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The Ultimate Lifeform Gift Exchange 2025 - Sign-Ups Open, Two Weeks Left
Art by @ryuuyouki
With only two weeks left, we thought it was about time to encourage everyone again to check out our event and fill out the sign-up form so you can get involved! We have already received so many wonderful sign-ups for this event and look forward to hopefully seeing so many more as the deadline nears.
-> Ao3 Sign-Ups - May 1st - May 31st -> Discord Server -> Carrd
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The Ultimate Lifeform Gift Exchange 2025 - Sign-Ups Open
Art by @shxro524
With much anticipation, we're pleased to announce to you that sign-ups for The Ultimate Lifeform Gift Exchange 2025 are now officially open!
Before filling out the form, we kindly ask that you join our Discord server so you can read over the rules specific to this event and join the community of artists and writers that we have built. You can also check out our carrd where you'll find some more information!
-> Ao3 Sign-Ups - May 1st - May 31st -> Discord Server -> Carrd
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My Heart Shaped Sunglasses
002 | We’re Getting Drunk and Driving Fast on Cherry Wine
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CHAPTER TWO "we're getting drunk and driving fast on cherry wine"
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Locked up.
Shadow wanted to be hidden away from the rest of the world with the key tossed into a gutter, never to be seen again, so he could escape the embarrassment that ebbed at his being every time he stepped outside of his house. Even passing by the window was too much, prying eyes latching onto his frame and making a mockery out of his existence. He couldn’t stand it.
Ever since they had met, Shadow has been doing everything in his power to avoid Sonic. By extension, the Wachowski’s were also bearing the brunt of that decision as Shadow made sure he was scarce anytime one of them showed up or was near.
He didn’t know how else to deal with the situation. After making himself look like a fool in front of Sonic them, avoiding the whole family seemed like the only logical thing to do moving forward. Those moments spent hanging upside down from Maria’s arms had permanently engraved themselves into Shadow’s brain, forcing him to remember the embarrassment he had felt every time he dared to close his eyes.
Avoiding the Wachowski’s didn’t strictly correlate to Shadow teleporting away whenever one of them was near, no. The gift basket that Maddie had made for them went untouched by Shadow—though he couldn’t say Maria hadn’t been enjoying it—on the kitchen countertop, the curtains of his window overlooking the Wachowski’s household had been left indefinitely pulled shut, and worst of all, Shadow had refused to leave the household despite how ‘safe’ Gerald and Maria claimed it to be. Especially after the incident on night one.
It’s how he found himself sprawled across his window seat, engulfed in a room of darkness while he loosely held a copy of Alice in Wonderland in his lap, some pop song that Maria had downloaded playing from an old iPod Gerald had fished out for her. The days seemed to stretch on further with every passing hour when he spent them like this, making Shadow both long for and dread the night as even then he was concealed within his room’s walls.
The only difference then was that Shadow could slip away into an undisturbed slumber. Sometimes, his subconscious would be nice, allowing him to get through the night without ever stirring or having any thoughts cross his mind. Others, Shadow was left trembling, concealed within a damp layer of sweat as he thrashed back and forth, never quite able to escape as he was forced to wait until morning, his silent pleas never making it far.
It’s why the first night Shadow and the two Robotnik’s spent in Green Hills, he had tried to avoid this endless cycle of torment, making a grave mistake in the form of going for a late-night run. Waiting until he was sure that everyone had fallen asleep before he slipped from his bare room, only a few boxes littering the floor where they had been pushed up against the walls and the fairy lights that still twinkled dimly.
Even now, when the streets were left empty and a silence enveloped the town, Shadow wasn’t confident enough to blast through the town, aware that one misstep would result in their cover being blown with everything Maria and Gerald had worked towards going up in smoke. So he took to the vast forest that made up their backyard.
At first, he started off slow, just attempting to get a feel for the forest as he weaved his way in and out of the trees, keeping an eye out for any unruly roots that tried to escape from the earth and hook onto him. But as much as the run was to stretch his legs and get out of the house after being cooped up inside a car for days on end, it was also to scope out the perimeter and ensure that it was secure. To make sure their blanket of safety didn’t consist only of a few thin walls.
Not stopping until every tree, bush, and rock was accounted for, Shadow didn’t rest until a blur of blue flashed past him, moving at a much greater speed as an ease of familiarity danced around it as it held not a care in the world.
The sight of the blue streak had Shadow coming to an immediate stop, head whirling towards where the blur of colour had disappeared to, a flurry of steps trying to put even more distance between them as Shadow stumbled backwards until he almost crashed into a tree.
There was no stopping it, Shadow realised, watching as the surge of glowing blue power trickled through the trees and as the world slowed down for him.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it had been Sonic who shot past him. Since moving to Green Hills less than twenty-four hours ago, the oddities that resided there had taken it upon themselves to come forth and reveal themselves, making it clear that Sonic and his two friends–brothers?–possessed similar abilities to Shadow, as what other earthly creature would be able to move at such speeds? Though it did raise the question, just what could Sonic do? What limits could he surpass?
When a few harrowing moments had passed with Shadow keeping his back pressed up against the tree he had bumped into with no sight of Sonic returning, Shadow peeled himself away from the bark digging into his fur, letting out a sagging breath as he did. A few cautious steps forward were taken, Shadow wondering if his mere presence would bring unwanted attention barreling into him as he contemplated waiting out the blue hedgehog or making a quick dash for it.
In the end, Shadow begrudgingly began sneaking his way past trees, choosing not to move any faster in case that alone alerted anyone to his whereabouts.
He couldn’t say he was completely displeased with the outcome for the night, though he still wished he could shake off the rest of the excess energy he had been storing for too long. He had made good work in familiarising himself with the expanse of land behind his house; even if Shadow craved for nothing more than to stay out for a little while longer, this being the freshest air he had ever gotten, he would rather play it safe than sorry. He couldn’t risk it.
Boy, was he not ready.
After taking all of five steps through twigs that crunched under the metal rims of his shoes and through dirt that kicked up with every step, a gust of air came slapping into his back, rustling his quills as fallen leaves went dancing into the sky. Shadow didn’t need to look up from where his eyes had previously been trained on the floor to realise who was standing in front of him.
“Hi,” came the startled voice of one Sonic the Hedgehog not even a moment later, a shy edge almost making itself known as he stood fidgeting in front of Shadow, surprise lacing his features as it was clear he wasn’t expecting to find anyone else out so late, especially someone of Shadow’s calibre. Eyes fleeting up for only a moment before darting away, Shadow’s narrowed ones met Sonic’s wide ones that were so keen on staring into his soul, scanning and taking note of every minuscule detail that he discovered and deemed worthy of remembering, which was all of them. “I didn’t think you’d be out here.”
As much as he wished he could’ve, Shadow knew there was no avoiding Sonic forever, especially not when the hedgehog was standing directly in front of him like he was now. It was unfortunate that, just like last time, Shadow found himself at a loss for words, willing the earth to split open and swallow him whole. Despite that, he forced the words out even though his throat felt dry and ready to close up. Shadow murmured, “I was just leaving.”
“You can talk?” Sonic sounded genuinely surprised as he said those words, the sentence coming out and framing itself more like a question than the statement it was intended to be. It seemed Sonic only realised what he said when he noticed the soft frown that was beginning to crease Shadow’s face, pulling at his features. “I mean, of course you can talk. I don’t know why I thought Maria was your interpreter.”
“What?” Shadow muttered astounded, staring at Sonic as if he had lost his mind.
“But, hey,” Sonic rushed out, trying to amend the conversation as he skipped through topics, running his mouth and not allowing either of them to ponder on his mistake for too long. “What’re you doing out here? I almost didn’t recognise you with how fast I was going and how well you blend in. Good thing you have those highlights.”
“Highlights?” The word sounded foreign on Shadow’s lips as a subconscious hand reached up to run through the red lining of his quills.
“Oh, no, it’s not a bad thing, Shads. I can call you that, right?” Planting his hands on his hips and leaning forward slightly, Sonic forced Shadow to look up at him as the space between them only got narrower. Even during the dead of night, Sonic’s cobalt fur stood out among the darkness, a beacon that demanded attention. “It goes well with your whole dark and mysterious act. Same with the glaring, though you might get wrinkles early if you keep it up.”
Whatever unease that flowed through Shadow whenever Sonic was near seemed to wear off, leaving nothing but a farce hedgehog in front of him. Stalking past Sonic and continuing his walk home with a slight hunch to his shoulders, Shadow ignored all of Sonic’s attempts to stick with him; the blue blur sprang up next to him, arms swinging by his sides as he walked in tandem with Shadow. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Come on, don’t be like that, Shads,” he tried, words falling on deaf ears, Shadow carrying on as if he wasn’t there. He had already wasted enough time that night listening to Sonic’s nonsense instead of memorising every nook and cranny of that forest, and there was no use wasting any more. Quickening his pace until he was in front of Shadow, Sonic turned so he was still facing Shadow, walking backwards as he tried to reason, “I was just-“
Shadow didn’t bother listening to the rest of Sonic’s sentence before he was teleporting away, leaving Sonic behind as he slipped into thin air and reemerged in his room, a blanket of warmth wrapping itself around him from where the heating had been left on.
That same warmth attempted to surround him now, forcing its way into his fur and adding a layer of pressure to his skin. It was suffocating, but it was the only thing keeping him company when Maria was away.
Slipping his book shut with a sigh after staring at the same two pages for the past twenty minutes, Shadow set it down next to him before ending the steady stream of music, the constant wave of noise that he wasn’t even listening to starting to give him a headache.
For a few seconds all he could do was stare off into space as the silence hung heavily, a stark contrast to what had just been.
It was only when the slam of the front door rang through the house did Shadow break himself out of the trance he had seemed to fall into for the better part of the day. His head turned towards the noise as he listened out for who it could be.
Light, pillowing footsteps skidded across the hardwood floor downstairs, the smack of socks muffling its owners' otherwise loud stomps; Maria made her way through the house, seemingly looking for something as a series of drawers opening and cupboards shutting sounded out throughout the house.
Pushing himself up from where he sat, Shadow abandoned any means of solitude. He left his room and made his way down the stairs, looking for the older girl as she continued to make a racket. By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs, Maria seemed to have found what she was looking for; she held a half-torn open box in her hands, about to begin making her own way to Shadow.
“There you are.” Maria’s head startled up even as she said the words, eyes creased and glinting with something Shadow had seen on so many occasions in the past. “I was hoping I’d find you, not that you’d be anywhere else.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Shadow asked accusingly.
“You just haven’t left the house yet, which I’m planning on changing today,” Maria stated, already sure of herself as she shifted the box so it was planted on the ground next to her feet. Tucking a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear before standing back up, Maria came face to face with Shadow’s accustomed, annoyed stare, his lips curling downwards as his face pinched together. Rolling her eyes playfully, Maria scoffed, “Don’t give me that look, Shadow. You can’t hide in here forever.”
“I’m not hiding,” he quickly denied, his shoulders hunching as he crossed his arms over his chest. Shadow hadn’t been hiding per se, just keeping his public interactions to a minimum for numerous reasons. Just because G.U.N knew of the energy signatures that resided in Green Hills, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t recognise his. “I’m just trying to draw as little attention to us as possible, so we can blend in.”
“Well, I’d rather we have some fun instead of constantly being wary of everything,” Maria mused, despite what she was asking Shadow to do; to reveal himself and not care what consequences might follow. “Besides, I think the Wachowski’s have that sorted for us.”
Shadow rolled his eyes at the mere mention of the Wachowski’s, one of them blaringly sticking out to him.
Eyes squinting upon his reaction, one of Maria’s blonde brows arched upwards, confusion and interest blurring together as she took in Shadow. Immediately Shadow tried to school his features, not wanting to deal with Maria’s questioning, but it seemed it was already too late. Teasingly, and without giving Shadow any time to backtrack, Maria asked, “What was that?”
“What was what?” He attempted to play dumb, head tilting slightly to the side. If Shadow could look innocent enough, he was sure Maria would partially drop the topic, storing it away in her brain where she could ambush Shadow at a later date. As long as that date wasn’t today though, he would be fine with that.
“I know what you’re doing,” Maria said, despite Shadow’s best efforts, some sort of ‘Big Sister Telepathy’ as she liked to call it, coming into play. Shadow had never believed in it before, but as he stood trying to force his face to relax, banishing the scowl that was determined to settle there, he might as well just have to start. “And you’re not getting out of talking about this, but I really want to go and look around the town, so we’re pausing this for now.”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” Shadow feigned ignorance as he gave a small shrug, now more than ever interested in the box Maria had brought with her at the mention of looking around town.
“Sure you don’t,” Maria was able to grit out one last time before seemingly letting go of the conversation altogether, focusing on the box on the ground like Shadow as she crouched down towards it. Pulling back the cardboard flaps that acted as a lid and reaching both of her hands in, Maria pulled out a pair of skates, showing them off to Shadow with a grin lighting up her face. “Look what I was able to grab before we left.”
“No,” Shadow shot out as soon as his eyes landed on the skates, ready to turn around and suffer alone in his room again. He hadn’t seen those things since he and Maria had crashed into a tray of confectioneries, the sludge of icing matting his fur. Without needing an explanation for what Maria was hoping to use the skates for, Shadow blandly stated, “I’m not dragging you around town by a piece of rope again.”
“But it was so fun last time,” she whined out quickly, shifting the skates so she could hold them tightly to her side with the squeeze of her arm. Her two hands came clapping together in a begging motion, pleading eyes darting Shadow’s way. Only shaking his head in response, Maria’s fingers interlocked as she considered dropping to her knees. “Why not?”
“Because it’s embarrassing,” Shadow bit sharply, ears flattening against his quills as his nose gave an annoyed twitch. His hostile tone seemed to have no effect on Maria, years of growing up alongside each other and putting up with the other when they were at their worst desensitised her to his sudden outbursts. Turning his head to the side in embarrassment at the little display, Shadow refused to look at Maria as he finished, “I don’t want to have to be seen dragging you around town by a piece of rope like a dog.”
“Okay, I can hold onto your shoulders then,” Maria easily amended, hands dropping to her sides after abandoning her skates by letting them fall back into the cardboard box they had been stored in. A look of somberity crossed her face as she tried to catch Shadow’s eye, her lips thinning together as she was repeatedly avoided. “Now, what’s the real reason?”
If it were possible, Shadow’s ears flattened further into his skull, shoulders hunching over as he attempted to make himself look smaller. His arms came up to wrap around his abdomen, tucking his hands close to his body as he faltered.
What was the real reason? It was the reason he wore inhibitor rings around his wrists and ankles; the reason why he kept his air shoes glued to his feet; it’s why he tried not to teleport, or discover new abilities; it was why, for as long as he could remember, he would be met with scientists, and doctors, and lab equipment. It was why he had to be locked away. Why he had to hide.
If he got carried away, someone could get hurt again. Gerald would have to clean up his mess while Maria would be shunned by her own kind. Or worse, he could ruin all of this for Maria and Gerald and bring G.U.N knocking at their door, separating the three of them for good; Shadow would go back to that cursed lab while Maria and Gerald would be shipped away, never to be able to reach him again.
It’s why it had to be like this.
“I don’t want to accidentally hurt you,” he whispered, words impossibly quiet and almost going unnoticed by Maria. When he finally looked over at her, there was a glossy sheen coating his eyes, the often vibrant red of his irises turning to a syrupy brown. In a voice that threatened to tremble and crack, Shadow tried to express, “If I run too fast or turn around a corner too sharply, I might fling you off, or we could crash again. But this time it could be worse than simply getting covered in pastries.”
“You don’t have to live your life consumed by worry anymore.” Maria’s own voice was wobbling as she spoke, forcing herself to keep it together as this wasn’t about her. It was about Shadow and finally getting him comfortable in his new life after years of hating his own body. “The constant fear and stress, it must be exhausting.”
“But if I don’t, something might happen,” Shadow said, worried. His hands balled into fists and his claws threatened to rip past the fabric of his gloves and sink into the palm of his hands.
“Yes, might,” Maria stressed, catching Shadow’s eye when he finally looked back over at her. Reaching a hand out, Maria let it hang in the space between them as she offered it to him, not grabbing onto the hedgehog or forcing him to take hold. Even when Shadow didn’t take it, she kept it there for if he ever wanted it. With an air of calming authority, Maria demanded, “Shadow, what did I say earlier?”
“That the Wachowski’s are loud and stick out like sore thumbs?” Shadow almost answered with his usual air of certainty, quirking one of his brows as he thought back to the relevance of that conversation.
“No, the other thing,” Maria prompted, rolling her eyes at the statement, though she couldn’t deny the truth behind it.
Hesitating, Shadow seemed more unsure of himself than he had ever been before. He knew what Maria was looking for, what she wanted him to say, but it was almost as if saying it would make it impossible. Just another intangible notion that was too good for Shadow to clasp onto. “To have fun.”
“Exactly.” Maria almost breathed out a sigh of relief. She was halfway there. Shadow knew what the goal was; now she just had to make him see it was possible within their conditions. “Leave some of the worrying to Grandpa and me. We wouldn’t be here unless Grandpa was sure it was safe, and even then, he has a few escape plans tucked under his belt.”
That seemed to be news to Shadow as he mentally recoiled, face scrunching with confusion. He momentarily looked past Maria and out of one of the house's large windows, eyes scanning the area and looking for any evidence of said plans. Distantly, Shadow asked, “He does?”
“Yep,” she confidently announced, popping the ‘p’ as she spoke. It had been a whole process trying to work out the kinks of their escape plan, but with Shadow on stasis for three months, it gave them enough time to set everything they would need up before making a break for it. “He has it all figured out with cameras lining the house and sensors surrounding all of Green Hills, so nothing comes in or out of here without him knowing. I think he even said something about satellites when you were asleep in the car.”
“So we’re safe?” The words sounded foreign to Shadow, not something he ever thought he’d be muttering as he looked to Maria for approval.
“We’re the safest damn thing on this planet.” Maria cracked a grin, hardly being able to conceal her laughter as she put into perspective even to herself just how well they had hidden themselves, something she had never expected in life. “Now, let’s put on some skates, explore town, and have some fun.”
“Okay,” he relented, voice still small but eyes filled with something Maria would dare call hope. With a hand that threatened to shoot backwards at the smallest sign of movement, Shadow reached out to Maria, taking a hold of the limb she had originally offered and kept outstretched between them no matter what.
At the contact, Maria laced their fingers together, letting them intertwine and become one before tugging Shadow over to her side. She didn’t try to hug him like she would’ve preferred to, instead she settled for bumping her hip into Shadow’s, jostling the other before she reached down and grabbed onto her skates.
Shadow made a grab for the rope that had been neatly coiled up and placed within the box despite his earlier distaste to the idea of tying it around his waist to pull Maria along. His other hand was still clasped tightly in Maria’s before the girl was dropping it to instead shoot out and halt Shadow’s offending limb. Turning to her with furrowed brows, a wordless question being passed between them, Maria said, “Leave it, we won’t need it this time.”
A small, microscopic quirk of Shadow’s lips was all Maria needed to know she had made the right decision. Shadow tried to hide his smile, half burying his muzzle in his shoulder as Maria kicked the almost empty box out of the way, the cardboard skidding against the hardwood floor and off to the side.
“Grandpa said we have to be back by lunchtime,” Maria started. She made her way to the couch with Shadow in tow, sitting down on the edge of the seat where she undid the laces of her blue Converse before toeing them off, only dropping Shadow’s hand when it came time to put on her pink skates. “And that we’re not to waste any money on food since he’ll be cooking for us.”
“So just a stroll around town?” Shadow questioned, watching as Maria went through the motions of tightening her skates and tying them up. He felt the instinctive need to check his own shoes, momentarily activating each of them and watching them spark to life, even if he knew they would respond in kind. “Some sightseeing?”
“Exactly,” Maria proclaimed as she shot to her feet, gliding around the coffee table to make sure she still had it in her. When she was confident in her abilities, twirling around and jumping over invisible obstacles, Maria beckoned Shadow to follow her as she made her way to the front door, shoving it open to make way for them. “Maybe some light shopping if anything catches our eye.”
A soft snort rang out from Shadow’s nose. “I doubt it.”
“You never know,” she sang. She let gravity run its course and pull her down the soft slope of their driveway until she hit the end of the footpath, toeing her way onto the road. She looked both ways before skating to the centre and turning to Shadow expectantly. “You can lead the way and go wherever your heart desires since you haven’t gotten to explore yet.”
“Wow,” Shadow feigned gratitude, a hand splayed over his white chest fur as he stepped onto the road after Maria, coming to a stop just in front of her. Waiting for the blonde to plant her hands atop his shoulders, Shadow took a couple of testing steps forward, seeing how well her skates followed after him. “I feel so honoured.”
“You should-” Maria started saying, her eyes slipping shut as she flipped some of her hair over her shoulder. That’s why when Shadow activated his air shoes, rockets fueling to life and letting out a soft puff of energy, Maria was none the wiser until her hair was slapping against her face and she was clutching onto Shadow as if her life depended on it. “-BE! Shadow!”
“Whoops,” he called over his shoulder, a rare cackle bubbling from his chest as he caught sight of Maria trying to fight against the wind, eyes squinted because of its assault. Dryly, and lacking any real remorse, Shadow offered, “My bad.”
“You’re not sorry at all,” Maria proclaimed as Shadow’s head whipped around to put his eyes back on the road, hearing the subtle rumble of a car’s engine not too far from them. Slowing down in preparation for the corner coming up, Shadow’s ears swerved on top of his head, hearing the vehicle approaching before he saw it.
Not moving fast enough to breeze past the car, Shadow pulled the two of them as far over to the other side of the road as possible as they went gliding past, some sort of shout ringing out from inside the car that Shadow chose to ignore.
“No,” Shadow absentmindedly agreed, solely focused on memorising the route they were currently on as he swerved across the road, still attempting to make the ride fun for Maria. “I can’t say I am.”
Turning down corner after corner, Shadow took it all in at a slower pace than he would’ve wished. Though it wasn’t unlike the one he had used to explore their backgarden forest on the first night of being in Green Hills, back then, he didn’t have to worry about having a passenger clinging to him.
For the most part, Green Hills seemed to be everything Gerald and Maria told him it would be. It was quiet, only seeing a total of five people and three creatures such as himself since he moved here, which included Gerald and Maria. The town was also quite small, more so than Shadow had expected. If he were to run across the whole town, going door to door, back and front, he suspected it would take him less than twenty seconds to complete.
Though they hadn’t been there long, nothing irreversible or disastrous had occurred yet, excluding every interaction Shadow had encountered outside of his own house. For what it was worth, Maria seemed to be right.
“Wait, Shadow,” Maria coughed out, one of her arms snaking around Shadow’s neck as she practically climbed onto his back. Her free hand was pointing at a store that had already long since disappeared from their vision after racing past it. Snapping her head around, Maria demanded as her eyes locked onto the store she had found, “Go back.”
Wordlessly, Shadow did as he was told and he turned them both into a small arch until they were heading back in the direction they came from, this time far slower so Maria could spot and point out the store when they came across it.
“That one,” she exclaimed, finally releasing her hold around Shadow’s neck, she threw herself off of the hedgehog, skates catching her and wheeling her towards the store while Shadow was pushed towards almost having a heart attack at her recklessness, hand clutching at his chest where he could feel his heart hammering. Oblivious to Shadow’s stress, Maria murmured to herself, “I thought I saw something about milkshakes.” “Milkshakes?” Shadow spluttered, eyes bugging out of his head as he watched Maria casually roll over to the convenience store that she had forced them to stop at. Smoothing his hands along his quills, the action did little to calm Shadow, though it often didn’t. Attempting to grasp at what Maria had just done, Shadow asked apprehensively, “You just jumped basically off a moving vehicle because you wanted a milkshake?”
“You’ve never had a milkshake, right?” Maria asked calmly, ignoring Shadow’s fretting. She paused outside of the small corner store, one of her skates propped up on the stopper whilst peered in through the window and tried to make out what was lining their shelves.
“No,” Shadow said, exasperated, bunching his hands into tight fists. “But that’s not the point. Next time, just wait for me to stop before doing something like that.”
“I think you’d like chocolate,” Maria mused, pushing herself away from the glass and backtracking over to Shadow. Pausing a few steps away, she reached into the pockets of her denim overalls until she pulled a small purse out, peering inside and counting the different coins and notes left scattered together. “I might get a strawberry one, though. I’ll have to see what flavours they have when we get inside.”
“Maria,” Shadow groaned, getting ignored again. Stepping forward, Shadow tried to duck his head into Maria’s line of sight to catch her attention; the girl was seemingly an expert at ignoring all things related to Shadow as she didn’t even bat an eye. Hands thrown up next to his head, he asked, “Can you take this seriously?”
“I am! It’s really important what flavour milkshake I get,” she gasped, head snapping up as she placed a hand to her chest in feigned shock, taking personal offence to Shadow’s comment. The action only seemed to tick Shadow off further as his eyes narrowed dangerously at Maria. “I also knew you were going slow enough that I’d be fine, so stop whining and come here.”
“That’s not the point,” he huffed out, face scrunching as he prepared himself to teleport back to the safety of his room and leave Maria in the quiet street alone.
“Okay, I’m sorry,” she finally sighed, relenting after playing her little game with Shadow and being difficult. “I know this is probably a lot for you, and I should’ve considered that before acting so brashly. It won’t happen again, but can we please get milkshakes now? I actually really want one.”
Staring at Maria accusingly, Shadow didn’t seem to believe her; he silently shook with his posture straight, clearly irritated, and with his arms crossed over his chest. When Maria could only splay her palms faced up in front of her in retaliation, her purse haphazardly balancing in one of them, Shadow hmphed in what must’ve been agreement. “You’re paying.”
“Of course, I am,” Maria scoffed, already expecting and prepared to cough up whatever the total amount of money would be once they were done browsing the small store. “What are big sisters for?”
“Hardly my big sister,” Shadow quickly snorted, shaking his head to himself as if Maria had said something funny.
“What? Yes, I am,” she spoke, confused as she looked at Shadow, trying to figure out why he wasn’t on the same page as her. They both saw each other as siblings, G.U.N practically officiating it once Gerald became lead researcher and Maria was able to keep Shadow with her when he wasn’t being used or put on stasis. So what was the problem? “I’m older. And your sister.”
“You're only older because I was put on stasis for so long,” Shadow concluded, clearing some of the air for Maria. She pushed her way into the small store, skating straight to the back of the store where some sketchy milkshake machines were planted on the wall. “If I had grown up normally, I’d be older.”
“Doesn’t matter, it still counts,” she announced as she pulled two small cups from the rack and placed one of them under the strawberry-flavoured lever, handing the other one to Shadow for him to pick. Without a second thought, he placed it under the chocolate-flavoured one and began filling it up, listening to Maria’s earlier suggestion. “And if you want a milkshake, you’ll say I am.”
“I think I’ll be fine without,” he decided, only letting go of the lever once his cup was filled and had grabbed a lid and a straw, assembling his drink properly before raising a brow at Maria.
“What? No,” she snapped, conflicted as she finished her own drink and hurriedly put it together, shooting around to make sure Shadow still had his in his hands. “You’re not getting out of trying one like that. You need to experience the awesomeness of a milkshake.”
“I don’t think a convenience store is going to emulate an amazing experience,” Shadow drawled, looking around at the state of the small corner store as he slowly brought the drink up to his muzzle, giving the liquid a quick sniff before bringing it to his lips to take a sip out of after he’d decided it was safe to consume. The artificial flavour and overly sweetness of the drink hit Shadow all at once, though it didn’t stop him from going in for a second sip.
“It’s a start, then,” she decided with a firm nod of her head, watching as Shadow stuck close and eyed the store with caution, taking in all the oddities that lined the shelves and had never been seen by him before.
Leading the way as she often did, Maria began to look around the store, Shadow sticking close to her as she browsed through the different snacks she had only ever dreamt of trying and the random knick-knacks that seemed out of place nestled between everything else. It was only when she came across a small rack of sunglasses, Shadow barely sparing it a second glance, did she come to a proper stop.
“We should try some of them on,” Maria proclaimed, almost infatuated by the different types of glasses all laid out in front of her. Hand instinctively reaching for a pair of pink star-shaped sunglasses, she pulled them from the mini shelf it was resting on and easily slotted them to her face, checking herself out in the mirror supplied with items. Smiling at her reflection, Maria turned to Shadow with a swoop of her hair, striking a pose with her hands fanned out around her face as she asked, “How do I look?”
“Ridiculous.” Shadow wasn’t even looking at her when he said it, eyes trained on a middle-aged man dressed in a tacky police uniform that looked straight out of some poorly made TV show as he entered the convenience store. Offhandedly, Shadow murmured, “You should put them back before you break them.”
“I’m not going to break them,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes as she still didn’t seem to have Shadow’s attention on her, instead watching as the man browsed through the different brightly-coloured doughnuts left on display. Her eyes briefly skimming over the rack again, they landed on a similar pair to hers, only they were heart-shaped instead of stars. Plucking them from the rack, Maria turned to Shadow with them outstretched in her hands. “Here, you try these ones on.”
“Hold on-” Maria didn’t give Shadow a moment to refuse or even comprehend what she was doing before she was pressing the pink glasses into Shadow’s quills, digging the small curve of the glasses’ temple there since they wouldn’t be able to sit behind his actual ears.
His eyes fastened shut, Shadow refused to open them and look through the shaded lenses, not sure what he’d find if he did. Unbeknownst to him, Maria was admiring her handiwork, looking over how the glasses sat on his face, grinning once she was satisfied with the turnaround.
“You can open your eyes, you know,” Maria remarked, waiting to see Shadow’s reaction, but stopped by the small holdup. “They’re not going to hurt you.”
“I know that,” Shadow quickly murmured, shaking out his quills to try and settle the defences that had risen as he slowly peeled his lids back. Turning to see what all the hype was about, Shadow made eye contact with himself in the mirror, staring at his reflection with a small amount of horror as he took in the pink attempting to blend in with black and red. “I look stupid.”
“You always look stupid,” Maria supplied with what most would call a charming grin. Grabbing onto Shadow’s shoulders, she used him to help her balance as she leaned down until their heads were resting side by side in the mirror, getting a proper glimpse at how they looked next to one another.
“Well, these don’t help then,” he concluded, not being able to look away from the monstrosity he was staring at, an unfamiliarity with his own face washing over him. It didn’t matter that his sister was standing right next to him the whole time, her ever-present smile shining through and trying to absorb his desolation.
“I think it’s rather cute, actually,” she decided on saying just as Shadow’s lips thinned together and his head turned away from the mirror, unable to look on any longer. Fixing the frames to Shadow’s face before he could tear them off, Maria admitted, “And that I’m going to be buying these for us so we can match.”
“You don’t have to,” Shadow blurted out, shaking his head as he backed away from Maria, though he made no move to remove the pink glasses.
“But I want to,” she quickly reassured, grabbing onto Shadow’s wrist and tugging him towards the counter as she raised her drink to her lips, finally taking a few sips out of it. The two of them got in line behind two others, another shortly making their way behind them and waiting patiently. “So let me do this, Shadow.”
“Shadow?” An unknown voice asked from behind the pair, making the hedgehog in question’s head snap around to face whoever had called out to him. Coming face to face with the same policeman who had been ogling at the doughnut display not too long ago, making one of Shadow’s brows arch up in confusion. “Like, Shadow and Sonic the Hedgehog?”
“No,” Shadow immediately hissed at the mere mention of the blue creature, teeth bared as he glared up at the man. A soft snort startled its way out of Maria at the question, quickly coughing into her elbow when Shadow trained his gaze on her for a few short moments. “Not like Sonic the Hedgehog.”
“But you know him?” the man pressed on, eyes flicking up to Maria briefly, seeming to fit together the pieces of a puzzle as realisation continued to dawn on him.
“Yeah,” Maria answered for him. “We’ve met him.”
“Unfortunately,” Shadow couldn’t help but mutter to himself.
“Wow,” the man murmured to himself, clearly bewildered as he took in the alien hedgehog. He seemed to have to hold himself back from inspecting Shadow and trying to figure out every little detail about him, on the verge of stepping closer. Speaking lowly, as if no one was meant to hear him, the man said, “I didn’t think I’d ever actually get to meet you.”
Taken aback by those words, Shadow quickly propped himself in front of Maria, demanding an answer, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, it’s just that Sonic’s told me so much about you,” the man announced as if it was nothing, almost hugging the doughnuts he was planning on buying to his chest. “It’s kind of been nonstop, actually. Every time I go to pick up or drop off Knuckles, or come around for some lunch, Sonic has something to say about you. Do the two of you see each other often?”
“No,” Shadow shot out, disgust climbing up his spine and settling in his quills as they threatened to flare up and stand on edge. With every passing second, the conversation being shared between them only got weirder and weirder, making Shadow itch to get away. With a scoff though, Shadow kept up his harsh exterior and snapped, “I couldn’t get far enough away from him.”
“Oh, that’s a bummer. I’m Wade, by the way,” ‘Wade’ said, sticking a hand out for Shadow to take, only to be blatantly ignored, the hedgehog only staring at the offending limb in disgust. When he didn’t seem to spur any reaction out of Shadow other than the sour frown that seemed to be etched into his skin, Wade turned to Maria and tried his luck with her, “Wade Whipple.”
“Maria,” the blonde supplied, grabbing onto Wade’s hand and giving it a firm shake, even if the action felt a bit out of place. Shadow watched the interaction closely, following the way both humans’ hands flexed and wrapped around one another. Tilting her head down towards the hedgehog, Maria mused, “Shadow’s sister.”
“I thought you would be,” Wade murmured, eyes flickering between the pair as if he could almost spot some similarities between them. “Sonic mentioned you as well, saying how sweet you were.”
“Seems like we’ve made quite the impression then,” Maria proclaimed, taking her hand back. What they had done to garner such a reaction out of a stranger who had only heard stories of them, Shadow would never know. He had only interacted with Sonic twice, both occasions holding nothing to report on, so it was beyond Shadow what Wade had been hearing about them.
“Oh, yeah,” Wade said, astounded, nodding his head rapidly as he fiddled with the box in his hands. There was a soft squeak of shoes behind Shadow, making him look back to find the line they had been waiting in had disappeared. He crossed the tiled floor and stepped up to the counter. Wade’s eyes angled back down to Shadow as he said, “You definitely have.”
One of Shadow’s brows shot up at this, gaze sceptical yet unimpressed as he became a silent observer of this exchange.
“Well, it was nice meeting you, Wade,” Maria concluded once she had noticed Shadow was no longer by her side, doing a small spin on her skates until she spotted him at the front of the store, sunglasses and milkshakes already resting on the counter for the clerk to scan and ring up the price. “But we should get going soon.”
“Right, that’s totally fine,” Wade said, waving Maria off as she skated backwards slowly, stopping only when she began to feel Shadow’s quills poking into her back. “I need to get back to work soon anyway. Tell Sonic I say ‘hi’ if you happen to run into him later.”
“Will do,” Maria smiled before turning around and setting her own cup down on the counter. She reached a hand up to pull her glasses off as well, putting her purse on the counter.
“No need,” the boy, who was probably no older than seventeen, behind the desk said, holding a hand up to try and get Maria to stop the action. He pushed the drinks back over to the two of them, then picked up the glasses Shadow had taken off to try and situate them back on his face, but the hedgehog easily avoided it by ducking behind Maria, who took them for him. “You guys are with Sonic, so it’s on the house.”
“Really?” Maria tried to keep the excitement from her voice. She was still ready to hand over the couple of dollars this would all total out to be if the worker changed his mind and requested it, though she was already pocketing her purse in preparation to leave. “Yep,” he said, sure of himself. “Can’t have a hero or his friends paying for cheap stuff like this when you’ve saved the world more times than I can count.”
“But we aren’t with that-” Shadow began to say, top lip curled as he got ready to spit out a rebuttal. “Thank you so much,” Maria cut in before he could ruin this for them. Picking up their drinks and shoving them into Shadow’s hands, she planted her own on his shoulders, shoving him towards the door as she shot the clerk and Wade a fleeting smile in goodbye. It was only when they stepped outside and were well out of earshot that she leaned down and whispered into his ear, “Dude, free stuff. Just accept it.”
“I don’t care,” Shadow groaned, shaking Maria’s hands off of him before handing over her strawberry milkshake. She tried to hand him back his own glasses, only for Shadow to turn away in favour of walking away from the convenience store and taking a sip of his own drink. “I don’t want to be associated with that imbecile whenever I meet someone.”
“Jeeze, did something happen between the two of you that I don’t know of?” Maria asked. She rolled after Shadow at a relaxed pace, trying to ambush him and push the glasses back into his quills. “Because last time I checked, you were a bit starstruck when you first saw him.”
“I was not,” Shadow whirled around as soon as those words left Maria’s mouth. His face pinched as he almost spat out his milkshake, almost choking on it a second later as Maria propelled herself forward and situated the pink heart-shaped sunglasses onto his face. He didn’t even bother to try and push her off, allowing the item to be buried into his quills as he corrected her, “I was just… surprised. I thought I was the only one like this, so meeting him came as a shock.
“Mmh, whatever you say,” she hummed, unbelieving as she scooted back, fiddling with her own glasses for a second before pulling out a small bag from another one of her pockets. Undoing it, she brought out a small silver camera, digital, as Gerald was still unsure about giving them any modern technology. “Now, let’s get a photo for the scrapbook.”
“Not now, Maria,” Shadow grumbled, half wondering what else she was keeping in the pockets of her overalls.
“But now’s the perfect time,” Maria whined, trying to reach out and grab onto Shadow so she could pull him closer and into frame, only for the hedgehog to keep sidestepping her. “We’ve got our milkshakes and matching shades. What could be better than this?”
“Relaxing somewhere that isn’t here?” Shadow offered, looking around the side of the street the two were currently on, and not finding anything of particular interest that screamed ‘fun’ at him.
“Don’t be like that,” Maria said as she finally sprang her way over to Shadow, wrapping her arm, which was currently holding her half-finished milkshake, around Shadow’s neck and pulling him in close whilst her other hand lifted into the sky with the digital camera pointed at them. “Just hold still and smile for a few seconds.”
“Maria,” he groaned, though he still looked up at the camera, flashing a glare of his bared teeth as she snapped down on it, capturing the moment that would unfortunately be printed out and glued into a book Maria insisted on keeping.
“See, all done,” Maria insisted, flipping the little camera around so she could show Shadow the shot. “That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”
“What wasn’t hard?” came a squeaky little voice that had Shadow’s head instantly snapping towards the source, shoving Maria off of him in the process and leaving her to stumble back a few steps as she fought to balance herself on her skates. Finally landing his eyes on who the voice belonged to, Shadow was met with two light blue irises staring up at him, followed by an endless expanse of yellow.
“Who are you?” Shadow couldn’t help but find himself asking, the words escaping his mouth before his brain could realise what he was saying. The yellow creature, which Shadow now recognised as a fox, blinked up at him a few times, the question unexpected, his two tails whirling back and forth behind him.
“Shadow,” Maria quickly gasped. “Don’t be rude.”
“No, it’s alright,” the short fox seemed to giggle, unbothered by Shadow’s confusion. “We never got to officially have a conversation when we first met, so I understand.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” Shadow butted in, arms moving to cross tightly over his chest as he stared down at the smaller creature. Stepping forward and putting himself between the fox and Maria, Shadow made sure he didn’t pose as any real threat while he assessed the situation and what the fox had on him. “Who are you?”
“Everyone just calls me Tails,” the fox happily exclaimed. The two tails that had been mindlessly thrashing behind him quickly came wrapping around Tails’ legs, allowing him to grab onto them and fluff them up a bit. “I bet you can guess why.”
Shadow only grunted in response, eyeing the appendages that the fox held in his hands.
“Tails?” A second voice joined the party, this time one that Shadow had familiarised himself with; it made his teeth grit together while his ears pivoted on the top of his head, facing the direction the voice was coming from. A blue blur came speeding out from around a corner at the end of the street, pausing there as it looked around and called, “Where’d you go, buddy?”
“I’m over here, Sonic,” Tails quickly waved over the other hedgehog, fingers stretched wide into the air to make up for his short stature and to ensure he was seen.
Whipping his head around at the sound of Tails’ voice, a beaming grin took over Sonic’s face once his eyes landed on the fox, that smile seeming to only grow when his gaze skittered over to Shadow and Maria. It seemed to only take Sonic half a second to race over to them, dusting off his hands as he came to a stop next to the fox.
“There you are,” the cobalt hedgehog mused as he ruffled the fur atop of Tail’s head. Planting his hands on his hips, Sonic snorted to himself as if he had thought of something funny, taking a brief look around the street the four of them were currently parked on. “Knux isn’t going to be happy I beat him to you, but I guess that’s just what happens when you snooze.”
“You guys could’ve just waited at home,” Tails giggled as he stared up at Sonic, admiration clear in his eyes as if he was meeting his hero for the very first time. “You didn’t need to come looking for me.” “And miss out on all the fun? No way,” Sonic said, puffing up his chest as he grinned to himself. Shadow watched the exchange in boredom, trying to catch the corner of Maria’s eye so he could make a hint at trying to sneak away. Or just flat out leaving, he didn’t mind. Instead of catching Maria’s eye though, he caught Sonic’s, the speedster turning to him with a vexatious glint in his eyes. “Besides, if I did stay home, I wouldn’t have had the chance to say ‘hi’ to our lovely neighbours.”
“Hi,” Maria cheerfully replied to that, raising a hand to wave excitedly over at the new addition. Sonic returned the action with a small chuckle, copying the motion, albeit a lot calmer than Maria.
It looked like Shadow’s hopes of getting away just flew right out the door.
“Hey, Shads,” Sonic said as he came striding over, attempting to throw an arm around Shadow’s shoulders, only for the hedgehog to shove him back by the face, making sure he was kept as far away from him as possible. Not deterred in the slightest, Sonic cooed, “It’s been a minute. I like your glasses by the way.”
“Not long enough,” Shadow could only grumble, taking a miniature step away from the blue menace whilst eyeing him with disdain, not bothering to comment on that last part.
“Ouch,” Sonic yelped playfully, a hand sliding up to settle over his heart, the other laying against his forehead as he leaned back slightly, creating a whole ‘woe is me’ scene. “And here I thought we were beginning to become buddies, going on little night strolls together.”
“Since when have you been hanging out with Sonic?” Maria accused, their earlier conversation flaring to the forefront of her mind as she looked to Shadow expectantly, waiting for an explanation.
“I haven’t,” Shadow said defensively, trying to soothe Maria while glaring at Sonic as he seemed to enjoy the mess he was making. “I was just patrolling the area when he came out of nowhere and started bugging me.”
“You don’t need to hide it, Shads,” Sonic mused, dropping his over-the-top act as he tried to saddle up to Shadow’s side again, this time not getting close enough to be assaulted by the cranky hog. Any and all proximity seemed to get on Shadow’s nerves, however, and his teeth gritted together. “I know you enjoyed our time together.”
“You’re insufferable,” Shadow scoffed in response, rolling his eyes as he turned his nose up at the other creature.
“Is that the more impressive hedgehog I hear?” A third voice joined. It seemed as if all the intergalactic space creatures were having a little meeting in the middle of Green Hills on a random Tuesday afternoon, as a red echidna came stomping over to the group, standing far taller than the rest of the anthropomorphic beings.
“Ugh, not this again,” Sonic groaned, swiping a hand down his face as he turned to face the newcomer. Vaguely, Shadow knew he should’ve known who this was, just like the fox, but he couldn’t find a single name to pair with the echidna; it must have flown right over his head whenever it had been uttered to him. “Knux’s, what have we said about names?”
“That people have them for a reason?” he droned out, seemingly a little defeated by the response as his shoulders slumped.
“Yes,” Sonic said, cheerful for a moment. raising a hand to high-five the echidna, only for him to grab onto it and squeeze as tightly as possible, a pained gasp shooting from Sonic’s lips despite trying to seem as casual as possible. “So let’s use them.”
“You could learn something from that,” Shadow huffed, mumbling the words to himself, though he wouldn’t mind if a certain someone were to catch wind of them.
“It doesn’t apply to me,” Sonic quickly shot out, responding with half a mind as he turned his head slightly to address Shadow while keeping his eyes glued on Knuckles.
“Oh?” Shadow asked, sounding less than impressed. “And why’s that?”
“Uh, duhhh,” The proud grin on Sonic’s face wavered as he fought back the furrow of his brows, fully abandoning his little teaching moment with Knuckles to instead face Shadow. It was only then, with Sonic leaning into his personal space, that Shadow realised the slight height advantage that Sonic held over him, eyes just above his as his quills steered higher. “Because I just make everything better.”
“Sure you do,” Shadow scoffed with an unbelievable grin, which seemed more like a flash of his teeth, shining through on his features.
“Is that a challenge?” Knuckles questioned with an excited lilt to his voice as he eyed the space between Sonic and Shadow, seemingly preparing himself to watch a fight. “Does the more impressive hedgehog wish to challenge the last hedgehog I fought to a duel?”
“I wouldn’t mind that,” Shadow said, shrugging. He unfolded his arms and straightened his posture, stepping towards Sonic with the full intent of bringing Knuckles’ wish to life.
“No,” Maria quickly interjected, a hand swooping around Shadow’s waist. She yanked him back, almost sending the two of them sprawling to the floor as the wheels of her skates gave a short spasm. When she was able to finally stabilise herself, leaning heavily on Shadow to do so, Maria declared, “None of you are fighting Shadow.”
“Don’t mind Knuckles,” Tails tried to help, placing a hand on one of the oversized oven mittens he liked to wear and call gloves. “He’s just like that.”
“I’m the last warrior of the Echidna tribe,” Knuckles claimed, raising a fist to the sky. Shadow covered the snort he let out with a poorly timed cough, having to look away from the display momentarily. Paying him no mind, Knuckles carried on, “If it’s a duel the more impressive hedgehog wants, it’s a duel he’ll get.”
“Perhaps they can just come over to dinner instead,” Tails suggested when he noticed Maria coil her arms tighter around Shadow’s waist, a protective streak coursing through her that he was all too familiar with. Being the youngest in a house where they seemed to be encountering world-ending threats, Tails was familiar with seeing the emotions Maria was outwardly expressing. “On Friday.”
Face scrunching, Shadow tried to refuse, “Absolutely not-”
“We’d love to,” Maria announced, overshadowing him. She shot Shadow a pointed look that told him to pipe down, so Shadow bit his tongue and waited for this all to be over.
“Great,” Sonic cheered, uncaring as to whatever was going on between the siblings. “It’s a date!”
“Yes,” Knuckles agreed without much thought, clapping his hands together with a wide smile on his face. “Your eating contest will be legendary.”
“We should probably head back now, guys,” Tails interrupted, choosing not to say anything on the matter of contests or sparring; he didn’t want to indulge the topic of conversation any further, instead being the responsible one of the group. “Tom and Maddie will be wondering where we are.”
“Bummer,” Sonic groaned, head cranking back as he slumped forward. It reminded Shadow of a toddler throwing a short-lived temper tantrum. Just as quickly as it had started though, Sonic was back to normal and sprinkling around. “We’ll see you two on Friday then.”
“Yep,” Maria confirmed, nodding along with her words. She waved a hand up as the three brightly coloured creatures began making their departure. “See you then.”
Shadow chose to stay silent as he watched them leave, all of them breaking off at different speeds as they zipped away from the convenience store they had all been parked in front of. He only reacted when he saw Tails take to the sky and follow after the two older creatures, a soft furrow taking to his brow.
When she was sure they were all well out of earshot, Maria asked, “What just happened?”

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The Ultimate Lifeform Gift Exchange 2025 - Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Make Multiple Requests/Offers?
You're free to list down as many prompts, ideas, and tags that you'd be willing to create something for. When you sign up for the event, there will only be one request and offer box but you're allowed to put as much detail to it as you can fit. The same goes for tags, additional characters and/or ships. You're also able to create treats for those participating in the event if you want to create something a little extra.
How Do We Get Assigned A Giftee?
You will be assigned a giftee on multiple different aspects such as: ships and characters you have outside of shadow, your preferred universe this gift will take place in (eg, the movieverse), additional tags, and each of your dnw lists. In the end, you may be receiving a piece of art, fanfiction, or something else since this is based on everyones overall likes.
What Do I Do If I Have A Question About My Giftee's Prompts?
If you have any questions or need to get in contact with your giftee then you can reach out to us and we'll get in contact with them for you. By doing this, we can keep everything anonymous and make it all a surprise when the gifts and creators are revealed.
What Happens If I Need To Drop Out?
If you need to drop out you must reach out to us so we can assign a pinch hitter to your assignment. By letting us know you're dropping out, we can assign someone to take your place and ensure that your giftee still receives something after all of their hard work creating a gift of their own, as well as allowing the pinch hitters optimal time to get it done.
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My Heart Shaped Sunglasses
001 | We're Forever Young in Paradise
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CHAPTER ONE "we're forever young in paradise"
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Tucked away tightly in the corner of the light blue Nissan Figaro that Maria had begged Gerald to buy, in a burrow that he had carved out just for himself among boxes and tinted windows, Shadow was engulfed by the thrumming hum of the car’s engine, its soothing vibrations shooting through his bones and raking over his fur like a lullaby, lulling him into a state of limbo that he couldn’t quite escape.
The constant scrape of metal on wood from just beyond his warm refuge made sure of that, his heightened senses keeping him ever-aware of his surroundings as they picked up the faintest hint of pine and the echo of breaths, creating a crescendo of restlessness that never quite left him alone. His attempts to ignore the restless expense of human nature went unanswered, leaving Shadow with heavy limbs and a scrunched face as he sat hidden away, trying to wait out the excitement of the day.
It had been easier, when Shadow was in the lab. To ignore everything and pretend that it didn’t exist. That he didn’t exist. With fewer distractions, it never took much to get lost in a small corner of his mind where nothing could reach him other than the mechanical expanse of lab coats and latex gloves that left him clawing at his skin until droplets of gooping blood webbed his slender fingers.
None of it had mattered or had made any sense to Shadow until she came alone. A force of blazing locks and dashing grins that had even disrupted the consistent ambient of stasis that ebbed away at his being. Her imprint so forceful that Shadow couldn’t remember when it had all begun to change, a blur of never-ending time from the moment he opened his eyes to the numbing of cryosleep taking a chilling hold of him. All he knew was that there was a ‘before her’ and an ‘after her,’ and that nothing else was anywhere near as significant.
Like a virus, she was able to bypass all of his defences and nestle herself right into his heart, making herself a home out of it, one that she would never abandon. The scientists hadn’t been pleased with this development, biting their tongues as Shadow was taken away from them for too long of a period at a time, only acting when they had him back in their clutches.
With every passing day, they took it out on him more and more. Mandatory supplements would be withheld, forcing his body to cling to the faux nutrients that circled his system, clawing his way by until it was deemed necessary to implement the next dose; Incisions cutting deeper than required, leaving a burning ache reverberating under his fur like an exasperated pulse waiting to be put to rest; Stasis becoming one of the only things he recognised as his time in cryosleep grew longer, leaving him stuck frozen, motionless while the rest of the world around him kept turning.
He didn’t mind though, not if it meant they could spend a few more precious moments together, hidden away in the alcove of their pillow fort with twinkling lights strung up above their heads, even if it was just until daybreak, their adventures forever bring out of reach from the rest of the world. They were something for him to keep, not to be tarnished by the unrelenting scalpel of a government agent with a heavy hand.
At the end of the day, none of it mattered, and he was okay with that because he got something that no one could take away, no matter how much they wished to pry away and destroy the one thing Shadow had gotten close to since his discovery. He got a sister.
The one thing he wasn’t immune to.
With the flutter of an overly fluffy ear, Shadow’s limbo was shattered to pieces as the car’s door got yanked open, a presence far greater than his intruding on the quiet space he had created as it joined him in the backseat. The leather beneath him gave way to the scruff of hands and knees as they manoeuvred their way past boxes and stray keepsakes, jostling Shadow’s frame with every shift forward.
With a soft, unnoticeable sigh, Shadow couldn’t find it in himself to become a fully functioning being just yet, still mulling over the sleep he should’ve been getting if it weren’t for his body’s persistent nature to stay on high alert at all times. So, instead of facing the day like it was expected of him to, he took to burrowing deeper into the cushioned chair he had been resting on, allowing the newcomer to loom over him with no mind being paid to them as he feigned sleep.
There were a few long, dreadful moments where Shadow could feel a set of eyes boring into him, unmoving as they analysed his every breath, making sure he was actually out cold. Shadow had hoped that this act would be enough to stave off any disruptions from his immediate family, even with the promise of letting him be until nightfall or when the moving company had completed their job, whichever came first, hanging over their heads. But as a slim finger came prodding into his exposed cheek, Shadow knew his wishes had been cast upon a dull star.
“Shadow,” Maria whispered in a singsong tone of voice, cautious of the potentially sleeping hedgehog she might have on her hands as she leaned in closer to his face, breath fanning across his muzzle and ruffling the shorter fur. Although Shadow kept his own eyes tightly squeezed shut, not letting a smidgen of light break past his lids, he could sense Maria’s curious blue ones attempting to peer into his soul, scanning his entire being as she searched for any weak points in his act.
And despite vowing to protect Maria through thick and thin, standing by her side no matter what while offering his help in any way he physically could, Shadow stayed dormant, willing her to turn around and try again later.
For a few seconds, Shadow thought she was going to do just that as the seat beneath them shifted again in what Shadow assumed was Maria’s retreat. A welcoming silence flooded the small vehicle as Maria’s breathing stilled, almost giving the illusion that she wasn’t there. The moment that relaxation—or as close to it as he could manage—washed over Shadow though, he was met with a persistent nail that was hell-bent on messing up his perfectly groomed fur.
Face twisting at the contact, his nose scrunching and eyes creasing, Shadow did his best to not slap the limb out of the air and away from his face, subjecting himself to sit perfectly still and remain as he was, enduring the pestering taps against his face as sooner or later Maria leave him to waste the rest of the day away as she gave up in her attempts to-
“I know you’re awake,” Maria’s all-knowing tone came fluttering into Shadow’s ears, just the sound of her voice cutting off his train of thought as her hand came to a stop with it. Shadow tried not to react to that, stiffening in an effort not to move, but it seemed to be of little use. To prove her point, Maria grabbed onto one of Shadow’s ears, kneading the appendage between her thumb and forefinger as she murmured, “Your ear keeps twitching every time I make a noise.”
Right on queue, Shadow’s ear gave a violent spasm.
A huff trickled from Shadow’s lips as his cover was blown, though he made no move to untuck himself and reveal the untidy quills that sat on his head and the bags resting under his eyes, even if they tended to blend in well with the dark colour of his fur. Maria didn’t seem to mind the avoidance, a playful smile dancing at her lips despite Shadow not being able to see it, content to talk amongst herself.
“I want to move you upstairs,” She relented after a few moments of running her thumb through the fur on the back of Shadow’s ear, letting go of him and flopping back into the plush seat behind her with a stretch of her limbs as she escaped the hard labour of moving houses for a couple of minutes. “You’ve been cooped up in here for hours, don’t you want to stretch your legs and pick out what room you want?”
“Not particularly,” Shadow croaked, his words bordering on being undecipherable from the lack of use for hours. Peeling back his eyelids and squinting up at Maria, Shadow groaned as his vision was flooded by too bright of a light, eyes threatening to slip shut and pretend he had never been interrupted. Shifting with a cracking yawn, Shadow tried, “Can’t I just stay in here until the moving truck is gone?”
“Nope,” Maria announced, popping the ‘p’ as she reached out a hand to soothe down some of the stray quills that had been roused during his sleep, a soft clicking noise that he tried to stifle erupting from him as she did. “Grandpa said now’s just as good a time as any to get you in the house without anyone noticing since everyone’s so busy.”
“Why run the risk when we know in a few hours everyone will be gone?” He questioned, not expecting a succinct answer from the blonde across from him. Whenever she got an idea like this, the concept threading itself into the crevices of her mind, in her head, she wouldn’t stop until she was able to enact it, not caring for the chaos that would follow. Groaning at just the idea of having to sneak past the mob of people surrounding their new house, Shadow made his disdain known as he grumbled under his breath, “I doubt Gerald even signed off on this little adventure.”
“Of course, I got Grandpa’s approval,” Maria shrugged sheepishly as if it was no big deal, choosing that moment to avoid making eye contact with Shadow. Shooting her a look as if to say he knew she was lying, or at least wasn’t telling him the full truth, and that he was onto her, Shadow remained silent until he got a proper answer out of her. Not taking long for the cookie to crumble, Maria quickly squeaked in a rush of words, hoping most of it would be missed in the flurry, “So maybe I talked at him while he was busy telling the workers where to go, but he still said yes.”
“So, he doesn’t know you're here trying to break me out?” Shadow easily summarised, a perfect mix of unimpressed and bored seeping its way into his tone as he finally uncurled from his corner and used the seat as it was intended. Making Maria unintentionally act as a shield to any prying eyes, her taller frame was used to block his, allowing Shadow to get comfortable again as he asked, “And you want me to play along?”
“See, you get it,” She proclaimed with a grin, purposely acting overly bubbly as she reached a hand forward in an attempt to drag Shadow closer as it aimed to clamp around his shoulder. This time, he took great glee in smacking the limb away from him, ignoring the small ‘ow’ that filtered out from Maria’s mouth.
“I think I’ll stay here and wait the day out like we planned,” Shadow decided.
“Oh, come on,” Maria whined, crawling back over to Shadow and throwing her arms around his shoulders, going as far as to rest the side of her head atop of Shadow’s, careful of his quills as she tried to work her charm. With nowhere to go to escape the ambush, Shadow was left stranded and to endure it. “It’ll be super easy. I’ll cover you while we manoeuvre through the workers. Piece of cake, really.”
“That doesn’t sound very strategic,” Shadow said, his mind easily coming up with a hundred different ways it could all go wrong. Straightening out his back to try and knock Maria off of him, the subtle ache that had begun to build after hours of worrying and stuffing himself into a ball flared to life on his spine, his teeth gritting because of it. “Nor does moving to such a populated town. Remind me again why Gerald thought this would be a secure location?”
“Because Grandpa was able to find similar energy signatures to yours that G.U.N was already aware of,” Maria rattled off the information for what must’ve been the thirteenth time that day by the way she rolled her eyes along with it.
Its name alone sent a chill rattling down Shadow’s back, his spines standing on edge as his ears flattened back against his head, eyes momentarily darting around the cramped space as if someone was listening in on their conversation, watching their every move and just waiting for the perfect opportunity to make themselves known.
Leaving G.U.N had been a disaster, most of which he had been forced to do with a hazy mind after being abruptly taken out of stasis by Maria herself. Gerald had tried to buy them some time, but it hadn’t been enough. The parts he could distinctly remember had been nothing close to enjoyable: alarms blaring in his sensitive ears, the pounding of footsteps as soldiers searched for their whereabouts, closing in with shouts that left his soul rattling.
Their only salvation had been some rookie misfiring, hitting a canister of Shadow’s stored chaos energy and blowing the place to smithereens. If it hadn’t been for the diversion that the explosion had created, they never would’ve gotten away. Shadow dreads to think of what may have happened if they were caught. He was sure he would never see the two of them again while he was fished back into the lab, left to wonder who had a worse fate coming.
Everything after that, and even the thought of G.U.N alone, left bile rising from Shadow’s throat, an inescapable dread that curved its way into his skin and bones so he could never quite get rid of it.
Looking past Maria and out the window with a faraway look consuming his face, his eyes skittered across all the humans he wasn’t familiar with. Ignoring how they were lugging boxes and furniture back and forth, doing the job that they had employed them to do, his brain labelled them all as threats. Something that could cause unprecedented harm if they remained unidentified.
The thought of taking to action crossed Shadow’s mind. It would be so easy to extract himself from the car and take care of the humans mingling around. He wouldn’t have to hurt them, only knock them out, creating enough of an opening for the three of them to escape and leave behind the idea of playing house in plain sight. His fingers twitched, waiting to be put to work as he had already worked out the course of his attack, an uninterrupted path clear in his mind.
“He said that those sources of energy should be able to cover any traces of you being here,” Maria finished saying, snapping Shadow’s attention back to her as he was yanked from his thoughts, the girl across from him seemingly unaware of his internal turmoil. With a grin larger than the last, she soothed her hands into Shadow’s and gave them a light tug, “Let’s get out of here. We’ve got loads of exploring to do. And unpacking… there’s a lot of that too.”
“I don’t know, I think it’s still safer to wait until dark,” Shadow hesitated, resisting Maria’s enticing allure as he shrank in on himself. Eyes filled to the brim with worry, Shadow’s fingers slipped past Maria’s, lacing their hands together as he tried to plead with her even if he already knew it was a losing battle; It always was with her. “Just so there are fewer people and so that I can blend in.”
“I’ve already thought of that,” Maria proudly declared, acting as the only warning Shadow would receive before a deep red blanket was tugged over his head and he was yanked from the car.
Shadow had all of two seconds to panic before he was getting squashed into Maria’s chest, one of his fists swinging blindly towards her head on instinct and luckily missing as he violently tried to extract himself from his hold. Manoeuvring his body until his chin sat tucked over her shoulder and the blanket kept every part of him hidden, Maria held him close until he was able to calm himself down.
Panic still rattling around in his brain despite her efforts, Shadow ignored the risk of getting caught by the dozens of eyes around them as he thrashed in Maria’s arms, her hold only tightening in response as she began idly making her way towards their new home. It was only when one of Maria’s hands slithered under the blanket and rested itself on the back of Shadow’s head, massaging the quills that threatened to flare up, did the tension trickle from his body and he gasped in his first full breath of fresh air.
Tucking the squirming hedgehog closer now that she didn’t have to worry about getting stabbed in the face by his striking quills, Shadow’s wiggling began to slowly cease, his own arms winding around Maria’s frame to cling to her, inviting Maria to lean over and whisper, “See? We’ve got the perfect disguise for you.”
Shadow contemplated dignifying those words with a response, allowing a soft hmph to leave his lips as he purposely dug his chin into the junction of Maria’s neck. A hiss pushed its way from Maria as some of Shadow’s quills brushed up against her cheeks, none of their pointed edges catching on her skin, though Shadow still grinned at the intrusion.
“Did you forget the fact that I can teleport?” Shadow raised the question when the two of them were well away from the old, blue car they had used to get there, Maria weaving in and out of some of the moving company employees as she tried to walk to their new house as casually as possible. “If you wanted me so desperately in the house, I could’ve done it myself.”
“Oh…” The word fell from Maria’s lips in a whisper, barely audible as she came to a slow stop, trying to process how she could forget one of Shadow’s extraordinary abilities.
She remembers when they first realised Shadow had the ability to teleport, the hoglet taking her by surprise as he let out a sneeze that would normally leave his body shaking, but instead had him blipping away in the blink of an eye. The neutral expression that had taken over Maria’s face slowly dusted itself into a smile at the memory, but like most things, G.U.N was able to make it go sour.
At first, they had tried to hide it, keeping it a secret just between them. Although Shadow should’ve known it wouldn’t have lasted long with Maria’s blabbermouth, Gerald finding out by the end of the week.
Fascinated by the finding, Gerald ran his own tests; simple things that didn’t require any wires or needles prodding into Shadow’s body. To keep some of their innocence, Gerald would make a game out of it, seeing just how far Shadow could teleport, how quick he was at it, and if he could take Maria with him. But there was only so much he could do without the proper equipment.
Eventually, Gerald had to report the discovery. All Maria could remember from then was weeks of being separated from Shadow and being forced to stay away from the main lab while they ran their tests and expanded on their hypotheses.
When Shadow came back, he was frail and distraught, eyes staying permanently wide for the next couple of days as he refused to sleep, spending his time backed into a corner where no one could reach him, not even her.
From there, it only got worse.
Swallowing thickly at the memory, her stride slightly faltered as she came to a stop, trying to force herself to forget what G.U.N had done after they found out about the development, Maria teased, “Well, I don’t think I was the only one who forgot since you were begging to wait until it was dark to come inside.”
“I was not begging,” Shadow growled, rustling around under the blanket until it sat just above his eyes so he could peer out from it, finally getting a glimpse of their whereabouts. He made sure to stick close to Maria’s figure, blending in as closely as he could to the point they almost morphed together and became one as he looked around the front yard that would soon be his, even if it didn’t last long.
“Sure you weren’t,” Maria mused in response, words almost a hum as she started walking towards the house again, having a clear path to the open door that led to a partially empty house. A content silence would follow Maria’s next words, their conversation coming to a standstill as they allowed the silence to carry them until they were secure within the walls of their home, “It’s okay, baby brother, your secret’s safe with me.”
Maria’s words hung heavy in the space between her and Shadow, the syllables echoing through Shadow’s ears and shooting a warmth straight into his heart that wanted so badly to bleed across the rest of his body. Despite their bickering and Maria’s need to constantly egg him on, she had always been exactly what he needed, a guiding light that kept his own darkness at bay.
As they moved, Shadow couldn’t shake the nerve-wracking feeling of being watched. An overbearing, all-consuming force that seemed to stare past the blanket and straight into his soul, seeing him for what he was. Shadow had just thought it was one of the workers at first, someone too curious and wondering why Maria was walking around with a blanket thrown over half of her body, but the feeling hadn’t gone away.
Tearing his eyes away from the grass, Shadow surveyed the lawn, glimpsing over every individual in the vicinity as he searched for who it could be, only to turn up short-sighted. He couldn’t catch a single person out of place, staring them down like they knew the two of them were up to no good.
Until he let his eyes be naturally drawn upwards.
Storming red clashed with a flash of emerald green and patches of azure blue, the two shades intertwining and fading as soon as Shadow had caught sight of them, vibrant colours disappearing almost without a trace. Eyes momentarily widening, Shadow’s irises stayed locked onto the small window, waiting for whatever he had seen to come back, ready for it this time.
Only, they didn’t come back. Not while Shadow was still out in broad daylight, at least. Whatever—or whoever—had been standing at that window left Shadow looking up at the attic window of his new next-door neighbour aimlessly, his stare only being broken once Maria stepped over the threshold of their first real house together and not the overly spacious room they would pretend was.
Upon entering, Shadow wasn’t immediately released; a few workers mingling around on the inside as they piled in boxes and arranged furniture upon Gerald’s instructions. From this moment onwards, Shadow was completely blind as he retreated further into the blanket, trusting Maria to be his eyes and make sure they didn’t get caught as he forced his quills to relax and got as small as possible.
Making sure everyone was busy before moving forward, Maria crept along the edge of the house, eyes trained on the staircase that led up to the second level where all their bedrooms would be situated. Just as Maria was about to sprint across the wooden floor, abandoning the idea of being stealthy, Gerald caught her eye through all of the commotion, calling her over with a wave of his hand.
“Not now, Grandpa,” Maria whispered under her breath, not intending for anyone to hear, even with her and Shadow’s close proximity. Staring at her intently, Gerald once again signalled for Maria to make her way over to him, none the wiser of the hedgehog she had stuffed under the blanket draped across her body as he attempted to get her input on how they should lay out their furniture.
“Do you need help carrying that upstairs, Miss?” A gruff voice questioned from over Maria’s shoulder, her head snapping around to face its owner as a protective hand came rushing up to cradle Shadow’s head from over the blanket.
One of the man’s bushy brows went arching up in response to Maria’s startled reaction, giving her the chance to get a clear view of him as she took in his stocky build, standing dressed from head to toe in his company’s logo. The man’s eyes were trained on the blanket in Maria’s hand, gaze unrelenting as the intense look in his eyes made Maria freeze up, her muscles clamping together as she stared up at the man, mouth opening and closing every few seconds as she tried to string together a coherent sentence.
“Oh, don’t go worrying about her,” Gerald’s scruffy voice came filtering into Maria’s ears, sounding like music as he went to place a hand on Shadow’s head, realising only moments before and redirecting the limb to be placed on Maria’s shoulder. “Maria’s just moving her doll collection upstairs. Will probably go and try to claim the best bedroom for herself as well.”
“Yep, totally,” Maria quickly wheezed out, she and Shadow letting out mirroring breaths of relief as Gerald saved her the embarrassment of trying to come up with some lousy lie. A dry and forced chuckle came barreling from her lips as Maria tried to play along, “I’m going to go and find the biggest room for myself now. Thanks for the offer, though.”
Just as quickly as the words fell from Maria’s lips, she was charging up the staircase and escaping to the second level, where there were no moving helpers lounging around, just an empty space waiting to be claimed. She didn’t stop moving though, not until she had planted herself in a random room as far away from the staircase as possible, giving them a couple of extra seconds to react if someone were to venture up the stairs.
Leaning her back against the wall to catch her breath, Shadow broke away from Maria as soon as the opportunity struck, snatching the red blanket that had been used to smother him and chucking it to the floor so he didn’t need to spend another moment with the offending item.
Seething, Shadow tried to threaten, “If you ever try to bring that blanket- or any blanket near me for that matter, I’ll rip-“
“Yeah, yeah,” Maria casually waved him off, used to hearing the empty threats after growing up in a lab together for years, knowing Shadow didn’t have it in him to actually hurt anyone. Or at least not hurt anyone close to him. Dryly, Maria finished Shadow’s sentence for him, “You’ll rip off my hands and stuff them down my throat. I think it’s time you come up with some new threats since I’ve heard that one before.”
“Whatever,” Shadow grumbled with a roll of his eyes, crossing his arms as he turned away from Maria with a small huff.
“Aw, don’t be like that, Shadow,” Maria mused, laughing lightly as she skipped over to Shadow and grabbed onto his hands, pulling them out from where they had settled as she spun the two of them around until they ended up by the window. “How can you go from a menacing little rodent one second to an adorable, fluffy hedgehog the next?”
“I’m not adorable, nor am I a rodent,” Snatching his hands back from Maria, Shadow finally got a good look at the room they were in as he chose to ignore anything further that came spiralling from Maria’s mouth.
The window the two of them had stopped in front of was large and had a built-in banquette attached to it, pale cushions lining the seat. It almost seemed perfect, that one feature alone as it called out to him. Stepping forward, Shadow tested the fluffiness of the pillow, digging one hand into it as he felt it sink lower. It also had a direct view of the house Shadow had spotted a blur of green and blue.
Shadow had high doubts about stepping outside of the house often, knowing that he was one of a kind and that most humans didn’t act too kindly when encountering him for the first time. His getaways would most likely take place during the dead of night when there was no risk of creating problems that would only need cleaning up and put strain on the lives of those he cared for.
It's why, if he ever wanted to discover what had been lurking in the attic of that building, his best bet would be from the window banquette he had been marvelling at.
That thing wasn’t the only one that could disappear in a quarter of a second.
The walls were an off-white just like the rest of the house, waiting for some life and colour to be engraved into them. Shadow didn’t have much personality to spring onto the house, let alone this small room, not being able to take anything from the lab other than the shoes on his feet and the cuffs around his wrists and ankles, though he didn’t have much to begin with anyway. He was sure Maria had enough shine to make up for him.
The room wasn’t overly large, but the window seat made up for that, or at least it did in Shadow’s eyes. Maria seemed to have no care for the room, still building off of Shadow’s last words as she mumbled, “If that helps you sleep at night, by all means, keep believing that.”
Grimacing slightly at her words, Shadow shook his head in barely concealed annoyance before declaring, “I want this room.”
“What?” Maria breathlessly laughed as Shadow’s eyes finally settled back on her from where he had migrated to the centre of the room, startled by the random showing of self-assurance. When Maria caught sight of his determined-set face, she questioned lightly, “We haven’t even looked at the other rooms yet. Are you sure you want this one?”
“Yes,” Shadow nodded, his movements sharp as he laid down his claim.
“Okay,” Maria shrugged in turn, taking another glance around the room as if she was missing something before making her way over to the door. Pulling out a packet of stickers from her jeans’ back pocket as she went, Maria flipped through the booklet before she found one she liked and plastered it on the door. With a satisfied smile, she hummed, “Let’s go find my room then.”
Shadow knew without searching that Maria was going to claim the room next to his, even if it was smaller or duller than the one he had secured for himself. Ever since Maria had declared Shadow as her little brother—even if at the time of doing so Shadow was technically older before being put in stasis for a number of years, tube-fed supplements in order to grow, albeit at a slower rate—she has always had the need to stay close. One way of doing so was making sure their rooms were next to each other.
It’s why Shadow felt no real rush to follow after Maria, taking in the room one last time before he was following in her footsteps and making his way over to the door, wondering what she had stuck to it.
As soon as his eyes landed on the green sticker, a groan was trickling from his throat. With crossed arms and a glare taking over his features, Shadow teleported so he appeared right in front of Maria, a mischievous grin edging at her face as Shadow complained, “Did you seriously just put a sticker of a gremlin on my door to signal it was mine?”
“Maybe…” She couldn’t help the giggle that erupted from her chest as she scooted around Shadow, on her way to place a sticker of her own on the door. With a slap, Maria left her claim sparkling on the door before disappearing downstairs with a call over her shoulder,” I’ll be right back, I’m just going to go and figure out what boxes are ours and start bringing them up here so we can decorate.”
Shadow didn’t bother to respond, only huffing when he saw that Maria had stuck a unicorn on her own door and a wizard hanging upside down on Gerald’s, something she must’ve done while Shadow was distracted with his own characterisation.
Returning to his room, Shadow picked up and folded the blanket, laying it out on the corner of his window seat as he settled next to it, waiting for Maria to return as he took to some people watching.
From here, Shadow could see the back of the moving van, its doors wide open as a ramp hung off of it, allowing for easier movement of the larger items they were able to bring with them. When Maria had first broken him out of stasis, his first thoughts had been concerned with what was happening; his second, trying to come up with why it was happening.
Never before had Maria or Gerald mentioned leaving G.U.N, making it such a surprise when it finally happened. In hindsight, they must’ve been planning it for a while though, if they were able to save so many items and even purchase new ones that would soon be littered around their home.
Shadow guessed it would be done within the hour, with everything safely accounted for in their house. Of course, he would have to move around all the heavy furniture and help unpack once the unknown humans were gone, but he guessed it was a good substitute for where he could be currently trapped.
“Okay, I was able to find a box of my decorations and I found the fairy lights we used to have in our room,” Maria startled Shadow out of his thoughts as she came barreling into the room, not one to give warning as she dumped the box into the centre of the wooden floor with some flimsy wires hanging from her hands. “Help me set them up?”
“Sure,” He murmured as he stood from his seat, brushing away the last of his thoughts as he focused on the task at hand.
Ready to leave the room, Shadow was stopped by Maria’s stillness, his face shifting to one of confusion as he stood in the doorway and waited for Maria to chase after him. To his surprise though, Maria shook her head, a grin that seemed to be permanently etched onto her features as she said, “Not in my room, silly. I want you to have the fairy lights.”
“Why?” Shadow couldn’t help but ask, voice thick with hesitation to accept the gift.
“Because I know you like them?” Maria spoke with a tone that was asking if the concept was so far-fetched. When Shadow only looked at her with a pained expression, wondering how exactly Maria got to that conclusion, she decided to elaborate, “Every time we would make a pillow fort, you’d insist on stringing these up, so I thought why not bring them to you?”
“You don’t have to do that,” Shadow decided on saying after a few long moments, still standing rooted in the doorway with an unreadable expression written across his face. “They’re your decorations, Maria. I can go without.”
“I can always buy more,” She insisted, jingling them a bit in front of her face as if to lure Shadow over. Shadow only ended up staring at the movement, making Maria bring the fairy lights to him as she wrapped them around her shoulders. With an easygoing shrug, she continued, as if Shadow needed more convincing, “Besides, I’ll probably be spending a lot of time in here with you anyway, so what’s the harm?”
“Okay,” Shadow finally agreed, though he still seemed reluctant, taking the end of the fair lights from where they were dangling from Maria’s frame. Staring at the wires without knowing what to do, Maria seemed to catch on to his confusion as she untangled herself from the rest of the lights and thrust them into Shadow’s hands, quickly making her way back to the box she had dumped and grabbing something out of it.
“This will have to do until we get some proper hooks to hang them up,” Maria murmured as she came back with a fresh packet of Blu-Tack in her hands, peeling the cardboard packaging open and breaking off a small clump of it for Shadow’s use. “Maybe you should just hover up there with your fancy shoes. I don’t think holding you on my shoulders is as good as a plan as I originally thought.”
“None of your plans are ever actually good,” Shadow quipped before he was taking off from the ground, the rockets in his shoes activating as he manoeuvred up the walls and towards the roof, ignoring Maria’s quick ‘hey’ at his words. For once, it was Shadow’s turn to huff out a breath of laughter at Maria’s expense as he worked his way around the room, applying small wads of Blu-Tack where the wall met the ceiling before pushing the fairy lights into the substance.
Just as Shadow’s feet touched down on the wooden floor again, watching as Maria plugged the lights in and the room was engulfed by their soft twinkles, the world surrounding him went quiet as his ears picked up on something Maria couldn’t hear, something just out of reach for the average human ear.
Five different sets of footsteps were making their way towards the house. Two of them were distinctly human, while the other three Shadow couldn’t quite place a name to. Perhaps they were some pets the humans decided to bring with them, though it sounded more like shoes cutting through the lawn than paws.
“Hey, Shadow?” Maria questioned just as the footsteps came to a stop, noticing Shadow’s glassed-over eyes as he focused on nothing. Slowly circling the hedgehog until she was stood in front of him, Maria carefully asked, “Is everything alright?”
“Someone’s here,” Shadow’s voice came out choked and hushed, ears swerving on the top of his head as he attempted to angle them so he could better pick up what was going on outside of the house. No matter how much he tilted them though, he couldn’t catch what was going on anymore.
Maria opened her mouth to respond, but the words never quite made it as an unmistakable knock came from their front door.
Shadow’s breathing was the first thing to stop, his body freezing up second as if he were a deer caught in headlights. His eyes were wide and frantic as he stared in the direction the knock came from, not daring to even make a sound as he waited for the inevitable to happen.
Gerald seemed to be the first one to react as his own footsteps picked up, heading to the front door where he paused, Shadow guessing he took a moment to look out the window or through the peephole—did the house even have a peephole? Shadow hadn’t been able to get a good look at the door between trying to sleep in the car and getting kidnapped by Maria—before the lock clicked out of place and the door was swung open.
Muffled voices carried out after that, a man and a woman’s rising along Gerald’s own surprised tone. Despite everything that Shadow had been told and the countless tests that had been run to prove it, he couldn’t pick up on what they were saying, making the panic that had already seeped into his brain consume the rest of his body as he stumbled back, looking for the nearest corner to tuck himself into as his body suddenly felt too heavy for him to hold up.
“It’s okay,” Maria quickly whispered as she followed after him, hands reaching out but never quite making contact as she ducked down to reach Shadow’s height. “I’m going to go check out who’s there, okay? I’ll come get you once I know it’s safe.”
No matter how hard he tried, words couldn’t form in his throat; the only noise leaving him consisting of laboured breathing as he stared at Maria with wide eyes, willing his body to scream any form of response as she got ready to leave him.
He didn’t know what dangers she was about to walk into, hell, how could he protect her if he was stuck up here, unable to move in the case of an attack. He just knew he couldn’t go back, his body clinging on to that thought and going into fight or flight mode; he just wished it hadn’t picked the latter.
Backing away from him slowly, Maria made her way out of the room, leaving Shadow by himself as she ventured downstairs and flooded his senses with every step that she took. Drowning in every creak of an old floorboard or the way her hair fell over her shoulder and slapped against her back, Shadow couldn’t focus on anything else as she slipped further and further away from him, going just beyond his reach.
Greeted by an intruding and blaring white noise as Maria came to a stop, her reaction was all Shadow could focus on. The way she gasped as her eyes landed on something Shadow couldn’t see, the way her heartbeat picked up as her blood began pumping, the way her footsteps came stampeding towards him in a flurry of what must’ve been fear.
Choosing now of all moments to act, Shadow rushed to meet Maria halfway, ready to blip the two of them as far away from Green Hills as he could manage before going back for Gerald only to be overwhelmed by Maria’s excitement as she came barreling into him, arms wrapping around Shadow’s waist once again as she swept him off his feet and began haphazardly making her way back to their visitors.
“Maria?” Shadow exclaimed in alarm as he struggled within Maria’s hold, almost slipping backwards and cracking his head on the stairs due to her jitteriness, only catching him at the last minute as he now hung upside down in her hold. “What are you doing?”
“You have to see this,” Maria squealed, voice hitting an octave Shadow didn’t know she was capable of reaching as she turned round a corner and came to a stop right in front of the open door where their five unexpected guests and Gerald waited.
Just like Shadow had thought, there were two humans who seemed to tower over him and Maria. The woman, clad in a knitted sweater with what must’ve been a welcoming gift basket in her hands, wore a bright smile on her face, the sudden appearance of Shadow dangling from Maria’s arms seeming to have no effect on her as if she was used to alien species showing up as her neighbour.
The man next to her, although composed, seemed to hide his shock more poorly. With an expression of confusion mixed with excitement and worry, his brows had skyrocketed into his hairline as his eyes flickered from Shadow to Maria and how she was holding him. It was only when his eyes trailed down to what was standing directly in front of him, did Shadow follow his gaze and realise why the two humans might not be as shocked as the average person might have been.
In a clash of vigour, red and green met for the second time that day, similarly to how Shadow’s breath caught and refused to supply him with air. Emerald eyes sparkled at Shadow as they swallowed him in, scanning over every surface as they studied him. The striking blue that followed was almost too much for Shadow, his own red irises taking in the expanse of azure and peach fur.
He was trapped, gaze turning into tunnel vision as he completely ignored the tones of red and yellow that stood on either side of the creature in front of him.
It took him longer than it should’ve to realise that what stood in front of him was a hedgehog just like him, quills downturned but spiking to life. If anyone asked, Shadow would blame his lack of observation skills on the blood rushing to his head. Same with the way he was almost gaping at the hedgehog in front of him.
“This is Shadow,” Maria helpfully supplied, jostling Shadow slightly in her hold.
He was sure that her words were meant to spur him on, get him to introduce himself to the other three creatures that were just like him. Instead, he remained with his mouth half open, hanging upside down from Maria’s grasp, letting his silence loom over the conversation.
“It’s nice to meet you, Shadow.” The woman picked up where Maria left off, seamlessly sliding herself into the conversation. She shuffled the basket in her hands, moving it so it rested on her hip with one hand securing it while the other gestured to herself and the other human standing next to her. “I’m Maddie, and this is Tom. We live in the house right over there.”
“And these are our boys,” Tom carried on, a hand settling on the red one’s head as he gave it a little rub. “This is Knuckles, the one in front of Maddie is Tails, and that’s-“
“Sonic Wachowski,” The hedgehog announced for himself, making Shadow’s mouth snap shut with a clank of his teeth. Sonic’s ears twitched forward at the noise, though he made no other attempt to acknowledge the noise. With an air of confidence, Sonic listed all the names he had accumulated, “Otherwise known as the Blue Blur, Blue Devil, Blue Justice- there’s a lot of blue going on here.”
“I think they get it,” Tom rolled his eyes, giving Sonic a small flick to the side of his quills to get him to stay silent long enough for someone else to talk. When he spoke again, gone was the annoyed father exterior and instead, an understanding guardian as he directed his words to Gerald. “We thought we’d come and introduce ourselves since we have these anthropomorphic menaces running around and causing trouble in town, but I think you already know what that’s like.”
“Tell me about it,” Gerald murmured, making Shadow choose to believe he was referring to the both of them and not just him, especially when Maria was the true menace.
“How long have you guys been on Earth?” Maria squealed out, almost dropping Shadow for the umpteenth time that day. In a rapid spitfire of questions, Maria couldn’t seem to control herself as she shot out, “Oh, oh, better yet, when did you get to earth? Did you crash here in a meteor like Shadow? Do any of you have cool powers?”
A clash of noise seemed to rain out of the small group at once, some answering Maria’s questions while others asked some of their own. The only words that Shadow could focus on though, were the ones that came from Sonic, still unable to take his eyes off of him when he asked, a mix of bewilderment, worry, and astonishment twisting together, “You crashed into Earth?”
He knew it was his turn to answer. Even though it had been his turn to speak for a while, missing cues aimed directly at him, now more than ever was his turn to speak. Opening his mouth cautiously just as he had done before, with an answer on the tip of his tongue, the words died out before they could even reach the surface, leaving him stranded with no way of expressing himself.
Like any rational being would do when patient eyes were watching him, waiting for him to summon the courage to speak, he ran. Blipping out of existence—and Maria’s arms—as he disappeared from the conversation completely, ignoring the startled gasps and exclaims of confusion as he returned to his room in the flash of an eye.

Master List | Prev | Next | Can Also Read Here
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The Ultimate Lifeform Gift Exchange 2025 - Mod Applications
To all the Shadow the Hedgehog fans out there, welcome to the Moderator Applications! We're looking for your help in running The Ultimate Lifeform Gift Exchange, so we're calling for all Shadow the Hedgehog fans to get involved!
If you'd like to get behind the scenes, get your hands on all the information first-hand, and just help out with this event, now is your chance to do so. With many different spots to fill, there's a role out there for everyone so we welcome you to check out the form and fill it out!
All applicants will be contacted via Email or Discord to inform them of what comes next after being accepted into this role. We hope you're one of the people we're reaching out to.
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The Ultimate Lifeform Gift Exchange - Schedule
Since we've already had some amazing individuals fill out our interest form, we thought now was a great time to release the planned schedule for this event.
For the remainder of the month, our interest form will be open and collecting responses so we can continue to get a rough idea of how many people are interested in participating in this event. Right now, the only way to get access to the Discord server where all the information regarding this event is held, is by filling out the interest form and having the link sent to you.
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The Ultimate Lifeform Gift Exchange 2025 - Interest Check
To all the Shadow the Hedgehog fans out there, welcome to the official blog for our gift exchange! The Ultimate Lifeform Gift Exchange is a gift exchange centred around everything Shadow! If you're interested in writing a fic, creating some art, recording a podfic or more then please check out the rest of our page, fill out our interest form, and make your way over to our Discord server.
Currently, we're running an interest check to get a rough gauge of numbers for this event and how we should better prepare ourselves for it. We kindly ask that you fill out this form to the best of your ability so that we can make this experience amazing for everyone. Once you’ve gone through the optional and required questions, expect an email in your inbox from us in the next 24 hours officially welcoming you to our Discord server where you can find everything you’ll need for this event.
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My Heart Shaped Sunglasses
Here's a little sneak peek at what I've been working on recently. Hope you enjoy! What you're reading now is bound to change as this is only the first draft.

Tucked away tightly in the corner of the light blue Nissan Figaro that Maria had begged Gerald to buy, Shadow was engulfed by the thrumming hum of the car’s engine. Its soothing vibrations went shooting through his bones and raking over his fur, lulling Shadow into a state of limbo that he couldn’t quite escape.
The constant scrape of metal on wood from just beyond his warm refuge made sure of that as his heightened senses kept him ever-aware of his surroundings. Even as he attempted to ignore the restless expense of human nature, Shadow was left with heavy limbs and a scrunched face as he sat hidden away, trying to wait out the excitement of the day.
It had been easier when Shadow was in the lab. There were fewer distractions and it didn’t take much to get lost in thought. Everything there had been mechanical until she came along. Even the consistent ambient of stasis had been disrupted by her charming smile and the spin of her wheels.
Shadow couldn’t remember when it had all begun to change. All he knew was that there was a before her and an after her. Like a virus, she was able to bypass all of his defences and nestle herself right into his heart, making herself a home out of it. The scientists had been less than pleased with this development, taking it out more and more on Shadow with every day that passed since there was no way around this. Not with the girl's grandfather being their new lead researcher.
He didn’t mind though, not if it meant they could spend more time together. Even if the experiments became harsher and his time in cryosleep was longer, leaving him stuck frozen while the rest of the world around him got to move on, he was okay with that because, at the end of the day, he got something that no one could take away. He got a sister.
She was the one thing he wasn’t immune to.
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March Multi-Fandom Gift Exchange
It's that time of month when a new Gift Exchange opens, and we're all itching to get our assignments and begin writing. So, Fandoms of Our Own brings to you our March Multi-Fandom Gift Exchange!
This will be Fandom of Our Own's first-ever multi-fandom gift exchange, which we're so excited to bring to you! Fandom of Our Own is a Discord server that only recently started. It is dedicated to every fandom out there and creates a safe space for people to participate in challenges and events. Everyone is welcome to join our events, even if you aren't a part of our server, but we do ask/invite you to join it so you can explore the space and stay in the loop for more events! Here's a link, but if that doesn't work, feel free to reach out so we can get that sorted.
Now, let's get to the part you all want to hear. This is a gift exchange for every and all fandoms that will run for the month of March. Usually, we would have sign-ups start the week before the 1st of every month, but since the Fandom of Our Own server was created on the 2nd of March, it'll run a little differently this month.
Timeline:
Sign-up Opens: 2/3/25 Sign-up Closes: 9/3/25 Assignments Due: 26/3/25 Pinch Hitters Assigned (If Needed): 27/3/25 Pinch Hitters Assignments Due: 31/3/25 Works Revealed: 1/4/25 Creators Revealed: 2/4/25
Due to this being a multi-fandom gift exchange, any fandom is welcome to be requested or offered in it, meaning you can put in as many requests as you want in the hopes that you will be gifted a fic from one of your favoured fandoms. However, when you get an assignment, you only have to write about one fandom, unless in some cases both a request and an offer for a crossover has been made.
Each story written for this gift exchange must have a minimum of 500 words, but there is no maximum, so you can write for as long as you wish.
Now, if this gift exchange has caught your attention, which I hope it has, you are more than welcome to go to the sign-up form and begin putting in your offers and requests!
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Fandoms of Our Own

Hello and welcome to Fandom of Our Own, a space dedicated to the different fandoms that litter the void! We're calling all fandoms far and wide to get involved and take part in our Discord Server, where we offer a variety of monthly challenges for all to take part in.
If you're involved in the world of fanfiction in any capacity, then this community is the place for you! Even while still in the early stages of development, our Discord Server has received amazing support and feedback, so much so that we're ecstatic to extend it to you!
Events that we offer:
Gift Exchange -> Have a randomly selected assignment sent your way to bring a smile to someone else's face. Flash Fest -> Get inspired by an assorted list of prompts and pick one to fulfil. Bingo -> Complete a 3x3 table of prompts that'll have the cogs in your brain whirring. Writing Sprint -> Go head to head with other writers and see how many words you can get down in a short amount of time. Partner Writing Contest -> Team up with someone in your fandom to bring out the best of the best.
Services you can find:
Beta Readers -> Have someone read through the pages of your work before you hit publish. Pinch Hitters -> Someone's always willing to step up when the help is needed. Collaborators -> Work together to create something beautiful.
Join us and our community, where we come together to support and uplift those in the same creative field as us. If you're part of a fandom, we want you here, no matter if it's fanfic, art, reading, or more!
We would love to see how far we can get and how much we can grow, so if you're able, spread the word!
Discord Server Link: https://discord.gg/FPwzyNNYZh
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Discord Server

Recently, in a spur-of-the-moment decision, I decided I wanted to create my very own Discord server that’s dedicated and open to different fandoms. Of course, many servers already do this, so I decided to take it one step further and create not only a safe space for writers, readers, and artists of different fandoms, but also a space where people could partake in multi-fandom events such as gift exchanges, flash fests, and bingos.
It’s still in the very early stages of development, so let me know if you find any problems with it or have any ideas to help improve the server, but I would love to invite you all to be a part of it.
Currently, we have a multi-fandom gift exchange open for the month of March, which I would love to see as many fandoms as possible get involved with. But soon, I’d also like to start a small flash fest up with different prompts that all correspond to the same theme.
I’m hoping this is a start to what will hopefully be a blossoming sever one day; One that you can all be a part of. Fandom of Our Own waits for you.
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Bloodlust
000 | Miguel Diaz x OC
┌───────────┐
BLOODLUST "desire for bloodshed"
└───────────┘

Melanie Brown was a perfectionist. She was also an extremely hardworking, social butterfly who strived to be the best at every task she took on and every challenge that she had to overcome. She always stuck by her friends whenever they needed her, sought to answer questions in class, and also had a rescue cat. Once again, she was a perfectionist.
Many thought it was a curse to be considered a perfectionist but Melanie always thought of it as a blessing, be it in disguise. Although she may find herself stuck in place going over something for hours until she had it nailed, it made her a better person at the end of the day, performing as her best self.
It also kept Melanie in her father’s good graces.
Her perfect world however came momentarily crumbling down once she was informed she’d be moving halfway across the planet, settling in Los Angeles, California. The San Fernando Valley to be exact. But that was fine, it just meant she had to start from scratch.
All she had to do was find a group of people she clicked with, catch up on her studies and join an extracurricular that the school offered. She had done it all once before, she could do it again.
Just control yourself.

⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙
Master List || Prev || Next || Can Also Read Here
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There Are No Winners With Revenge
000 | Sonic the Hedgehog x OC x Shadow the Hedgehog
┌───────────┐
THERE ARE NO WINNERS WITH REVENGE "the action of harming someone in return for a wrong suffered at their hands"
└───────────┘

“Would you like to hear a story,” Cyril, a village elder, wondered to the snow leopard cub who raced to keep up with him, reaching a hand out to her so she could latch onto it. Instead of receiving a verbal response, Cyril was met with eyes wide and full of wonder. “Of a warrior named Sa’tari?”
A soft gasp escaped the small leopard’s lips as she came to a sudden stop, dragging Cyril back with her. An amused smile began to tug at his lips as he turned to stare down at the cub, excitement and confusion flickering across her face. “But that’s my name?”
“That’s right,” Cyril agreed, bemused at the cub’s reaction before he was bending at the knee to scoop her up into his arms and continue their short walk to the edge of the village. Sa’tari put up no fight, too stunned to do so as she waited for him to continue the story. “You, my little Sa’tari, will be this village’s last hope when the time comes.”
“Does that mean I’m going to be a warrior like Papa?” Sa’tari whispered as if the idea of it was too good to be true.
“Of course, it does,” Cyril said as they finally broke away from the village and wandered on a trail through the snow and thick forest-covered mountains, continuing until they reached what seemed to be an old, overgrown temple. “But that’s many, long years away.”
“But I want to be a warrior now,” Sa’tari whined, one of her paws digging into Cyril’s shoulder as her claws made contact, the cub not yet used to controlling the pointed weapons.
“Patience, child,” Cyril warned with a chuckle, used to seeing such enthusiasm. His words didn’t do anything to quam Sa’tari’s excitement though, not as she rocked out of his hold and raced towards the temple, as if crashing through its walls would make her the warrior she was destined to be. A sombre expression passed over his features as he watched her go. “Let’s not rush the inevitable.”

⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙
Master List || Prev || Next || Can Also Read Here
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A Lightfury’s Guide to Stealing A Dragon Rider Update
Hey guys, no update on my A Lightfury’s Guide to Stealing A Dragon Rider series just yet since I haven't been able to get too much work done on it yet. Hopefully, I'll be able to start releasing some sneak peeks for it soon though.
If you guys wanted to do some things to help spark some ideas you could suggest them below just for some little moments. If I haven't said it before, I'm hoping to make this series from RTTE to HTTYD 3 so lots of writing. I'll finish the RTTE part of it and publish that though so you don't have to wait months for the whole thing. I'll be posting it here and on some other platforms like Ao3 and Wattpad probably so as many people as possible can read it.
If you want to support me while you wait though, there are a few things you can do. For free you can follow this link and download the Kinder World app and use my referral code WV9K4X so that I can get some free in-game items as well as make a commission for every new player who joins with the link. https://playkinderworld.sng.link/Dqiel/egiwg?_smtype=3
You can also go and follow my online literary magazine on Instagram so I can see all your support and so I can share other people's hard work with you guys. You're all also free to submit your work and get it published in the magazine, although it just needs to be original work.
For a small price, you can get a commission from me to write you whatever you want! Original or not, you can tell me the story you want and I'll write it. Prices and word counts vary so make sure to reach out if you do want to get something. You can always get something HTTYD-related.
#fanfic#fanfiction#httyd#reader insert#x reader#how to train your dragon#rtte#hiccup horrendous haddock iii#hiccup httyd#hiccup x reader#httyd 2#httyd rtte#httyd oc#hiccup#hiccup and toothless#toothless#httyd fanfiction#astrid httyd#httyd astrid#hiccup how to train your dragon#hiccup haddock#httyd hiccup#astrid hofferson#tuffnut#tuffnut thorston#ruffnut and tuffnut#httyd tuffnut#fishlegs#snotlout#dagur
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Can I Get A Kiss?
PAIRING | Rengoku Kyoujurou/Uzui Tengen
WORD COUNT | 1097
SUMMARY | Rengoku is on his way to teach a class when he is suddenly yanked to the side by his husband and fellow teacher. What could Tengen want so urgently that he must manhandle Rengoku out of the hallway? A kiss.
RATING | General Audiences
WARNING/TAG(S) | No Archive Warnings Apply
A/N | This is my first time partaking in a month-long prompt list so I'm going to do my best to keep up with it can get as many done as I can. It'll hopefully give me a reason to write more which I desperately need. Also, if you'd like to support me then you should consider downloading the Kinder World app with this link. My referral code is WV9K4X but if you need a new referral code then feel free to reach out!
EVENTS | @aug-kissed | Indirect Kiss
AO3 LINK | Read Here
“Tengen, you know you can’t do this while we’re teaching,” Rengoku whisper-shouted at the taller man who was currently caging him against a wall. With one of Tengen’s large hands placed next to his head, the other cupping his cheek as his head was tilted back to allow Tengen easier access to his lips, Rengoku was essentially stuck with nowhere else to go after Tengen had randomly grabbed and yanked him down a random hallway as students made their way to their next class. “What if a student sees us?”
“Screw the students,” Tengen groaned with a roll of his eyes, making Rengoku let out a shocked gasp and deliver a slap to his shoulder. A soft scoff tumbled from Tengen’s lips at Rengoku’s action, the frown that had morphed onto his face at the mention of the annoying twerps slowly lifting into a smile the longer he stared at Rengoku’s face. “Besides, what harm will a little kiss do them?”
“Have you ever heard of public indecency?” Rengoku accused him, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back into the wall and stared up at Tengen, their proximity making it so that they were already almost locking lips. It was already a struggle for Rengoku to go a day at school without spending every free moment with Tengen, wanting nothing more than to slip his hand into Tengen’s while they walked through the hall or were on lunch break. Being cornered by the taller man didn’t help. “We also don’t need another complaint filed against us by the staff or a student spreading rumours.”
“No one’s going to report us or start a rumour that we haven’t already heard before,” Tengen reminded Rengoku, the two of them having to deal with numerous amounts of rumours in the past, some directly linked to the other while some were completely unrelated. Unlike Tengen, Rengoku would be drained by them, too interested in what others were saying while Tengen used it for nothing but a source of amusement, only shooting them down when Rengoku was involved. Switching on a flashy smile, Tengen’s voice dropped as he said, “Come on, Kyōjurō, just one kiss.”
“Not at school,” Rengoku said, narrowed eyes as he smiled up at his husband, a hand coming up to separate his lips from Tengen’s and act as a barrier so he couldn’t try again. Rengoku could tell his smile was beginning to strain, the tips of his ears burning red from how Tengen had said his name. “You know the rules. Once we’re off school grounds we’re free to do whatever we like. There’s only one more hour until lunch and then the day will fly after that. Now get out of my way, you’re going to make me late for my class.”
“Ugh, you act so unflashy when we’re at school,” Tengen groaned, dropping his head so it rested on Rengoku’s shoulder, a position that surely wasn’t comfortable due to their height difference. Rengoku set a hand on Tengen’s waist and gave it a quick reassuring squeeze as if not being able to kiss truly pained him. The gentle touch finally spurred Tengen to get up and move on to his next class. “I’ll be waiting for you at our desks in the staffroom, make sure you’re not late for lunch.”
“When have I ever been late?” Rengoku asked, a large grin pulling at his cheeks as he stared up at Tengen. Tengen wondered how the man was able to always smile no matter the situation. Even while he was asleep, Tengen had caught Rengoku with a soft smile on his face, making him look ethereal in the soft mornings they spent together.
“Is that a serious question?” Tengen deadpanned, eyes squinting down at Rengoku. Giving a small shake of his head, Rengoku pushed off the wall and began making his way to the History corridor, its direction the complete opposite of the Art. Despite this, Tengen chased after him, not quite done with the conversation yet. “Every time one of those little twerps comes up to you, you spend an extra ten minutes with them.”
“I promise this time I won’t get distracted,” Rengoku barked out, his loud voice echoing down the hallway and getting the attention of any stragglers who hadn’t yet made it to class. At the sound of Rengoku’s voice, they turned with large smiles to greet him but when their eyes landed on Tengen they quickly turned back around and hurried off. What had one of Rengoku’s students called it? Scary dog privilege?
“I’ll make sure to walk extra slowly and wait a couple of minutes to warm our lunch up,” Tengen clarified, coming to a stop at a staircase where Rengoku would have to go up. On any other occasion, Tengen wouldn’t mind walking Rengoku to his class but they had already wasted a good portion of the period messing around together so he would need to get back soon.
“I said I’d be there on time,” Rengoku rebutted, a bit of a whine filling his voice as he walked up two of the steps before turning around so he could face Tengen again, their height a bit more evenly matched now. Rengoku never tried to be late to lunch, just sometimes some of his students would ask him a few questions and he’d get a bit too invested in answering them.
“And I know you’ll try your hardest,” Tengen teased, attempting to lean in to give Rengoku a parting kiss just for Rengoku’s hand to come up at the last second and take up the space in between them, blocking him off once again. Yelling into Rengoku’s hand, Tengen screamed, “Oh, come on!”
“I’ll see you during our lunch break,” Rengoku said, giving a soft smile before he turned around and made his way up the stairs, some haste behind his steps as he rushed to his class. Not looking back, Rengoku didn’t know if Tengen stood there for a few moments, still fuming at his missed opportunity to kiss Rengoku or had done the responsible thing and slunk off to class. Something told Rengoku that he went with the former, watching with a pouty glare as Rengoku made his way to the classroom of kids who were waiting for him.
What Tengen didn’t see though once Rengoku rounded the corner, was Rengoku lifting his hand to his lips and placing a kiss on the palm of his hand after checking no one else was in the hallway, touching exactly where Tengen’s lips had previously been.
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Sweet And Spice
PAIRING | Bridget | Queen of Hearts/James Hook
WORD COUNT | 1957
SUMMARY | Bridget's gone missing. Or at least, Red and Chloe can't find her after they get split up for a class they've been forced into. Worried something irreversible might happen while she's out of their sight, they recruit Ella to help locate her. What they uncover is far from what they thought they'd find.
RATING | General Audiences
WARNING/TAG(S) | No Archive Warnings Apply
A/N | First time writing for Descendants, hope you all like it!
EVENTS | @eclipsingbingo | Playing With Someone's Hair | @fandombingo | Unexpected Visitor | @anyfandomfluffbingo | "It's Not Like This With Them" | @multifandom-flash | The Jabberwocky | Heal The Cutie | I Did What I Had To Do | Don't You Dare Pity Me | @fandom-free-bingo | Whumper Turned Caretaker | Failure To Remain Impartial | Nervous Laughter | @character-a-character-b | Rivals To Lovers
AO3 LINK | Read Here
“Hey, Ella,” Red called as she saw the younger version of her newfound friend's mum walk out of one of her classes, a hand raised to wave her over. Chloe’s brows pinched together as her eyes scanned between her mother and Red, attempting to decipher what Red could possibly want with her mum instead of her own. Once Ella stepped over to them, Chloe shook herself out of her thoughts and shot Ella a smile, both of them waiting for Red to speak up once again. “Have you seen Bridget? We haven’t seen her since the whole Uliana incident.”
“No, I haven’t seen her either come to think of it,” Ella murmured, taking a quick scan around the hallway the three of them were in before a concerned look made its way onto her face. Chloe couldn’t tell what that look could mean, unexpectedly foreign to everything about this version of her mum. “But I can help you look for her since my next class is with her.”
“Great,” Red exclaimed, a large grin spreading across her face as she hovered around Ella. Still unused to the layout of Auradon or Merlin Academy, Red didn’t know where to begin looking, leaving that up to Ella to decide. Chloe may have a bit more luck in the sense of the direction, visiting Auradon occasionally to see her brother whenever there was an event taking place at the school, but it was still vastly different to what she had come to know. “Do you have any ideas where she could be? Any places that she goes to when she needs to think or… something?”
“Have you checked her dorm?” Ella asked to which both girls nodded in response to, Briget’s dorm being the first place they checked once they were able to get away from one of the classes they had been roped into. That made Ella’s face contort a bit more as she thought of all the unusual places Bridget might be lurking in between classes. She must’ve had a free period, Ella thought. There wasn’t enough time in between classes to hang out or do whatever, there was hardly enough to even go to your locker and get the book you needed. “She might be in the courtyard somewhere. She normally sits out there when she's looking for a new recipe to try out.”
“That’s perfect,” Chloe said, ready to start walking and go looking for Bridget. With how close Castlecoming was, they couldn’t afford for her to leave their sight. As Chloe walked through the hallway, a loud cough caught her attention. Spinning on her heel to see what was up, she came face to face with Ella who was staring at her with a raised brow. Right, Merlin Acadamy was different to Auradon Prep. With a sheepish smile, Chloe asked, “Would you like to lead the way?”
“Sure,” Ella responded with a crooked smile before starting off in the right direction, leading the newcomers to where Bridget could potentially be. They walked for a few moments in silence, Red and Chloe slightly behind Ella’s pacing as they eyed one another, attempting to have a silent conversation as to what Bridget may be doing and how this could be related to the prank that created their future when Ella turned around abruptly, walking backwards as she asked, “Why do you need to find Bridget anyway?”
“Uh,” Red floundered for a second, trying to think of a lie on the spot while Chloe was two seconds away from revealing the truth about everything. The longer they took to answer, the more suspicious Ella grew, her eyes narrowing a bit as her pace slowed, forcing them to shorten their steps to not overtake Ella. “She said she’d show us around to all of our classes but we didn’t know where to meet her after each one so we’re a bit lost.”
“Makes sense,” Ella nodded, spinning back around to lead them out of the school's building and into the large open space the grounds had. Red’s eyes instantly began scanning the area for her mum, hoping to find some pink peeking out from around a corner so she could relax and know her mum was safe. “I could also show you guys around if you ever needed it. Normally they have someone give new students a tour if they come late in the year but they must’ve forgotten to this time.”
“Yeah, must’ve,” Chloe trailed off, joining Red in her search. Ella looked to be the only one who wasn’t actively looking for Bridget, just leading them around and hoping they would stumble upon her, though Ella must’ve had to find Bridget on numerous occasions to not be concerned at all as to where she might be. “Does Bridget disappear often? You just seem really calm even though we don’t know where she is.”
“Bridget’s a big girl, she can take care of herself,” Ella easily supplied, shrugging her shoulders as they continued their search. The more they looked, the more Chloe was beginning to lose hope that Bridget might be in the courtyard, though the grounds seemed to stretch on for ages. If they didn’t find her soon then they might have to try a different location, though Chloe wasn’t sure how much longer Ella could stay with them before she was late for class. They had already been gone for quite a while so there was no doubt in Chloe’s mind that classes had already begun. “That and this isn’t the first time she’s lost track of time and missed a couple minutes of class trying to find something new to bake. I normally always find her in the same spot which should be right around here.”
Just as Ella said it, the three of them rounded a corner, in front of them but still a few metres away was Bridget sitting at a picnic bench, her skirt fanning around her seat as a closed cooking book was placed in the space next to her. Chloe could see the side of her face, a smile on her face as she looked down at something she hadn’t yet taken notice of. Getting ready to call out to the cheerful girl, Chloe was suddenly yanked back by her jacket, the breath leaving her as she was pulled behind the wall they just stepped around.
“What was that for?” Chloe hissed, looking over her shoulder to where Red was clutching onto her.
“Look,” Red whispered while pointing at Bridget. Chloe’s head spun back around to see what she was trying to indicate to look at. Squinting her eyes to try and help, Chloe was about to raise another question when she finally spotted what Red was trying to show her. Kneeled just in front of Bridget was Captain Hook. Chloe’s jaw dropped at the sight of Bridget’s hands being held by James Hook as the two spoke to one another.
“We’re too far away to hear what they’re saying,” Ella murmured, crouched on the floor as her head stuck around the corner and tried to get a better look. It was to no avail though as the picnic table and Bridget blocked most of Captain Hook. “We need to get closer?”
“How?” Chloe asked, not seeing any hiding points they could use to their advantage. Chloe didn’t get any form of response as Ella took off in a crouched run to a nearby tree, hiding behind it before Bridget or Hook could get wind of her actions. Chloe was again about to ask another question before Red followed in Ella’s actions, making quick work of getting to the large oak tree and hiding behind it. The two of them looked at Chloe expectantly, waiting for her to join them. Murmuring to herself, Chloe said before she made a quick sprint to the tree, “Here goes nothing.”
Taking quick steps, Chloe almost slammed into Red in her efforts to get behind the tree without being noticed. It seemed it didn’t matter what they did though as Bridget and Hook were too caught up in one another to pay attention to them.
“You know,” Hook started, reaching a hand up to curl some of Bridget’s hair around his finger. The grin on Bridget’s face immediately widened at the action, a trickle of nervous laughter escaping her lips as she waited for him to finish his sentence. At the same time that Bridget’s laughter reached their ears, Red stiffened next to them, clearly not liking the sight in front of them. “The two of us are going to be awfully late to our next class.”
“If he doesn’t back away I’m going to feed him to the Jabberwocky,” Red hissed, hands scrunching into tight fists.
“That’s okay,” Bridget’s voice came out in an airy sigh, almost leaning into Hook’s hand. She looked completely smitten, like she was hanging onto Hook’s every action and word. “As long as I get to spend time with you away from the others then it doesn’t matter.”
“About that,” Hook sighed, backing up from Bridget only slightly, his hand leaving her hair to once again fiddle with her delicate fingers. Bridget’s brows furrowed at the unexpected retreat, a sombre expression captivating Hook’s face and making her more aware of what was happening. “I’m sorry about the whole Uliana thing that happened earlier. I told her it was pointless to steal your flamingo feathers but you know Uliana; she always has to be doing something she considers wicked.”
“Oh, that’s whatever,” Bridget easily brushed off, her shoulders bunching up in a shrug as she acted like being chased around the school by an angry Uliana who had been turned partly into a flamingo was no big deal. “I tried to warn her but she just didn’t listen.”
“Maybe next time you can save me one of your cupcakes before they get ruined?” Hook suggested, making Bridget grin shyly and her legs to swing back in little kicks.
“Why is he acting like this in front of my mum- Bridget? In front of Bridget?” Red said, having to save herself since they were in front of Ella. The two of them must be starting to look really suspicious since Chloe had also messed up in front of Ella, accidentally calling her mum as well, although she hadn’t been able to save it as gracefully.
“He must not be able to act this way in front of his own friends,” Chloe suggested, baffled by the turn of events that was playing out in front of them.
“Whatever the reason, I don’t like it.”
“Maybe we should leave them be for a bit,” Ella warned, her eyes stuck to the way Bridget and Hooked were glued to one another, their eyes never straying from the other as they spoke, secluded from everyone else. “It feels like we’re intruding.”
“I’ll make sure I bake extra next time,” One of Bridget’s hands lightly flicked to the cookbook by her side, its cover a mixture of pastels. Her lashes seemed to be fluttering wildly at Hook as a soft blush coated her cheeks. Hook’s face remained a mixture of content and smug as his thumb ran along the back of the hand that Bridget let him keep. Shyly, Bridget offered, “Maybe you can help me taste test, James?” “Yep, definitely time to leave,” Red announced, grabbing onto Chloe’s arm and pulling her away before she could hear any objections. Ella chased after them once she realised they were gone, but not after watching Bridget and Hook for a few extra moments. Before Ella caught up enough for her to hear, Red mumbled to Chloe, “I’m not watching as my mum flirts with Captain Hook.”
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