The Box - Sonadow Fanfiction

Friendship at its Finest

Shadow stood there with his arms crossed, completely unreactive as chaos erupted around him. Sonics friends had all started screaming at him, at Sonic and even at eachother, going so far as to push themselves around in their unintelligible argument.
Pillows were tossed, blankets were thrown and most importantly Sonics hammock was ripped from its screws. Shadow noticed this made him frown as he tried to speak with his team, but they kept arguing. He did not much care to see Sonic upset, so he gathered a small pinch of his power and created a boom like sound that shook the hut.
"Enough!" He stated firmly, eyeing each member individually, as though he was a teacher fed up with his students.
They all stopped and looked at him, it was Amy who spoke first.
"What are you doing with him?"
He didn't get a chance to answer before Tails piped in, "you're tricking him, aren't you?"
"What? No."
"Look at him," Stix pointed aggressively at him, "he's shaking! He's a liar!"
Shadow was standing perfectly still.
"Can everyone calm down for a second!" Sonic stepped between Shadow and his friends, who were all staring daggers at eachother, they simultaneously leaned past Sonic to resume their contest.
"He's not trying to hurt me!"
Amy then looked at Sonic. She normally trusted every word he spoke, but she couldn't bring herself to trust Shadow, who regularly turned on them to pursue his own goals.
"Sonic, is- is this who you're so crazy about?"
Knuckles shook his head, "there's no way, Shadow is too ugly for Sonic."
Shadow made a face, offended by the statement, but held back his tongue for Sonic. He could very easily send them all away and get back to his time with Sonic, but he knew this had to be dealt with. There was no more hiding, and now that they had confessed to each other, he didn't even want to hide. He had to try to be friendly.
"Yes, Amy. But I- I didn't want anyone to find out like this.."
Tails looked sadly towards Sonic, "you weren't going to tell us?"
"Not yet.. not so soon.." Sonic grunted in frustration, "it's so soon we wanted to keep it between us.."
"Oh!" Amy crossed her arms, scowling at Shadow, "I bet you were the one who told him to keep quiet! You're using him!"
Shadow reacted in a way he was hoping to avoid and snapped at Amy's comment, "if your foolish mind really thinks I'm using him then you are more incompetent than I thought."
"Don't talk to Amy like that!" Knuckles rolled his fists, getting defensive.
"I'll talk to her however she chooses to talk to me!"
"You're angry because she's right!" Tails choked.
"Right?" Shadow uncrossed his arms and mimicked Knuckles' fists. "You have no idea what you're talking about, be careful fox."
"Shadow stop!" Sonic had turned to him and grabbed his arms, tracing down them until his fists came loose. He relaxed, only because Sonic wanted him to.
"Perhaps I should go." He looked into Sonics pleading eyes, "if you'd like me to."
"I- no, we can't hide from this, stay."
Shadow nodded.
Sonic smiled and turned to his friends, who watched the scene in disgust.
"I will take one question at a time." He said.
"When did it start?" Amy asked first.
"Only a few weeks ago."
"Where?" She added.
"Uh- hard to say, I guess technically here but also at Eggmans."
Stix called out, "that's the day we seen him go in there!"
Sonic nodded.
"Why him?" Tails' eyes were jumping at whoever spoke.
"Haha.. can't answer that." Sonic said shyly, remembering all the tenderness Shadow had given him, the smiles and the comfort.
"Are you sure he's not using you?" Knuckles chimed in.
"Yes, no question."
"And you know he's tried to kill you before? Tried to kill Cosmo? Tried to assassinate the president?" Stix pointed out.
"Er- yeah? Well.. all that was misunderstood, you guys know that. You know he's not evil."
Amy groaned, "not evil doesn't equal morally correct, he would do anything to get his way, he'd probably even toy with you."
Shadow was getting increasingly annoyed with all their negative remarks, and decided they had asked Sonic enough questions.
"My turn," he switched places with Sonic, "ask away."
"Are you trying to take his power?"
"Everyone knows mine are better." Sonic held back a chuckle.
"What do you want with him?" Knuckles asked.
"I don't know, what do you want with Rouge?" Knuckles' already red face deepened.
They all looked at the echidna, "haha, I have no idea what he's talking about." He said nervously.
"How did it happen?" Tails said, pulling the attention back to Shadow.
"We got stuck in a box at Eggmans lair." He said confidently.
"Oh this is so weird!" Amy shouted, "how are we supposed to know you won't hurt him?"
Shadow smiled at her, which took her aback, "because I love him."
They all squeaked and began to mutter amongst themselves again. Shadow turned to Sonic who was clearly overloaded from embarrassment. He wrapped an arm around the uncomfortable hedgehog and rubbed his shoulder.
"Shouldn't I be the nervous one?" He whispered.
"You don't know my friends."
"Aren't you the one who said I should get to know them?"
"Not like this, never like this."
"Okay!" Amy took the lead, "we've decided. Sonic, we believe and trust you completely, if you say he's fine, then he's fine."
Sonic wanted to hug them all.
"But!" Amy continued, piercing Shadow with her eyes, "if you ever, and we mean EVER, do anything to cause him any pain- and that's physical, emotional, mental pain- you'll never be around us or him again."
"Well, I'm not the one ruining his birthday by bombarding him with questions."
"Ah! Sonic, your birthday!"
Sonic walked away from Shadow, "yeah, I thought we celebrated yesterday."
"Yeah thats what you said you wanted," Knuckles said, "but did you really think we wouldn't try to surprise you?"
Shadow blushed. Had Sonic wanted to spend his birthday with him? Did he get to say I love you for the first time on Sonics birthday?
"Yeah my bad I guess." Sonic shrugged, hopping over his couch and plopping down.
They all then took their places in the small hut, seemingly over the entire debacle. Shadow wasn't sure what to do, Sonic had become too focused on his friends. He took very small steps, trying to remain out of focus. Eventually, he shimmied over to the couch, sitting beside Sonic who glanced at him quickly.
"Thats my spot, actually." Tails had appeared in front of Shadow, holding a wrapped gift.
"What?" He said awkwardly.
Sonic uncomfortably watched as the two had a staring contest over who got the seat.
"You can sit next to me then." Shadow breathed.
"Then we'll be squished." Tails challenged.
"I don't mind." Shadow growled. He really did not want to be separated from Sonic around all his friends. He could handle them in the past as momentary allies or foes, but to accept them as part of Sonic was a new level of commitment.
"Shadow, Tails always sits there." Sonic interrupted.
Shadow turned to him, a bit hurt, but nodded as Sonic mouth "I'm sorry".
So he got up, snarled quietly at Tails who snarled back, and went to Sonics other side, seating himself on the arm rest. Sonics blue arm rested against his leg.
"Happy Birthday Sonic!" Tails reset, handing his best friend a gift.
"I did say no presents." He smiled, taking the gift gratefully.
"You never listen to us about no presents so we don't listen to you." Amy also handed him a perfectly wrapped gift, then Knuckles and finally Stix. The four of them turned to Shadow, who held firm.
"I didn't know." He said, guessing their question.
"Funny, you've known him since you were both 15 and yet you don't know his birthday."
Sonic was sweating under his fur, "I don't know his either, so it's okay."
Knuckles shook his head, "yeah but he doesn't have a 'birthday'".
"Maria always told me winter birthdays are the best, so she chose it for me, December 14th, the same day the Doctor first envisioned the ultimate life form. That's my birthday."
They all paused at this heartfelt revelation, unsure what to say next.
"But this isn't about me. Sonic, open the gifts."
They all remained quiet as Sonic started to pull apart the first package.
Amy had gotten him a new hammock, which made everyone, even Shadow, laugh ironically.
Tails gifted a scarf, a green one ("it'll match your eyes!")
Stix had gotten him a survival guide, one she very clearly read so much she memorized, he loved it nonetheless.
Knuckles was the last gift he opened, and they were all confused upon glancing at a book titled "Love, for Dummies".
Shadow knew exactly where Knuckles got it from, that bat always knew so much more than she let on.
"Thanks? Sonic said, placing the gift with the rest of them.
"I saw that and thought of you, what can I say?" Knuckles said proudly.
They finished their celebration off with a perfectly baked cake, courtesy of Amy's impressive cooking skills.
Shadow was very eager to try it, if it was half as good as her biscuits it would be the best cake he's ever tried.
He glanced at her as she lit candles, 20 of them.
Guilt. He didn't know much about the group but he did know Amy had been madly in love with Sonic, who never reciprocated. He was confident she was over him now, but he still felt bad for her. He couldn't imagine how it would feel if Sonic rejected him.
"Amy, I really like your cooking." He said kindly.
She paused, "thank you," she genuinely replied, smiling tenderly at Shadow. They now shared something in common, something only them could understand, it felt as though there was an unspoken connection formed as they smiled at eachother, even if Amy was hesitant.
Sonic blew out his candles and they all clapped. Knuckles cut the cake and handed slices around, making it a point to give Shadow his piece last, who forced a smile at the echidna.
Sonic was content. While everything was accidental, he was very pleased to see all his friends and his lover sharing space together, chattering away. He was worried to tell them, which looking back was a silly fear to have, Team Sonic were the very definition of true friends.
Besides, that same morning he and Shadow were still just fuck buddies, it would have been even worse if that's how he had to explain it, there's no way they would've been okay with having the black and red hedgehog around had he just been around for the purpose of banging Sonic.
While the others were distracted by their cake, Shadow bent over and kissed Sonics forehead, whispering "I love you" into his ear.
Sonic turned and whispered it back.
Amy saw this, always aware of her surroundings and smiled.
She was happy Sonic finally found someone he could be fragile with, even if it couldn't be her.
Tails finished his cake, laughing at a joke Knuckles made and looked to Amy, noticing where her eyes fell. He followed the gaze and saw Sonic resting his head on Shadows lap.
The fox had never seen Sonic be so physical with anyone, so he shrugged and resumed his chatter with Knuckles, okay with his best friends decision.
Stix had been staring out a window curiously, making the group silent as she asked a burning question Sonic had shared, "is no one else wondering why thems two was at Eggmans?"
Shadow furrowed.
"We agreed not to question it."
But Sonic couldn't help it.
He desperately wanted answers, but getting those answers meant deceiving Shadow.
And as Shadows hand gripped his shoulder tightly, he knew he couldn't do it.
Still, he looked out to Eggmans lair.
Something was there. Something Shadow was afraid of.
Something that perhaps he should also be afraid of.