Green Hill University (Sonadow College AU)

Chapter 5

Sonic/Shadow

Sonic took his time savoring his bite of chili dog—honestly, he'd had better. As the town's self-appointed connoisseur of chili dogs, he knew his shit, and this was a subpar chili dog, at best. The chili was a bit heavy on the tomato and the hotdog itself was a bit overcooked. But even the worst chili dog was still pretty good, and Sonic never turned down free food.

Swallowing down another messy bite, Sonic turned to Knuckles. He was about to give him the awkward answer that no, he didn't know this 'Shadow' guy, as much as he had tried, when a call from the booth before them made them all turn their heads.

"Yoo hoo, why don't you boys come on over here and join us for a little while," called the bat Sonic had spotted earlier. She smirked as she caught their attention and threw them a wink with a perfectly-lined eye.

Sonic threw a glance at Knuckles, mouth agape, too quick to be enticed by any woman who would look his way. He had watched Knuckles fall for a string of pretty girls in high school, dating them—or trying to date them—all for about a week before moving on to the next thing that caught his eye. It seemed this friend of Shadow's was no different—she seemed to know exactly how to use her body to her advantage, and Knuckles had fallen right into her trap.

Knuckles was smarter than most gave him credit for, but in this way he was as stereotypically immature as ever.

"I dunno, do you really wanna sit with them?" Tails questioned. He too knew Knuckles' weakness to painted lips and short skirts, and he did not want to endure another night of listening to Knuckles' attempts at flirting. If he could stop it before it started, he would. "You did just say you didn't like the guy."

"Hey now," Knuckles said, quickly backtracking, "I never said I didn't like him. I just said he was an asshole."

"Yeah, but isn't that the same—"

"And it wasn't him that invited us over. It was his...objectively-better looking friend, and it would be rude to ignore her." Knuckles paused, glancing around at the packed bar. "Besides, it doesn't seem like we have much of a choice here."

Tails looked between the two of them, silently begging Sonic to back him up, but, honestly, Knuckles was right—if they wanted to sit somewhere, this seemed to be their only option.

Sonic shrugged noncommittally. "Alright, sure. It's better than standing here all night."

Knuckles grinned, barely holding back a victorious fist pump, and smoothed down his spines before striding towards the booth. Sonic threw a sighing Tails an apologetic glance before following just behind.

The sullen-looking hedgehog—Shadow, Sonic reminded himself—seemed to be trying his best to become one with the darkness of his namesake as the three approached and slid onto the stiff cushion lining the seats. His friend, meanwhile, seemed to preen in the sight of the new company, leaning forward and tilting her head enticingly.

Knuckles took the opportunity to slide in beside her, leaving Sonic and Tails alone next to Shadow.

"Glad you decided to join us," she practically purred. "The name's Rouge. That ball of sunshine over there is Shadow." She tossed her head to where Shadow was staring down at the wood grain of the table, resolutely refusing to meet the eyes now turned on him. Her penetrating gaze drifted over the three newcomers, silently sizing up each of them. When she was satisfied with whatever she found, her honeyed voice spoke again. "And who might you boys be?"

Knuckles was quick to speak for the group. "These are my friends, Sonic and Tails," he said, jabbing a thumb towards each of them in turn. "And I am Knuckles." He leaned in and gave his best smile, puffing out his chest in one of his signature 'ladycatcher' moves.