~Măśķěđ~

~18~

Shadow stayed still and silent, merely staring at the hedgehog now reluctantly staring back. Shadow knew he wanted a reaction, and yet he couldn't bring himself to move - or breathe for that matter. The two stared at one another unblinkingly. Shadow could feel the faint beat of Sonic's heart, rapid and violent against his ribcage. Shadow's had practically frozen. He felt his face burn as blood rushed up to his face, the sheer heat almost being unbearable.

"Sorry?" Sonic reluctantly mumbled, as unsure as Shadow. Shadow stared back, as frozen as a shell-shock victim. The ebony hedgehog mustered up as much courage as he could to speak however the courage quickly faded and a meer hum escaped Shadow's lips. He watched as Sonic's ears folded over. "I misread the room-" He spluttered before letting out a melancholy laugh.

"No-" Shadow mumbled, keeping his ruby eyes fixed on the floor instead of the golden hedgehog. "I mean... it was abrupt but-" He cut himself off. He was less than sure of how to respond to the situation. How would he even put 'I really liked it but I didn't like it and it was quite abrupt but  want to date you but you're never truely you on a day-to-day basis so i dont know you well' in a short sentence he could say with ease. 

"Take it slow?" Sonic asked, cocking his head. He was clearly trying to understand Shadow's though process. Shadow almost wanted to wish him good luck; even he didn't know what went on within his mind. The smaller hedgehog nodded, ultimately giving up on trying to use his words. Sonic nodded "Take all the time you need Shads, I can wait." Sonic smiled. Shadow almost loathed how caring the hedgehog was. Shadow just nodded, fully giving up. Why did emotions have to be so complicated? Shadow could live his life without having to analyse each and every slight change in mood he had.

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Sonic jumped down the stairs, closely followed by Shadow. Upon remembering the excuse Shadow had formed to go upstairs in the first place, the two panicked and messily used their abilities to quickly get the gold off of Sonic. Mephiles must have purposely made the dreaded goo even harder to take off.

"What was all of the banging?" Silver asked. The hedgehog was cleaning up the kitchen. Sonic couldn't help but feel like he only ever saw Silver in the kitchen for the most part. Shadow shrugged. "It wasn't us." He lied, looking away and flicking his ears. Sonic would probably have to keep in mind how bad of a liar the ebony hedgehog was. "I thought you two were fighting." Silver mumbled as he leant into one of the cupboards. "No I tripped." Sonic laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hands. It was technically the truth. Both hedgehogs has fallen and ran into things in their hurry to get all of Mephiles' golden torture device off of Sonic.

"Then be careful-" Silver passively warned. "Since you're down here can you go and tend to the crops for me? Its quite late so no one should notice." He added. Sonic nodded "Alright." He chirped as he approached the door. "I should go back to my quarters in the castle." Shadow spoke up. "You know where I am incase of anything." He reminded the two, although it seemed more aimed at Sonic than Silver. "See ya Shads." Sonic smiled. "Yeah- bye!" Silver called.