Sonadow: Coincidence

Chapter 13: Bound to falling

Shadow sat at his desk. The teacher was writing on the white board, something about the history of Green Hills. He couldn't help himself from stealing multiple glances of his counterpart.

September was over and October had finally begun. The incidence from last week was engraved into Shadow's mind, and ever since then, he couldn't help but look at Sonic. He saw him in a different way, though he wasn't sure what it was. He always felt like his heart went faster than it should or that his face felt hotter than usual.

'It's probably what it feels like to have friends.', The ebony hedgehog concluded as he returned to copying what the teacher wrote on the board.

The following day, Silver sent Shadow and Sonic to the ARK-Laboratory on earth. Apparently, they had some files Mr Robotnik wanted them to collect and safely return to the Robo-Corp building.
Shadow parked his motorcycle outside the entrance of the building. Sonic got off and stretched while Shadow took off his helmet and adjusted his coat jacket.
They walked inside the building and got greeted by a tall woman.

She was blonde, pale and had dazzling blue eyes. She hugged Shadow as if he were a plush toy. Sonic held a laugh within himself.
"Shadow! Long time no see! What brings you here?" She asked. Her voice was sweet and caring. Was she Shadow's mom or something? Sonic didn't know.

"Yes, we are here for some files father wished for us to retrieve."
"'We'?" The lady scientist turned to look at Sonic, who she didn't seem to notice beforehand. She smiled and waved at Sonic, offering him a hand to shake which he accepted.
"Why hello! My name is Dr Maria Robotnik." 'Robotnik? Damn Shadow has a lot of family...', Sonic thought.
"Hello! I'm Sonic Hedgehog. Nice to meet you, Ms Robotnik."
"Call me Maria. It's nice to meet you as well."

Maria called one of her assignments and told them to take Sonic to the file room where the files her cousin wanted were. Once Sonic was out the room, Maria turned to her nephew.
"Say Shadow: I had no idea you had friends. What's that about?" She said smiling like always. Shadow let out a huff and crossed his arms.
"It had to do with a large amount of coincidences, nothing more."
"Hmm, I see. It looks to me you really like him." Shadow blushed a bit. Was that what he felt?

"What?"
"You turned pink! So you do like him."
"He's my friend, of course I like him." Shadow said, not quite understanding what Maria was getting at. She laughed and ruffled his quills a bit.
"Not that kind of like silly. Do you feel strange around him?" Shadow thought for a moment.
"Well, yeah..."
"Then that's love. You like him in the lovers way!" She smiled even more and hugged him. 'So that's why I feel this way... When should I tell him then?', Shadow thought when Maria parted from the hug and Sonic returned.

"I've got the files, let's get going."
"Yeah."