Characters x Reader Oneshots

Shadow the Hedgehog X GNReader: Before You

A/N: With what's going on in the world I just wanted to quickly write something to help make people feel less stressed out and scared, even if that feeling lasts for just a second. Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I just wrote this very quickly.

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Shadow the hedgehog was a lonely soul, he was the type of guy to sit by a window and stare for hours at the world evolving around him. He was awfully quiet, barely speaking a full sentence; and that was with people he knew.

He liked his alone time, he could spend days, even weeks, just sat alone and thinking to himself. He'd be so caught up in his own mind he wouldn't notice the time of day change.

He was no different on missions either, always being the lone wolf and thinking he could solve everything on his own.

"I don't need help," was something he remembered muttering to Rouge one rainy night. A mission had gone sideways, he knew he could have done this alone, yet he still let rookies join him anyway. Now they were hurt, the intel was lost, and the bad guy got away and Shadow could do nothing.

On bad days he'd be violent and brash, purposefully walking into people, glaring at anyone who even looked in his general direction. He'd give unsuspecting interns snide comments and snatch mission reports like he was falling into a dark obysess.

No one ever wanted to be around him on his bad days, but there weren't as regularly occurring as they once were. The moment you appeared in his life, his luck seemed to change. Rouge was the first to note this, being the only other person close to Shadow to see a difference.

First it was the occassional smile, sure he smiled sometimes; like when a kid fell over. But this time it was different, this time he'd laugh at a joke or smile when greeting someone new. He also stopped his life-endangering missions. He wasn't such a lone wolf any more, now he'd wait for backup, now he stayed with his team.

It was like he was a completely different hedgehog.

His bad days were few and far between, sometimes he still had them. It was mostly trumatic or scarring days like the Arks anniversary. You had spent the entire day with Shadow, just allowing him to talk about his past and just existing together in the moment.

Rouge truly and firmly believes you've made the eboney hedgehog's life better and he'd be ruined if you ever left. And although you brought Shadow out of his shell, you also coincidentally made him ten times more protective of you and anyone he considered an ally.

But you didn't mind it though, you were naturally a very timid person. So whenever you were too nervous to speak up, Shadow would voice your opinions, he'd make you feel seen. You not only helped him, but he helped you in return.

You brought out a different side to Shadow that you don't even think he knew he had. He didn't think he was a very jealous person but after attending Sonic's birthday party only a day ago, he found he was very wrong with that assumption.

No matter, you calmed him down immediately and the night remained fun.

Shadow the hedgehog was a lonely soul but not anymore. He spends his days staring out of a window watching the world evolve around him with you by his side. He talks animatedly about the things that interest him to anyone that wanted to listen. But most of all, he loved you unconditionally and would protect you no matter what life threw at you both.