Adopt Me [HIATUS]

Chapter 7: A New Life

The drive back home was pretty quiet. Quieter that Shadow was expecting. Sonic hadn't spoken a word since they left, and it was quite worrying. He expected him to ask questions about his life, and what his house was like. But he wasn't getting anything. Not even an "are we there yet?". Shadow was concerned that something might be wrong with the kid, so he decided to break the silence.

"Are you doing okay back there?" Shadow asked, glancing back for a moment.

"Huh?" Sonic spoke, startled at the question. "Oh. Yes, I'm okay."

"Alright." Shadow replied. "I'm just making sure, since you're pretty quiet back there."

"I just didn't want to distract you while you're driving, mister Shadow." Sonic admitted.

"Well that's very kind of you." Shadow replied. "And you can just call me Shadow. You don't have to be so formal."

"Alright, mister- I mean, Shadow." Sonic said, a slight blush dusting his cheeks.

Shadow let out a light chuckle. He had a feeling he made a good choice in choosing this kid. Even though he was shy, Shadow could manage with that. That meant they were both socially awkward, so they would be able to understand each other pretty well.

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, Shadow." Sonic spoke up. "But, are we almost there?"

Shadow laughed lightly through his nose. There it was. The age old question.
"We're almost there, kid." he replied. "Just a few more minutes."

"Okay." Sonic said, going back to looking out the window.

After about ten more minutes of driving, they finally arrived back to Shadow's house. Shadow pulled into the driveway and turned off the car. He then proceeded to get out and help Sonic out of his booster seat, then lifted him up and into his arms. He sat Sonic on his forearm while he picked up Sonic's bag of items and shut the door behind him, locking it with the button connected to his keys. After he was sure it locked, he carried Sonic up to his door and into his house.

Upon entering, he set Sonic down and handed him back the items that he brought with him, which were just his notebook and coloring utensils. Sonic looked around the place after he was set down, and he seemed mesmerized by it. Shadow chuckled at the look on Sonic's face as he saw his TV. He probably had never seen one so big.

"Your house is amazing, Shadow!" Sonic exclaimed, looking around.

"Well, thank you, Sonic." Shadow replied.

"It's so big!" Sonic squealed, stretching his arms out like trying to measure the whole room with them. "I've never seen a house this big before!"

"Well, then I hope you enjoy your room." Shadow said, taking off his jacket.

"I have my own room?" Sonic squealed. "Is that huge, too?! I wanna see it! I wanna see it!"

Shadow flinched as Sonic started to zoom around him. It seemed that his caretaker wasn't lying about his super speed. He wasn't as fast as Shadow, but Shadow had a feeling that would change as Sonic matured.

"Calm down, Sonic." Shadow said, quickly reaching out and grabbing Sonic's arm before he could make another lap around him.

Sonic froze in Shadow's grip, looking up at him fearfully. Shadow's gaze softened when he saw the terror in his eyes, and loosened his grip on his arm.

"I-I'm sorry." Sonic stuttered, shrinking under Shadow's eyes.

Shadow knelt down in front of Sonic and placed his hands on his shoulders. Sonic met his eyes with a fearful look. Shadow had no doubt his previous foster families weren't so nice to him, which meant he was probably going to get scared when Shadow raised his voice or grabbed him like that. This meant things would be a little tough, considering Shadow still had a bit of a short temper, so he was going to have to work on that.