For me, Shadow and Amy's dynamic is basically two different types of touch starved in a person
((If any of the gifs on this post aren’t loading for you on mobile--like they aren’t for me--you can download them or check the sources listed. As for desktop, they play just fine, but they won’t line up next to each other like they do on mobile. Tumblr is a comedy of errors.))
Yes! Absolutely. I’ve seen tons of fans say Shadow is prickly and would respond badly to hugs, but canon says otherwise. This is a bad reaction:
[Sonic 06]
Whenever I feel like being sad, I wonder if Bad-Future-06 Silver has ever been hugged.
This is a bad reaction:
[Sonic Unleashed, gif source.]
And I shouldn’t have to say this, but...yeah. These are very bad reactions:
[Sonic X]
[Sonic Generations]
Yikes. I feel bad for both of them.
But this?
[Sonic Adventure 2, gif source.]
This is Shadow’s only canonical hug in the games, and aside from jumping slightly from being snuck up on, he seems to like it just fine.
Just look at that smile! He’s happy. He finds it endearing.
It was a hug from a complete stranger meant for someone else, but he still drank it in--and, given that he’d effectively just lost Maria, he really did need it. It’s the combination of Amy’s gentleness AND her speech that changed his mind. After all, if someone as sweet as her sees something in the humans, maybe they’re not so bad.
My buddy who runs @shadowxamyweek recently reblogged a post about this hug, and their tags sum it up perfectly:
[ID: A screenshot of tags on a post. The tags read:
#official art #4kids #shadow the hedgehog #amy rose #YEAH 😭 #listen I read nothing that has happened with them in SA2 as shippy - and i ship them #THIS HUG? THR SPEECH ON THE ARK? #those are two lonely kids #those are two left behind kids #those are two kids so desperate for affection #for two vastly different reasons #Amy loves with her whole chest and will never stop doing so- no matter what happens #and Shadow does too- that is key to remember- Shadow loves... so fucking much... that it hurts #you are RIGHT op when you say this is probably the first time someone has been gentle with him in a long long time #he doesn't even run away #in the game- when Amy flees- he takes a step after her- a moment's hesitation- a 'wait' #this kid NEEDED a hug #and i firmly believe part of the reason Shadow listens to Amy in the end is BECAUSE she is the only person who showed him gentleness #softness and kindness and affection #if only for a moment #fjdodhdofjgor THIS is what i mean when i say 'be gentle- be kind' #it MATTERS #it FUCKING MATTERS
End ID]
Shadow doesn’t hate hugs inherently; it’s just that no one hugs him in the first place...
...aside from one person.
Amy’s easily the most affectionate character in the cast. It’s cute at first glance, but there’s a common thread to every instance that puts a damper on it.
She’s always, ALWAYS the initiator.
She puts more into each hug than anyone else does.
She’s always the last to pull away.
The most reciprocated Amy hug I know of in canon is this one:
[IDW Sonic issue #22]
Which is absolutely adorable...but Amy still initiated. Because it’s always her job. Even the characters who like affection don’t need it the way she does...with one exception.
And this tiny detail just killed me. The little, “wait, come back 😟”
It’s the only time I know of when someone has actually stepped after her like this. In a game where everyone left Amy behind, he wanted to follow her. Mister so-called-prickly didn’t want the hug to end.
Because he’s the only one who needs it as much as she does.
He wants to be held as much as she wants to hold someone else, and no one else is warm and sincere enough for it. Compare these instances:
[IDW issue #6]
Sonic thinks Shadow is wrong about something, so he grabs Shadow’s arm to stop him, and Shadow aggressively wrenches it away and leaves.
[Archie Sonic Universe #23]
But when Amy thinks Shadow is wrong about something and grabs his arm to stop him, he gently removes her hand and thinks about what she has to say.
Even when he doesn’t want to be touched, he makes the distinction between “don’t touch me” and “not right now, please.” These are from two different continuities, of course, but I think the point stands. Amy’s special. He’s gentler with her than he is with other people, and that’s consistent across all canons.
Side note: how often does Amy get to feel special like that? I actually really like that Sonic doesn’t place others in a hierarchy of importance, and I wouldn’t change that about him even if I could...
[IDW issue #2]
...but Amy does play favorites. I want her to feel like she’s someone else’s favorite, too. I want her to have someone who puts her first and likes her best. I think Shadow’s more than capable of that. I believe he craves clinginess like hers deep down, even if he hasn’t consciously figured that out yet.
I have an entire tag for these two being affectionate. My favorite is probably this one.
Of course, there may be those who say I’m reading too much into one (1) hug. And you know what? Maybe they’re right! We need a bigger sample size. Sega, make more characters hug Shadow, please. Let Rouge comfort him after he confides in her about something. Have Omega give him an awkward metal embrace because he read on the internet that organic beings like that kind of thing. Make Shadow himself pull Silver into a hug when he’s breaking down crying from the stress of always having to be a hero. Show Tails accidentally grab onto him out of fear when they’re trapped in a lightning storm, and when he gets embarrassed and pulls away, have Shadow hold him for the rest of the storm and admit he’s not fond of bright lights, either.
[Sonic Boom]
That scene where Shadow and Amy rescue Cream and Cheese from Cryptic Castle? That easily could’ve turned into a cute group hug.
[Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)]
And I have seen some absolutely adorable fanart where he holds Cream’s hand while he and Amy lead her through Cryptic Castle to make sure she doesn’t get lost 🥺
Have Knuckles give him an empathetic bro-pat on the shoulder when he finds out Shadow’s the last one of his race, too.
[Archie Sonic Universe #89]
Have Sonic try to hug him, and then when Shadow inevitably pushes him away and says he doesn’t do hugs, have Amy arrive and latch onto Shadow instead while he tries to stutter out an excuse as to why she’s allowed to and Sonic isn’t.
The most affection Shadow has in recent history is stuff like this...
[Sonic Prime season 2 episode 1]
...where Sonic tries to hug him and Shadow immediately pushes him away, knocks him over, and tries to punch him in the face. Kind of says it all. Amy stands out as the only one with a good track record here.
[IDW issue #36]
Especially when you have him look at her like this when someone else is on the receiving end of that affection.
So in the absence of further evidence, I have no choice but to interpret this in the most Shadamy way possible. Your move, Sega.
i love that you don’t put sonic as a jerk in your headcannons but rather supportive! this is so cool, because sonic really wants all of his friends to be happy and with amy wouldn’t be different, specially since they’ve known each other since they were children and sonic himself said that she is a special/dear person to him so i agree he would be happy if amy and shadow got together. as much as i love sonamy, i also love shadamy (sorry for the long ask it’s just that is not that common seeing sonic being portrayed like this in some ffs)
Thanks for the compliment! This one means a lot because I think I’m actually harsher toward Sonic sometimes than a lot of modern shadamy writers are. I say “modern” because new “Amy goes for Shadow because Sonic is a jerk” stories are actually few and far between. It’s easy to think they’re all over the place because there absolutely are a lot of them, but the ones I run into are usually from, like...2012. If you sort by Date Updated on AO3, it tells a different story, pun intended. I believe there are three main reasons for this:
1. Since half of shadamy fans started shipping them in SA2 two and a half decades ago, a ton of us are in our 30s now, writing more mature stories with more fine-tuned characterization. This is one of the advantages of having an ancient ship.
2. It’s a tired trope. We’ve all read a million of them. Most people don’t like how Sonic acts in them for his sake, but my biggest gripe is that they undersell what Shadow has to offer. He’s not just good for Amy because he’s Not Sonic, he’s good for her because of who he is.
3. Sonic treats Amy much better than he used to. The reason “Sonic is a jerk” fics were so common 10-20 years ago is because he was a jerk, almost exclusively to Amy.
These fics exist because no other character works better than Shadow as an arbiter of justice for something that bothered a lot of Amy fans at the time.
More on this under the cut. Lots more. I got kind of carried away.
It’s easy to forget how bad Sonic was when we have games like Frontiers and comics like IDW and Mega Drive now:
Between new fans who aren’t as familiar with older games, longtime fans who haven’t looked at their history in a while, and fans who love Sonic and just don’t want to see him in a bad light, tons of people sweep his old behavior under the rug without even realizing it.
I don’t think any of that is fair to Amy.
A brief reminder of their dynamic in the past:
1. Constant abandonment. He ran from her in Sonic Adventure...
...Sonic Heroes...
And four times in SA2 alone! More on that later.
2. Standing her up on dates. This mostly happened in Sonix X...
[Episode 42, episode 45]
...but there was also Sonic and the Black Knight, where he didn’t show up, didn’t apologize, never made it up to her, and made no attempt to reschedule.
3. Uh...literally hurting her, for some reason...?
At the end of Sonic Riders, when he didn’t feel like properly handling a hostage situation:
Oh, welcome back, episode 42! Didn’t expect to see you again:
The new version of Sonic Generations altered this cutscene, thank god, but back in 2011, players saw this:
4. And the worst part of this, to me, is that he lets her get her hopes up. It’s not just the almost-dates he skips. Knuckles teases Sonic in Heroes, saying, “Are you playing with that girl’s heart again, Sonic?” It’s intended as a joke, but then he does things like this:
Sonic X, episode 52. You know what roses are, Sonic, you know how she’ll interpret this, and you know you won’t follow through.
I know I’m picking on Sonic X a lot, but it was pretty popular at the time, even among fans who didn’t touch the games or comics. This was how they saw these characters growing up, and it made its way into countless fics.
But even after all these years, no matter which continuity you work with...he still won’t give her a solid “no.”
Not liking someone back is fine. Not being interested in a relationship is fine. But letting her believe she’ll win you over if she chases you long enough isn’t, and that’s what he’s doing to this day.
Fans throw around the same tired old “justifications” over and over for why he is/was like this to Amy, but they don’t hold water. People say he’s mean because he doesn’t know what to do with his feelings for her, but he liked Elise, too, and he was nothing but kind to her.
(Putting this here because although fans don’t like to admit it, Elise was indeed intended to be a love interest. She and Amy are presented on par here, so if you think he likes Amy, then he liked Elise, too. You get exactly the same result regardless of who you choose for this trial.)
The other frequent “justification” is that he ran and lashed out because he was afraid of her, often accompanied by awful Amy hate (“stalker,” “psycho,” etc.). This also doesn’t work because Sonic was always harsh to Amy no matter how gentle she was. Classic Amy is the sweetest, most adorable little munchkin in the world...
...and he still ran away.
^ These are from the same exact comic, by the way: IDW Sonic’s 30th anniversary. Five pages apart. How in the world could anyone not want her around?
Amy had more spunk in Adventure and Adventure 2, but she was just as sweet, and he still treated her like a pest to be swatted. The ending of her story in SA1 is this:
But...why should she have to? He treats everyone else with the same baseline of respect, at least until they give him a reason not to. Why is it just Amy? He wasn’t just mean to her, he was uniquely mean to her. She didn’t act out until Heroes in 2003, when she’d already been ignored for years. Standing on the sidelines wasn’t working, so she tried being more “proactive.” Was it the right way to do things? No...but I honestly can’t hold it against her. It makes sense in context. She was a kid, and kids act out when they’re neglected.
And this is where Sonic Adventure 2 comes in.
SA2 was pivotal for Amy. Nearly everyone tossed her aside; Sonic left her behind four separate times in this game alone. First was right after she broke him out of jail on Prison Island. He ran off the second her back was turned:
Second, he and Tails both walked away from her after Eggman blew up the moon. She easily could’ve gotten arrested here.
Third, Sonic and Tails made a plan to stop Eggman right in front of her, blatantly leaving her out of it as if she wasn’t even there:
...which, if you’ll recall, led to Eggman holding her at gunpoint:
...and when Sonic set out to rescue her, this was his recap:
This does not work as a joke given how they treat her. He pretends she doesn’t exist to her face, then says this behind her back.
And immediately after that, when it was time for them to save the world, they left her alone again.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I was furious by that point.
But then...something interesting happened.
A photoset or gifset can’t do this scene justice, but I think most shadamy fans have already seen it plenty of times. For the few who haven’t, you can watch it here.
The contrast between Shadow and Sonic is impossible to ignore. By building up this moment the way they did, the writers primed us to notice it.
Sonic runs from Amy’s hugs, while Shadow would like more of them, please and thank you.
Sonic pretends she doesn’t exist, while Shadow’s moved to tears and changes the course of his life because he values what she has to say.
Anytime they’ve interacted since then, he’s been uniquely respectful and gentle with her. It’s what she deserves, and for a long time, this was all we had. He was all we had.
The other half of the equation is that it is very, very easy to picture Shadow taking Sonic and the others to task for their mistreatment of her. As a blunt person who’s not afraid to confront Sonic, Shadow is the most believable candidate to this day. The only person to fully respect her from the start also happens to clash with the person who hurts her most often? Of course those fics exist. It’s a perfect storm.
And it’s no wonder that this attitude persists somewhat even now, because Sonic is still doing this, even if he’s “nicer” about it. That prison escape from SA2? The one he never thanked her for? He still gives all the credit to Tails for that, even up through Frontiers:
Amy. Amy broke you out of prison. Tails broke in, and then she snuck through a maximum-security prison, somehow stole a card key, and saved your life. We’re in the 2020s, but he’s still disrespecting her. And don’t get me started on the TailsTube Secret Santa episode.
It feels like Sega wants us to forget all of this ever happened, and it has some very confusing results. From that same Sonic 30th anniversary comic from above, the one where he and the others abandoned her:
Like...this? This is lying. He’s just lying to her. I can’t tell if they think we all collectively have amnesia or if it’s some weird, mean-spirited joke at her expense. I genuinely don’t know what they’re trying to say.
It’s not enough to pretend it never happened and move on, not to me. Sonic should be held responsible for what he canonically did. Him supposedly being bad with feelings didn’t make it hurt her any less, and he’s older than Amy, so he should’ve been the mature one.
The longer the writers keep this up, the worse Sonic looks, and I don’t think that’s what they’re aiming for. Ignoring the problem is not a solution. Amy might forgive, but I’ll never forget.
I just want to see a canon apology so I can reason out why she put up with it for so long. I want to at least be able to buy her having a crush on him. I can do that when he’s being selfless and heroic. I can’t do that when he treats her like the plague, and pretending he never did doesn’t match the Sonic I legitimately like. I bet a lot of s0namy fans would like to see a resolution like that, too.
Sorry to turn your thoughtful compliment into a rant. I really do appreciate it, and I’m glad you enjoy the stories!
Have you ever thought about how Shadow and Amy would solve their conflicts/arguements/fights? And what they're likely to fight about? (Maybe not the most cuddly ask you'll ever get, but interesting nonetheless as it says a lot about their relationship^^)
Tbh, I don’t really have many stories where they fight. I’m allergic to confrontation even off the grid, let alone on my silly escapist blog!
That said...
When you have two characters as stubborn as Shadow and Amy, they’re bound to butt heads eventually. Shadow in particular isn’t exactly the easiest person to get along with, so it says a lot that these two have never argued once in the games, even with how infrequently they interact. Archie has a few borderline cases, but they’re either played for laughs...
...or Amy easily gets through to him:
As steadfast as Shadow is, Amy has always been able to get through to him in a way no one else can. She’s uniquely suited to resolving conflicts with Shadow. With her unwavering faith in him, Amy would never doubt that they’d resolve their differences, no matter how long it took. Between that and her boundless compassion and empathy, I think she’d usually be the first to apologize and try to reach an understanding. There are definitely times when she’d put her foot down, though, and that’s a good thing. Amy Rose refuses to be pushed aside and ignored. He needs someone who’ll stand up to him like that. It’s how he learns. In return, Shadow deeply treasures the few people he’s close to, and I think he’d be reluctant, even afraid, to lose her. After their tempers cooled, he’d remember just how important she’s always been to him and meet her halfway as best he can. She’d mean far too much to him to risk losing her.
As for what they’d fight about, I do have a headcanon about Shadow disrespecting Amy’s tarot cards and divination. Shadow has never been disrespectful toward women or feminine things in general, but the “silliness” of tarot cards might be where his sympathy ends. Of course, his mind could change once it’s clear that her magical abilities really do work, but I think he should learn to accept her habits and beliefs even before he knows that. It’d be more meaningful that way, and he’d grow as a person by being more open-minded about it. On top of that, his own abilities are basically magic themselves, so he might be one of the first to take her skills seriously once he figures that out.
For Amy’s part, I bet one of the reasons Shadow keeps his distance from her canonically is her open fondness for Sonic. Hearing someone constantly sing your rival’s praises probably wouldn’t be too much fun. I could see him eventually snapping at her over it. In fact, he might be the only one blunt and brave enough to truly confront her. Cream has tried, but she’s too polite to see it through:
Amy would get defensive at first, but once she backed off and thought about it, I imagine she’d see his point. She could shift her focus to other things; she and Shadow have plenty to talk about and a lot to learn from one another. Of course, she’d mention Sonic less if she got over him, but I think it’d be more impactful if she slowed down the Sonic talk even before that. It would allow her more room to focus on other people...and other possibilities.
Confidence? Dedication? Passion rivaling her own? Poetry about being “built in the name of love?” How could Amy not fall for him? Shadow usually falls first in Shadamy fics--including mine--but maybe it’s time for that to change.
I think I got off-topic, but to sum it up: between Amy’s optimism and Shadow's dedication, they’d find a way to bridge any gap they had, and they’d both grow as people in the process. Ideal relationship.
And here is the full major arcana tarot deck for the Eepy Token <3
Took me a bit to find the right colors, but settled on a combo of red monochrome with the OG TMBTE album colors! Hope y’all like it, please tell me what y’all think before I toss these bad boys to THE eepies™️.
Next gonna do a little backing and the box, so stay tuned for that :))
Soooo I'm making a fanfic and it's set in the 1600s, and Sleep Token is maybe a lil evil and kinda a cult and maybe MC is a witch 👀 but I can't say for sure
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
If you wanted to check it out 👉🏻👈🏻 my gf helped me with period accurate clothing for the boys and stuff 🥹
a/n: it gets mildly nsfw with iv for a second but the rest of it is sfw :)
• masterlist •
Vessel likes to nap on top of you (without crushing you, most of the time), and you often hear him begin to start purring when he’s in between sleep and consciousness. He’ll hold you tighter and nuzzle into your skin, breathing in your scent and surrounding himself with you. To get him purring he needs to be completely focused on his comfort and there’s no better way to do so than bringing him into your arms and letting him snuggle you all day.
II finds it hard to relax enough to let himself purr. It’s not that he’s uncomfortable with you, he’s just very protective and prefers to let you sleep in his arms while he keeps guard of the surroundings. You’re trying to convince him you’re perfectly safe inside the house, especially with 4 creatures looking after you, but he’s still getting used to it. But when you wake up held tightly to his chest, hearing a deep and gentle purr reverberate inside his ribcage, you cherish the moment completely. At first, he might stop when he notices you’re awake, out of slight embarrassment. But he lets himself be more vulnerable with you as time goes on.
III sometimes starts purring when he sees you after you’ve been away at work or with one of the others on a day out. His are the most like a house cat, soft and airy as he nuzzles his face into your neck or chest. He can never stop himself from purring when he’s tired and seeking someone’s warmth, grabbing at you gently and trying to tempt you to join him on the couch so he can take in the feeling of you.
IV is the easiest to get purring, you could hold his hand or kiss his cheek and he’ll be sounding like motorcycle. At first he was a little embarrassed of how easy it was to make him purr but he saw how much you liked it and started to embrace it. If you take a nap you often wake up with him draped around you and purring so hard you’re vibrating against him and it’s hard not to rock your hips against his when he feels so nice and warm with you.
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