The rays of the sun seemed to caress his features with no offense intended- his eyes feeling a bit hefty when he opened them, drawing himself from the grass- and. Stretching his hands upwards, his green emeralds flickered open about ten times as fast once he felt the air against his fingertips. 

“Where are--myyyyyyy----” 

He dropped them at his sides, eyes darting downwards towards the mess below, all over his stomach, legs, a---

And his gloves- thrown halphazardly along the ground in two opposing directions- like a drunkard of his former self had had a real strong mind in THAT one. 

“A----h…………….”

Buffering-

And like a panoramic view of the scene, he took himself in. 

“Oh … Nooooooooooooo…..” 

He dragged the vowel exponentially longer- not half as abrupt as the sex had been, a wince in his features cutting the vowel short, his stupid stupid life choices laying right next to him bundled up.  The events of just one cat nap ago caused both of his ears to raise in increments of revelation- Blue’s eyes darting to take in Sonic’s peaceful expression as he slept against the grass curled up along his own side...protectively? Thus giving absolute confirmation that no- that had NOT been a fever dream and YES, --- he HAD done something questionable...with himself… and not in the eyes of god kind of way- the actual… physical self kind of way. 

“No…….nonono….” He slowly reached outwards to the right, blades of grass digging through his fingertips as he gripped one of his gloves without even thinking which one- went to shove it on and- 

“N….------ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww” 

Who ever actually did this? Who honestly thought this was a good idea? …...HE DID- APPARENTLY HE DID. He didn’t know a single person who had the opportunity in the first place, much less an individual who he could actually express what he had DONE- to conserve what principles he had left, because as much of a successful bullshitter he could be-he couldn’t fool himself… though he could apparently now DO OTHER THINGS which he delightfully stumbled right into…

Officially- he had NO idea...what he was doing...well he did… actually he had a fairly good idea… 

A groan was stifled into his own stomach as he withdrew his hand from his lglove sporting a wet light coating of-- youdon’twannaknow. 

“Blec----h!” 

Time to stop talking and start doing some walking…. 

Because as he stood off the ground and the remnants of the … downright strange events drifted through his mind and hopefully far below the Atlantic while it was at it- he immediately pressed his hands between his legs to try to --- for lack of better circumstances in any language to describe it- “catch” the rest of Sonic’s… “enthusiasm”. 

A great huff left him as he slumped forward- 

“No” 

He bit out sarcasm. 

He was a king of decisions, the crowning moment of his life was today, at this very moment. 

TODAY WAS HAPPENING, to him, IN EVERY WAY PLAUSIBLE. 

No room for self-deprecation- he needed something a little bit more-a shower. To wash off the---ideal … circumstances...he’d … very much put HIMSELF and ...HIMSELF in. 

A few moments later- after the dust settled, a pair of twin emeralds opened, and a small grin followed after Blue-a enthusiastic

“Yes!!” 

Left in his wake. 

And as the saying goes- at least SOMEONE was happy.

--

“It’s alright Sonic- you can salvage this- You can make it be----” 

The door opened and inside sat the one and only, Ultimate Lifeform himself- Shadow the hedgehog. 

For better or worse. 

--

If there was a few things you could know about Sonic, all of those few things you had to know by getting pretty close, and for the most part- Sonic wasn’t exactly the easiest to keep up with… and with as hard as he was to keep up with- he was infinitely harder to get close to. 

For the two people who did- there was a couple really odd things happening that were immediately recognizable. 

1: No gloves on. 

Something that was only done in a few rare circumstances, he was either high off fumes, stuck inside a vent in the midst of a fire at one of Robotnik’s targeted “camp-of-the-week” challenges and using it to breath in less fumes- or he was on his back, legs spread, tangled up in pleasure and moaning like a proper boy-toy underneath Shadow. 

2: Smelt like a vat of spices. As-you-fucking-do. 

Something that Sonic decided to explain- then it occured to him there was another problem with this entire mess, namely being that the only other person in his life who had ever made him smell like bargain bin potpurri was sitting right in front of him and would KNOW obviously IT WASN’T HIS DOING. 

3: Looked like a something you couldn’t unhear, or unsee- 

Something that Sonic HADN’T decided to do in deciding not to explain was to freeze- and make a inexplicable inhale, pulling up to a straight stance in the doorway- a few thousand years passing before a blade of grass hit the ground from the top of his--- wherever… it came from. 

The pause between the two was so far off track of their normal interaction that it was like something, right then and there, had died between them. 

Probably whatever trust Sonic had ever earned in his life with the other. 

A short cough left him-forced from lungs that had been holding stale air in- 

The air around Shadow seemed deeper and darker than usual as the ebony hog rose with a particularly concerning grace. 

“I’ve been waiting for you.” 

Shadow was one again, one of the only people Sonic knew who could offer an olive branch that would wither before it was even extended. 

“Shadow-” 

Sonic earnestly began- 

“You smell-” 

“It’s not-whoa-NOWAIT!” 

In the midst of Sonic attempting to plead to be given a chance to explain- Shadow had taken a sleek position he recognized- as one to charge- bursting over floorboards and grabbing a hold of slender wrists within a split second- 

Sonic had barely moved in the time it took for Shadow to get right in his personal space- inspecting him- 

“Where’s your gloves-? Hm?” 

The sound broke him back into his senses again- Shadow hadn’t struck him, instead holding his arms with a firm glare delivered directly into pupils that had shrunken to pinpricks. 

Sonic was rushed with shock and was overwhelmed- imagine a reality in which they were together, one that was not currently anything like this one- and this made sense- but as things stood---- 

Sonic furrowed his brows swiftly as Shadow invaded more of his personal space- throwing his hands away abruptly-because the stance he saw things as- Shadow didn’t have the right to go grabbing him in any universe no matter the situation. 

“I lost them.” 

Shadow’s crimson hues seemed to glow with a fire that could make lava jealous- slowly folding his arms after getting the physical memo that he couldn’t lord over him the way he had previously planned- not without a fight- so instead- gears were switched over- and a different plan was put in motion-

“I see you’ve been busy” 

He strained out, terse but to the point. 

“Yea I have-” Sonic slipped past him, his aura alone enough to give him nausea- Shadow following him with his eyes at first- but then bodily down the hallway- 

“*Doing*?”

Oh yeah, he knew, being cute about it too..

“None of your business~~” 

He sung out in irritation that was thinly veiled as a musical- groaning as he opened the door to the shower- slamming it closed directly in Shadow’s face as quickly as he could. 

That escalated fast- and with Shadow being Shadow, Sonic knew he honestly wouldn’t be able to hold against him for too long- it wasn’t that they weren’t a match for each other, they really really were- it was just that Sonic was out of sorts, and didn’t want to fight in the first place- beyond all of that- he really HAD left one of his gloves and- 

“Sonic-I’ve got your missing glove” 

Of all the voices- OF ALL THE VOICES TO HEAR AT THAT CURRENT MOMENT- to hear a snappier, peppier version of his own- was NOT on on the menu of things he could stomach as time goes on. 

“What the-” 

The deep voice slid out like molasses-

Sonic stood in the hallway- turning to see standing dead center in the middle of the living room was Sonic- himself. 

“Fuck-is going-” 

“BLUE! Heh- I kept it for ya, figured ya might want it back.” 

The dumbfounded expression on Blue’s face was mirrored by the dumbfounded expression on Shadow’s own. A short laugh left Sonic, as he tossed the glove over- and it just- so happened that Blue jerked out of his daydream fast enough to catch it out of the air-at the same time he realized that Shadow was advancing forward, and had to snatch his tail with his free hand just after. 

It wasn’t like they were close enough that that would be ok- they weren’t- which was exactly why the older male simply halted. Everything seemed hunky dory for that split second- 

“Who---” 

Black ears were switching backwards to pin against his skull as Blue slowly stepped closer, rubbing fingetips gently over a very aggravated tail, dark fur bristling. 

“Shadow? This is Sonic-” 

“Sonic-Sonic the Hedgehog- heh.” 

Shadow’s ears were wildly twitching with the sound of the familiar voice drilling him at the same time Blue was actually introducing him. The two didn’t exactly mix- but they didn’t exactly sound too far apart either in a weird way that was really head-tripping him up. 

“You’re Sonic.” 

The tone was factual and non-debatable, the kind of tone that you don’t mess around with. Shadow took a side step actually away from Blue, who let his tail go as he did so, the appendage twitching with aggravation and slowly poofing as Shadow locked eyes with the friendly smiling guest who had a huge presence in the living room. 

“No he’s Blue- I’M Sonic.” 

Shadow was currently putting something together, the smell because of the proximity- the glove that was missing appearing in a particular person’s hands-, tossing it over the room- 

“His name isn’t BLUE.” 

The pounding steps taken to cut the space in less than half was so fast  Blue almost fell forward to get in the way- 

“NONO NO --- NO---onononoooo” 

He began to wave his arms in Shadow’s face, stopping Shadow just in time to feel Sonic’s entire form drape over his back- freezing him upas he heard a smooth- “What’s wrong? Big Boy? Didn’t get your afternoon nap?” 

The door was already open- so it didn’t get taken off its hinges as Shadow burst through it on the way out- dragging Sonic beneath his shoes with a kick that slung him directly across the length of the field outside- small favors. 

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? SHADOW WHAT DID YOU DO?!” 

“YOU THINK I CAN’T-” 

“STOP!” 

“SMELL HIM-” 

“NO CHAOS SPEARS!” 

“ON  YOU?!?!!” 

“WHAT?!?!” 

Oh god- oh god oh -

Blue’s side flared up in burning pain- Shadow had used something to hit him, not that he could tell what- withdrawing only to see Shadow charging him- and- 

The contact was so hefty, that it shook his entire chest upwards, rocking from his mouth in the form of an exhale before weight settled down over him- that scent permeating the air-something that Blue couldn’t at first recognize- seeing as both Sonic and Shadow smelt the same to him he was only able to figure any of it out when he opened his eyes and saw- 

“SONIC?”

Somehow, chaos only knew, Sonic had gotten between him and Shadow, and was now crouched over him with that trademark grin- pushing off the ground, he hiked up his foot turning to face the crater that Shadow was coming out of. 

“You wanna give it a go? FAKER?” 

Blue shook his head rapidly, furrowing his brows hard- standing was hard, like gravity was against him, and by the time he had- Sonic had already exploded forward in a trail of blue- straight towards Shadow- the two of them tangling upwards mid air. 

Blue stood there for a second- mouth ajar, watching the spins land and bounce off of each other with sharp jarring cracking noises, like whips of electric waves of energy striking each other hard. 

Not another word need be said- they could fight it out amongst themselves. Blue just wasn't feeling it anymore, as long as they were outside of the house, not breaking stuff- and whatever, then it was fine with him. The entire thing was too complicated at this point for him to want to continue sticking his nose into it anyways. 

Blue groaned- Blue turned to walk back into the house- where that shower was still waiting-

"What is going on?" 

Tails voice raised from the workshop- having missed most of the interactions since he was in a completely different building- 

"Hell- literally my personal hell" 

Blue grumble-slumped into the house, closing the door behind him. 

Shower-shower shower shower, nothing else mattered by that shower. 

Maybe if he ignored them both they would both collectively go away.