It was a cold and snowy day in December. Houses were decorated, small lights were flickering and cheered up the dark streets. As in December it was very dark out in the afternoon. Even though it was dark as the sun was under it still wasn't that hard to see, as the snow reflected the pale light of the moon and the warm glow of the flickering yellow, red and green lights. It was quiet out side, even more quiet than normally as the snow on the ground and which was still falling down dimmed all the sounds in the surroundings.
On the street a snowy white hedgehog walked through the snow. His footsteps made a crackling sound because of the snow under his feet, leaving a track behind him as he made his way to his friend's house as he was invited for Christmas Eve. He felt nervous as he had heard so much about the Christmas celebration. But as they didn't celebrate it anymore at the time he came from he was very curious.
The lonely hedgehog on his way wrapped his scarf more around his neck as he wasn't used to this cold weather. As in the future the seasons didn't change as much as it does in this time, it mostly was very warm out.
He breathed in his hands and rubbed them together to warm up. As he walked over the streets he looked at all the decorated houses and could see how families in fancy clothes or funny sweaters were still decorating the tree. It all looked so cozy but it also seemed weird to him to cut down a tree to put it inside of your house, as Silver was mesmerised the first time he saw a real tree. In the time he came from there weren't many trees left, he hadn't seen one himself but he had heard stories of them.
Silver smiled softly as he passed a house and heard some cheery music getting played while the family inside were singing about bells, reindeers and snow. It sounded so sweet that he couldn't stop smiling.
He turned the corner and soon stood in front of the door of Sonic's house. He put away the address which was written on a piece of paper as this was his first time visiting the place were one of his new friends lived. All of a sudden he started to feel nervous as he still felt bad about the way they met and how he acted towards all of them. It was a good thing Shadow was around to show him the truth before he would have done something stupid. But it was so kind for all these people to sort of accept him even though he did act like that not so long ago, it was so generous to invite him for this apparently special evening.
He hesitated for a moment before knocking the door. It didn't take long be fore he could see a blue blur appear through the blinded window in the door. Of course it was Sonic who opened the door with a bright smile.
``Hey Silver! We were already wondering when you would appear. Please come in!''
Sonic stepped aside to let Silver in who rubbed his hands eager when he felt the warmth of the house. ``Hey Sonic, thank you for inviting me,'' he answered with a soft smile.
``Of course, you're part of the group now,'' Sonic closed the door behind him to keep the cold outside. ``You can leave your coat in the hall,'' Sonic said who pointed to the rack, Silver looked surprised as he saw how full the rack was, it was impressive it could still hold up all those thick jackets.
Silver chuckled awkwardly, ``Well, I don't have a coat yet,'' he said pointing at the warn out hoodie he was wearing, he still didn't have a job in this time period where he decided to stay, so he mostly needed to get around with stuff he could find.
``You must be so cold,'' Sonic said as he looked at his clothes, ``Come to the living room, you can warm up next to the fire. I just made some hot chocolate would you like some?'' Sonic let him to the living room where every body was sitting around the fire, talking, playing games and enjoying theirselves. While Amy and Tails were still busy with the decorations.
``Hey Silver, Good you're here! We were waiting for you,'' Amy said inpatient when she noticed him entering, she was stressed out as she wanted everything to be perfect every Christmas.
``I-I'm sorry, it was kinda hard to find this place,'' Silver apologised.
``It's okay, I'm just happy you're here. Dinner will be ready in a bit, you can put the gifts under the tree,'' she said and quickly went back into the kitchen.
Silver's eyes widened shocked, ``G-gifts?'' he asked towards Sonic. ``W-were we supposed to bring gifts? I-I didn't bring anything.''
``It's Christmas tradition to give gifts to your friends, family and loved ones,'' Tails said who folded the ladder he used to hang up the last decorations.
Silver turned pale and looked guilty towards his new friends who were having fun together.
``It's okay Silver, I don't know how Christmas was in the future for you. We shouldn't expect you to know that,'' Sonic said with a smile. ``Christmas isn't about the gifts anyways.'' He let Silver further into the living room and sat them down next to the fire, ``Here just warm up for a bit, I will get you some hot chocolate.''
Silver looked around uncomfortable around as everybody as he felt like he didn't fit in. Now and again one of the other guests looked his way. Silver smiled awkwardly at them. He recognised a few faces but he didn't know them all too well yet, not well enough to start a conversation with them. He felt rather lonely while he looked at them all talking, laughing and playing games, he looked down at their hands as he felt uncomfortable, surrounded with so many people he didn't know. His gaze moved to the tree next to him, which looked so nice, it had small lights in it which got reflected by the ornaments hanging on the branches. It looked all so nice and sparkling, Silver held out a hand as he wanted to examen one of the sparkling horses.
``Don't touch that,'' a stern voice spoke next to Silver.
Silver flinched and quickly pulled his hand back, ``Sorry,'' he apologised.
``It's okay,'' Shadow said with a smile, Silver's face cheered up to see a familiar face again, ``It's just that Amy would be pissed if you would break one of her horse ornaments. Here,'' he said and held out a mug of hot chocolate, ``Sonic asked me to bring it to you.''
``Thank you,'' Silver said who took the mug with both hands.
``Wow your hands are freezing,'' Shadow commented when their hands touched while passing the mug.
Silver chuckled, ``Yeah it's pretty cold outside,'' Silver said and looked at the hot chocolate with whipped cream on top and let the warm mug heat up his fingers.
Shadow sat down next to him with his own hot chocolate, ``So you decided to stay?'' he asked interested.
Silver shrugged his shoulders emotionless, ``Well there isn't much for me to go back for to be honest.'' Shadow frowned at Silver as he listened to this words, ``the future is saved, my people did survive and are building a better future. The only friend I had died, a feel like they don't need me anymore.''
``I'm sorry,'' Shadow said who felt sorry Silver.
He shrugged his shoulders again, ``It's okay, I think I could use a fresh start. To build up something new, make some new friends, to help people in this time and the environment to save the future this way.''
Shadow looked impressed at his, ``that's noble of you,'' he said and took a sip from his chocolate.
Silver chuckled as a response, ``Or just really naive,'' he said and also took a sip from his chocolate. Their eyes widened as he had never tasted anything like it before, it was so sweet and he could feel the warmth spreading through his body. ``Oh my, this tastes so good!'' He said and licked his lips.
Shadow smiled as he noticed some whipped cream sticking at his nose. He chuckled and wiped it away. Silver felt his cheeks warm up as he did. ``Maybe you're naive for just a little bit,'' Shadow said and the cream from his finger. He stood up, ``I should continue making dinner.''
With a blush on his cheeks Silver watched Shadow go back to the kitchen, he wiped his nose to make sure all the whipped cream was gone. He said a bit more comfortable next to the fire now that he had talked with Shadow. It was just nice to know there was just someone there he felt like he knew just a little better than all the other guests, some how it made him feel less lonely. Silver listened to the lyrics of the songs which were playing on the background, which sounded very nice and cozy, it gave him a warm feeling as many of the songs were about getting together with friends and family, nice food and gifts, decorating trees and love.
As he enjoyed the rest of his chocolate and watched the others having fun he watched the sparkling tree again and his eyes moved down on the tree. Seeing all the gifts laying under it, which made him a little uncomfortable as he didn't bring anything himself of anyone. But maybe if he knew beforehand that he needed to bring gifts he probably wouldn't have come over at all. Because he didn't have an income yet and had difficulties to take care of himself. He did take care of himself as well back in the future but that was different, those days he only needed to try and find food but now he also needed to make sure he was warm as well, which was a lot harder.
Silver frowned as his gaze fell on a note with his own name written on it. He looked surprised, as there apparently also was a gift for him. He gulped and looked at the package wit a big bow on top. Something started to gnaw at him as he hadn't brought any gifts for any one, not that he had something to spare but still others did go to the trouble to get him something. He felt inside of the pockets of his trousers, but it didn't satisfy him as he only had some thin robe, small rocks and a box of matches. He sighed disappointed as he looked at the small objects as it was literally everything he owned at this point.
Silver sat aside his mug and stood up, he looked around to all the people who were having so much fun but also ignored his presence as they didn't know him all that well. And the event of last month when he came to this time didn't make him all that popular of course. He felt like he didn't belong here right now as he moved to the front door to go outside.
It smelt amazing in the kitchen as Sonic, Shadow and Amy were still working on finishing the dinner for everyone. Tails entered the kitchen to get the plates and cutlery to set the table for everyone.
``Dinner is ready everyone!'' Amy announced to make sure everyone would gather around the table. Quickly everyone stood up and took their places as they all started to feel hungry. When everyone set down Sonic and Shadow entered the room with platters with all the dishes. Amy went around the table to ask everyone for what they wanted to drink.
As everybody was provided Sonic stood up and raised his glass for a toast, ``My dearest friends!'' He started and looked around the table with a bright smile, ``I'm so happy to see us all back together again-``
``Where is Silver?'' Shadow asked as he looked around the table. Sonic frowned and looked around to notice that Silver indeed wasn't at the table.
``Who?'' Vector asked in a rude way.
``That grey hedgehog right?'' Espio said.
``I think I saw him leave a while ago,'' Rouge said.
``I will go look for him,'' Shadow said and stood up. Some of the guest sighed disappointed as they started to get hungry. ``Don't wait for us,'' he said and went to the hallway to get his coat as Sonic continued his toast.
Shadow shut the door behind him, leaving the warm and cozy house behind and replaced it for the chilly weather outside. His warm breath was shown in the air, it was a good thing is was still snowing as it made Silver's footstep visible, which made it not hard to find him.
Shadow sighed relieved when he saw Silver sitting on the edge of the frozen fountain in the nearest park. His back was turned towards him. He was shivering as he was working on something.
``Why did you leave?'' Shadow asked with a caring tone in his voice.
Silver flinched as he didn't expect to be disturbed, he looked over his shoulder towards Shadow as he quickly put away the thing he was working on. ``Oh hey,'' he said and tried to keep his voice under control as he had been crying.
Shadow came closer and frowned as he noticed Silver's red eyes. ``Have you been crying?'' he came closer and looked down to Silver.
``N-no, it's just very cold, I-I think I'm allergic for this white stuff,'' Silver lied and pointed to the snow.
Shadow chuckled, ``You know snow is just frozen water?''
Silver looked up surprised, ``Really?''
Shadow sat down next to him, ``I guess you didn't have much snow in the future?''
``No we didn't,'' Silver said and looked around the park which was covered in a thick layer of snow. ``It really is beautiful.''
``It is,'' Shadow said a he looked around the park as well.
``In my time it was hot all the time. The earth had cracks in it, where flames did escape from,'' Silver shivered as a cold breeze passed by.
Shadow pulled of his jacket and wrapped it around Silver's shoulders, ``You must be freezing then. Why didn't you bring your coat outside?''
Silver felt himself already getting warmer by the heat from Shadow?s jacket, ``I don't have a coat. Won't you get cold?''
``It's okay, you apparently need it more than I do,'' Shadow said with a caring smile. Silver sniffed because of the cold and smiled back at Shadow. ``But what are you doing here, outside? We just set the table.''
Silver shrugged his shoulders, ``I don't really understand this Christmas thingy, I saw a present under the tree with my name on it. But I didn't bring anything for anyone. So I thought maybe I could make some presents in return. B-but it's not really working out,'' he said and pushed his little project aside.
``That's so sweet for you to try and make something yourself. You know Christmas isn't all about the gifts. It's about being together with your friends and appreciate everything life has to bring,'' Shadow explained with an endearing smile.
Silver shrugged his shoulders, ``It's just, I feel so bad that someone did apparently go to the trouble of getting me something, I just want to do something in return.''
``I don't think the people who did get you a present would mind it. Besides, you're new to the group, heck you're even new to this time and didn't even know about Christmas. I don't think anyone would be offended for you to not bring anything for them. Your presence is enough.''
Silver looked surprised into Shadow's eyes and saw the kind way he looked at him. ``You really think so?''
``I'm sure of it,'' Shadow said determined. A soft smile appeared on Silver's muzzle. ``So what do you say? You want to come inside and have something to eat?''
``Well I first want to try in finish this,'' Silver said and made a gesture towards his little project.
``Do you need some help?''
``No, no, I don't want you to see it yet,'' Silver's cheeks turned a little brighter, ``I also made one for you.'' Shadow looked surprised and a little curious, he tried to look at Silver's project, ``No peeking!'' Silver said a little playful and sat in front of the project to keep it away from shadow's sighed, ``I want it to be a surprise.''
Shadow grinned and nodded, ``Then you should finish it, I will be waiting at the gate till you're done,'' he said gesturing to the entrance of the park.
``I won't take long.''
Shadow watched from a distance, while Silver kept on working on his little project. He looked very concentrated but did finish quickly. Silver did put the little creations inside of the front pocket of his hoodie, he stood up and made his way over to Shadow who waited at the gate.
``I'm done,'' he said.
``I'm sure they will be happy with whatever you got them,'' Shadow said with an endearing smile. Together they walked back to the house which they entered. They both rubbed their hands together to warm up a bit. Shadow quickly closed the door to keep the hallway nice and warm. As they entered the living room Silver went to the tree and hid his presents.
``I hope you don't mind we did already start?'' Sonic said to them as they all were enjoying the food they had made.
``It's okay, I just needed to do something,'' Silver said.
``You can sit next to me,'' Shadow said who pulled back the chair next to him.
``Thank you,'' Silver sat down and looked around the table, ``Wow did you prepare all this food? It's so much, it looks really good and it smells delicious!'' Silver looked around mouth watering as he never had seen so much food at once.
``Well yes, with Christmas we always cook much so there is enough for everyones likings.''
``What would you like?'' Shadow asked who just had scooped some food on his own plate and took Silver's plate to help him out.
``I-I don't know,'' he said as he looked around the table, ``I don't know any of these foods. What is it you like?'' He asked to Shadow.
``Well I did get the, mash potatoes, grilled veggies and turkey.''
``Wait... Turkey? As in the bird?'' Silver asked shocked.
``Hmm, well yeah,'' Shadow said hesitant.
Silver looked around the table, ``Y-you eat animals?''
Shadow and Sonic exchanged looks as Silver said that. ``You don't do so in the future?''
``No! Of course not!'' Silver said shocked, ``There weren't many animals left in my time, so when we found one we took care of them with care.'' It started to become a little quiet at the table as some people listened to their conversation. ``We wouldn't dare to think of eating them. They all looked down at their pieces of meat and gulped uncomfortable. Silver looked around to see some of them looking doubtful at their plates. ``I-I'm sorry,'' Silver apologised. ``This is a different time, I'm sorry, I shouldn't judge you.'' Silver looked uncomfortable down at their hands, feeling ashamed for lashing out to his new friends.
Some people continued eating while others still looked at their pieces of meat. ``You're right,'' Shadow said, ``it is a different time, but we probably should think more about what we eat and how we treat our food.'' Silver looked up surprised as Shadow laid back his piece of meat. ``Maybe we should do so ever more around the holidays.''
Some nodded and also set their pieces of meat aside.
``You should do what feels best for you,'' Silver said, ``I'm sorry, I-I don't want to ruin your Christmas. I know this is apparently a very special day for you all, I'm just not used to these celebrations.''
``It's okay Silver,'' Sonic said and winked to him, ``you will probably soon learn more about our traditions, but we would also be very interested to know about your traditions. What is it you eat at celebrations?''
Shadow had scooped up some of the potatoes and Grilled veggies and place Silver plate in front of him. ``thank you,'' Silver said with a sweet smile and looked at the food. ``Well we don't have many celebrations but the few we have don't really involve food to be honest. There wasn't much to go around, so we mostly didn't talk about it as it only made us more upset.''
Sonic smiled endearing, ``well there is enough here. So take anything you want.''
``Thanks,'' Silver said with a bright smile and took one of the vegetables by hand and took a small bite and chewed with a smile, ``Wow this tastes so nice! What is this?''
``It's a pepper,'' Shadow said with a smile and used his cutlery to start on his own food. Silver ate the rest of it and took some on the mashed potato between his thumb and index finger and put it also in his mouth. ``What was it you ate?''
``Well mostly just anything we could find. One day we did found many cans of food in the ruin of an old shopping mall,'' Silver said with a bright smile, ``we had enough to go around for weeks.''
``Didn't you use cutlery in the future?'' Amy asked as she looked how Silver pinched the mashed potatoes and put it in his mouth. Silver looked questionable at her question.
``What's cutlery?''
They all looked to each other as they suppressed a smile. ``This is cutlery,'' Tails said and showed the fork and knife he was holding in his hands. ``You use it so you don't have to touch your food with your hands.''
Silver looked around the table to see everyone else using the pieces of metal to put the food in their mouth. ``Oh I'm sorry,'' Silver said and wiped his dirty hands on his jeans. Amy looked sour as he did that.
Shadow chuckled and took his napkin, ``Here,'' he said and took Silver's hand to wipe them clean. Silver looked up at Shadow as he did that and couldn't help but to blush by his actions, he gulped uncomfortable.
Shadow placed the napkin back on the table, who hadn't noticed anything, ``you us the knife to cut your food into smaller pieces and the fork to put it in your mouth,'' he explained as he showed him.
``O-okay,'' Silver doubtfully took the cutlery and held it clumsy and tried it himself.
``That's right,'' Sonic encourage him while they all exchanged looks, as it felt awkward to them how silver wasn't used to these things. It made them worry about the future.
``So you never learned to eat properly from your parents?'' Amy asked confused.
``I don't have any parents,'' Silver said.
They all looked shocked into his direction, ``What?'' Silver asked confused.
``You weren't raised by your parents?''
``You mean, all of you did?'' Silver asked confused.
``Well yes,'' Sonic answered, ``except for Shadow, he was created, so he doesn't have biological parents.'' Silver looked interested towards Shadow.
``Were you created as well?'' Shadow asked confused.
``No, no, I was born like everyone else. But in the future we don't have many births as it's mostly an accident when someone gets a child. Most of them get abandoned as everybody is trying to survive theirself. So having a child is a big burden.''
``But how did you survive that?'' Amy asked shocked.
``My friend Blaze found me when I was just a few days old. She herself was only three years old. She took care of me and later on we helped each other to survive,'' Silver smiled with mixed feelings. ``She was my only family.''
They all went quiet and looked to Silver who took another clumsy bite from his food, he didn't notice how he just dropped a very emotional bomb onto the table. Sonic held Silver by his shoulder and smiled endearing as Silver wanted to take a sip from his water, he looked confused at him. ``We are your family now,'' he said with a caring tone in his voice.
Silver perked up as sonic said that and smiled surprised, ``Really?'' he asked and looked around the table and saw everyone looking at him with mixed feelings, but all smiling endearing towards him.
``Of course,'' Sonic said and everybody nodded in agreement.
``Wow,'' Silver whispered and smiled at everyone.
``That's what's Christmas is all about,'' Sonic said and squeezed his shoulder, ``enjoying the time with your loved ones and helping those in need.''
``Thank you all so much,'' Silver said with a bright smile.
They all nodded and enjoyed the rest of the dinner together, Silver couldn't help but smile every time one of them looked at him. It felt so great to be included into the group, of course he didn't know everybody that good yet, but that would probably change after today. His times of being lonely were quickly coming to an end.
Shadow scooped up some more food for Silver after he had emptied his plate. He wanted to make sure Silver would eat enough after hearing his story. But Silver had a hard time eating everything as he quickly felt full as his tummy wasn't used to this much food. So soon he rejected when Shadow offered him more.
It took a while before one by one everybody laid back their cutlery as they all had enough to eat.
``Everybody ready for dessert?'' Sonic said with a bright smile.
``Oef not now, maybe we should bulge out for a moment,'' Shadow laughed as he was patting his stomach. ``Maybe clear the table first.''
``And some coffee and tea,'' Amy suggested she stood up to ask what everyone wanted. the guests started to pile up the plates and empty dishes. Shadow took the piles to take them to the kitchen, Silver also took some of the dishes to help and bring them to the kitchen. But as the just wanted to enter he bumped into Shadow who just came back into the living room again. Making Silver to drop the dishes.
``Oef argh, I'm so sorry,'' Silver said and looked down to the mess he made.
``It's okay,'' they quickly bend down to pick up the mess but they did at the same time and did hit their head quite hard.
``Argh, I'm so so sorry,'' Silver looked to Shadow who rubbed his head in pain.
``Oooooooeeeeh!'' Everybody made a noise as they point above their heads.
Silver looked around confused and looked at what they were pointing at, to see a bundle of green branches with white berries hanging above the doorway which let to the kitchen. Some of the girls giggled as they saw Silver's confused expression.
``It's mistletoe honey,'' Rouge said with a meaningful grin. Which only made Silver more confused.
``If two people end up underneath the mistletoe, they should give the other a kiss. It's Christmas tradition,'' Amy explained while suppressing a smile.
Silver looked back at Shadow who still rubbed his head frustrated by the hit. He gulped but really wanted to learn more about these Christmas traditions. He quickly moved in.
Everybody gasped surprised, Shadow's eyes widened shocked his cheeks turned red, while Silver squinted his eyes and pressed his lips against Shadow's. Silver pulled back and noticed Shadow's shocked expression and red face. Sonic and some of the other men started to laugh and some of the girls giggled.
``W-what?'' Silver asked confused.
``On the cheek was enough,'' Sonic laughed loud by seeing Shadow's expression.
``W-what?'' Silver repeated as his cheeks turned red as well.
``You didn't have to kiss him on the lips.''
``W-what,'' Silver repeated uncomfortable and felt awkward as everybody kept on laughing. Silver looked back at Shadow who still looked shocked at him. Silver's ears flattened as he felt tears come to his eyes, ``I-I'm so sorry,'' Silver whispered and quickly ran to the front door to go away as he felt so ashamed about kissing Shadow on the lips. He only wanted to adjust to their traditions, but he interpreted it all so wrong. Now every body was laughing at him and Shadow must be so mad. ``Why am I so stupid,'' Silver whispered to himself as he dropped down on the ground with his back against the fountain in the park.
Everybody in the living room went quiet as they saw Silver run away like that. Shadow blinked his eyes surprised. As all the gazes moved to him. He frowned angry. ``Are you all happy now!'' He growled at them. He followed Silver outside of the house. Everybody watched how Shadow ran after Silver as they saw him pass by the front window moving towards the park.
It was quiet in de living room as they all silently looked at each other ashamed, Sonic gulped, ``Yeah that wasn't really nice of us to make fun of Silver that way.''
``Yeah you're right,'' Tails said.
``He's trying so hard to fit in,'' Amy whispered as she also felt really bad. ``We shouldn't have laughed at him like that.''
They all sighed and quietly cleaned up the mess they left behind.
Shadow quietly entered the park to see Silver's quills popping up from behind the fountain. He looked uncomfortable as he heard Silver sniff.
``Why do I always make such a fool out of myself?'' Shadow heard Silver say to himself between sniffing, ``he must be so mad at me.''
Shadow sighed and gathered his courage to come over to Silver. ``I'm not mad at you,'' he whispered calmly.
Silver's ears perked up and quickly turned around to look shocked up to see Shadow walking around the fountain.
Shadow cleared his throat, ``I'm not mad at you,'' he repeated more intelligible.
``Leave me alone,'' Silver said frustrated, ``I-I made a fool out of you,'' he turned his back to him embarrassed to hide his face.
Shadow looked him up and down but came closer and sat down on the ground next to him. He looked uncomfortable to Silver's back. He doubtfully held out a hand as he wanted to pat Silver's back but dropped his hand on his lap.
``Silver,'' Shadow said calmly, ``you were just trying to fit in,'' he said, ``they shouldn't have laughed at you like that.''
Silver sniffed and listened to his words. ``I-I'm just so stupid, I-I completely embarrassed you,'' he said between sniffing as he didn't mean to do that. Silver felt a warm hand stroking his back, Silver perked up and looked over his shoulder to Shadow who smiled endearing at him.
``You're not stupid,'' Shadow whispered, ``they are stupid for pushing you the way they did and laughing at you. You didn't deserve that.'' Silver slowly turned around to look at Shadow with his tear filled eyes.
``Y-You really think so?'' he asked surprised.
Shadow smiled and softly wiped away one of his tears with his thumb, his cheek felt warm and started to blush as he felt Shadow's thumb brush his cheek. ``Yes, I do,'' Shadow whispered. They both looked into each others eyes.
``S-so you aren't mad for me to kiss you that way?'' Silver asked embarrassed.
Shadow smiled a little awkward at him and sighed, ``How can I be mad of something that felt so nice,'' he whispered almost inaudible.
Silver blinked his eyes surprised as he looked to Shadow with confusion. ``W-what do you mean?'' he breathed embarrassed.
Softly Shadow stroked Silver's cheek, Silver noticed that the blush on Shadow's cheeks which did appear after he kissed them back in the house hadn't faded away. ``Didn't you feel it?'' Shadow asked hesitant.
``F-feel what?'' Silver whispered confused.
Shadow hand softly moved from his cheek to under Silver's chin and slowly lifted it. Silver still looked confused towards Shadow but a bright blush started to warm up his face. He saw how Shadow's eyes moved from Silver's down to his lips, as he slowly came closer, ``this,'' he whispered.
Silver felt his hot breath on his lips, he saw how Shadow closed his eyes and moved in closer. Silver's eyes widened surprised as he realised what Shadow was about to do. He breathed nervous and excited as Shadow softly pressed his lips against his.
Silver's heart started to pound as he felt Shadow's warm lips against his own, a warm feeling spread through his body. When Silver was over the major shock his body relaxed, he slowly closed his eyes and tilted his head as he softly kissed Shadow back. Shadow moved his hand from under his chin and softly brushed Silver's cheek.
They softly gave each other small kisses, they breathed heavily as a nice feeling when through their bodies. Silver felt how Shadow's lips moved apart. Silver moved away startled when he did feel Shadow softly lick their lips. Silver breathed surprised and looked shocked at Shadow.
``You don't like that?'' he whispered.
``W-what was that?''
``It's called a french kiss,'' Shadow whispered back and stroked his warm cheek. ``You want to try it?'' he asked as he looked into Silver's golden eyes.
Silver breathed nervous and slightly nodded. He bit his lip as he felt Shadow moving closer again. ``When I lick your lips,'' he whispered, ``you can open your mouth,'' he whispered.
Silver's cheeks heated even more when Shadow started to kiss him again. They both tilted their head in the opposite direction, Silver held in his breath in anticipation. He felt Shadow softly licking his lips again. They gulped nervous and slowly opened his mouth slightly. Shadow smiled softly as Silver gave him permission for his tongue to enter their mouth. Silver breathed heavily and tilted his head a little further when he felt Shadow's tongue moved inside. Hesitant Silver moved his tongue to feel Shadow's with his. Softly Shadow cupped their cheek. Silver wrapped his arms around Shadow's neck to pull in even closer. It was such a weird feeling to get kissed like this, but next to that it felt truly amazing.
With a soft smacking sound they backed away, they both had bright red cheeks and slowly open their eyes, ``wow,'' Silver breathed amazed. Shadow smiled at him and brushed his cheek with his thumb.
``Holy shit!''
They both felt startled and quickly looked aside and looked surprised to see all their friends looking at them, they all had dropped their jaws as they were all blown away with what they just witnessed.
``Watch your mouth,'' Amy said stern as she hit Sonic at the back of his head.
``Ouch!'' sonic reacted as he rubbed the back of his head.
Amy took a step forward, ``Uhm Silver?'' she said uncomfortable and looked from Silver to Shadow and back, ``We wanted to apologise,'' she said.
Silver cleared his throat, ``oh,'' he said as he still felt embarrassed for what he just did with Shadow.
``Yeah we shouldn't have pushed and laughed at you like that, it wasn't cool,'' Sonic said as he also looked nervous from Silver to Shadow.
A soft smile appeared on Silver's face, ``It's okay.''
``No it's not Silver, after everything you told us tonight about your heritage, we just shouldn't have pushed our traditions on to you.''
Silver shook his head, ``Really, it is okay Sonic,'' he looked over at Shadow with a bright blush on his cheeks and smiled bright, ``I think something good did come of it.''
Shadow smiled at him and took his hand, Silver suppressed a smile as he did.
``So what actually is this?'' Sonic asked and gestured to the both of them. ``Are you guys a thing now?''
Silver looked uncomfortable towards Shadow as he didn't know the answer to that either.
``Could you give us a moment?'' Shadow asked as he also didn't know the answer to that yet. ``We will come home in a bit.''
``Yeah okay,'' they all silently left and looked at them from over their shoulders as they softly mumbled as they all felt really curious about what was going on.
Shadow watched as they left and turned to Silver when their friends moved around the corner. ``So what do you think?''
``About what?'' Silver asked as he didn't really know what to say.
Shadow shrugged, ``Well you know, are we a thing, do you want to date me? Is that something you might be interested in?'' He looked curious into Silver's eyes, he held in his breath as he felt a little nervous to hear his response.
Silver bit his lip as he suppressed a smile, ``Yeah I think so, you?'' he asked curious.
A bright smile appeared on Shadow's muzzle and he softly cupped their cheek, ``I would like that,'' he whispered, they both moved a little closer to kiss each others lips.
``Ssshhh,'' Amy hissed as she looked out of the window, ``They are coming back!'' she said curious as the others were talking about what they just saw and were thinking about what the outcome would be.
``And they are holding hands,'' Rouge added. Everybody quickly moved to the window and pressed their faces against the window to have a better view. ``Oh my, who would have thought. Shadow?''
Silver chuckled as they reached the house and saw the way their friends were looking at them from the window. Shadow rolled his eyes but couldn't hide his smile as they went inside. All their friends had flopped on the seats and floor and looked curious to the both of them as they entered the living room. It was quiet for a moment as you could feel the tension.
``So?'' Sonic started curiously.
Silver suppressed a smile, ``Yes,'' they both answered in sync to Sonic question from the park. All of a sudden the room filled with enthusiastic reactions.
``OMG that's so cool!''
``You guys really look cute together!''
``That's what I call a Christmas miracle!''
``This is truly amazing!''
Silver giggled joyful and looked up at Shadow with a bright smile on his face. Shadow smiled down at him and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. All their friends started to whoop excitedly.
An hour later they were all sitting in the living room around the tree, there weren't enough seats in this living room so some of them were sitting on the floor and Silver was sitting on Shadow's lap at the fire place. They just finished their desserts and all drank hot beverage while they were giving everyone their gifts.
``These are so soft and warm!'' Silver said excitedly when he had unpacked the present from Amy, which contained some hand knitted woollen socks. Immediately Silver kicked off his shoes to reveal his warn out socks which had holes in the bottom, even one of his toes were sticking out. He removed the socks and did put on the new ones. He wiggled his toes happily as they felt really nice. ``I really needed a new pair of socks.''
``And shoes, I see,'' Sonic said as he saw the shoes laying on the floor who had holes at the bottom.
``Oh just wait!'' Amy said and she stood up to get something from up stairs. It didn't take long until she came back holding something behind her back and stood in front of Silver. ``Well I did buy these for myself, but to be honest it isn't really my colour. And I feel like you need them more than I do.''
Silver looked surprised when she revealed a pair of dark blue booths with aquamarine coloured tips. Silver's jaw dropped as he looked at them. ``Y-you're giving me your shoes?'' he asked surprised.
She shrugged her shoulders a little guilty, ``Well yeah, if you want them. But if you don't want to wear girl booths I understand.''
Silver stood up from Shadow's lap, ``I think they look really cool,'' he said with a smile and hugged Amy tight, ``Thank you so so much!''
He pulled back and tried to hide his happy tears.
Amy smiled bright, ``You're welcome. Here, go and try them on, I hope they fit.''
Silver took the booths with a bright smile and did put them on, ``Oh my, these are so comfy!'' He said with a bright smile and looked down at them as he showed them to Shadow.
``They look really tough on you,'' Shadow said and booped their nose. Silver giggled as he did that.
``Oh now it's time for my gifts,'' Silver said and rumbled under the tree, to get the presents he did hide. ``I'm sorry it isn't as nicely packed as your presents and it's kind of small,'' he apologised before hand, as he felt guilty for receiving so many nice gifts from everyone. ``It isn't much, but I wanted to do something for you all in return for everything you all did for me,'' he said as he gave everybody a crumbled piece of newspaper. Nervously he looked as everybody looked down at the newspaper. They all looked at it curiously as they unscrambled the paper.
``Y-you made this?'' Sonic asked surprised and lifted the ornament Silver had made with chestnuts, leaves and acorns he found in the park and used the matches and rope he had to attach it all to each other to made their new friends as Christmas decorations.
``Yes I've made them,'' Silver said nervous and everybody turned quiet as they looked at the gift. Silver gulped, ``y-you don't like it?'' Silver asked disappointed as nobody did say anything.
Sonic stood up from the floor and wrapped his arms around his new friend, ``It's the best gift,'' he said and everybody moved from their seats and they gave a big group hug.
Silver smiled bright and felt so nice and warm to be surrounded with all his new friends.
``It is so amazing you just made this,'' Shadow said impressed as he looked at the piece he had made for him.
``They are so beautiful!'' Amy said as she hanged her ornament in the tree and so did the others. They all had a look at the other characters and they all could see the resemblance.
``Wow he even got your size right,'' Rouge giggled as she looked at Knuckles' figure.
Who blushed bright and turned his piece quickly around, ``I think that's supposed to be my tail.'' They all laughed loudly as they looked at Knuckles' ornament and understood what Rouge was talking about.
After a while there was only one present left under the tree, which Shadow picked up and gave to Silver, who started to blush bright and smiled at him, ``you got me a present as well?'' he asked surprised.
Shadow chuckled, ``yes of course,'' he said with a grin.
Silver suppressed a smile and took the note, which was attached to it and unfolded it, ``Dear Silver,'' he read out loud while the others were listening. ``I understand you must be having a hard time, getting to this time under your circumstances. Leaving your time and everything you know behind after the loss of your dearest friend Blaze,'' Silver gulped, ``I admire your courage deciding to stay here after everything you had gone through. I want you to feel at home in this time and I would like to help you getting used to everything, to explore our way of living and make it your own. To share our traditions and activities.'' Silver smiled endearing when he read the note out loud. ``As everybody else will be celebrating Christmas with their families tomorrow, I wanted to take you out, to let you experience something new.'' Silver looked surprised and smiled over at Shadow, ``y-you were going to ask me out anyway?'' he whispered surprised, the others who were listening while Silver read the note also looked surprised up at Shadow.
A mischievous smile appeared on Shadow's face, ``yeah kinda,'' he said while shrugging his shoulders.
``That's so sweet,'' Silver said with an endearing smile and looked back at the note. ``Meet me tomorrow 10 am in the park. I wish you a Merry Christmas. Shadow.'' he read the rest of the note and looked curious to the package. ``What did you get me?'' Silver asked curious after reading the mysterious note. He shook the box and listened if he could guess what it was. The package was quite heavy.
``I think you will find out when you open it,'' Shadow said with a chuckle and watched how Silver started to unpack.
``You got me shoes too!'' he said excited and took the shoes out by pulling the laces, but his expression changed when he looked better at them, ``Those are kind of weird shoes,'' he said as there were pieces of metal attached to the soles. The others chuckled because of Silver's remark.
Shadow chuckled as well, ``They are ice skates, I want to take you out ice skating tomorrow.''
``Ice skating!? What is that?'' Silver asked curious.
Shadow smiled bright as he started to explain, he couldn't help himself from smiling as Silver looked so curious, naive and excited. ``You use the skates to glide on ice. There is a big frozen lake nearby, tomorrow there will be a market with all types of food and beverages and I could teach you how to ice skate.''
``Wow that sounds so cool!''
``I figured, like all our friends will be at their families and we both would be on our own, it would be nice to spend the day together. It could be our first date,'' Shadow said carefully, ``If you would like that of course.''
Silver smiled bright and quickly pulled Shadow closer into a tight hug, ``I would like that, so much,'' he whispered, ``thank you!''
Everybody looked heart warmth as they never expected for Shadow to do such a sweet think for someone he only knew for a few weeks.
Shadow looked Silver into his eyes and stroked his cheek, ``It will be amazing,'' Shadow promised and softly kissed his lips, he slowly pulled back, ``Merry Christmas, Silver,'' Shadow whispered.
Silver smiled bright at him, ``Merry Christmas, Shadow.''
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