A Promise Is A Promise (Completed)

What Are We?

Sonic POV

When I woke up I found Rouge flirting with one of the nurses. I expected to see Shadow here as well but I didn't find him.
"Well look who's finally awake." Rouge let go of the nurse and he took this chance to slip away from her grasp.
"Hey Rouge." I smiled I genuinely felt a bit better, a lot less pain than before.
"Shadow left, but he wanted me to keep an eye on you for him."
"... Oh." I wasn't sure why I was so disappointed, I couldn't expect him to stay here this whole time. "Did he say where he went?"
"You seem really disappointed." She walked over to me, suddenly interested in my reaction. Honestly I wasn't even sure why I was disappointed. "Did you happen to see his caring side?" She said with a smile. I looked down at the sheets in thought. Is that what all that was earlier? He comforted me when I was in pain, but he also caused the pain? But then the first time I woke up, he was on a chair at the foot of the bed just... Sleeping. He even apologized... He never apologizes...
I felt my face flush a bit and a warming sensation in my chest.
"I guess... He has a funny way of showing it." I said with annoyance. I was still a little upset what he did, apology or not, that still hurt.
"I'm guessing you expected some sort of apology for something that happened between you too. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm sure he meant well. He was really worried about you when we first brought you in." She sympathized. He was worried? I looked at her with confusion.
"He was?"
"Yeah, I've never seen him so distraught. He risked a lot trying to heal you, he was so exhausted afterwards. Most of his time was either spent waiting for you to open you're eyes or resting." Rouge explained. I didn't know any of that happened... Is that why he got so upset that I was hiding my pain?
"I owe him one then..." I said in mild shock. Somehow, knowing this made all those feelings from earlier intensify.
"Don't overthink it Blue. He may not show it, but deep down, he cares a lot more than what he gives himself credit for." Rouge smiled.
"Heh... Yeah, I guess you're right." I never bothered looking closer at where we stood. I always thought we were just rivals. Maybe we are friends? I was glad to know he cares, but somehow. The thought of being just friends seemed so... I'm probably just overthinking this again. The nurse came in with a meal, hospital food, I didn't think I'd ever say this, but I was actually looking forward to it. I hadn't been awake long enough to get an actual meal.
As I scarfed down the food the door opened. Tails walked in with knuckles.
"Oh hey guys!" I smiled. They both greeted me with smiles, Tails came and hugged me, he was so relieved to see me. I was glad I didn't have to hide any pain.
"I'm so glad you're okay!" Tails smiled, his eyes glazing over with small tears that began to pool at the corners of his eyes.
"Of course I'm okay buddy! Who else is going to make sure you don't stay up all night with your inventions." I said playfully. This made his smile grow as he wiped away the tears that threatened to fall.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"The doctor had said your femoral artery was what got hit by the bullet and I couldn't help but worry. Especially when Rouge said your chances we're so low..." Tails trailed off as he shook the thoughts away.
"It's great to know you're a lot tougher than you look." Knuckles said as he playfully pushed my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and laughed.
"Well, I can't take all that credit. I have Shadow to thank for making it through." Saying this outloud made me feel odd. It gave me a warm sensation in my face and chest. As I watched everyone's attention turned to me to clarify what I meant by this, I suddenly felt... Embarrassed?
"Shadow helped you? I thought he hated you?" Knucklehead said confused. I thought he did too, but after what Rouge told me. I'm not sure how true that thought was anymore.
"Yeah, it's confusing. But, I'm grateful he helped me out." I gave a wide smile.
"Come to think of it, where is he? You were supposed to keep him out of trouble." Tails looked around before his eyes stopped on me. Oh boy...
"I uh... I lost track of him." I left out the part where I told him to leave. I was upset in the moment and completely forgot I was supposed to keep him busy. I messed up.
"That can't be good. Knuckles, we gotta find Shadow."
"Why all this sudden concern about Shadow?" Rouge asked as Tails dragged Knuckles out the door in a hurry.
"Eggman is up to something, and Shadow might have a part in it, whether he realizes it or not." I couldn't stay here. I should be out there helping everyone, not sitting here useless.
"What do you mean?"
"All I really know is Eggman brought someone back from Shadow's past, and that can't end well for him." I decided to test my leg. Carefully I moved it to hang off the bed. It didn't hurt so much anymore, I looked at the IV bags that hung. One was full but there was a smaller one that looked a little less than half full.
"Sonic you shouldn't get up yet. You don't want to hurt yourself."
"Rouge, I can't just sit around while-"
"Sonic no. Even if somehow things go south, they can handle themselves. Right now you need to focus on getting better." She had a point, but how could I just sit here?

"But-"

"No buts." Rouge placed her hands on her hips and gave a stern look.

There was silence between us after that. I wasn't sure how long we stayed like that. My thoughts were surrounded by 'what if' scenarios. I didn't just worry about Shadow, I worried about Tails, he was my little bro. If something were to happen to him, I could never forgive myself.
When I finally looked at Rouge again, she was sleeping in the chair. She looked so uncomfortable, Shadow must have told her to stay in his place. The door opened again, another nurse was here to check on me and change the bandages. She started with the bandages. She seemed surprised for some reason and went to call the doctor in. I looked at what was supposed to be an exposed wound, but, it just looked like a really bad bruise. My brows twisted into confusion when did...

I remembered feeling relaxed when a slight pain started to make me stir a bit. I opened my eyes to see Shadow looming over me, he had a chaos emerald and looked like he was trying to focus. The pain stopped and instead I felt warm and comforted. This feels nice, I didn't want the sensation to end, after how much pain I had been in and suddenly this? I didn't care how mad I was at Shadow anymore.

Why did he do that? He even had Rouge come watch over me for him... Don't tell me he went to investigate by himself. It makes sense, he must have done this in case anything went wrong I would be able to stop Eggman.

His face seemed so relaxed when he started rubbing my ears. The sensation was soothing, I could of sworn he had a small smile on his face for a moment before it disappeared. "Your making me sleepy." I didn't want him to stop but I didn't want to fall asleep. I was exhausted, but this felt so nice. I wanted it to last longer. I've never seen Shadow act so tender. What was up with that?

If we're not friends then... What are we?

A/N: I forgot to update, my bad! Although, I've been in a pretty negative mood these past couple days. So I'm gonna try to work on the next couple chapters, hopefully without making them super dark. I don't want to ruin the feel of this story but you know. Too bad feelings are a thing, I could definitely go without them for a few day but eh, I guess it's chill.