"This is stupid'', he thought.
There was no way that he actually felt this way about someone, especially... him.
It has been three weeks since his childhood best friend, Shadow the Hedgehog, suddenly came back in town from spending four years in military school. When he first arrived, Sonic was obviously surprised and ecstatic to reconnect with someone from so long ago, let alone a long-lost friend; but otherwise, he felt not a hint of romantic feelings towards him.
Yet here he was. Staring into the bathroom mirror with mildly blushed cheeks, and a slight tightening of his stomach.
He is harshly brought back to reality as he was startled by a knock at the door, followed by a young female's voice.
"Hey Sonic, is everything alright in there? We're gonna be late!''
Letting out a great breath he did not realize he was holding, Sonic pulled on his T-shirt as he gathered up the courage of seeing the dark hedgehog throughout the school day.
As usual, right after leaving the car ride to the school, Sonic met up with his secondary brother, Tails, at the campus? common area. The pair was an odd one, to say the least. Tails being a fox with two tails while withholding an intellect much higher than any of his peers, and Sonic as the fox's elder by three years; and even so, they are both at the same grade level. Nevertheless, the two of them were the best of friends.
"What held you up for so long?'', Tails asked taking notice of the few minutes remaining before the bell.
"I uh... woke up a bit late'', Sonic stuttered.
It was visually obvious that this not the case. For one, the hedgehog didn't even try to look him straight in the eye as he itched the nape of his neck; which when you know Sonic for such a long time, you'd realize that it's a habit he has that shows up when trying to obscure the truth. Along with the dumb side smile that goes along with the gesture.
``Uh-huh'', Tails crossed his arms as the first bell rang. ``How about you actually tell me what's going on at lunch?''
``Um, yeah...'', he pulled out the ol' classic finger guns in his direction. ``Sure thing, buddy!''
This is torture.
Sonic does his best to not wonder his gaze towards the ebony hedgehog, but he can't help but stare.
The intense and quizzical look he gives in regard to the lecture with his piercing ruby eyes. The small hint of white chest fur emerging from the collar of his t-shirt, that appears to be soft to the touch. And of course, his well-defined-
``Maurice!''
He wanted to die.
``Mrs. Davis, I asked you not to use that name"
``I'm sorry, but I repeatedly called upon you with your preferred name, and you kept on daydreaming!'', she scolded. ``Now if you could please eloquently respond to my question we could finally move on.''
He quickly scanned the room to see that everyone turned towards his direction, awaiting his response.
``...sorry teach, I... wasn't listening'', he uttered while slowly slouching in his chair.
The varied giggling heard throughout the room made his cheeks even hotter with embarrassment. He glanced over to Shadow and was pleasantly surprised that he did not join in on discouraging him. If anything, there seemed to be a hint of... pity? It's a bit hard to tell with his stoicism.
``Sadly, I'm not surprised" She returned her focus to the rest of the class. ``Does anyone else volunteer to answer?''
``If I may"
Along with everyone else, Sonic faced the location of the deep voice and saw it was none other than the dark hedgehog himself.
``Ah, yes Shadow. Please go on", she pleaded.
He cleared his throat. ``William Shakespeare's Macbeth unbeknownst to many was actually loosely influenced by the book Daemonologie, of which was written by King James I in 1597. As King James I had a fixation with witchcraft, it is theorized that Shakespeare implemented elements of witchcraft to please the king'' Everybody was then flabbergasted with such an eloquently presented response.
``Well done, Shadow", Mrs. Davis clasped her hands with praise.
She went on to another subject in the course; and it was once again being muted from Sonic's ears. He always knew of Shadow to be very intelligent for his age but to hear him say something like that on the fly was something completely new. He wanted, no, needed to know more about this new Shadow.
The cafeteria was bustling with people carrying on conversation, laughter, and the clanging of silverware to plastic lunch trays. The stench of cheaply made food lingered throughout the entire area, something most despised but had no choice to endure if they didn't have the extra cash for something off-campus. Sonic fell into that category, sadly, as he looked at his sorry excuse for food, and sat down at one of the many long dining tables. He wasn't that hungry anyway due to his stomach being tied in so many knots, for differing reasons, so the food quality didn't bother him that much. Looking up, he expected to see a certain echidna with the yellow fox, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen.
``Hey, where's Knux?''
Tails was too busy devouring his greasy cheeseburger that he didn't even realize that the echidna wasn't at his usual spot next to him. He briefly stood up to finally spot him a couple of tables down the room with his arm around an ivory female bat.
``Oh, he's with that girl he's been going on about for the last couple of weeks''
Oh, cool. The guy finally took up the courage to actually talk to the girl, after just ogling at her for Chaos knows how long. Good for him.
Wanting to see for himself how things were going, Sonic looked towards the same direction Tails did before and- OH NO! Shadow's sitting with them?! He didn't know he was friends with her. His muzzle started to redden again as he noticed that Shadow was actually conversing and smiling. He almost forgot that Shadow could smile. It had just been so long that he couldn't recall what it even looked like; and it was really nice.
``Hello? Mobius to Sonic!''
Crap, he was doing it again. It's one thing for it to happen during a class, which he honestly could care less about, but for it to happen when he should be talking to his best friend, this is too much.
``Sorry, buddy. This sort of thing has been going on all day. What's up?''
``I want to know what's going on with you", he sighed. ``You obviously lied to me this morning of why you were so late, and now you're psyching out. What's wrong?''
Aw man, he didn't want him to worry. He's probably thinking it's something really bad to have this sort of reaction. Well, it looks like he has no choice but to say what he thinks it is. Here it goes.
``Um, Tails...'', he cringed at himself.
Just let it out already!
``I... I think I'm gay"
He raised his vision to watch the fox's expression for a reaction, whether it be good, or Chaos forbid, bad; yet he didn't see any microscopic changes at all.
``That's okay", Tails expressed with an understanding smile.
``Wait really?!'', he could not believe it.
``Yeah, dude! I don't care if you like guys, girls, or whoever; just as long as you keep being true to yourself, you're alright in my book"
He let out a sigh of relief at that. ``Thanks, buddy"
``No problem. But I am curious'', he paused, ``what made you tell me now?''
Typical Tails, always wanting to know all the details.
``Does it have to do with that Shadow guy you told me about?''
Way to hit the nail on the coffin.
``How'd you guess right so easily?''
``Because I'm smart", they laughed at his small joke. ``That and I saw that's who you were staring at"
Sonic blushed slightly, ``Hehe, well touché"
![[COMMISSION] Waiting at the Subway Station](https://va.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/3398/3398099_GottaGoBlast_train_comm_spd.jpg "[COMMISSION] Waiting at the Subway Station")
