surprised he even let you,” He teased. Sonic lightly punched his arm.
“Hey, I didn’t even fight her on it! I think it looks nice,” He flipped down the sun visor and opened the small mirror, admiring Amy’s work.
The drive to the venue was short, filled with chatter about all the people that would be there. Amy exposed her and Sonic’s earlier conversation to Tails, who laughed at the embarrassment of his older brother. Sonic pouted for a good portion of the drive, until a song he liked played on the radio and he couldn’t stand not singing it. They arrived a little early, only a few other cars in the parking lot. Sonic exited the car, and noticed someone standing alone and a little awkwardly. He grinned when he recognized the Echidna and sped over to him, slightly slower than usual in an attempt to not mess up his outfit or his quills. Amy and Tails trailed behind, more careful than Sonic to keep their outfits intact.
“Knuckles! Long time no see!” He exclaimed, throwing his arms around the echidna. It was true, they hadn’t seen each other in a couple weeks. Their schedules frequently conflicted, and the two would often go long periods of time without interacting. Knuckles grinned and reciprocated the hug, attempting to do so lighter than usual, but ultimately still inadvertently squeezing the hedgehog a little too tightly. Sonic squeaked and pried himself out of his arms.
“Sorry,” He scratched the back of his head. “It’s been too long,” He plunged his hands into the pockets of his dark brown suit jacket. He tilted his head and leaned forward slightly, squinting. “Did you play with glitter before this…?”
Sonic raised an eyebrow before realizing. “Nope! Amy just did my makeup.”
“I didn’t know you wore makeup,”
“He doesn’t,” A voice called. Amy had finally caught up and smiled politely at Knuckles. “It was my idea,”
Knuckles nodded, throwing an arm around Tails and hugging him tightly from the side. The fox stumbled out of surprise, then hugged back after regaining his composure. “It looks good,” He said.
“So how long have you been waiting here? They’re not making us wait outside, are they?” Amy asked. Knuckles let go of Tails and resumed his usual position of crossing his arms.
“No, I was just waiting for you guys. I got here not too long ago.” He glanced at the entrance. “So we don’t need to wait,”
The group of friends entered the venue, splitting up to say hello to anyone they recognized, as well as introducing themselves to people they didn’t. More people began to file into the hall as the starting time grew closer. The group reconvened and walked to their seats.
o-O-o-O-o
The actual ceremony went by fairly quickly. None of them aside from Amy really knew what to expect or how weddings were supposed to go, though even she herself had never actually been to one. The only thing she expected was Cream being the flower girl, since the smaller rabbit had been teeming with excitement about it for months on end. Amy and Sonic both practically melted onto the floor when they saw the girl in her cute dress walk in and toss pale pink flower petals across down the aisle. The two held both hands and clung to each other during the whole ceremony, unexpectedly emotional about the whole ordeal. Tails and Knuckles who were sitting on opposite ends from each other shared a confused look, more surprised by Sonic’s reaction than Amy’s.
By the time the ceremony was over and the two hedgehogs were done crying, they had to fix their makeup before they could reconvene with everyone. Amy and Sonic made their way into the small gender-neutral bathroom to assess the damage, and Amy fetched a small makeup bag from her purse.
“I’m surprised,” Amy said, lightly patting her face with a makeup wipe to remove the excess, “I expected myself to cry, but I didn’t think you would,”
Sonic shrugged and attempted to mirror Amy’s action on his own face to little success. It was true that he hardly ever expressed his feelings publicly enough to cry in front of others. He hated the idea of it, usually keeping those large emotions at bay. Regardless, he was a bit of a mess that day. “It was an emotional ceremony! I didn’t think they’d do all those speeches; all I expected was them to kiss and be done!” He defended. Amy smiled lightly and removed the makeup wipe from his hand and opted to do it herself, to which Sonic was immediately compliant.
“I know, I just didn’t think you were a fan of mushy stuff,” She explained. She retrieved the eye glitter and wordlessly motioned for him to shut his eyes. “I didn’t even expect you to stay awake the whole time,” Sonic frowned and opened his mouth to retort, but Amy made a series of noises to prevent him from speaking. “Don’t move your face. It’ll mess up what I’m doing,”
She finished touching up his makeup and finished it off with booping his nose, causing him to flinch.
Amy giggled. “You ready for the reception?” She stood next to Sonic and reached out an arm in front of his own. He nodded and linked his arm with Amy’s, and the two exited the washroom arm in arm. Perhaps that might look suspicious to the uninitiated onlooker, but trust that there was no semblance of romance between the two. Sure, Amy was previously known to be more than a little obsessed with the blue hedgehog, and many people still believed she had those childish habits. But it was quite the opposite now. After Sonic had turned her down for the final time in the form of coming out as gay, Amy reconsidered quite a lot and decided to abandon her pursuit of his heart, and opted to work towards a better friendship. This was immediately more favorable for both of them, and the two quickly became closer than ever before. Sure, for a while it was difficult to get over the crush she had been pursuing for a few years at that point, but Sonic was surprisingly accommodating and understanding. And now in the present, she was completely over her former feelings, coming to prefer their newer sibling-like relationship. It was a different type of sibling relationship than Sonic and Tails had, who were practically inseparable and incredibly protective and doting over each other. No, Sonic and Amy were more like what you’d expect from a pair of twins. They often butted heads and teased each other, but they still loved each other deeply and would do anything for the other.
They met back up with Knuckles and Tails at their assigned table. Tails was currently infodumping about his latest invention, while Knuckles passively listened and pretended to understand half the words he was saying, occasionally nodding and making thoughtful sounds of acknowledgement.
“And for a while I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it! But it turned out the problem was actually the…–“ He trailed off when he noticed Amy and Sonic’s approach. “Oh, hi! I was just explaining to Knuckles the latest modification of my translator! It should be super accurate now,” He enthused with a wide grin. Sonic just grinned and ruffled the fur on the top of his little brother’s head and sat down in the seat next to him.
“You fix your face?” Knuckles asked, a teasing smirk on his face.
“No, he didn’t. I had to do it,” Amy explained. “It wasn’t that bad, though. The glitter streaking down his cheeks actually looked kinda artistic! Sort of like a really moody album cover.” Sonic felt his cheeks warm, embarrassed at the direct reference to his earlier crying. Generally he avoided crying or even showing any heavy emotion around other people, but every now and then he had to let loose. Didn’t make it any less humiliating, though.
“You guys missed the opening bit! They introduced all the bridesmaids and groomsmen and stuff. It was cool!” Tails exclaimed.
“Aww… I wish I got to see that part…” Amy placed her purse onto the table and patted it as if to tell the others to keep an eye on it. “I’m gonna go mingle,”
The three watched as Amy strode over to Vanilla and proceeded to give her a big hug. Sonic smiled and turned back around to look at the table. “Do you know who else is gonna be at the table with us?” He saw no sign of other table markers and assumed that Tails and Knuckles had simply gotten his own for him.
“I remember seeing that Blaze and Silver were supposed to be seated here,” Tails recalled, looking up in thought. “Rouge and Shadow, too.”
Sonic turned to face his brother with wide eyes. “Sorry, who?” He asked in disbelief.
“Rouge and Shadow,” He repeated.
Knuckles leaned forward in his seat to look at Sonic, who was staring bug-eyed at the fox. He reached over to wave his hand in front of him. “Mobius to Sonic,”
Sonic’s eyes darted to Knuckles and he blinked before being taken out of his daze. He rested an elbow on the table and leaned his head on his palm. He drew circles on the tablecloth with his other hand. “I’m fine,”
Knuckles raised an eyebrow. Then it occurred to him why Sonic was suddenly so nervous, and his mouth stretched into a sly smirk. “So Tails wasn’t kidding about you freaking out over seeing Shadow, huh?” Sonic shot him a look, betrayed at how quickly the gossip spread among their friends.
“I am not, ”
Tails smiled with uncertainty. “You kinda are!”
Sonic suddenly stood up and pushed himself away from the table dramatically. “I’m gonna go talk to people,” He said, then hurried off. Knuckles and Tails shared a look and laughed to themselves. Sonic scanned the small crowd before spotting Cream who appeared to be just as intent on finding someone to chat with. She gasped when she made eye contact and excitedly ran to greet Sonic.
“Hi Mr. Sonic!” She exclaimed, teeming with joy. Sonic bent down on one knee as an invitation for a hug, to which Cream practically leaped into his arms. “I’m glad you came!” Sonic chuckled at her jovial energy, seemingly forgetting the previous conversation.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” He pulled away with his hands on the girl’s shoulders. “You did amazing with the flowers,”
The girl giggled and put her hands behind her back. “Oh! What do you think of my dress?” She stepped back and spun in a circle to show it off. “Isn’t it pretty? Mother picked it out for me!”
Sonic stood up and grinned. “It’s cute on you!” He gave her a thumbs up paired with a wink. Cream laughed again, then suddenly took Sonic’s hand, looking as if she wanted to bring him somewhere. “Hm?”
“Do you wanna dance?” She asked.
His grin grew wider. “Of course!”
The two took the dance floor and danced together to the upbeat tune. Sonic couldn’t help but find himself amused at her childish manner of dancing, letting himself relax and put less effort into looking cool. Cream suddenly took both of his hands and started spinning in circles. The teenager was initially taken by surprise, but laughed and followed her lead, leaning over slightly awkwardly to spin with her. She suddenly stopped and motioned for him to twirl her. He obliged, and obliged again, and continued to twirl her again and again until she got dizzy and had to stop.
Sonic chuckled nervously and bent over to meet her eye. “Sorry about that, Cream. Are you okay?”
She nodded and smiled, before noticing something– Or rather, someone – just behind Sonic and formed an ‘o’ with her mouth. Suddenly, she sprung up in joy. “You came!”
Sonic raised an eyebrow and turned around to look at the person Cream was referring to. He suddenly stood up straight, unable to stop his jaw from dropping.
The person turned his head in alarm hearing Cream’s call, before relaxing. “Oh, hello Cream,” He said in his soft-spoken yet powerful voice. Shadow.
Sonic hadn’t even realized the darker hedgehog had even made his way over until he was right next to him. He was far too busy getting lost in his own world while staring at Shadow’s attire. He expected something attractive and stylish, sure, but seeing him in such a beautiful dress came completely out of left field, and he had no idea how to cope. Cream and Shadow were already having a conversation, and to Sonic’s dazed knowledge, he hadn’t actually regarded him yet. He glanced between Shadow and the small girl, still unable to follow their conversation, trying to assess what to do. Shadow hadn’t seemed to notice him, or maybe he didn’t care at all about his presence. Regardless, it seemed like a safe option to retreat back to–
“–Sonic and I were just dancing together!”
The mention of his name brought him back into reality, as well as back into the conversation. Shadow finally acknowledged him and nodded. Sonic nodded back, admittedly a little awkwardly. “Hey, Shad,” He forced out, attempting to sound composed. The attempt fell completely flat, but nobody commented on it.
“…Hello.” Shadow crossed his arms tightly over his chest.
Cream looked between the two hedgehogs, then glanced over at her own table. “Oh! They’ve served the soups and salads! I’ll see you in a little bit!” She waved and skipped over to her seat, leaving the two alone in the middle of the dance floor.
Shadow broke the silence. “Do you know where table six is?”
“Oh,” Sonic nodded, seemingly taken out of a daze for the millionth time that day. “Yeah, I’ll bring you there. That’s where me and the others are at, too,” He motioned for Shadow to follow him, then walked briskly to his seat, purposely putting a distance between the two so that he didn’t have to be faced with his appearance.
Unfortunately for him, every seat was already claimed by this point, leaving the only empty seat for Shadow to take being the one beside him. Sonic sat down rigidly and made eye contact with Amy from across the table, who was in the middle of a conversation with Blaze. She smiled and darted her eyes towards Shadow, silently urging Sonic to make conversation. He shook his head. Amy frowned.
“Shadow,” She started politely, “I can’t help but notice you look just amazing today!” She enthused, then glanced at Sonic as if to tell him to join in on the conversation.
But he didn’t. Rouge was next to speak as she threw an arm around Shadow’s tense and admittedly warm shoulders. “Doesn’t he? I think he’d run the risk of upstaging the bride! That is, if Mrs. Vanilla didn’t already look so stunning,” Shadow swatted her away and pursed his lips together as warmth spread across his muzzle.
“It’s just an outfit,” He muttered, fidgeting with his hands anxiously under the table. Sonic couldn’t help but notice.
“Still, it looks great on you!” Her eyes once again fell on Sonic. “Isn’t that right, Sonic?”
Alarms rang off in Sonic’s head as he was suddenly called on. “Um,” He turned slightly to look at Shadow, who seemed to be equally surprised at the sudden mention of his name. “M-mhm,” Sonic was a mess. His face had to be completely red. He stood up, using his chair as support (nearly knocking it over) and inconspicuously tapping Tails’ shoulder. “I’ll be right back,” With that, he darted out of the room.
Tails turned around to watch, then glanced back at the rest of the table. “Um… I’m gonna go check on him,” He stood up and looked at Shadow, who was completely bewildered. “You do look nice though!” He smiled, then set off to search for his brother.
Amy grinned sheepishly, embarrassed for having inadvertently caused that series of events. The entire table was stunned into silence. Blaze and Silver were completely at a loss, while Amy, Rouge, and Knuckles exchanged looks. Shadow appeared to be completely detached, staring down at his bowl of soup while sitting on his hands.
o-O-o-O-o
“Sonic?” Tails entered the men’s washroom to see Sonic pointing angrily at himself in the mirror. He not-so-casually turned around and stood straight after being noticed, a small nervous smile on his face.
“Hi…”
Tails shook his head. “Sonic, what are you doing in here?”
“Waiting for this mirror to turn into a portal or something.”
Tails grit his teeth in concern. “Uh huh… Does that have anything to do with your little disappearing act?”
Sonic bit his cheek. “Nope.”
His brother raised an eyebrow.
“…Yup.”
The fox sighed and paced over to the hedgehog and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You need to relax!” He exclaimed. “You know it’s bad when I’m the one telling you that,”
Sonic covered his eyes with his palms. “I know…” He groaned, clearly frustrated with himself. “I know. I just– You saw him, right? You know exactly why I can’t calm down,” He disregarded his location and sat down on the floor.
Tails chuckled and squatted down next to him, unwilling to get up close and personal with the bathroom floor, regardless of how fancy and shiny it was. “I’ll admit, I was caught off guard when I first saw him, too,”
Sonic grimaced. “Don’t tell me you find Shadow attractive,”
Tails shrugged with his eyes shut. “I think someone would have to be blind not to,” Sonic’s frown only got deeper. “Hey, it’s not like I like him like you do! I just have functioning eyes,” He defended himself, his cheeks slightly dusting pink at the implication. The hedgehog crossed his arms and pouted for a moment before returning to his thoughtful expression.
“He probably thinks I’m an asshole now,” He held his knees close to his chest. “He already looked so anxious and I definitely didn’t help,”
Tails hummed and looked at the floor, then back at his brother. “You could always apologize,” He offered. Sonic leaned forward and rested his chin on his arms.
“I can hardly even talk to him! How am I supposed to explain that I had to run away because he was too hot!?” Tails blinked. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. But I don’t think I’m capable of that right now,”
The fox looked as his older brother stared blankly at the floor in concern, before getting an idea. “I could tell him for you,” He said with a gleam in his eye. Sonic looked up at him and cocked an eye ridge in intrigue. “That way you don’t have to do it yourself but he still won’t feel as bad!”
The hedgehog sat up and leaned back on his palms. “You’d do that?”
“Sure!”
He hesitated before nodding. Tails gave him a reassuring smile and thumbs up before leaving the room to seek out Shadow.
~
Shadow was still seated at table six, though most of the others had since left to either dance or talk to the other attendees. The only person left was Rouge, who was attempting to calm his mind from the events only a few moments prior.
“He could hardly look at me, Rouge. That’s not what I’d call a positive reaction,”
The bat frowned. “He was just nervous, hon! You’d be just as speechless if he looked as showstopping as you,”
Shadow looked at her with uncertainty. “You say that, but I wasn’t.” Rouge raised an eyebrow, urging him to explain. “He looks good today. I was still able to talk to him.”
She sighed. “Then I guess you two have very different reactions to your attraction. Because that boy’s face was the same shade as Knuckles’ quills,”
Shadow crossed his arms and shook his head and turned back to finish his soup, marking the end of the conversation. Rouge sighed and stood up, lightly tapping his shoulder.
“I’m gonna go mingle. Try not to think about it too much, okay?” Shadow ducked his head down slightly as a nod. She walked away and waved at Tails, who was walking the opposite direction.
Tails sat down awkwardly in his seat and gazed at Shadow, who he noted appeared moody on all accounts.
“Um,” He cut through the air. Shadow didn’t move, just glanced towards the fox and raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry about earlier,”
Shadow grunted. “I don’t know why you’re apologizing. If I remember correctly you paid me a compliment,”
Tails chuckled nervously. “I-I mean,” He shook his head. “I was mostly apologizing for Sonic. He didn’t mean to react like that. He just got overwhelmed,” He tried to explain.
Shadow put his spoon down and leaned back in his chair, turning to face Tails. “About what?” Tails briefly glanced down at Shadow’s torso as it came into better view and felt himself flush, then forced himself to make eye contact.
He stammered over his words. “He, um…” He stretched his collar. “You know,”
“If I knew then I wouldn’t be asking,” He deadpanned, frustration growing in his voice, and crossed his arms. Tails gulped.
“He… likes how you look,”
Shadow lurched forward and nearly choked on the air. What did he just say? “Come again?”
Tails winced and then sighed. “You look good, and he got nervous. Plus, Amy put him on the spot and he didn’t know how to react!”
Shadow’s cheeks warmed. He awkwardly turned around and leaned over the table slightly. “Is that so…” He looked cautiously at the fox. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
“Do you think I’d call you attractive and pretend my brother said it…?”
Shadow reconsidered and chuckled dryly. “I suppose not,” He took a sip of his soup and rested his head on his chin, leaning back over the table on his elbow. “Rouge was actually trying to convince me of that just a second ago, but I thought she was joking.”
Tails giggled. “Nope. He’s probably still recovering as we speak. He’ll probably actually apologize later on, but he was too embarrassed to tell you about that part and I told him I’d do it for him.” He tapped his chin. “Though, now that I think about it, I’m not actually sure if I was supposed to tell you about that. I just told him I’d apologize and didn’t mention actually explaining it,” He shrugged. Tails glanced in the direction of the doorway and noticed Sonic’s approach. “Oh, there he is. Uh… Please don’t mention the part about him finding you attractive! I don’t want to embarrass him further,”
Shadow nodded, and Sonic made his way over to his seat in between the two. “Hello again,” He teased. Sonic laughed and finally managed to make eye contact with Shadow.
“Hey, Shad,” He deadpanned with a half lidded grin. He picked up his fork and began to poke at his salad. Tails glanced between the two and shook his head with a soft smile, then stood up to go meet up with someone else. Sonic watched as he left and leaned an arm over his chair. “Sorry about earlier,”
Shadow exhaled out his nose. “You’re still on that? The fox already went through this,”
Sonic shrugged exaggeratedly and took a bite. “I just didn’t know if you wanted to hear it directly from me or not!” He looked at Shadow who wore a half-suppressed smile and grinned. “You do look nice, though. To answer Amy’s question.”
Shadow laughed and shook his head. “I didn’t expect so many people to take notice of my attire.”
“Well, you don’t wear stuff like that very often! You took a lot of people by surprise,”
“Hm. Not you, though,” He glanced at Sonic with half-lidded eyes without moving his head. Sonic squirmed uncomfortably.
“Not at all,” He pretended to feign innocence, opening a single eye with a grin.
Shadow rolled his eyes and turned back to his food. “I was apprehensive at first, if I’m honest. Rouge had to convince me not to change it last minute,”
Sonic tilted his head. “Why’s that?”
He shrugged. “Attention. It’s not my usual attire and apparently everyone immediately noticed,”
“Oh,” Sonic smiled with guilt. “Sorry.”
“I don’t mind. The attention isn’t as bad as I expected. I’ll admit, I worried for a moment that you were repulsed, though,”
“No, not at all!” Sonic shook his hands in front of his face. “Like I said, I think it’s great! Why would I be repulsed?”
Shadow bit the inside of his cheek. “I don’t know. It’s hard to gauge how people react to men wearing feminine clothes,” He glanced up at Sonic. “I suppose there’s no reason why you would care, though. I’m just very used to the views of the time period I grew up in,”
Sonic nodded slowly. “I guess some people still see things that way today. Not me though!” He smiled. “I don’t think many of the people here do, either, so you’re all good,” He assured him. Shadow smiled softly.
“Good to know,”
Suddenly Amy sat beside Sonic in Tails’ seat, seemingly coming from nowhere. “What’re you two still sitting around for? Get on the dancefloor!” She shook Sonic by the shoulders. He rolled his shoulders forward to shake off her hands.
“We were just talking,” He defended himself, pushing forward his now empty bowl. “And I didn’t get to finish my salad,”
Amy sprawled her upper half across the table dramatically. “Come daaaaance…” She lightly grazed his arm with her hand. Sonic rolled his eyes and sighed, then turned to Shadow.
“You care if I go?”
He shook his head and Amy cheered. “Yes!!” She clung on to Sonic’s arm as he stood up and dragged him to the dance floor, once again leaving Shadow alone at the table.