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Is there anything as beautiful as rain? Up on the ark they didn't have weather. It was just a clinical constant. It'll be a long time before he gets tired of watching the weather, seeing the seasons change, the world move around him. The first time he experienced rain was when he was serving under Dr. Robotnik. Most of his excitement has worn off long ago, but he's still giddy.
"I'm going for a run," he says to the empty room.
The rain isn't cold tonight but the streets are pretty empty nonetheless. It's perfect. His running is more of a light jog so he can still feel the rain. Charmy will call him disgusting when he comes home completely drenched later. At least he doesn't die because of it.
He lets his feet carry him where they want. It is surprisingly easy to shut down his thoughts like that. Not having to think about anything or anyone like this is almost cleansing, in a way. Almost like cryostasis.
A blur of vibrant blue shakes him out of his self-induced trance. His head snaps almost automatically to Sonic and he slows to a halt. Under the small roof of a convenience store stands his rival, glaring at the clouds. Apparently he hasn't noticed Shadow yet. For a small moment he considers simply continuing his run, but it's so rare to see Sonic stand still. He's intrigued. So he closes the short distance between them.
"Everything alright?" he says.
Sonic flinches visibly. Maybe this wasn't the right conversation opener. As Sonic realises that Shadow talked to him, he slowly relaxes, putting a hand on his heart.
"Man, you scared me! Didn't expect to see you here."
He laughs. Shadow doesn't.
"That doesn't answer my question."
Sonic leans against the store's window.
"Everything's a-okay, my dude."
Shadow nods. And shakes the water out of his fur. Without the rain constantly prattling down on him the added weight is annoying. Sonic makes disgusted noises and shrinks into himself.
"I forgot you dislike water," Shadow says, "Is that why you're standing here?"
Sonic scratches his head. Looks away. Looks back again.
"Maybe?"
Shadow snorts.
"With your running speed the rain would not hit you. I don't see the problem."
"There's still the chance that it could hit me!" Sonic says.
There isn't.
"According to the weather forecast it will rain for most of the night. Do you plan to stand here until morning?"
He doesn't know why he's keeping up the conversation with Sonic. But it's nice.
Sonic's ears droop and he chuckles.
"Well I suppose not. But what gives? You're usually not that talkative."
"I'm enjoying our talk," he says.
Sonic's ears perk up and he grins.
"Oh? Now that's new!"
He doesn't like the new undertone in Sonic's voice.
"It seems you're feeling better. Let us go, then."
"Huh? Go where?"
"Home. You will get sick. Now hurry."
Without giving Sonic time to respond, Shadow takes off. A few seconds later Sonic's next to him and back to complaining.
"If you really were worried about me, you could have just teleported us home."
He glances to Sonic.
"I don't want to disrupt energy if I don't have to."
He's pretty sure Sonic mumbles something in reply.
Soon after they arrive at Sonic's house. It is even farther out of town than the Chaotix Agency. Sonic immediately shakes the water out of his fur once they're under the roof and away from the rain. Shadow shakes the water out of his fur right after and Sonic makes a show of complaining about it. Not that they really got wet in the first place.
"Well, thanks for taking me home," he says.
Shadow nods. And turns to go.
"Want to come inside?" Sonic asks, surprisingly.
"It's late," Shadow answers.
"Exactly! You live basically on the other side of the town and it's pitch black outside. Stay the night."
"I doubt I would run into any trouble."
"I doubted many things in my life, too. Like being able to casually talk like this, but here we are! C'mon, I insist."
Sonic ushers him inside before he can formulate any kind of excuse.
"Tails is asleep, so be quiet."
Sonic turns on the lights for a moment, observing the living room and picking out a path upstairs. Then he turns them off again.
"Just follow me."
Shadow doesn't have night vision, but thankfully Sonic has a powerful enough chaos energy that he can use it as guidance. They climb the stairs and enter Sonic's room.
"Ta-da! My room. And there's my bed. If you need the bathroom, first door on the left. Now good night."
Sonic throws himself facedown on one side of the bed.
"Shouldn't you at least properly dry yourself?" Shadow asks.
Sonic waves dismissively with one hand.
"Too tired. I'll deal with that tomorrow."
His hand drops. Shadow sighs but heads to the bathroom. When he comes back Sonic's breath has levelled out. He's asleep. Shadow drops an oversized towel on him and lies down on the other side of the bed. He doesn't really need sleep, but at some point while watching Sonic he falls asleep too.
Shadow is a deep sleeper. It seems so surprise people when they find out, but it's not very strange. His sleep is comparable to when Dr. Robotnik restarts his main computer. It shuts down and completely cools off, and only when the Doctor needs it again the heat and life returns. When Shadow falls asleep his body takes the opportunity to shut down and cool off, which takes a while. He likes the comparison. His normal day-to-day life is a computer's stand-by mode. When he fights or thinks excessively about a problem the computer is active. And when he sleeps, it's shut down.
Still, it's surprising that he entered this deep sleep. Usually he only allows himself to nap if at all because of his sleep conditions. Only if he is absolutely sure he is safe does it happen.
Sonic isn't in his room when he wakes up. Judging by the chaos energy he isn't nearby at all. A glance at the clock on the bedside table. It was past 3pm already, no wonder he was alone. He stretches and shakes the remaining sleep from his bones. He should get going.
Tails is in the living room when he comes downstairs. He's seated on the couch, playing some kind of video game. For a moment he considers leaving without making his presence known, but the stairs decide against him and creak. Tails's head whips around and he stares right at him. And stares without moving a muscle for a few moments longer.
"I am sorry for intruding," Shadow says in hope of snapping the fox out of his shock.
"A-ah it's just you..."
Shadow moves to leave.
"Why are you here?"
He glances back.
"Sonic invited me to stay the night."
And with that, he's gone.
People stare too much when he's out in the daylight. By now they're used to seeing Sonic and his friends around the city, but not when it comes to Shadow. He doesn't like the attention. So he hurries home as usual.
To his surprise the house isn't empty when he arrives. At this time the Chaotix are usually out working in one way or another. This time though, they are all home. And not even pretending to work. The moment he enters, Vector jumps up from his seat, Espio kicks the locker door open, and Charmy throws his magazine away to crowd around him.
"Where were you?" Espio asks.
"We were worried sick about you!" Vector says.
"That's gotta be your longest run yet," Charmy chimes in.
"I am fine," he says, a bit overwhelmed.
Vector crosses his arms.
"That answer isn't gonna cut it, young man," he says, ignoring that Shadow's older than him. "Tell us what happened."
"I met Sonic on my run and walked him home. He invited me to stay the night."
Suddenly three jaws hit the ground. It is silent, then, for a few seconds. Then they collectively start screaming.
"You did WHAT?"
"GAY I KNEW IT."
"WHY."
"I did not intend to fall asleep," he says in an attempt to placate them. "Now excuse me, I need to think."
He uses the tumult to escape to his room.