Work Text:
"You'll regret this!" Eggman yells over his shoulder as his shuttle careens off into the sunset. "You meddling hedgehogs may have wrecked my base, but I still have the chaos emerald!"
Sonic growls, dashing over to the balcony to see the vehicle skim over the ocean, where he can't follow. "Dang it," he snaps, tapping his foot angrily against the steel floor. "That makes three."
Shadow hums, stepping up beside him. "Actually," he says, staring out at where the sunlight dapples the waves, "it makes two." He produces the blue emerald from his quills, gracing Sonic with a genuine smile. "How long do you think it'll take him to notice I snatched it?"
Sonic feels a matching grin spread across his face as Shadow tucks the emerald away. Two to their three. Holy shit, they've still got a chance-
"Shadow, this is amazing! I could kiss you right now!" Sonic exclaims, biting his tongue a second too late.
Oh, he really should not have said that.
Hopefully Shadow will just brush it off and they can continue on as normal, with some residual awkwardness. Or, more likely, Shadow will explode on him and then storm off in a fury, not showing his face until they determine the next emerald's location.
But what Shadow says, hesitant and uncertain, is, "Well, then why don't you?"
...he had to have heard that wrong. Sonic laughs awkwardly, searching Shadow's face for signs of a joke. He finds none, but Shadow does have an excellent poker face. "I'm sorry?"
"Why don't you kiss me," Shadow reiterates, more confidently.
Sonic stares at him, momentarily knocked speechless. So. Hearing's not the issue, he's just lost his mind. Or, one of them has, anyway.
"Unless it was just an expression." Shadow says into the prolonged silence. The sudden tenseness in the air seems to be bothering him; he's started to unconsciously smooth down his quills. It's one of Shadow's top four signs of nervousness, according to the chart that Sonic definitely hasn't been compiling in his head. "If you didn't actually want to, that's fine."
"No, I did- um, I mean, I wasn't-" Sonic forcibly breaks off the ramble, covering his mouth with one hand. He removes it after a few seconds, after he's certain his mouth won't start running without his permission. Sonic takes a deep breath in an attempt to pull himself together. It's not working. "You want me to kiss you?"
Shadow shrugs, looking away, but not before Sonic spots the tinge of green dusting his cheeks. "No, I'm telling you to kiss me."
That's Shadow for 'yes.'
Sonic watches him, watches his shoulders tighten and expression darken behind the wall of ice that he's constructing to keep himself from getting hurt, and knows he has seconds to act before Shadow takes it back and pretends the entire exchange never happened and spends the next month festering in his own doubt.
Or, that's what Sonic thinks would occur, if he were to take a wild guess based on absolutely nothing. Y'know, because he doesn't purposely spend hours running around the city while he tries to puzzle out Shadow's thoughts and feelings and motivations. Really. He doesn't. It's purely coincidental; everyone needs something to think about while they run and Sonic thinks about his friends.
...it's just that one of those friends happens to be kinda cute and maybe Sonic spends a little more time wondering what a good first date would be and little less wondering about battle strategies. Except for that one time where he was considering battling robots as a first date, but that was a special circumstance.
"I can't kiss you if you're over there, dude," Sonic says, and grabs Shadow's wrist to pull him closer. He expects there to be more resistance than there is, and Shadow stumbles forward from the sudden force.
Shadow doesn't look mad, though, lips quirking in a startled smile. "I didn't think you'd actually-"
Sonic closes the last few inches between them. Shadow's eyes widen in surprise, then flutter shut as he leans into the kiss.
Sonic's kissed a few people, before. Mostly on dares, or in the heat of a fight, but never planned. Never gentle, and careful, the way Shadow kisses him back. Like he's afraid of damaging something fragile.
And it's not like Sonic needs protecting; he's the one constantly saving the world, after all. But there's something meaningful in that- Shadow knows he doesn't need protecting and chooses to do so anyway.
Or maybe Sonic is reading too much into a kiss. Probably because his brain is short-circuiting.
Shadow pulls away first, just far enough to speak. "Am- am I doing this correctly? I've never... kissed anyone before." The otherwise hesitant statement is accompanied by a glare, daring Sonic to comment.
"Yeah, you're-" amazing, beautiful, a bunch of other sappy words that keep popping up uninvited every time he looks at Shadow, "You're a bit stiff," is what Sonic settles on saying, forcing neutrality into his tone. No big deal, just made out with the guy he's spent the past year falling head over heels for. Happens all the time.
"You just need to relax. Here, let me..." Sonic trails off, contemplating the best course of action. Shadow is usually stressed and ready to stab someone, even when he's just lying on a couch watching bad sitcoms. It's just how he's wired. It's not going to be easy to get him to relax in an entirely new situation.
Sonic reaches up, lacing his fingers through Shadow's quills. They're silky and fluffy, far better maintained than Sonic's own.
Shadow's ears flatten nervously, but he doesn't push Sonic away. Sonic shoots him an encouraging smile and sets his other hand on Shadow's hip. "There. Now just follow my lead."
"Oh, please," Shadow scoffs, nerves evaporating in the face of what he's decided to interpret as a challenge. He cups Sonic's face in one hand and kisses him again.
His grip in Shadow's quills quickly turns from a calming touch to a way to keep himself grounded. Shadow snakes an arm around Sonic's waist, tilting him back towards the ground. It's hungrier, but no less gentle. Like a bizarre twist on a trust fall, where Shadow could definitely let go at any time and Sonic would smash his skull open on the steel tiles, but he knows that won't happen because Shadow's hold on him is steady and reassuring and couldn't be broken with a sledgehammer.
Sonic draws back for breath, laughing a little.
"What?" Shadow asks, equally breathless.
"Nothing, I just- didn't figure you for a romantic." Sonic gestures vaguely at their current position, then remembers Shadow can't see his hands. "Not that I'm opposed to being dipped princess-style," he adds.
"Oh." Shadow might blush, then, it's hard to tell through the flush of green that's already made a home for itself under his fur. "Maybe you don't know everything about me."
"In that case, I can't wait to learn," Sonic says with a smirk.
Shadow makes a wordless noise, half-frustrated and half-flustered. "How do you say these things with a straight face?"
"Hey, nothing straight about this face," Sonic replies automatically. Shadow rolls his eyes.
"You ruined it," he mutters, resting his forehead against Sonic's nonetheless.
A set of speakers turn on, fuzzy audio feedback blasting through the room. Shadow flinches, completely in sync with the way Sonic jumps.
Shadow instantly tugs Sonic out of the dip and into a standing position, braced for a fight. He leaves his arm around Sonic's waist, which isn't great from a combat perspective, but Sonic's not about to complain.
"Why are you two still here?" Eggman screeches from over the line. "Get out of my base!"