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Dating Shadow was... interesting.
He never said anything romantic on purpose, but he said a lot of stuff indirectly. He never told Sonic he missed him, but he would complain that he couldn’t focus at work because he was thinking about him. He wouldn’t call Sonic attractive, but when Sonic asked him why he was staring, he’d say he enjoyed looking at Sonic. He didn’t tell Sonic he loved him, but he spent all his free time with Sonic and kissed him every opportunity he got.
Basically, Shadow had no filter.
Somehow the public didn’t know about their relationship. They weren’t hiding it and were regularly seen together, but any pictures of them holding hands or kissing or anything were assumed to be fake. Apparently, them being friends, let alone romantic partners, was too unbelievable for the public to accept. While Sonic wanted the whole world to know they belonged together, he was also grateful that the press wasn’t constantly following him around to ask about his relationship.
In any case, Sonic couldn’t deny he was very happy.
“I need you to come with me to this GUN event,” Shadow said, one millisecond after teleporting into Sonic’s living room after work.
Sonic jolted, causing his character to jump into a pit of lava. “Dude, you made me die!”
Shadow glanced at the TV. “I apologize.” He didn’t sound sincere, but Sonic supposed there was no use griping about it.
Sonic paused his game. “What did you say about GUN? Are we raiding a base?” Since he and Shadow started training together, they’d worked together on basically every big operation, taking down twice the number of robots in half the time. It was honestly a lot of fun, but most of Shadow’s stuff was more small scale, or reconnaissance, which Sonic couldn’t join. (He had come to terms with the fact that “Sonic” and “stealthy” didn’t belong in the same sentence unless “is not” was between the words.)
Shadow shook his head and handed Sonic a sheet of paper. It was a notice about some fancy awards ceremony that GUN was hosting. “It’s a stupid PR event. They want us to look good so they don’t lose their funding.”
“You actually want to go?” Sonic asked, knowing they couldn’t force him.
“Someone else will cover my paperwork for the next month if I go,” Shadow explained.
Sonic nodded. “Am I even allowed to come? I’m not part of GUN.”
Shadow sat down beside him and pointed to the bottom of the page. “It says we can bring our partners.”
“Oh, yeah.” Sonic hadn’t bothered to read everything. “Alright, sounds fun.”
“Fun?” Shadow asked, incredulous.
“Yeah, why not?” Sonic shrugged. “We can just hang out and eat the stupid fancy appetizers they’ll probably have.”
“Part of the deal is that I have to interact with people. They want me to... schmooze,” he said as if the word was disgusting.
“Well, I’m an expert schmoozer.” Sonic grinned. “We’ll be together the whole time so I can do the talking. You just have to stand there and look pretty.”
Shadow was quiet for a moment, so Sonic was unsure if his compliment landed, but then Shadow leaned forward and kissed him tenderly. “Okay,” Shadow said, pulling back slightly.
“Okay,” Sonic parroted, breathless, before leaning back in.
The game was abandoned until Tails came back from his workshop and sprayed them with a water gun, something he bought to use when he and Shadow were ‘being gross’, which was embarrassingly often.
***
Sonic took back what he said about the evening being fun when it was revealed he’d have to wear a suit. The way Shadow’s eyes dilated when he saw Sonic dressed up almost made up for it. Almost.
They arrived at the venue as late as they could while technically still being on time. Shadow wanted to spend as little time at the event as possible and Sonic wanted to spend as little time in his suit as possible. GUN had rented something at the fanciest hotel in town. Sonic would think splurging on an event like this wouldn't indicate that they spend their funds wisely, but he wasn’t the one dishing out the money.
They walked up to the man checking the guest-list. He immediately recognized both of them. “Shadow the Hedgehog,” he said, tapping something on his tablet. “You’re at table 17.” He then stared disapprovingly at Sonic. “You’re not on the guest-list.”
GUN’s opinion on him changed day by day. You’d think with how well he and Shadow worked together, they would treat him more favourably, but apparently not. “You sure? The name’s John Smith. Sonic the Hedgehog? Never heard of him.”
The man did not look amused.
“He’s my partner," Shadow growled.
The man gave Shadow a weird look but eventually tapped something on his tablet and let them pass.
The room was huge. There was a stage at one end of the room, with rows of round tables in front of it. In front of them, many people were milling about, sipping drinks and chatting. Long tables were lined up against the wall, holding a plethora of food, which waiters also carried around on trays. Sonic tugged Shadow to the food. He took a small bite of everything at the table. A lot of the dishes were clearly made of some rare fancy ingredient that tasted weird. Luckily, they had some normal food like deviled eggs and meat skewers that Sonic piled his plate up with.
He scanned the room as he ate. He recognized a bunch of the people there. There were people from GUN and the government (obviously), the press (unsurprisingly), but there were also several celebrities.
“The event is technically open to the public, but the ticket price is exorbitant.” Shadow explained, rolling his eyes. “The people here are either rich enough to afford it or important enough that GUN wants them here.”
When Sonic polished off his third plate, he decided he was full for the time being. After looking around for one second for a place to put it down, a server materialized beside him to take it away.
“If you’re done, we should at least pretend to socialize,” Shadow said, displeased.
“Is Rouge here? Maybe we can talk to her.”
“She’s being paid extra to entertain some important attendees.” Shadow nodded to where Rouge was chatting up a group of stuffy looking government officials, definitely not somewhere they wanted to be. “I see some of my colleagues over there. They should be less unpleasant to talk to.”
“Wow, high praise come from you,” Sonic snickered.
When they integrated themselves into the group, Sonic found a few familiar faces. He was used to seeing them in full combat gear rather than in suits and makeup, so he didn’t recognize them until they got close. There was also a handful that he didn’t recognize, maybe GUN agents from a different department. The members of the group seemed surprised to see them join.
“Sonic!” said a squirrel that Sonic knew he had worked with but couldn’t remember the name of. “I’m surprised you got an invite.”
“I didn’t, actually,” Sonic said.
The squirrel raised a brow inquisitively.
“He’s my partner,” Shadow explained.
The group members shared a look amongst themselves, before they burst out laughing.
“What?” Shadow growled.
“Oh, Shadow,” giggled a petite sparrow standing beside him. “This is not what they meant by partner.”
Shadow glared, expression uncertain. “What do you-”
He was cut off when a GUN agent in full uniform tapped him on the shoulder. He whispered something to Shadow, who then grumbled something under his breath. “I’ll be right back,” he said to Sonic, before being led off by the agent.
Now all attention was on Sonic, which he typically didn’t mind, but something about their gaze felt off.
“So...” The rabbit beside him said. “Other than Shadow, do you have any other partners?” She asked it like it was a joke.
“What? No!” He wasn’t a cheater!
“Oh, is that so?” She grasped Sonic’s arm and pulled it to her chest. “Are you looking for one?”
Oh. Now Sonic understood was what going on. He really hated the ambiguity of the word partner.
“Haha,” Sonic said, rather than laughed. Not wanting to cause a scene, he tried to gently remove his arm from the woman’s grasp, but her grip tightened. “I already have Shadow.”
She giggled, like Sonic was making a joke. “Don’t you want something more than just Shadow.”
Sonic was about to yank his arm away, and say something like ‘Actually, Shadow is just perfect for me!’ but Shadow beat him to it, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from the group so fast the only thing that came out of Sonic's mouth was “Ack!”
Despite the rather violent removal, Sonic sighed in relief as he was dragged to a corner of the room. “Thanks, Shadow, I-”
Shadow dropped his arm and turned to him, arms crossed. “You were flirting with her.
Sonic frowned at the accusation. “Um, no, she was flirting with me!” Sonic defended, annoyed that Shadow was questioning his loyalty. “I was right about to pry her off before you came and got me!”
Shadow’s glare found the group, which he stalked towards. “She dares flirt with you when she knows we’re-”
Sonic held an arm in front of Shadow, halting him. “She doesn’t.” Shadow raised a brow, so Sonic continued. “They think you misunderstood what ‘partner’ meant, and that you brought me by accident.”
Shadow froze as he processed the words. He crossed his arms again and grumbled to the floor “That’s what they thought too...”
“Huh?” Sonic dropped his arm and leaned in closer.
Shadow nodded to a group of GUN higher-ups. “I was scolded for 'misunderstanding' the banquet rules.” He said with air quotes. “They explained that partner referred to romantic partner, and when I said I already understood, they yelled at me for purposefully violating the rules and said our deal was no longer valid.”
Sonic frowned. Their relationship being under the radar hadn’t been an issue until then, but Sonic was now tempted to go up to a reporter and introduce Shadow as his boyfriend just so this kind of thing wouldn’t happen again. But more importantly, “do you wanna leave then?”
Shadow considered it. He scanned the room, his gaze stopping on the stage. “No. I will most likely win an award.”
“Oh,” Sonic said, surprised. “You actually care about that?”
“No,” Shadow said, before tugging Sonic to their table. It was close to the stage, but slightly off to the right.
“What do they have against me being here, anyways?” Sonic asked once he sat down.
“Your presence takes attention away from GUN agents. This banquet is supposed to showcase the need for GUN’s existence. You do a lot of their work for free, which doesn’t help them look good.”
“Uh, sure, but that would still be true even if I wasn’t here.”
Shadow shrugged. “That’s just what they told me. I don’t find their logic sound either.”
Sonic hummed, drumming his fingers on the table. “What do you think you’ll get an award for?”
Shadow shrugged. “Whatever they want to show off the most. These awards are less for rewarding employees and more for GUN's image.”
Sonic was glad he didn’t have to deal with workplace politics. “Do you get a trophy, or money, or something?”
“A medal, and they usually give me a gift card for a coffee shop.”
“That’s it? Aren’t they trying to show off?”
“They never announce those prizes; they just include it in the envelope they give us to make it seem like we’re getting a cheque. They only announce the big prizes, like cruise tickets, and those always go to higher ups.” Shadow rolled his eyes.
Sonic shuddered at the idea of a cruise. “You never know, maybe they’ll send us on a romantic retreat!”
“Doubtful.” Shadow leaned back and crossed his arms. “I only hope the gift card isn’t for a chain this year.”
“Can you actually tell the difference? It’s just dried bean juice.”
“Of course, I can tell the difference.” Shadow slammed his fist in between them and leaned in, face serious. “The way they prepare coffee is completely different, not to mention the type of beans they use.”
Sonic wasn’t convinced, which made Shadow go into a 20-minute rant about how to properly make coffee, and the whole production of coffee from growth to final bean. Sonic was impressed by Shadow’s extensive knowledge but still made him promise to do a blind taste test between different coffee shops to prove himself.
An announcement was made, urging the crowd to take their seats so the awards could commence. The rest of the guests at their table filled in, none that Sonic recognized but Shadow nodded in greeting so they were probably fellow GUN personnel. They also raised a brow at Sonic but didn’t make any comments. They chatted quietly amongst themselves until a burst of grating feedback from the microphone got everyone’s attention.
“Welcome everyone, to GUN’s annual awards ceremony!” A relatively handsome looking weasel announced.
“He works for GUN?” Sonic whispered to Shadow.
“Yes, but on the side of public relations. He doesn’t do any fighting.” Shadow replied.
Sonic nodded. That guy seemed much too bubbly to be a fighter. Though Rouge also didn’t adopt the typical serious attitude GUN agents seemed to exhibit. Speaking of which... “Think Rouge will get anything?”
Shadow smirked in response. “Most definitely.”
The crowded clapped politely as a GUN agent went up for their award. Sonic waited for them to accept the award and step down before turning back to Shadow. “What’s got you looking so devious? Do they'll give her plastic gems or something?”
“No. She'd quit on the spot if they mocked her like that.” Shadow paused as clapping filled the room once again. “We have a bet about what award she’ll get.”
“Why?
“Award for stealthiest bat doesn’t sound impressive enough so they have to come up with something else.”
“What do you think it will be?”
“I think they’ll try to spin Rouge’s undercover work into an award. Most adversaries deceived or something along those lines.”
Sonic clapped distractedly as another award was announced. “What does Rouge think?”
Before Shadow could answer, the host announced, “Rouge the Bat!”
Sonic clapped enthusiastically as she made her way to the stage, adding a whistle for good measure. “Crap, I completely wasn’t listening. What did she win?”
Shadow looked annoyed. “Most successful executions of the zeta maneuver.”
“What’s that?”
“Nothing. They made it up.” Shadow frowned. “Which is what Rouge bet on.”
Rouge posed with the host, wearing her medal and holding her envelope. She was grinning in their direction. Sonic would bet she was more pleased about winning the bet than whatever prize they gave her.
The next few awards had equally cryptic titles. Sonic asked Shadow about each of them. A few of them had actual significance but others were also made up.
“The award for defeating the most hostile robots goes to...” The host paused for effect. “Shadow the Hedgehog!”
Sonic perked up immediately, clapping with all his strength. His clapping was interrupted as Shadow pulled him up. Next thing he knew, they were both standing on the stage.
The applause was quickly replaced with confused chatter as the crowd recognized Sonic.
Sonic squinted against the bright lights, trying to catch Shadow’s eye, but Shadow was facing the announcer. He snatched the medal out of the announcer’s hand and dragged an extra microphone towards himself. “I accept this award,” Shadow said, his voice echoing through the microphone. “On behalf of myself and my partner, without whom I would not have been nearly as effective.”
It was nice that Shadow wanted to share the award with him, assuming he didn’t only bring Sonic up with him to annoy GUN, but he felt a little awkward standing there. Unsure of what else to do, he shot finger guns and a grin towards the crowd. The crowd also seemed unsure, judging by the hesitant claps.
The announcer looked surprised at Shadow’s words, but his expression quickly turned sly. “Congratulations, Shadow. The committee was so impressed by your performance that we decide to award you one of our grand prizes.” The host opened the envelope and pulled out two tickets. “You have been awarded tickets for a romantic retreat. For you and your partner,” he added snidely.
Sonic didn’t have a chance to regret not making a bet with Shadow before he became aware of the stifled laughter scattered through the crowd. He fought to keep his expression level. Having privacy was nice and all, but people continuously treating the idea of his and Shadow's relationship like a joke was really starting to piss him off.
Shadow calmly took the tickets and placed them in his quills. The announcer looked vaguely disappointed, probably having been expecting Shadow to get angry about the insinuation.
“I’m sure my partner and I will make good use of them.” Shadow pulled Sonic towards him once again, so he braced himself to be teleported again.
Instead, Shadow kissed him.
Sonic reciprocated before he made the conscious decision to do so. Maybe he would regret his reaction later, but at that moment he reveled in the shocked gasp of the announcer, and the warm feeling of Shadow’s lips against his.
Shadow pulled back, and Sonic tried to school his features into anything but smitten. It didn’t help having Shadow’s smoldering gaze boring into him.
“Now everyone knows you’re mine,” Shadow growled. The words sparked heat in Sonic’s core. But why had the words sounded so... loud? The heat in his stomach quickly traveled to his face with the realization that Shadow was still miked.
The murmurs filling the crowd got even louder and Sonic was suddenly very eager to get off the stage. He grabbed Shadow’s arm and tried to pull him away. Shadow allowed himself to be tugged off, but not before he removed Sonic’s hand from his arm so he could instead grasp it in his own.
The crowd still hadn’t settled down as they moved through the tables. Especially Rouge, who Sonic could hear cackling from across the room. He was glad their table was so close to the stage.
When they sat down, the others at their table were looking at them with the same shocked expression that everyone else in the room seemed to be sporting. They quickly averted their gazes.
Finally, the announcer cleared his throat and announced the next award. The murmuring ceased, but people continued to shoot glances their way.
Sonic wasn’t ashamed but he was still a little embarrassed. While he valued his privacy, it was kind of nice that their relationship was out in the open. He wanted everyone to know that he and Shadow were together.
Or... as Shadow had put it, Sonic was his.
Sonic’s fur bristled as he remembered his words. He couldn’t deny that Shadow’s possessive side was attractive, but he wasn’t sure he liked that everyone else knew about it too! Not there was anything he could do about it now.
Glancing at Shadow, he seemed to be undergoing none of the same internal turmoil as Sonic. In fact, he looked incredibly pleased with himself.
...
So yeah. Shadow showed his affection in other ways.