*Sonic's POV *
"Are you okay, bro?" Manic asked as he wrapped an arm around me. The kids were dancing with some of rheir friends as I watched them. I looked at my brother and nodded. "You're spacing out."
"Sorry. I'm just... the kids told me Shadow is seeing someone." I said and Manics ears perked up but Scourge chuckled.
"So you're finally realizing you still have feelings for Shadow?" Scourge commented and I rolled my eyes at it.
"I don't. We both moved on. Clearly." I added the last word in a whisper.
"So who is the guy?" Manic asked.
"That's the thing as well, it's a girl and I don't know who she is. The kids weren't told a name yet." I rested my face on my hands.
"So he's bi? That's new. I didn't think of Stripes that way." Scourge hummed.
"Where are the kids going?" Manic pointed out as we saw them start running towards the door.
"Shadow is probably here." I said as I tried to look through the crowd of people. "He was going to bring her apparently." I sighed again. I don't know why this was bothering me so much.
"Let's go have a look." Manic yanked my arm and started dragging me.
"Wait no. I haven't seen Shadow in months." I said not wanting to look at him again. Especially now that he was seeing someone. He moved on too fast.
Manic ignored me and kept dragging me, when we were closer I gave in not wanting for Shadow or the kids to see me act stupid.
"She's went to the restroom. She'll be right back." Shadow said as he hugged the kids with a bright smile. He was always very happy to see them. I glanced at him, could see the new scars in his body from the missions he had been going to.
"Hey, Shadow." I said calmly, greeting him. The kids looked back at me and smiled. This was the first time we had all been together in a while other than dropping off the kids.
"Hey." Shadow said as he stood up, he simply nodded at me and kept his distance.
"So where is-" I suddenly felt someone wrap their arms around me then heard a giggle.
"Mister Sonic!" I froze in place, glancing up at Shadow as he simply smirked at me with a quiet chuckle.
"C-Cream?!" I quickly turned and hugged the not so little anymore rabbit that was holding me. I laughed softly and hugged her tightly since I had not seen her in a very long time.
Shadow had reunited with Cream! Cream! He wasn't seeing anyone romantically, he was seeing Cream as a friend since Shadow always had a soft spot for her and took care of her sometimes. Chaos. How stupid was I?
"Chaos it's been so long. How are you? Look at you! You're so tall now!" I chuckled as I let go. She was smiling happily and giggled sweetly at me.
"I'm doing good. Are these your kids?" She asked as she looked at the 3 of them. "I'm so happy to finally meet you. I'm Cream the Rabbit, a good friend of both your parents." She waved at them.
"So you knew her?" Lea asked me and I nodded.
"Yes. I know her." I answered. "She was very young when everything happened and was still in school. I hadn't seen her in years though."
"My mother wanted me to focus in school for a while so I wasn't really around." Cream answered and I nodded, patting her head.
"Were you jealous?" Rouge whispered in my ear making me tense up and look at her then looked away.
"Anyways, kids, it looks like they're about to serve the food. Go sit down." I told them and they left immediately after Shadow told them the same thing.
I was about to leave as well when both Manic and Scourge shoved me towards Shadow. I gasped and glared at them as they shrugged and left.
"You two need to talk." Rouge and Blaze pushed Shadow towards me as well then they left.
I rubbed the back of my head as I looked away from Shadow. I didn't know what to even say. This was the first time we had even been together in months.
"I'm sorry." I started. "I shouldn't had assumed anything and should had just waited for more details."
"You could had just asked." Shadow crossed his arms then dragged me outside of the ballroom since the music was too loud. We went outside to the garden where no one was around and we sat down in a bench. "I would had told you. But you immediately started yelling at me. Who do you take me for? You know I'm not like that."
"I know. I'm really sorry. I don't know why I got so mad." I confessed then stayed quiet. "How... How have you been?" I asked, clearly taking him off guard since he tensed up.
"I've been fine. I am finally moving out of Rouges place this week." I nodded. "You?"
"I'm okay." I said softly. "Life is boring around here." I admitted and he nodded.
"Who would've thought you'd one day miss Eggman."
I chuckled softly at that and nodded. "He kept me entertained." I agreed then looked down. "So. ARE you seeing anyone?" I asked.
"No. But Rouge wants me to now that I'm going to have my own place." He admitted then shook his head. "I'm not the type to date around though but she's worried about me." I slowly nodded.
"I see."
"You?" Shadow asked. "What happened to Jet?"
"He proposed to me." His ear twitched at my answer then looked at my hand and saw no ring so he looked back up at me. "I rejected him before he could even ask the question." I answered and he nodded, resting back with his arms crossed.
"How come? I thought you liked him?" It felt weird being this open with Shadow but at the same time it didn't.
We've been intimate before, we've talked, we've slept together, we've fought together, I had his kid, we've protected each other. But somehow, this felt weird and at the same time, comfortable.
"I never saw him that way. He is a great friend, but that it." I confessed. "The only one I've ever loved was you." I said those words before I could even stop myself. Shadow didn't even move.
"Hm." Was all Shadow said, somehow I could tell that bothered him.
"You gave back the ring so he could propose to me, didn't you?" I asked and he nodded. "You heard me that day, didn't you?" He nodded again. "You knew I didn't mean it, right?" This time he took a but to answer but he nodded anyways. "If you knew... Then why did we break up?"
"I was making it impossible for you, hedgehog. I loved you too, I wanted you to be happy and no matter what I did, I knew I couldn't." He started saying. "If I would had stayed, then you would had never healed. I couldn't do that to you."
'Loved'
That simple word stood out the most out of everything he said.
"I'm sorry, Shadow."
"Me too." He answered as we both now looked at the sky. "You really did make me happy, Hedgehog." He stood up. "And I'll always care about you, but I can't do this." A knot formed in my throat. "I can't love you again." He walked away.
