No More Pain

5

Shadow had finally made it to the park. He saw children playing, teens hanging out, and adults watching their kids.

Shadow saw a bench under a shady tree and took a seat. Sweat dripped down his face. It was so hot outside today.

'Of course, the day I decide to leave my house and need to wear covering clothing, it's like a hundred degrees out.' Shadow thought.

Shadow sat under the shady tree waiting for Sonic to show up. He looked around and was starting to receive odd looks. Some even hateful looks. Some adults even left the park with their kids when the first saw him.

He pulled out his phone and checked the time. It was 1:45.

"Hey Shadow!"

Shadow looked at the origin of the voice and saw Sonic in a red shirt and tan shorts. Sonic walked towards Shadow's bench and took a seat.

"Have you been waiting long?" Sonic asked.

Shadow shook his head and put his phone away. "Not long." He added.

"Good, so is there a reason you wanted to go to the park?" Sonic asked.

"Not really, There was just a garden here that I enjoy looking at sometimes." Shadow shrugged.

"You like flowers? I didn't know that." Sonic commented.

"Yes, ever since I was on the Ark, I've always wanted to see the real thing instead of pictures. Is it bad that I do?" Shadow shared.

"No, there's nothing wrong with it at all. I think it's kinda sweet." Sonic smiled.

Shadow blushed and looked down.

Sonic chuckled than wiped some sweat off his forehead. "Wow, it's really hot today! I'm surprised your not dying Shadow. How are you wearing that without sweating so much?"

Shadow shrugged once again. "I guess I'm just heat intolerant?" But Shadow was actually miserable in his clothes.

Sonic laughed at his answer. "Yeah, I guess you are."

The sound of a bell was filling the air.

The two hedgehogs glance over to an ice cream cart. "I don't know about you, but ice cream sounds perfect right now." Sonic chuckled and stood up.

Shadow was about to stand up too but Sonic stopped him. "Don't worry I'll get some for both of us. My treat."

"You don't have too Sonic. I can-"

"Too late! I'm already gone!" Sonic joke and walked over to the cart.

Shadow smiled at Sonic. His heart was beating faster than usual. He put a hand on his chest. 'Why does this keep happening? Is there something wrong with me?' Shadow thought. Shadow looked up and saw Sonic coming back with two cups of ice cream.

Sonic walked over and sat down. He handed Shadow his cup and smiled at him. "I should have asked you what you wanted, sorry about that. So I got you chocolate."

"It's okay. I'll pay you back." Shadow said and took a bite of his ice cream.

Sonic took a bite of his and shook his head. "Nope, don't worry about that. My idea, my treat."

"Thank you anyway. It's good." Shadow commented.

Sonic smiled at him once more. "Your welcome. You wanna taste mine? It's mint chocolate chip." Sonic said.

Shadow shook his head as he blushed.

Sonic chuckled as he scooped some in his spoon and brought it close to Shadow's mouth. "Open up, it's good trust me."

Shadow blushed harder and was a little comfortable. But he obeyed and opened his mouth.

Sonic feed Shadow the ice cream and smiled. "Is it good?" He asked.

Shadow shyly smiled and nodded.

Sonic lightly blushed at Shadow's expression. 'He can be so cute sometimes.' Sonic thought.

Sonic and Shadow spent a few hours together just talking. Getting to known each other. Shadow didn't bring up any of his issues of depression and self harm. He was worried if Sonic knew then he would hate him too.

Sonic wanted to see the garden Shadow was talking about earlier so Shadow took him there.

After a few minutes of walking a view of yellow, red, purple, and pink flowers caught Sonic's eye. "You were right, it is pretty Shadow."

Shadow nodded and enjoyed the view. "Sometimes this is the only place I can even think." Shadow said without thinking.

Sonic heard Shadow comment and was a little surprised.

Shadow realized what he said and internally freaked out. "I-I didn't mean to say that, I just-"

"It's okay to speak your mind Shadow. I'm not gonna judge you." Sonic assured.

"I just don't really share what I feel or how I do things with really anyone." Shadow replied.

"What about Rouge? I thought you two were close." Sonic asked.

"We are, it's that she's never really around. I understand that Rouge has a difficult job and that she has to be gone all the time but...I wish I got to see her more often. She's like a sister to me." Shadow shared.

Sonic was touched. "Have you ever told her any of that?"

"No." Shadow revealed kind of sad.

"I think you should. I think she'd love to hear you say that to her." Sonic said.

Shadow sighed, trying to brush off his sadness around Sonic.

"Shadow, are you okay?" Sonic asked.

Shadow nodded and crossed his arms.

'I didn't mean to make him upset. I was just trying to get him more comfortable around me and talking about things with me.' Sonic thought feeling a little guilty.

A phone started to ring.

It was Sonic's phone and he looked at the caller ID. It was Rouge! "Speaking of Rouge." He said and answered the phone.

Shadow just stood there, trying not to listen to there conversation.

After a few minutes of taking to Rouge, Sonic hung up the phone.

"If you don't mind me asking, what did she want?" Shadow asked cautiously.

"She just told me that the mission she was one was gonna take longer than usual so she can't go to my party is all." Sonic explained.

'Cause that's what she does. She says something and than work takes over.' Shadow thought feeling sad and mad.

"How about we take our minds off of Rouge and talk about each other. Like we were doing earlier." Sonic suggested

Shadow nodded in agreement.

Sonic smiled at Shadow and got an idea. "You know what Shadow, since you told me something so personal to you. I'm gonna tell you something about myself. Just to make you more comfortable." Sonic suggested.

"Sonic, I know your trying to get me more comfortable around you and I appreciate that. I really do. But listen to me when I say that-"

"I'm gay."