Sonadow Story Chapter 1

   December 20th, rafts of snow outline the hotel. As the holidays were perfect occasions to celebrate with friends (or in Sonic's mind an excuse to see a certain someone again) Christmas was the perfect opportunity to set up a little get-together with his comrades.
   Dinner was set, candles were lit and Sonic was waiting by the hotel entry, leaning against the door post casually tapping his foot impatiently and glimpsing at the clock with every passing minute, feeling concerned about where his friends were.
   Soon enough, the first to arrival was Tails. His white and red striped shoes didn't even touch the snow soaked ground as he went soaring through the air with his tail propellers, diving into Sonic, causing them to bundle into an untidy heap on the floor.
   After Sonic regained his balance he grinned at Tails, as he chuckled childishly.
   "That was meant to be a hug…" The blue hedgehog let out a little laugh as well.
   "I know, I know. Great to see you again mate!"
    They shared a proper hug and indulged into a conversation of recent events. They hadn't seen each other in long time, due to Sonic's need for adventure and Tails' newly opened Gadget Shop located in Station Square.
   Next to arrive was Knuckles. The red echidna stepped out from the taxi and handed the driver the money very stylishly. He lifted out three large and heavy suitcases from the boot, but of course to the muscled Knuckles, they felt like feathers in a purse. With a nod to the driver to show he's done, he pats the boot lid and accidentally leaves a large indentation in the yellow painted metal.
   "Want some help?" Sonic offers with a welcoming smile.  
   "Yeah sure," Knuckles throws a suitcase in Sonic's direction. The echidna follows the suitcase inside and pats Tails on the head while Sonic is on the floor trying to pull the colossal suitcase off his toe, but to no success.
    "Want some help?" Knuckles mimics Sonic's words and actions from his earlier offer. Sonic laughs and watches in amazement as Knuckles flips the suitcase onto his arm with the others.
    Between the next few minutes in the lobby, Cream and Amy arrived. Amy throws herself on Sonic,
   "Oh Sonic! I missed you so much, did you miss me?" Her big blue eyes fixed on Sonic.
    He scratches his head awkwardly looking over at Tails, who shrugs and smiles, swishing his orange fox-tails in the air.
   "What am I saying? Oh course you did!" Booms Amy throwing her arms around her uncomfortable Sonic. She lets him go, and he grants her a wish as he smiles a partly-genuine smile at her, immediately making the pink hedgehog blush and giggle in a very girly tone.
   "Dinnertime!" Announces Knuckles and they walk, or skip in Amy's case, into the candle lit dining room. They take their seats; Tails on one side of Sonic, and Amy quickly intrudes and takes her place on his other side, shuffling her chair as close as possible to his.
   The dining room door is opened by a waiter as Rouge makes her entry. She struts in, fashionably late, taking at look at each one of them and giving a little wave to the innocent rabbit as Cream waves cheerfully at her. She clears her throat to say something; Knuckles knowing whatever she says will compliment herself, however to his pleasure, three very noisy and impolite characters bound in pushing Rouge into the wall to her dismay.
   "Are we late!?" Laughs Charmy the bee with a huge smile and a faint buzzing sound.
   "Where’s the food!?" Demands Vector the Crocodile, his huge green self taking up a lot of space, forcing the squashed bat to be plunged into the corner.
   "Greetings everyone," Says the calm deep voice of Espio the Chameleon, Sonic and Knuckles nodding in appreciation, Tails chuckling and beaming a welcoming smile at the late arrivals.

--

   Within half an hour, they are sat comfortably and deep in friendly banter, swapping opinions on topics such as weather, constructions in Station Square and of course, the events everyone has been part of, that have taken up the time to visit each other.
   As the wines are handed to one another and laughter fills the dimly lit air, no one even notices the shady figure slickly enter the room and stand in a heroic yet stubborn stance against the decorated walls.
   Rouge crosses her legs, slowly taking a sip of wine. Her aqua blue eyes wander and notice the fierce fire-red eyes loom in the darkness in the corner.
   "Why Shadow the Hedgehog, who would have imagined that you would make an appearance at a gathering of companions," Her lustrous lip-glossed lips curve into a wicked smile as everyone turns their attention to him, something he is not fond of.
   He manoeuvres into the candle light and silently shifts into the vacant seat beside Rouge, still not acknowledging her query. The room gradually builds up into conversation once more, with the exception of the blue hero.
   Sonic looks from the champagne in his gleaming glass, over to the Ultimate Life form, sat like King, holding a glass of red wine, the colour emphasising those crimson eyes of his. As his lips contact the glass and sip the alcohol, Sonic reluctantly becomes mesmerised by Shadow's perfect actions.
   That set of glinting ruby eyes flicker up from the red liquid to Sonic's own emerald eyes. His immediate reaction is to look away and pretend to be immersed in conversation with Tails.
    However, Shadow was no fool, and slowly tilted his head to the direction of speaking coming from Vector, just knowing Sonic was again looking at him, but even the reason why he was, wasn't clear to the dark hedgehog.
   Cream was the first to part with the group and retreat to her hotel room for the night, closely followed by Tails, staying in the same room as her due to lack of space in the hotel. More and more turned in for the night leaving just Knuckles, who was finishing off the after dinner mints, Sonic, gazing out the window at the snow, and Shadow, circling a gloved finger round the wine glass. He finally broke the icy silence.
   "Which room is mine?" He mumbles standing up.
   "You're with Sonic, in room no.3," Smiles Knuckles remembering how they put their names in a hat to draw who shares their room with Shadow, however no one realised that Sonic had written his own name on every slip of paper, so he would inevitably end up with his shadowy rival.
   Sonic nods with a great yawn and pushes himself up on his feet.
   "I'll go with you, it's getting late."
   "Mmm, it's past your bedtime," Shadow mutters with an evil grin heading towards the dining room door. Sonic folds his ears down, taken aback by the insult that was thrown at him.
   Soon enough they are both stood in the elevator. Sonic can see Shadow in the mirror-like walls, and no matter how hard he tried; he can't seem to pull his gaze away. The doors open and Shadow heads out first, bumping shoulders with Sonic quite brutally, but he doesn't take notice, unlike the poor blue hedgehog who is shocked at how mean he can be, when he hasn't even faltered him.
   They enter the room and Shadow stops to observe the decor and grunt at the fact that there's only one double bed, concluding that he'll have to share with Sonic. The idea doesn't appeal to him, not just because it's Sonic he's with, because he has never slept alongside anyone else, and frankly he doesn’t plan to.
   Shadow opens the frost-drenched windows and pulls off his gloves, kicks off his shoes and socks, and lies back on the double bed, his hands tucked behind his head in a very content manor.
   Sonic in turn does the same, scrambling under the covers. He shivers as the frosty breeze floods the entire room.
   "Um...Shadow, would you close that window? It’s pretty cold in here." Asks Sonic trying not to seem bossy as he does want to sleep without becoming bruised.
   "It's not cold, go to sleep," is his reply. Sonic sighs in failure and pulls an extra blanket on top of him. He shuts his eyes and tries to sleep, brushing away the fact that it’s like the Artic and that he is lying next to the Ultimate Life Form. Shadow falls to sleep without problem, leaving Sonic awake to listen to his rhythmic breathing.
   The blue hedgehog slowly revolves to look at the Shadow, lying there seeming so peaceful, yet so angry at everything with no reason to be. Sonic just lies there, resting, and watches him. Those feelings he's had for this hedgehog since the day they met just floating in his mind, and can't help considering what would Shadow do if he plainly admitted his feelings, he sighs as the answer is receive a powerful beating and then isolation from him.
   Sonic watches his chest expand with every intake of air, and his eyes drift up to Shadow's mouth which forms cloudy mist as he breathes out due to the glacial temperatures of the barren hotel room.
  Even though Shadow had claimed to be satisfied with the chilly atmosphere, he shivers, turning on his side, away from Sonic. His arms wrapping around his stomach to form more heat.
   Sonic doesn't even consider the reaction from Shadow as he shuffles up to him and eases his arm around the shadowy hedgehog's waist and settle on his stomach, caressing his inky black fur. Shadow awakens and obviously realises what's going on as he abruptly whacks Sonic's hand away, however the blue hero didn't care anymore and was focused on wrapping himself round Shadow's hot body, so once again he slid his hand onto Shadow's waist.
  "SONIC!" Shadow spun around thrusting out a hand to shove the defenceless hedgehog away. However, due to Sonic's lightening speed reactions, he shot his shoulder back onto the mattress so an extremely agitated Shadow fell on top of him.
   "What the fuck do you think you’re doing!?" Exclaims Shadow, his tempered face centimetres from Sonic's. Sweat beads formed on Sonic's forehead, but his mind no longer controlled his actions. 'Now or never' the words pulse in his mind over and over again. That childlike crush on Shadow was now penetrating the boundaries of something else, maybe love, he did not know, but was determined to find out. The moments of time slowed for Sonic as he takes in every detail of Shadow's face, his illuminated eyes, heavy panting, and fanged teeth.
   Finally his emotions over-powered his sanity, forcing him to act in such desperate measures to achieve Shadow's affection. Sonic's head shot up towards Shadow's and he presses his lips against his close companions. His emerald eyes closed to make effort to enjoy what was going on, and not to concentrate on the actions he'll receive from Shadow once the moment’s passed.
   On the other end of the kiss, Shadow is overwhelmed by strange feelings, he doesn't know what these feelings are, but they are surging through his pounding body. His lips accept it and form into a proper kiss, the amazed Shadow not even sure what his lips were doing, as if they were controlled by themselves.
   As Sonic ended the enchanting moment, his head flops back onto the pillow. Shadow stays in his position, frozen with emotions so powerful he believes it's abnormal. His tensed arms straight out below him, holding up his weight keeping him on top of Sonic's body. Their gaze meets in an atmosphere of awkwardness.
   The blue hedgehog lips open to pour out the overdue apology for indulging in a kiss with his shady rival. But, to his bewilderment, he was interrupted by the unforeseen return of Shadow's moist lips connecting with his own.