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“Goodnight!” Sonic called out, waving his hand to the group of people in the living space of Tails’ home, where most of their crew had to stay after the destruction of the Restoration HQ. Before he walked too far down the hallway, Sonic turned his head back and pointed at the young yellow fox.
“Don’t stay up too late,” He said firmly. “Just ‘cause I’m not camped out in your room doesn’t mean I wont know if you do.”
Sonic gave a cheeky grin with a small breathy laugh, and Tails’ returned it with a small chuckle of his own.
“Goodnight, Sonic.” Tails softly responded with a smile.
Sonic gave him a wink before his head turned back to face ahead of himself, treading swiftly down the hallway to the guest bedroom at the end, the door to it already cracked open. He inhaled deeply, the weight of the past few months, or maybe even the past year was sitting heavier on his shoulders tonight than it had been for a while.
To say he was exhausted was an understatement. He couldn’t remember the last time he had gotten any proper rest since before the whole incident with Infinite and the phantom ruby. Nightmares, lucid dreams, anxiety, metal viruses , people to save, people to help. For once in his life Sonic felt himself wishing things would slow down.
He let go of the breath he didn’t realize he was still holding once he reached the door, placing his palm flat against it and pushing it open. Hopefully tonight would be the night he finally got a couple of hours of sleep at least, but the weight in his chest told him it’d be another night of nightmares, that usually ended up with a run lasting until the sun peeks over the horizon.
Regardless, when Sonic walked into the room he was met with his onyx counterpart, who was laying on one of two cots set up on the floor in the dark room. A large window was open in between both of them on the back wall, but barely any moonlight shone through with the large thick trees in front of it. Sonic could see the deeply familiar pair of red eyes glance up at him, glowing and glaring.
Shadow was already laying down on his back against his cot, regardless of the multiple claims of being the Ultimate Life-form and not needing to sleep . Sonic was sure this was because, like the rest of them, he was tired .
“Long day, huh?” Sonic snickered, but his voice felt heavy in his mouth.
He could see red irises be covered by black eyelids in response, Shadow giving him an obviously unimpressed look before turning his head away completely with a scoff. Sonic didn’t give a quip to the others reaction, not having much energy himself to respond. Sonic closed the door behind him, his ear twitching at the click before walking over to the empty cot next to Shadows.
Sonic slid his dirty red sneakers off his feet, using the tip of each foot to nudge them off. He threw them somewhere to the side, not really caring for where they landed. He kept his socks and gloves on for the sake of decency, with Shadow being in the room with him and all.
Sonic crawled underneath the covers of his cot, laying down on his side facing Shadow. The black hedgehog's eyes were barely open, mostly from the fact he was looking down at his own hands that were picking off the tiny specks of lint that stuck to the pale white sheets. It wasn’t a secret that Shadow was known for keeping things clean and pristine, but Sonic didn’t seem to feel any sense of true annoyance coming from Shadow at the moment. If anything, he was entranced in the small task.
Sonic smiled to himself, unsure if it actually moved his lips before the weight in his eyelids made itself incredibly apparent. Sonic gave one last tug to the soft white blanket over his body, pulling it up to his cheeks as he curled in on himself slightly to get more comfortable.
He gave himself one final look at Shadow before letting his eyes fall shut, taking advantage of the fact he was able to fall asleep this easily before it was too late. Sonic sighed deeply with a small rumble in his chest, face burying deep into the pillow at his head.
A few moments passed with Sonic's eyes closed, waiting for himself to drift off. When he finally felt himself fall asleep, however, his body became restless. Sonic mentally rolled his eyes as he turned over, readjusting against his pillow and under his blanket to get comfortable again.
This time, while his eyes were closed and waiting to fall asleep, Sonic's mind started to wander. Started to remember . Memories immediately flooded into his mind when he was stuck in that cold cell in Eggman's base. A shiver caused the fur on his back to stick up at the thought of it. The several methods of torture Eggman cycled through, finding a new one to use against the cobalt hedgehog once he showed signs of fighting the previous one.
It never stopped, which is an odd complaint coming from Sonic. The hero who was constantly on the move, never pausing for a moment, charging ahead at any and all combat to save those who needed it. He was quick to do so, too.
A pang of guilt squeezed his chest when he felt the slight envy of wishing people would’ve done the same for him in that cell. Wishing that someone, anyone , would free him from the literal torture Eggman was putting him through. He knew there wasn’t much any of them could do, not to doubt his friends. It’s just hard to save someone if you’re not even sure where they are, not to mention the lack of contact.
Even after they had freed him, though, the image of Tails’ reaction haunted him to the core. The young kit seemed almost horrified to see Sonic. Six months without one of the most meaningful and important people in your life seems to do a lot more on someone than Sonic thought, but it didn’t help the fact Sonic was hurt. Not that Tails needed to know that, though. Things between them were fine now, but Sonic still noticed the way the fox would behave almost clingy to Sonic.
He wasn’t going to leave him again like that , Sonic had promised Tails one day when the fox suddenly broke down after a rougher battle of badniks.
The mere thought of being trapped again and being tortured made Sonic feel sick to the stomach. His mind clouded around the idea, the feeling freakishly too familiar to how he felt in the cell after each Eggman experiment. His throat was closing up on him, his chest starting to hurt and Sonic was having a hard time telling if he was remembering or reliving.
It couldn’t have been a dream, he was too easily able to have his own conscious thought on the matter. This led to him wondering why he couldn’t bring himself to stop these memories. It was uncharacteristic for the fast hedgehog to get caught up in his mind like this, in fact he almost always wasn’t. He was the one, clear headed stable hero everyone needed at the moment. Except for himself, apparently.
“Don’t ignore me, hedgehog.” Sonic was brutally ripped from his thoughts at the sound of Shadows gruff, annoyed voice.
Sonic couldn’t bring himself to speak, or move, let alone open his eyes. However, he did become painfully aware of the rapid rise and fall of his chest coming from the heavy pained breaths through his nose.
“Sonic.” He heard again, and before he could move away, he felt a heavy hand against his shoulder. Sonic didn’t have to open his eyes to know Shadow was now looming over him.
The dark hedgehog's voice was the one thing keeping him out of his mind in the moment, like a rope Sonic was holding onto now for dear life . “Can you hear me?”
Sonic attempted to open his mouth, and when he did his voice was hoarse and strained. “Loud and clear.” He tried to quip, but a harsh inhale in his throat ruined any chance of ridding concern. His head felt dizzy, heavy despite not moving against its spot on the pillow.
“Slow your breathing.” Shadow instructed. “You’ll pass out if you don’t.”
“Hah-” Sonic huffed on another sharp inhale. “I don’t know if-”
Another desperate breath cut Sonic's sentence off short, barely exhaling before he tried to breathe in again. He felt tears line in his closed eyes, furrowing his eyebrows in hopes to prevent them from falling. His head leaned back, the first movement he's been able to make on his own as he tried to laugh on yet another forced inhale.
“Ooh boy-” Sonic tried to say in his typical joking manner but failed once again.
Sonic's hands clutched at the sheets beneath his hands desperately as he tried to maintain his frantic breaths, struggling immensely. He was somewhat thankful in the moment that Shadows hand tightened against his arm, it being one of the few things he could focus on.
“Can you open your eyes?” The dark hedgehog asked.
Sonic's head shook faintly, the sound of his quills moving against the pillow causing his ears to pin back. “Not sure if you can-” He tried to inhale again. “ Tell -” He growled.
“I’m fully aware of what’s happening,” Shadow barked back. “Are you?”
Sonic didn’t reply, partly from embarrassment, mainly because he couldn’t from how frantic his breathing was becoming. The hand against his arm was quickly becoming less grounding, and more suffocating, with the warmth against his skin feeling more like burning. Without thinking much of it, Sonic yanked his arm out from the tight hold of Shadows hand, startling them both.
“Just- heh ,” Sonic was grasping for any sense of relief that things were fine. “Too warm, is all-” He said breathlessly.
Shadow walked around Sonic's cot, bringing himself so he could look at Sonic's face directly. Shadow knelt down in front of him, his palms landing flat against the cold hardwood floor.
“You need to slow your breathing,” Shadow repeated.
“I’m working on it -” Sonic hissed.
Shadow sighed, slightly annoyed. “ Chaos - Take a deep breath. Hold it for as long as you can without suffocating yourself.” He said harshly.
Sonic attempted to do as he was told, inhaling shakily and desperately. He realized he took in too sharp of a breath once he started to cough. Tears threatened to leave the corners of his eyes as he tried to end the coughing fit, his throat burning with each one.
“Easy, blue.” He heard Shadow mutter under his breath, uncharacteristically soft. “Try again.” He said louder, more sternly this time. “Slowly.”
Sonic nodded faintly as he tried to take in another deep breath, this time through his nose and more dragged out than his previous ones. He paused, letting the air sit in his chest. A few seconds passed before Sonic let go, his breath exiting his chest abruptly.
“Again.” Shadow repeated. “Exhale slowly, this time.”
Sonic repeated his previous actions, inhaling deeply through his nose once more. He held it for a few seconds, before letting go. Sonic listened to his own breath leave his chest slowly. This time, since he paced out his breath, he felt some of his muscles relax the more air he let out.
Shadow didn’t have to instruct Sonic to continue, inhaling and exhaling labordly until he could somewhat keep his breathing at a normal pace. It was a few minutes of forced, deep breaths and heavy exhales before Sonic gained control over his breathing again.
Sonic swallowed thickly before speaking. “ Damn ,” He exhaled with a huff. “Sorry.”
Sonic rolled completely onto his back, the back of one of hands moving to rest against his forehead. When he noticed the lack of response from Shadow, he finally peaked an eye open to look at the striped hedgehog.
Shadow was looking at him with the same, furrowed eyebrows and scowl he always wore on his face. Except, this time it didn’t carry the usual stone cold attitude, instead it seemed to hold more worry if anything at all.
Sonic snorted, closing his eye and leaning his head further back. “Concern isn’t a good look on you, Shadow.”
Shadow scoffed and rolled his eyes, arms crossing against his chest. “I just watched you have a panic attack.”
“Yeah?” Sonic said teasingly, but his voice was hoarse. “Can handle anything but that, huh?”
Despite Sonic's obvious attempt at lightening the mood, Shadow's voice still had that uncomfortable weight of concern to it that made Sonic's heart tighten.
“Drop the act.” Shadow grumbled. “It’s not the panic attack I'm talking about.”
“Ouch.” Sonic said, fiening his hurt.
“You know damn well I wouldn’t have bothered if I wasn’t worried about that,” Shadow hissed in response, a small growl in his tone. “I'm talking about the fact you’ve been parading around pretending like nothing has happened. Which is exactly what you’re doing right now .”
Both of Sonic's eyes peeled open this time, looking ahead at the door on the wall in front of him. He sighed deeply, the hand on his forehead moving to rub down his face and under his eyes.
“I don’t have time to dwell on the past,” Sonic's voice came out slightly deeper, less forced. “What happens, happens. There are people in the now who need help before anything else. I gotta keep movin’.”
“You can’t outrun your problems, Sonic.” Shadow huffed frustratedly.
“I'm not saying that I am,” Sonic said more harshly than he wanted to admit, mainly out of defense. “There are just bigger things in need of my attention. I mean- hell , some days I don’t even have time to sleep.”
Shadow didn't respond, his face softening slightly as he looked away from Sonic. A slow, deep inhale came through his chest, followed by an equally spaced out exhale resulting in a heavy sigh. Shadows eyelids fell, along with his shoulders. He knew the blue hedgehog was right, and fighting with him on it would be completely useless. It didn’t make it any less wrong , however.
Sonic glanced over, catching sight of Shadows contemplating look, and sighed himself. It stayed silent between the two of them for a moment before Shadow moved to stand up, moving on from his attempt to get through Sonic's head.
“When was the last time you did sleep?” He asked, standing over Sonic's cot.
“Hah-!” Sonic snorted. “Give or take three days, I kinda lost track if I'm being honest.”
Shadow’s eyes widened, teeth baring when his mouth opened. “Three-” He stopped himself from lecturing Sonic before even starting his sentence, sighing annoyedly and shaking his head. “Go to sleep. Quit wasting time.”
Sonics eyebrow raised, emerald eyes looking up into ruby ones. “Seriously? You just had to watch what happened when I tried.” He said with a small scoff.
“Figure it out,” Shadow snarled. “Don’t tell me you’re giving up that easily.”
Sonic eyes closed as he brought a finger to rub just underneath his own nose, a plotting smirk forming on his lips. It only took a moment before his eyes opened back up slightly to give Shadow another glance.
Shadows face twisted in confusion, his arms tightening against his chest. “You’re plotting.” He called out, a suspicious growl in his tone.
“Oh, absolutely .” Sonic said teasingly. “Lay with me.”
Shadow’s eyes narrowed at the words, looking down at Sonic with an unimpressed glare. The hero seemed unphased by what usually would’ve been a threatening stare coming from Shadow, confidence pouring out of that stupid smirk on his own muzzle. Shadow continued to stare at him for a moment longer.
“Seriously?” Shadow asked, slightly annoyed.
“Dead serious.” Sonic said firmly.
There was another small pause.
“And you mean?”
“Cuddling.”
Shadow sighed heavily. “You're insufferable.” With a small shake of his head, Shadow’s eyes rolled in annoyance. Regardless of his reluctant attitude, Shadow walked over to the door of the bedroom. He twisted the lock above the handle, pulling on the knob to assure it was shut.
“C’mon, don’t act so pissed!” He heard Sonic snicker from behind him. “It’s been what? Like, over a year? You’re telling me you didn’t want to cuddle at all?”
“No.” Shadow said flatly, though dishonest.
Sonic full on laughed, deep in his chest before scooting to the side of his cot freeing up room for Shadow to lay down. He watched as the dark hedgehog re-approached the bed, returning with a slightly softer expression than before.
“You’re a bad liar, y’know that?” Sonic smirked, holding the blanket up for Shadow.
“I don’t lie.” Shadow scoffed, the cot sinking down as the black hedgehog knelt onto the free space next to Sonic.
“Sure you don’t.” Sonic murmured, rolling his eyes playfully as he waited, watching Shadow scoot down slightly to lay flat against the cot. Shadow’s head leaned down onto the pillow.
Once Shadow settled and stopped moving, Sonic was fashionably quick to wrap himself into Shadows side, head resting against the white patch of fur against Shadows chest. Tan arms draped across Shadows stomach, sighing contently when he felt one of Shadows arms wrap underneath blue quills and around his neck.
He could feel how tense Shadow was in the moment, almost as if he was laying on a breathing rock. Sonic tried to keep his movement minimal until the other relaxed more.
It wasn’t the first time they’ve cuddled with each other, and certainly won't be the last. Neither of them were not huge on physical contact regardless, so all the adjusted progress of getting used to it faltered over the time they hadn’t seen each other.
“We can stop whenever you want, just say the word.” Sonic tried to reassure, his voice coming out in a lower, more genuine tone. “It’s been a while.”
“No,” Shadow mumbled against the top of Sonic's head. “Just having to get used to it again.”
Sonic hummed against Shadows chest, eyelids growing heavy. He was able to bite back the yawn that threatened to break free, burying his nose deep into white fur. Sonic inhaled deeply, slowly taking in the faint scent of lavender and coffee, an unforgettable smell tied to none other than the hedgehog was laying on.
“Go to sleep, Sonic.” Sonic heard Shadow’s raspy voice mutter near his ear, the vibrations of it against his cheek.
“I w’s plannin’ on it,” Sonic mumbled before his eyelids fell shut.