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With Candy Canes and Silver Hedgehogs Aglow

Chapter 2: Hedgehog White As Snow Loves The Snow, How Fitting

Summary:

It’s Shadow’s last day and Silver and his friends fulfill their duty of getting Shadow to try new things.

Shadow makes another deal, but this time it’s not with Rouge.

Notes:

quick tw for blood i guess? but it’s minor and it’s resolved very quickly

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

December 21 | 08:00

The first thing Shadow hears in the morning is a certain blue hedgehog banging on his door so loud it sounds like he’s trying to knock it down.

”Shadoooow! Wake up! Everyone wants to go do stuff and Silver says you’re leaving today so we have to go now!!!”

He really knows how to be annoying, doesn't he.

It’s a good thing Shadow wasn't in any kind of deep sleep before he did that, anyway. Another restless night to add to the books.

”Fuck off, Sonic. I’m awake.”

”Hurry up then!”

I’m working on it!

Just gotta get through this day, Shadow reminds himself. And he’s hungry, so it’s probably for the better that he gets up. 


13:15

“Alright! Snowboarding next?”

Shadow groans at Sonic’s undying enthusiasm. It’s so incredibly tiring. Doesn’t he ever get tired? They’ve literally been at it for hours, finishing lunch only to move onto the next thing before the food even digests.

”No, no, no. No offense, but I’m not doing that right now. I’m going back to your place to rest.”

Tails tilts his head in question. ”Well, aren’t you leaving later? Don’t you wanna make the most of the time that’s left?”

”I’m not going to be able to make the most of the time that’s left if we don’t go back and take a break.” The fox nods in understanding.

”Okay, whatever. If anyone wants to back to my place and chill that’s fine, and the rest of us are going boarding.” Sonic turns around and begins to walk away, most of the crew following — minus Rouge and Silver. Rouge quickly makes her way to him and enters his personal space to tell him something. He doesn’t mind, though; she’s one of the only people in the world who can do that without getting socked.

”You’d better not ditch. Go rest, but if you’re not there when we get back, I will find you. And you’re not getting any money!”

Shadow sighs, unable to be angry when she’s making threats like that. He can’t help but chuckle to himself. “See you then.”

”Have fun brooding.” She hugs him, to Shadow’s dismay.

”I hate you.”

Rouge laughs at his insult of endearment, knowing there’s no actual mal intent in it, and turns away to go after the others. Now Shadow can finally find some peace and quiet. He’ll probably nap, or read, and he’ll definitely pack. Just be alone.

...or, so he thought.

He’s alone except for one other shy looking hedgehog who hasn’t left yet.

”Uh...thanks for saying all that. You saved me back there.” Silver smirks as he says this, but Shadow raises an eyebrow in question. “I mean, I was getting sort of anxious for a break, but I didn’t want to make Sonic think I didn’t want to hang out with them, especially since we never get to see each other.”

”Anxious?”

”Yeah...I get overwhelmed sometimes. I kinda needed some breathing space, but...I was too nervous to say it. So I’m glad you said something.”

”Oh.”

Shadow had never considered that anyone else felt the way he did about socialization...was feeling exhausted like this normal? No...probably not. But at least someone could relate, right?

That aside, he genuinely doesn’t know how to answer to what Silver said, after thinking it over in his head. The only people that ever really thank him for anything are Rouge and Sonic, and he usually just hums in acknowledgment. This is...different. He’s admittedly very close with them, and he barely knows Silver. His simple gratitude felt foreign to Shadow. Sonic was always more worthy of compliments from strangers. “I thought my hatred of get-togethers was due to my general disliking of conversing with others.” He pauses to look at Silver to find golden eyes looking right back at him, waiting patiently for him to finish. “I wasn’t aware that anyone else couldn’t handle it for long.”

Silver smiles. “It’s not just you. My best friend Blaze is like this too. It’s funny, because we both know that we don’t want to hang out for long when we do. It works out, I guess.”

Shadow eyes him again. He looks so lost in his memories, smiling to himself like he’s in a different world. It’s sweet, actually.

Ew. Sweet is a gross word. This is just embarrassing now.

They keep moving in silence, nearing the cabin. A part of Shadow wants to say more and continue the conversation, but the other part of him tells him not to. Yeah. It’s just stupid to keep up small talk.

...Sweet. That word can’t leave Shadow’s mind. It’s stuck in his head like a song. It doesn’t mean anything to call another guy sweet, right? All it is is a strange intrusive thought. Like, okay, from what he can tell in his short time knowing him, Silver is really friendly. And now apparently he’s relatable. So far, he’s not obnoxious like the rest of them are 99% of the time. And this whole time he’s just wanted Shadow to have fun. It’s so obvious that he loves the snow, too. Earlier it started to flurry while they were walking around downtown, and Silver admired the sight with twinkling eyes. And then when they were waiting for their food he laid down in the snow with not a care in the world, leaving a Silver-shaped indentation in the snow after he got up. That was kind of cute.

Cute now? Man, the cold must really be getting to Shadow. Thankfully, they’ve arrived at Sonic’s door. Shadow fishes for the keys that Sonic threw him before he left. He’s sure he’s never opened a door faster. Just like that, he disappears to the bathroom without a word.

Only a few more hours, and then you can leave. Have to get through the next few hours, that’s all.


14:00

Shadow walks to the living area to see what’s on TV. Silver seemed to have been one step ahead of him, sitting on the couch to the left of the TV and sipping some kind of drink.

”I made hot chocolate, if you want some.”

”Mmh, not now. I’m still full from lunch.”

Shadow takes a seat on the couch facing the TV, as the last thing he wants to do is invade Silver’s space. Although, he’s still not sure why he cares about that so much. Why is he getting so self conscious? This is awful. He’s usually so confident...what the hell is going on? All Shadow knows at this point is how much he can’t wait to leave.

This is precisely why he refuses to get close to anybody — it’s far too tiring. Constantly worrying about how they will react to you, worrying about how they feel...it’s too much. And unnecessary. You don’t need people holding you back to get along in life!

Really, what’s a thing like him doing here, anyway? He can’t ignore that he was created to be a weapon, and that everyone treats him as such. Weapons aren’t supposed to have friends. He’s not meant for this stuff.

”Shadow?”

The voice almost makes him jump; he nearly forgot that Silver is here, too. He looks up to the face that the voice belongs to only to be further questioned.

”Did something happen?”

”I’m sorry?”

”Well, I didn’t know if you were okay, you looked kinda sad and I was curious I guess. Are you okay?”

Shit...was it that obvious? Shadow thought Silver wasn’t good at reading this stuff...

”I’m perfectly fine.” No way in hell I’m telling him the truth.

“Oh, good! I didn’t mean to offend you or...anything.” Silver waits a few seconds with no response, only a Shadow who looks conflicted and very deep in thought, and then keeps talking in a desperate attempt to break the silence. “So...are you still leaving today?”

Shadow’s immediate answer seems obvious, but he genuinely considers the question for a second. I can’t stay, can I? I don’t want to. I mean, I think I don’t want to? I don’t want to let this stupid trip waste any more of my time. I did some silly little things with Sonic and his friends and now I can go away and forget about this whole thing.

...So why does he not want to tell Silver this? What, is it not true?

I mean, maybe it is. It has only been about 24 hours. Would I even be able to take more of this? I’m not so sure. I want to go home, but god I really don’t. So what? I go home, and then what? Just think about how lonely I am? How pathetic my situation is?

...”Lonely”? I’m not lonely. I don’t need anyone.

But I don’t want to go home. In fact, I can’t go home. Not yet. I can make up some bullshit and I can stay here. Yes, that sounds good. I can still have my own privacy whenever I want...but it won’t be forced.

I won’t be forced to be alone.

Silver, completely unaware of Shadow’s dilemma with the only giveaway being his expression which is once again distant, figures that he’s just been ignored. It hurts, a little, but he tries his best to understand Shadow. All he’s heard from anyone else is that he’s been through a lot, and he is refused any more information. But Silver knows at least that Shadow isn’t the unfeeling, cold-hearted antagonist that everyone seems to think he is. And then he speaks, fully disproving Silver’s assumption.

“I don’t know. I don’t know if I can.”

Silver raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean? Do you have something to do? If I were you, I’d stay for Christmas. I know it’s a few days away but it’s so much fun, especially when we’re in such a wintery place like this. I promise you’ll like it. And we don’t have to do as many things as we did today because we’ll have more time to do them!”

”You promise?” Shadow asks, amused. “You’re quite sure about this, aren’t you? What’s so great about it?” He’s not completely sure why he’s asking. He finds it fun to humor Silver, what can he say? He’s so excitable and cheery, and that gets annoying after a while, but it’s entertaining in moderation.

”Oh, there’s so many great things! Snow has endless possibilities, I swear.” Silver suddenly gasps. “Have you ever had a snowball fight?”

”I don’t believe I have.”

”Oh my god, they’re so much fun.”

All of a sudden, a mischievous grin creeps onto Silver’s face.

“We should make a deal.”

“Yeah? What type of a deal?”

“Let’s have a snowball fight. If I win, you have to stay for another day.”

“And what do you propose happens when I win?”

If you win, which you won’t because I will, you get to leave right away.”

“And you get to give me $20.”

Shadow slaps this onto the end of the deal knowing it’s a very small sum of money, and not entirely sure why he added it at all...perhaps to test Silver? How exactly will he react to this?

“Okay, deal. But I don’t have to worry about giving you anything because you’re going to lose.”

Damn, for someone who’s seemingly so friendly, Silver loves his trash talking.

Okay, if that’s how you’re gonna play it...

“You’d better run.”


Silver races behind a tree, heart pounding. He needs more ammo.

He knows this is just for fun, but...is it really? Shadow is incredibly intense, not known to go easy in fights. He’s pretty sure he’s gonna go all out, so he has to match the energy. He quickly picks up as much snow as he can and flies up to take cover in a tree. Technically using powers isn’t cheating, as they never disclosed any rules.

Shadow is smart enough not to fall into any traps. He moves slowly so as to hear any movements. He’s not going to let himself lose a silly snowball fight, are you kidding?

He spots Silver up high, seeing as a perfect opportunity. Maybe he can knock him out of the tree.

He winds up to throw as quietly as he can, which he is sure he does well. No one could’ve heard that from over a foot away.

He waits for the snowball to break, and probably hear a few colorful words exclaimed by Silver — but nothing of the sort happens, in reality. Instead, Shadow’s ego is immediately crushed as Silver no joke catches the thing without even looking. Facing the other way the entire time.

Oh, now it is on.

Some impressive dodges and close calls later, Shadow finally hits Silver, and not without a hell of a lot of force.

Oops, maybe too much force.

Silver is thrown back but stays on his feet. He holds his waist where the snowball hit for a second as if he’s in pain.

”Good?” Shadow flashes a thumbs up to him in question. Silver promptly removes his hands and nods. He still looks a bit shaky, but Shadow figures it’s nothing he hasn’t handled before.

Little did he know, that hit hurt like hell. It nearly knocked the wind out of the boy. But the last thing Silver is gonna do is let this cause his downfall.

The fight only intensifies from its already intense state from here, with spin dashes, teleporting, and mind control thrown into the mix. At one point, Shadow goes into a spin dash like he’s done many times tonight; although, this time is different because he hears a crunch. But after a quick self examination, he assures that none of his bones are broken. He looks around frantically for anything he could’ve ran into...

...oh no.

A tree. Not only that, it’s now broken in half, and it’s right in front of a sharp decline which is surely going to cause an avalanche if the tree falls down it.

Before he’s even able to react beyond a yelp, the tree becomes enveloped in a blue glow. He turns around to see Silver visibly using all of the concentration he can possibly muster to keep it upright. He’s able to move it to a semi-open area and turn it on its side before releasing it, letting out a sigh of exhaustion and relief once the crisis has been averted.

”Fuck...that was close.”

Silver smiles at this, although it looks tired. Shadow’s eyes drift to where he hit him earlier, eyes widening in horror when he sees blood. There’s not much of it but it’s there all the same. He walks over to Silver as a pang of what feels like nausea hits him...what the hell is this? He’s seen so many worse sights, and he barely even knows Silver, so why is his body reacting like this?

He doesn’t know, but impulse takes over and his mouth moves without his permission.

”Did I hurt you?”

Silver covers the area with his hands, trying not to draw attention to it. He’s strong, he can handle a little pain and blood!

“I’m fine! It was just part of the game-“

He’s cut off by a gloved hand other than his own lightly grazing his injury. The area, right above his hip, internally bursts into flames, and his heart rate spikes.

Wow, he didn’t think the injury was that bad!

“Does it hurt when I do this?”

Shadow applies light pressure to the area with his fingers, and the whimper that leaves Silver’s mouth answers for him. Shadow cringes, but a solution that’s all too obvious suddenly pops into his head. 

“Give me a second...don’t worry.”

He keeps his hand where it was and closes his eyes. Silver is mystified at how a person notorious for being aloof, intense, and at times even labeled as violent, can treat him so gently. Before he can say a word, he feels an incredibly strange and completely foreign sensation coming from the hand on his injury, which turns to pain and then swiftly turns to nothing. He inhales shakily.

“What the hell did you just do?”

“Are you still hurt?”

“Uh...” Silver feels the area himself with no pain, even with the same amount of pressure applied as the amount Shadow applied a minute ago. “...no? How did you...”

“I can heal. It’s part of my chaos powers.” Shadow looks down, a shy look in his eyes. It’s very funny; for someone who’s always so cocky and such a show off, he seems very uncomfortable with the attention that may come with admitting his healing powers in this moment.

“That’s...amazing. Thanks.” Silver smiles in astonishment. “So, how come you weren’t bleeding? I got you good a number of times.”

“Must’ve not gotten me good enough.”

Just like that, the playful, daring spark in Shadow’s eyes is back. Silver scoffs.

“Sounds like a challenge.”

Shadow’s heart stops for a second, shocks of adrenaline shooting from his chest out. For some reason that’s the single most exciting thing he’s ever heard someone say.

Sadly, something stops him in his tracks suddenly before it can escalate back into a fight. It looks as though Sonic and crew have returned, and he doesn’t want to be caught having a childish snowball fight in front of them.

“They're back already? Wait...how long were we out here for?”

Shadow doesn’t have a watch. “I’m not sure. I wasn’t under the impression that we were out here for long.” He looks to the cabin, where everyone is heading inside. Rouge sends a wave their way.

God, knowing Rouge, she’s probably going to assume that I like Silver just because I’m standing with him. I’ve got to get out of this situation.

“We should go inside. The sun is going to set soon, and it’s going to get colder.”

Silver smirks at him. “Is that a surrender?”

“No. It’s simply a ceasefire.”

“Really? If I were just any guy, I would think you’re surrendering. Just saying.”

Shadow is not having this slander right now. “Shut up. I’m not surrendering because I’m telling you I’m not surrendering. Let’s go.” He waves Silver towards the house as he walks away, but Silver is paralyzed. Shadow seemed kind of seriously angry when he said that, and Silver thought they were just kidding around. Now he just feels bad.

He starts to walk back too, disappointed, and upon arriving Shadow opens the door. Before he walks inside, he turns around.

“Why do you look sad?”

Apparently the tables have turned. Now Silver is the one trying to hide his emotions.

”It’s stupid.”

”Does it involve me?”

Silver reddens. “Um...yeah.”

”Then tell me.”

”It’s not a big deal, I just thought we were having fun but you seemed actually mad at the end there and I don’t want you to be mad at me.”

Shadow quirks an eyebrow. “I’m not mad.” Why would Silver care if he’s mad at him anyway? He finds that odd, but guesses it really doesn’t matter. Maybe Silver is just sensitive or something. And Shadow isn’t about to act like he isn’t either — he’s just better at pretending he’s not. A wave of something — empathy? — washes over him. “I...apologize if I made it seem like I was. I wasn’t meaning to offend.”

Silver looks incredibly relieved at this. “Okay, good.” He laughs awkwardly, feeling ridiculous about his misreading of the situation. “I just wanted to make sure. I don’t like being on bad terms with people.”

Wow, there’s something Shadow can’t relate to; at least in his mind. Most of the time he truly doesn’t give a shit if someone doesn’t like him or is angry about something he did or said. 

“Don’t worry. If I was mad at you, you would know. Trust me.” Shadow smirks at him now.

That is...very unsettling

Silver makes a mental note to stay on Shadow’s good side. The latter is about to walk in, but Silver stops him.

”Wait, so did I win?”

”No. It’s not over, remember? What we just did was a draw, if anything.”

”So what happens to you?”

”Hm?”

”Are you still gonna leave tonight?”

Shadow holds back a laugh.

”We have to conclude the battle, don’t we?”

Silver beams once he understands the implications of this statement. The other holds the door open for him and they finally go inside.

Shadow goes directly to his room to avoid any questioning from Rouge. His mission is accomplished: he doesn’t have to leave for another day and he came up with a good excuse for it.

Looking over at the clock, he is taken back by it displaying 6:02 PM. Holy shit...does that mean they were outside for three and a half hours? It certainly didn’t feel like that long. He missed dinner. 

Maybe he’ll go heat up something in the microwave and bring it back to his room. He’s tired, physically and mentally, but he doesn’t even mind it today. It’s a calming type of tired, and not an exhaustion type.

He hopes that this trend will continue to tomorrow, his actual final day here. Might as well make the best of it, like Tails said.

Notes:

i feel like silver showing signs of RSD is not out of character