Fickle Hedgehog Village

Temper Tantrum

Sonic arrives in the village, surprised to find Shadow conversing pleasantly with the mayor, outside City Hall.

He waves and calls out, "Hey Shadow, Mayor, what's up?"

"Sonic, I'm so glad you had a change of heart!" Mayor Fink exclaims exuberantly. "I'll go make an announcement right now! Oh, everyone will be so thrilled!"

"What's he talking about?" Sonic asks Shadow.

Mayor Fink trots to the podium and turns on the mic.

"Gather around everyone! I have great news!"

The villagers gather.

"Sonic and Amy decided they'll be riding in the Valentine's Float after all! This works out perfectly because the parade is tomorrow! You can call off your witch hunt! Valentine's Day has officially been restored!"

Everyone cheers.

Sonic looks at Shadow, disappointed.

"You told them I'm with Amy?!"

"No, I told them you'd be happy to ride the float with Amy even though you're with me. Because you want everyone to be happy... don'tchu?"

Sonic doesn't understand.

"But, I'm proud that I love you. I want everyone to know. This is gonna give them all the wrong idea."

"Big deal," Shadow shrugs, "let them have their Sonamy float. It gives them something to smile about and it doesn't make us love each other any less."

"I know but... it's all pretend," Sonic groans. "And, it keeps the villagers from seeing you the way I do. I want people to see who you really are, that you're kind and good and... why do I feel so awful all the sudden? Man, I gotta go."

He blurs away, back to his shack, where he finds Knuckles and Rouge in the hammock, giggling and feeding each other scones.

"Well, at least the hammock's getting put to good use. Hey guys, sorry to interrupt."

Rouge hops out of the hammock.

"No need to apologize, Sonic, it's your shack."

Knuckles is annoyed.

"Awe come on, Sonic, what do you want already? Can't you see I finally scored the big Kahuna!"

"Real happy for you two," Sonic says, clearly unhappy for his own situation.

"You're bringing me down, man. What happened this now?" Knuckles asks, "are the villagers giving you a hard time again?"

"No, it's not that," Sonic tells them. "It's Shadow. Why does he have to be such a rogue?"

Rouge giggles.

"Because he's an introvert. An extrovert like you wouldn't understand. He's not going to compete with you anymore now that you finally noticed him. That was all for show."

"I get that," Sonic replies, "but I'm more concerned about him not being welcome in the village. I don't wanna stay if the rest of the town doesn't want him there."

Rouge places her hand on Sonic's back.

"Don't let it get you down, blue boy. He's elusive because that's what's best for everyone's happiness."

"Riding in a Valentine's Day float with anyone other than him doesn't do much for my happiness though," Sonic complains.

"Not everyone wants to be a town celebrity," Rouge informs him.

Knuckles grows more annoyed and whines.

"Can we talk about this another time? I wanna giggle flirtatiously and eat more fruity scones with this perfect, immaculate, queen bee right here. Get lost, Sonic!"

"You're throwing me out of my own shack?" Sigh. "Fine, I understand. Really, I do. Proceed."

Sonic zooms away.

"Seriously, talk about first world problems," Knuckles says to Rouge before she giggles and leaps into his arms.

"Forget about him, my gorgeous, knightly stallion!"

Sonic zooms back to Shadow's tree house and lets himself in to play with the cats, hoping it'll help him stop feeling like crap. Shadow's already beaten him there.

"Yo," Sonic half-heartedly says when he sees Shadow, already sitting with the kitties. "Ya know, for a place housing three cats, it sure smells a lot like fresh coffee beans in here."

"Sorry I upset you back there, Faker."

"I'm not faking it though," Sonic snaps. "I put my neck out for you! I got stoned with chili dogs at Meh Burger, with everyone yelling derogatory stuff at me in front of all my friends, all so you could nonchalantly perpetuate us being a secret."

Shadow stands and says empathetically, "I understand why you're upset and I'm sorry the villagers don't completely understand. It's pathetic that they formed a mob against us last night, but Sonic, you have to pick your battles. This one isn't worth it."

"Not worth it? That's like saying we're not worth it. This, this is persecution!"

Shadow shakes his head in disagreement.

"I truly admire how idealistic you are and love that about you, but Sonic, have some perspective. In another universe, both of us were shot by a psychopathic dictator. Then in another, Modern you and Modern me watched you get killed, and Modern me held Modern you while he wept uncontrollably during a complete nervous breakdown. Compare all that to what's going on right now. Is it really that bad that you have to ride in a Valentine's Day float with Amy through a village that generally appreciates you most of the time?"

"Well no but..."

Shadow continues.

"Think about it, Sonic. There's no version of Eggman or relative of Eggman running the place, your sanity is fully in tact, our hearts are still beating, your friends except that we're gay... plus..." he picks up little Maria and holds her in front of Sonic's face... "look at little Maria? How can you be upset in the presence of this precious, angelic face?"

Sonic realizes how much sense all of that makes and becomes happy again.

"Haha, she is pretty cute! You're totally right, Bestie. Things are pretty great. It's not the worst thing in the world to ride in some dumb float with a good friend. I do wish I could parade through the village yelling how much I love you but I mean, I don't think even you would like that very much... not with you being an introvert and all."

Shadow agrees.

"It's not my style. It's yours."

Sonic chuckles.

"Are you saying it's not all about me?"

Shadow smiles warmly and pets little Maria's head. She purrs, Sonic melts.

"Now you're getting it, Sonic the Hedgehog. We love you because you're selfless, so do the right thing."