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Two hedgehogs are riding a motorcycle fast, feeling the wind sliding through their fur and the smell of greenery far from the cityscapes. The stars drape over black, red and blue tones in their light, complimenting the fragmented quarter moon above.
The driver has a stern resting face, his eyes focused on the road ahead, save only for the occasional glance behind to ensure the other is tightly in place. The passenger hangs loosely on the seat, one hand on the driver’s waist, the other holding the chili dog he delighted himself with.
“Sonic, I swear, if you stain my bike seat I’ll end you.”
“As if I’d waste a single crumb of my dog! Don’t worry, I’m not that messy of an eater,” Sonic taunts smugly.
There’s no response for a bit. Then, Shadow sighs, eyes darting back repeatedly. “At least sit properly, you’re gonna fall like that.”
“Aww, you’re so caring! I’ll spindash back on if I do. You know I can handle it.”
“Don’t be reckless.”
The remainder of the ride is in comfortable silence. Before reaching the place they’re headed to, they park the motorcycle by the roadsides and walk the rest of the way.
Shortly enough, they arrive at their destination: Lavender fields, deeply purple under the moonlight, a couple hundred meters from a farm.
Shadow found this place once while seeking for a faraway spot to reflect. He enjoys the colors, the smell, the feeling of the plants against his fur; above all, what he liked the most was the silence and the distance from other people the plantation provided him.
He usually came alone, but it was a matter of time until he started bringing Sonic, too. It happened to most of the places he frequented. Sonic, even as socially adept as he was, wanted some “me time”, as he’d put it, every once in a while too.
They dive deeper and deeper into the field, until they’re completely surrounded by lavender.
“You think the farmer who owns these knows he’s gotten some extra visitors?” Sonic jokes, eyes darting around.
“I wouldn’t disregard the possibility. You have the discretion of a tornado. Next thing we know, we’re being charged to come here or chased with a scythe.”
He laughs at that. It’s pleasant to hear, despite how goofy it sounds. Shadow finds himself giving a light smirk.
“Why here, though? I mean, having a date in your ‘meditation’ spot kinda spoils its purpose, no?”
“I wanted to be somewhere I can ease my frustration. This place does it for me… So do you.”
“What, got trouble at G.U.N. or something?” Sonic snorts. He rubs his nose with the back of his finger to hide his embarrassment at Shadow’s last line.
Shadow is quiet for a good minute, which’s taken for silent confirmation.
“Wait, for real?”
Shadow nearly stumbles over his words, “It’s not trouble… I just need a distraction. I don’t wanna think about work for now.”
“Huuuuh? Shadow The Hedgehog not wanting to think about work? Are those ‘Ultimate Lifeform’ powers of yours diminishing and making you sick or what?”
“Shut up,” he quips with no real bite to it, “What I’m saying is I need to get my mind off things. You’re good at that.”
Sonic, in turn, is conflicted whether to feel complimented, offended or answer with a flirtatious suggestion.
He ends up going for none of those, and instead flops down on the shrubs. As a beckon, he extends his hand. Shadow takes it and lowers himself to lie by his side.
The two of them watch the gentle gleaming of the countless stars in the cloudless sky. They don’t need to do anything yet; hopefully just lying by each other’s side is enough to slow down their thoughts.
At one point, after a long moment in peace, Sonic averts his gaze. Hoping to catch Shadow making that adorable admiring expression at its unfiltered state, he instead faces Shadow’s eyes closed and body tilted.
He changes his position to mirror him, intending to (in a totally not creepy way) watch his lover sleep. As if a bad joke from the universe — turns out it is pretty annoying when you’re on the receiving end of one — the rustling only raises him awake.
And it’s most likely because of that darn face, sleepy, dazed, confused for having been arisen, that Sonic becomes entranced.
Such a raw, vulnerable sight, and, though Shadow would definitely punch him if he said out loud, so overwhelmingly adorable, he only catches himself leaning onto him when their lips are nearly brushing.
Before he could fully seal the kiss, a gloved hand pushes his face away.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Shadow, voice slurred with sleepiness, inquires.
The hedgehog says something unintelligible muffled by the paw pressed against his face. His limb retreats, yet instead of managing something out, he snickers sheepishly, catching sight of the unimpressed look directed at him.
“Sorry”, Sonic apologizes for his forwardness. He’s aware of the fact that unexpected physical contact is not greatly appreciated by his companion.
Shadow furrows a brow in an almost taunting look. His hand moves back towards him, but lands on his cheek.
The darker hedgehog reaches for a kiss as his hand travels down Sonic’s neck, brushing over the collarbone until they stop on his shoulder.
His left hand joins in, landing on the opposite side. Using the leverage, he pushes Sonic under himself to invert their position.
Thinking he’s got his way, Shadow resumes the kiss where they’d stopped. However, Sonic being Sonic, already has interpreted the action as a challenge.
And so he mimics the motion, coming above once again. Sonic smirks knowingly, while Shadow conceals his momentary surprise with a low grumbling from his throat.
Then they are sent rolling through the lavender fields, leaves and petals sticking to their quills.
From an outside perspective, it may appear that only Sonic’s laughing. Such a thing is an illusion, only due to the blaring of the noise escaping the blue hedgehog’s lips that engulfs Shadow’s softer one.
They settle down (Sonic ended up on top, so he’s the winner!) looking a mess.
His chortles refuse to cease, sounding increasingly hoarse by each puff of air. Losing the strength to sit upright on Shadow’s stomach, he doubles over to rest his head beside his, hiccuping and gasping almost euphorically.
Shadow’s own chuckles have long since toned down, but a faint amused grin never leaves his face. He turns to evaluate Sonic’s sorry condition: drooling all over the soil and hiccuping from laughing so much.
Shadow softly envelops an arm around Sonic’s shoulderblades. Feeling embarrassingly giddy, he hides the lower half of his face under his collarbone and drives his attention to the fields again.
He looks back to the trail they crossed. They left behind a corridor of flattened flowers during their little rolling competition; a rather large damage to the plantation, indeed.
Even having been forewarned, Sonic’s incapable of not causing a ruckus. Though Shadow figures he’s partially to blame, he got a bit carried away in the moment.
“Aye!” Unexpectedly, a gruff shout laced with a thick accent interrupts the two. An elderly rat mobian wearing a button up and jean overalls strides in their direction, his garden-gloved hands clutching a shotgun.
Sonic quickly rolls off of him, and both hedgehogs sit up and raise their hackles, ready to defend themselves if needed.
The farmer seems to hesitate at first, squinting as if trying to make out their silhouettes in the dark, but then aims the gun at them threateningly.
“What’re you doing there ruining my flowers, you vandals?!”
Another rustling sound comes from farther amidst the flowers. Quickly enough, a smaller rat girl comes, panting and heaving. Unlike the old man, she’s dressed in much more city-like fashion.
“Grandpa! Grandpa!” She exclaims, out of breath, then takes a deep inhale, anchoring her arms on both knees, “Please, don’t shoot whatever’s there! I could…”
When she stands and catches sight of the two hedgehogs, the words die in her throat and her jaw drops. The rat girl immediately lowers her grandad’s gun by the holster, a mortified look on her face.
She grabs her granddad by the forearm and turns them around facing backwards to the hedgehogs. Even from afar, Shadow can hear her muttering,
“Grandpa! Are you mad?! That’s Sonic The Hedgehog!”
“Who?”
“What do you mean, who?! The Blue Blur! Our hero!”
“…Ya city folks, I swear ta Gaia. He looks jus’ like some teenage troublemaker.”
Shadow side-eyes Sonic. Not that far-fetched of an assumption.
At the same time, the girl seems to have just noticed Shadow, not quite under Sonic, but still near enough to suggest that was their original positioning.
He can see the gears moving in her head in real time. Her face coated in white fur becomes a pinkish hue that intensifies by each second.
She clears her throat and ushers her grandpa to the direction they came from, “Grandpa, I’m sure Sonic and his friend must have their reasons to be here this late in the night- It could be a stealth mission against Eggman’s pawns! It might be dangerous to be out in the open! Come on, let’s get you to bed!”
“I ain’t seein’ no darn robots here!” He says flailing his arms, still with the gun on hand, what Shadow believes is terrible trigger etiquette.
They watch as the rat hastily pushes her grandfather back, emphasizing how they must go home immediately for their own safety. In no time, they shrink into two white dots disappearing in the dark landscape, their voices diminishing until the words are no longer decipherable.
As soon as they’re out of earshot, Sonic bursts out laughing.
“Bwahahaha!” He slaps his knee; Shadow cringes at the corny gesture. “Jeez, I was nearly scared for a second there! I guess we owe that poor girl though, this sure could’ve gone much worse!”
Shadow crosses his arms and grunts, distasteful. “I told you so. You’re like a hurricane, bringing mayhem wherever you go.”
He only smirks at the remark, eyes going half-lidded and hands resting on his hips. “And yet, you brought me here. With you.”
Shadow, not having a proper reply to that, chooses to watch the disarray they left on the soil. Sonic shifts his own distracted gaze to the same direction.
“…We should probably head back, though. We don’t know how long she’ll manage to hold back that hasty old man.”
“… Agreed.”
Suddenly, he perks. The gleam in his eyes could only mean he had an idea, which never meant good. “Hol’ up just a sec.”
He crouches, his back turned so it's not visible from Shadow’s viewpoint, and drags his finger across the dirt. Shadow makes no comment, curious to see what he’d do, but trying not to demonstrate that.
Sonic stands as he dusts off his hands, which he then shakes in a jazzy motion, “Ta-da!”
Spelled on the ground is the sentence “Srry 4 The Flowers”, a drawn pouty face and a broken twig beside to make a point.
He clicks his teeth. “Tch. You really are hopeless,” He says in a scrutinizing tone, though there’s that little grin on his face — A detail Sonic chose not to comment on, lest he’d want Shadow to drift back to his default grumpy face.
They head back side by side, their shoulders nearly touching. Sonic struts holding his hands behind his head, while Shadow marches in a firm stance, though far more relaxed than normal.
Both’s heads are tilted up to gaze at the stars, engraving every detail of the beautiful night sky before making it back to the motorcycle.
The Dark Rider awaits for them obediently as they arrive at the makeshift parking spot. Shadow hops on, pleading Sonic to please hold on tight and remain quiet throughout the ride. The engine roars to life, and in no time that huge plantation becomes a purple watercolor splotch.
Without turning his face away from the road despite it being entirely deserted this late in the night, Shadow asks, feeling surprisingly shy, “…Do you want to come to the apartment? Rouge’s probably out for the night.”
And he didn’t need to look Sonic in the eye to know how dorky must be the smile on his face, judging by his tone, “You know I do.”
Shadow didn’t bring up G.U.N. again for the rest of the weekend.