Time Heals All Things

Chapter Nine: It was Just A Mistake

"Shadow, you ok?" Sonic asked carefully as his younger counterpart merely seemed to stare at him, almost as if he had been trying to work out if what he thought had happened had actually happened. His mind seemed to snap back into reality the second Sonic had uttered his full name.

Immediately Shadow scrambled back from the blue hedgehog with wide panic-stricken eyes. This was not the reaction Sonic had expected, he thought that Shadow was going to yell out in fury and beat him to a bloody pulp. Instead the black and red hedgehog looked timid and anxious, actually looking like some lost confused boy instead of the hardened solider that his life had mounded him into. But then he was unpractised in socialising so it was obvious that emotional intimacy was a foreign concept. Sure, he had hugged others when they sought it but he had never openly expressed any desire to be hugged or touched himself, often looking as if such an idea was the last thing he wanted.

"What did you do?" Shadow immediately asked, his gaze hardening once more, now glaring accusingly at Sonic since he had been the one to initiate such a blatant intrusion on his personal space. His heart was still pounding in his chest, there was a strange warm tingling that throbbed in his lips where the older-looking blue hedgehog's had been pressed moments before. He could feel it in his fingertips too along with this strange magnetic pull that seemed to be trying to urge him to move back towards Sonic. He resisted it, pushing it far back into his mind in the same manner he did with most of his impulses and urges. He was well trained in being able to resist them.

"What do you mean?" Sonic responded one brow knitted as the other tweaked slightly upwards in slight confusion.

"You started it, you came at me with your lips, then, then......" Shadow tailed off looking immediately distressed at his inability to recall anything reasonable that could explain why he had allowed Sonic to assault his mouth in such a grossly inappropriate manner. His white-gloved fingers entwined around the lower points of his quills and he pulled on them looking more stressed as his mind circled back around to try and find logic again.

"Shadow, just relax. We had a moment.." Sonic replied soothingly, recognising instantly just how innocent his younger black and red counterpart was and trying to reassure him.

"A moment.." Shadow repeated, slowly letting go of his quills allowing them to bounce back into their regular shape. His red eyes shone curiously as if some understanding registered in his mind and it quickly committed this new knowledge to memory. In this moment Sonic felt himself get a brief understanding of how Shadow must have been in his early life, he must have had a great thirst for knowledge and understanding, perhaps even be curious about the A.R.K around him, able to commit things instantly to memory and apply them straight away. However this window into the curious young Shadow seemed to instantly be shut inside the more well-known cold front.

"A moment I did not ask for!" The black hedgehog snapped as his frown burrowed deeper, his fists clenching as his quills bristled defensively.

"I know, I know, I did apologise.. It's just, what you said, well, it meant a lot to me.." Sonic continued, trying to think of the right way to explain to Shadow how he felt. Unfortunately the blue hedgehog had never really been that good at expressing himself through words and when Shadow cocked his head a little while throwing him a disbelieving expression it showed.

"So you merit that as grounds to violate me with your lips?!" Shadow's voice rose slightly in outrage, barely able to comprehend how liking what was said made it better.

"Shadow, please... Don't get upset. Can't we just finish the movie and forget it?" Sonic sounded strained with a hint of pleading, not wanting to fall out with Shadow twice in one day, especially after such an intense tender connection that he was blowing right out of proportion. The blue hedgehog just wanted them to get on and be happy in each other's company.