Time Heals All Things

Chapter Eighteen: The First Date

Dedicated to everybody who has commented, voted, favourited and added this to their reading lists. It really does mean a lot to me, i just forget to say it sometimes..
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Shadow had managed to surprise Sonic with his idea for their first date. At first the middle-aged hedgehog was taken aback when his younger black counterpart had asked him to choose his meal from the take out menu of an authentic Japanese place the two of them had yet to try. Sonic had been somewhat miffed about the fact that Shadow did not want to sit in a nice private restaurant booth with romantic candlelight, sweet music and with other couples who probably would not be interested in the two of them anyway. The forty year old hedgehog did relent to his black and red boyfriend's whims, not wishing to argue before their date had really started. He would bite and wait to see Shadow's full idea before he passed judgement on it.

When they had left the home Shadow was wearing a secretive smile and the middle-aged hedgehog could swear he had on eyeliner too. He could not remember the edges of Shadow's eyes being so dark but he couldn't argue that it made those bright fiery red eyes stood out more. He had no idea that Shadow was into male make-up but he liked it. It was minimal, understated and not immediately obvious, if he had not been in such close quarters with his boyfriend he would never have noticed. It made him realise that before living with Shadow he really hadn't known him at all and it made him feel privileged to be this close to him now.

"So where are we heading to if we aren't eating out like normal couples?" Sonic asked raising his brows curiously leaning on his crutches as Shadow returned out of the take out side of the authentic Japanese place with a brown bag.

"You'll see in a second." Shadow grinned lightly pulling out his green Chaos Emerald and gripped Sonic's wrist and they both vanished into the golden light.

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When the golden light of Chaos Control cleared Sonic blinked his green eyes to see a neatly laid out red and white checkered blanket which had lit outdoor candles in clear jars, a chilled bottle of sparkling wine and a pair of crystal flutes. It was then that the forty year old hedgehog noticed that they were now on a cliff-edge that overlooked Empire City, the streetlights were twinkling off the dark city silhouette and deep twilight sky. For a long moment the middle-aged blue hedgehog was speechless as he took in the setting for their first date.

"Shad, how did you find this place?" He finally asked as he ripped his eyes away from the amazing view of the city and allowed his boyfriend to help him settle down on the checkered blanket.

"It's just somewhere I like to come and think sometimes.." Shadow shrugged as he sat next to Sonic on the blanket.

"I can see why, this view is amazing. When did you set all this out?" The blue hedgehog added gesturing to everything around them on the blanket.

"While you were getting ready. Though it's funny, you did seem to take quite some time for the little effort you made." Shadow said simply as he picked up the chilled bottle of white wine. His red eyes turned towards the older-looking cobalt hedgehog next to him. "But then you can scrub up nice, I've seen so already." He added as he tipped one crystal glass flute a little and poured the sparkling wine and passed it to the blue hedgehog.

"Thanks.." Sonic accepted the glass then tilted his head slightly with a playful edge to his smile. "Was that a compliment, Shad?"

"Hmh, it was, wasn't it?" The black hedgehog with red stripes murmured back with a light smile as he tilted his crystal glass and poured wine into it. He then set the bottle back in the ice bucket and turned to face the older-looking blue hedgehog with faint facial lines and boyish glint in those brilliant green eyes. "What have you done to me?" Shadow asked Sonic in a soft brooding tone, he was beginning to see himself change the longer he spent with him.