Summary: Out on a run, Shadow gets rudely interrupted by Sonic's inner chaos demon Super Sonic. Though at least for him meeting with Super is less of a life threatening experience and more of a... pleasant one. Not that he'd admit that out loud.
Pairing: Shadow/Fleetway Super Sonic
Warnings: None to be had
Word Count: ~1100 words
AN: I feel like no one should be surprised I've done another thing related to Fleetway stuff. This time technically set in the actual StC continuity. Not that it really matters for this thing lol.
Shadow felt his fur stand on end and came skidding to a halt. That feeling could only mean one thing. His mind raced through several questions. The two most prominent being: was everyone ok and what had happened? Well if he was showing up to Shadow then at least he could be reasonably sure that everyone else was fine. In fact it was possible they’d managed to prompt him to look for Shadow if he hadn’t just done so himself.
“Hey there Shads~” A voice that seemed far too forced rang out behind him.
“Why do you insist on showing up at the worst times Super?” Shadow turned to level a glare at the golden hedgehog, hands tightening into fists. Super Sonic simply grinned back, not at all phased by the hostility. Both of them knew that Shadow likely wouldn’t come out on top if they fought. It was an oddly terrifying thought, but one he’d made peace with a long time ago.
“Not happy to see me?” Super tilted his head, a sharp look in his spiral eyes.
“Do I ever give you the impression that I’m glad to see you?” Shadow huffed.
“Do you want a real answer to that? Or the answer you think you want to hear?” Super sounded amused, any trace of annoyance gone. Shadow simply grimaced and Super’s grin grew. “That’s what I thought.” The golden hedgehog draped himself over Shadow’s shoulders from his floating position and Shadow hated that he actually relaxed at the touch. Chaos energy flowed freely between them in a familiar and comforting act. Something that Shadow had resisted at first, but he quickly learned that he stood no chance against Super in this. Plus he could privately admit to himself it was nice. Sure he’d pulled chaos energy from the emeralds before, but that was a somewhat painful experience just due to the nature of such concentrated chaos energy. With Super it wasn’t forced or overwhelming, so naturally it felt… good.
“Is there a reason you’re here?” Shadow kept his tone neutral despite him feeling himself unwind at Super’s contact.
"Isn't you being here enough of a reason?" Super hummed, pulling Shadow closer to him. Shadow really wished he wanted to pull away but he didn't. Not that Super would let him anyway.
"You know what I meant. Don't deliberately play dumb with me. I thought we were past that?" Shadow tried to swat away Super's hand when the other hedgehog moved to try and mess with his quills. Unfortunately he wasn't trying very hard and Super got his way.
Super hummed, sounding almost bored. "What can I say, Sonic got careless and I had to bail him out as usual. I figure I deserve a reward for being so nice and not trying to kill his stupid friends"
"They're all alright?" Shadow asked, mostly out of a sense of obligation. He was fairly certain he knew the answer though.
"They're no more ruffed up than what Robotnik did to them. As nice as it would have been to go after them I'd much rather come see you." Super moved his hand to scratch behind Shadow's ear.
Finally Shadow allowed himself to relax completely. If there was one thing he could trust it was Super being honest with him; he simply had no reason to lie. Plus if Super was with him he wasn't hurting anyone. It didn't hurt that he enjoyed the chaos demon's company either. He just couldn't enjoy it fully until he knew Super hadn't hurt anyone. “Fine.” Shadow huffed.
“There you are.” Super chuckled. “Was it really so hard to believe that I didn’t hurt anyone?” There was a clearly forced innocent tone to his voice.
“Do you want the real answer to that? Or the answer you think you want to hear?” Shadow barely held back an amused grin.
“Using my own words against me? How low.” Super growled, but Shadow knew he wasn’t actually upset.
"Being in your presence requires me to stoop to such methods." Shadow sighed. "How long do you have anyway?"
Super hummed. "Not long." He huffed, ears drooping. "Took longer than expected to deal with Robotnik."
"A shame." Shadow honestly wasn't sure how much of his own comment was sarcasm and how much was genuine disappointment.
"Awe, is mister ultimate lifeform sad he can't spend more time with me?" Super practically purred as he gently messed up Shadow's quills.
"Hardly." Shadow batted Super's hand away. Super chuckled but gave up and went back to scratching Shadow's ear.
Super finally let himself land on the ground. Shadow felt the chaos demon's full weight suddenly land on his shoulders. The only reason he didn't complain was because of the exchange of chaos energy forcing him to relax. Well perhaps it wasn't forcing him, but that is certainly what he'd claim if asked. "Is there a reason you still act so mean to me?" Super lifted some of the weight from Shadow's shoulders. "We both know you don't actually hate me."
"You're far more tolerable than Sonic." Shadow huffed. "Though that bar is low."
"Ah yes." Super pulled his arms off of Shadow and walked around to be in front of him. "You've complained about him plenty to me." He sighed happily. "Music to my ears." He pointed at Shadow, finger against his chest. "That's why I like you."
Shadow's eyes trailed down to Super's hand. Without really thinking about it he grabbed Super's hand and pulled it away. Super looked amused until Shadow linked their fingers. The look of shock on the other hedgehog's face made Shadow wish he had a camera. It wasn't often he could catch Super off guard. Shadow rose a brow in question as he fought to keep an amused smile off his face.
Several emotions passed over Super's face, eventually it settled on quiet contemplation. "Huh." The golden hedgehog looked oddly calm. It honestly was sort of nice to see him like that. Shadow in an odd way privileged that he was the only one to see him like this. Well nearly the only one.
"Do you have enough time to visit the Groovy Train? I believe Ebony and Pajamas would be happy to see you." Shadow gently pulled Super to his side.
Super perked up a little bit. "You just want to go there because they let you buy straight coffee beans you nutter." He looked away, his expression morphing into something more neutral.
"I'll take your lack of disagreement as a yes." Shadow did finally let a small smile grace his face. As much as he liked to put up a front he did like Super. It was an odd relationship for sure, but it was one he was glad for. At the very least Super could understand the struggle of trying to keep chaos energy under control.
