Innocence (Sonadow)

Chapter 10

Sonic was thrown for a very confusing loop when Shadow suddenly barged into the room, tears streaming down his face as he ran straight to the blue hedgehog, falling against him and crying into his chest.

Instincts kicking in, Sonic quickly wrapped his arms protectively around the shivering black body.

"Shadow, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"I'm scared." The young-minded hedgehog whimpered.

"What are you scared of?" Sonic asked gently, trying to understand as he gently brushed Shadow's quills.

"Amy and Knuckles are here, but they didn't come alone."

"What do you mean?"

"They told people about last night, and now they're all here, wanting to see me, but there's too many people. I'm afraid." Shadow sniffed. "I wouldn't mind if it was one or two, maybe even three, but from what I could count, there are 10 strangers downstairs."

"Ah, I see." Sonic nodded, understanding now that the rest of his friends must be here. That probably would be pretty terrifying if that many strangers were waiting for him. "It's alright Shadow, I think I know who you are talking about, and I assure you, there's nothing to be afraid of. They're my friends too. And any friend of mine is a friend of theirs. That's all they want, Shads. They want to be your friend."

"But, there's so many." Shadow trembled.

Sonic hummed in thought. How was he going to work around this?

"Alright, I have an idea." He finally smiled. "How about you sit right here, and I'll bring them in to meet you, one by one, until you've met everybody? That way, you won't be overwhelmed."

"I guess that could work." Shadow nodded.

"Great." Sonic gently guided Shadow to the bed and gently sat him down. He then grabbed the ebony's gloves off of the bedside table and handed to him, the same for his shoes, which he had placed under the bed last night. "Then you go ahead and get ready, I'll go downstairs and try to figure out who to bring up first."

"Can you bring Amy and Knuckles up first?" Shadow sheepishly asked as he pulled his gloves on, then struggled to pull his shoes on. "Knuckles said they wanted to check up on me. I kinda wanna see them again too."

"Of course, Shadow." Sonic smiled as he gently bent down and helped him put his shoes on. "Alright, you're all dressed and ready. I'll go downstairs and tell the others what's going on, then I'll bring Amy and Knuckles up. Should I get Tails too?"

"Yeah, that's ok." Shadow nodded.

"Alright." Sonic pressed his forehead against Shadow's gently. "I'll be right back. Sit tight."

With that, Sonic left the room, leaving Shadow sitting on his plastic bed, feeling very hot and flustered after Sonic's caring touch.

…

Sonic walked down the stairs and into the living room, where he was immediately greeted by all of his friends. Oh yeah, Shadow would surely have a HUGE panic attack if he was to walk into this.

"Hey Sonic," Knuckles greeted him. "How's it going?"

"Hello Knuckles," Sonic nodded to him and everybody. "I see it's not just you and Amy, but everybody."

"Sorry Sonic. We kinda let it slip that we have a new friend named Shadow and they all wanted to meet him." Amy explained.

"I understand." Sonic sighed. "Though he kinda overheard you guys when you came in."

"Oh dear," Vanilla frowned in concern. "Where is the little dear?"

"I'm afraid he's upstairs in his room, too scared out of his wits to come down here." Sonic explained. "He's really nervous around new people and has serious trust issues."

"Oh dear, it sounds bad." Marine gasped.

"It is unfortunately. Eggman has done a lot to him. I don't know what exactly, and I won't ask. All I know is that he's like a small child. A mind more young and innocent than Charmy's."

"Aaawww." The group couldn't help but coo in concern.

"He is very nervous, but…" Sonic continued. "He is willing to meet you all, but you're gonna have to go in small groups, no more than three. Better yet, he'd likely be more comfortable if it was just one person at a time. Is that ok with you?"

"Of course," Rouge replied, followed by the agreement of everybody else. "We wouldn't want to scare the poor dear."

"Alright, that's good." Sonic nodded before turning to his three immediate friends. "First thing's first though, Knuckles, Amy, Tails. Shadow asked specifically for you three first."