Plastic

3.3K 45 39
                                    

I had to take a college placement test so I could take dual credit courses. Just leave it to me to be the first one finished and pass every section of the test. Anyway, I had to wait an hour in the main area of the school because my mom couldn't come pick me up, so I wrote this.
Yes, you read right. I finished a test that is usually supposed to take around four hours in two hours, and I chose to write instead of read or watch YouTube or something. Can you tell that I'm a nerd yet?

Anyway, here:
—————

"Where are we going again?" Shadow asked, a small, almost unnoticeable twinge of fear hidden in his eyes. The last time Sonic brought him out somewhere, a birthday party, to be exact, Shadow ended up falling of a roof, due both Truth or Dare, and Sonic's friend's insistence.

"It's not going to be as bad as last time. Trust me! We just need to pick up one other person, and we can go!"

"Why would I trust you? After last time?" Shadow asked, dry sarcasm obvious to anyone listening to it in his low voice.

"Come on Shads! You have to trust me, after all, we are together." Sonic said matter-of-factly, his eyes closed, arms behind his back, and nose in the air.

Shadow glared at him incredulously. Shadow started to respond, but Sonic darted off to a small dilapidated pink home, reminded Shadow somewhat of an old cafe.

Sonic knocked gently on the green painted wooden door, before a black handed turned from behind. The door was pulled open towards the inside, revealing a young rabbit, with a yellow sundress, with a woven hat. The hat itself had a pink bow tied around it, and a small butterfly pin.

"Mr. Sonic?" The young rabbit spoke. She had a high pitched voice, though smooth as honey, and soft as a bed of pillows. She was obviously very well-spoken, with her careful use of manners, going as far to call Sonic a Mr.

"Hi Cream! I promised I would take you with me today, remember?" Sonic squatted sown and put his hands on his knees, so that he were eye level with Cream. Sonic's usually aggravating tone became gentler, more genuine, as Shadow knew. There were only a few people Sonic ever dared to speak to using his actual non-aggravating voice. Shadow, Tails, and Cream.

Shadow had come to think that Sonic disguises his own voice as a defense mechanism. After all, immediately as Sonic stepped out of the door earlier that day, there was a notable change in his voice and how he spoke.

"Cheese! May you please join me?" The rabbit attempted to politely shout. It didn't work, however, as she just ended up quietly squeaking when she tried. It appeared that she only had an indoor voice.

The Chao came and joined the young rabbit as she headed out of the house.

"Aren't you going to tell your mother?" Sonic asked, still using his softer, much more smooth voice. The voice gave off a certain feeling to Shadow. The feeling of catching a whiff of recently baked muffins, or trying to find shapes in the clouds on a sunny day while laying on the greenest grass. Perhaps curling up under a warm fluffy blanket. It was odd, how could a simple voice hold so much emotion and affection?

Maybe that was another reason why he hid his voice. Maybe he wanted to only let the people close to him hear it, like it were a sacred privilege, or maybe he believed that no one would believe him a Hero with such a loving, gentle voice?

"My mother already knows. I wished her goodbye a few minutes ago." The young rabbit sounded so soft. So carefree, in a different way than Sonic's fake voice gave off. It was interesting. Like a piece of vanilla cake, completed with the richest buttercream icing.

The rabbit and the hedgehog began walking back to Shadow, their footsteps, soundlessly, stepping through the grass. Shadow still heard it. Not though it were actually audible.

"Shadow, you okay?" The fake, aggravating voice was back. Does he not even notice he does it anymore?

"Stop that." Shadow commanded, his own voice the weight of a cold brick.

"What did I do?" Sonic asked, the voice still there. The voice that sounded bitter on Shadow's tongue, the voice that tasted of glue and chemicals. Almost plastic in a way. Maybe that was why Shadow was always annoyed by Sonic when they met. He sounds so... manufactured, that it's hard to take. That voice is painful to be around. His real voice however, was like the hug of a metaphorical cloud, and the warmth of a crackling fire.

"That voice. Please just... stop. It's like plastic." Shadow responded. Sure, that probably sounded weird to Sonic, but he bet that saying why he associated his fake voice with that would probably sound even weirder. "Could you please just... talk normally?" Shadow asked, his tone a single fragile crafted snowflake in a raging blizzard. Gentle, and fragile, shining through a storm.

"Heh heh, Shadow, what are you even talking about?" The hedgehog jokes nervously, obviously knowing exactly what Shadow was talking about.

"Your real voice. Not this manufactured, chemical filled sound!" Shadow had accidentally let some of it slip.

"Chemical filled? How can a voice be chemical filled?" The rabbit asked. Her gentle soothing voice calmed Shadows nerves slightly, but Sonic's refusal to talk naturally still made him feel antsy.

Shadow decided he would finally tell them what he meant. After all, he had been hiding it for a while. Shadow let out a defeated sigh.

"Sounds and voices... they make me feel things. They remind me of things. Whether it be an actual physical sensation, or even... a taste." Shadow cowered, suddenly wanted to hide. They'd think he was a freak. Sonic would leave him!

Sonic suddenly switched to his normal voice, but lowered the volume. "I think Tails did some research on that. Synesthesia, I think."

"Tails told me about that! It's really interesting." The rabbit excitedly told Shadow.

"Wait... really? You don't think I'm a freak?" Shadow's voice still sounded feeble and shaky.

"We would we Shadow? You're amazing!" Sonic raised his voice slightly, and looked around in slight fear. Cream, understanding the situation somewhat, surprised Sonic with a gentle hug from behind, as if to say 'it's completely fine!'

"Thanks Cream. Anyway Shadow, lets go make some flower crowns!"

"Flower crowns? Where did you get that idea?" Shadow looked at Sonic with a slightly questioning glance. Cream simply politely raised her hand.

"Thank you" both the hedgehogs said to each other, suddenly surprised that they said the same thing at the same time.

Shadow smiled softly while chuckling. "Okay, lets go."

—————

Fun, right?
Why do I enjoy writing insecure Shadow so much (and technically Sonic if you think about it)?

Sonic OneshotsWhere stories live. Discover now