As his face connected with his bed, Shadow let out a long groan. He loathed working at G.U.N., but they threatened to seal him away again if he didn't. He didn't want that; he actually loved the planet just as much as he did when he was on the ARK.

Hearing his phone ringing, he groaned again and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Shadow." A polite voice was heard on the other side.

"Oh. Hi Cream. Why are you calling?"

"Well, my mom and I made some pies, and I thought you and Amy would like to come over." The young rabbit said gently.

Although he was tired and he felt as if his back was breaking in half, he replied, "Sure, I'll be over soon."

Later that day, he found himself at a nice house away from the city. The white of the house seemed to shine in the bright sunlight and the cream colored roof just gave it more of a cute, simplistic look. He smiled as he gave a small knock, which soon opened to a tall, kind rabbit.

"Hello, Miss Vanilla." Shadow greeted, smiling at the smell of all sorts of pies wafting through the house.

"Oh, hello, Shadow. The pies are cooling down right now, but Amy and Cream are in her room." Vanilla smiled as she let him in.

He kindly smiled to her, nodding before walking towards the young rabbit's room, hearing giggling. He smiled as he leaned against the doorway, seeing the two having a small tea party. Cream looked to the dark hedgehog, smiling brightly.

"Hello, Mr. Shadow! Would you like some tea?"

"Of course, Cream." Shadow smiled as he joined them at the small table. Cream gladly handed him a cup.

"So, Shadow, how was work?" Amy asked.

"Horrible, as per usual." Shadow grumbled.

"Anything special happen?" Shadow shook his head, causing Amy's smile to widen. "Well that means you have tomorrow off?"

"Yeah."

"Great!" Amy looked excited. "That means you can come with Rouge, Cream, and I to go shopping for our little get together!"

"You mean go out in public... with you three?" Shadow didn't look amused.

"It'll be fun, Mr. Shadow!" Cream smiled. "We might even run into Mr. Sonic!"

Shadow sighed, wondering why he even told these two girls of his crush. "What about Rouge? She doesn't know...."

"Oh, please." Amy rolled her eyes. "Rouge is excited for you coming even without knowing. I don't even know why you bother hiding it from her anyways, considering you live with her every now and again."

Shadow huffed. He didn't really trust Rouge with information like his real self and his crush on the blue blur, even if he did consider her a close friend.

"Don't worry Mr. Shadow, we'll all have so much fun!" Cream smiled, looking to him hopefully.

And Shadow just couldn't say no to that face. "Fine, I'll go."

The two girls cheered and hugged him tightly as he groaned, thinking about what he'd have to endure the next day.

_________________________

Tired and drained, the black hedgehog walked to his apartment door after spending the rest of the day with Amy and Cream. He paused, however, when he noticed a certain blue hedgehog knocking on the door.

"What are you doing?" He asked, making the blue hedgehog jump.

Sonic looked over and smiled to him. "Hey, Shads! I didn't know you weren't home. I, uh, I've been knocking for about an hour now...."

Shadow's eyes widened, too surprised to hide it. "An entire hour? What's so important?"

"Oh." Sonic rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Nothing. I just wanted to visit, ya know?"

"Why?" Shadow asked, hiding his blush.

"Well, I remembered our conversation this morning, and I wanted to have more like that." Sonic smiled, emerald eyes glancing away. "I want to know more about you."

Shadow felt his entire face heat up, glad that Sonic wasn't looking at him. He looked away and tried to not stutter his reply. "Why would you want to get to know me?"

"I don't know...." Sonic replied. "I thought that we've moved past being rivals...."

"So, you want to be my... friend?" Shadow looked back to Sonic, accidentally locking eyes with the blue furred hedgehog.

Sonic had that stupid smile that made Shadow's heart do flips when he said, "I thought we already were."

A warm feeling rose in Shadow's chest as he quickly moved to cover up his feelings with a crossed of the arms and a stubborn turn of the head with a small 'hmph.' Sonic wasn't amused.

"Come on, Shads! You can't say that you still hate me after all of these years!"

Shadow took a deep breath, regretting his words before he even said them. "Just leave, faker."

"No." Shadow turned to find Sonic right in front of him, emerald eyes glowing with determination. "If you can say that you still hate me while looking straight into my eyes, then I'll leave and you'll never have to deal with me again."

Shadow stared into Sonic's eyes, heart beating so quickly that he was surprised it hadn't burst. Heat rose on his muzzle at the closeness of the other, and he couldn't help but spare a glance to the other's mouth. He wondered what would happen if he captured those lips in a kiss, but quickly pushed it from his mind as he opened his mouth to lie.

He looked right into emerald eyes, them glistening with the Faker's attitude. He couldn't lie while staring into those emeralds. And he definitely didn't want Sonic to leave him alone forever. He shook slightly, his inner turmoil becoming to much for him, it combining with his lack of sleep and overworked body from work, he couldn't take it. He ended up doing the one thing he never thought he'd do.

He passed out.

________________________

Slowly, his eyes opened to the blinding light of a new day. He groaned, blinking so his eyes would sharpen and get use to it. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up, yawning.

Only to jump when he noticed the tiny bit of movement in the corner of his room.

Sonic laid in a chair, uncomfortably sleeping. Shadow slowly calmed down, staring at the sleeping hedgehog. He looked peaceful and calm, and Shadow couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight.

He blinked, wondering what Sonic was doing there in the first place.

Slowly, it all came back to him, and he had to slap himself for losing control like that. He was the Ultimate Lifeform; he should be able to stay up in those conditions.

Then again, the Ultimate Lifeform wasn't suppose to be going shopping with three girls either.

Slowly he sat up, groaning as he popped his back. Sonic's ears twitched at the sounds, slowly waking up. Shadow saw his eyes open and look straight towards him.

Almost immediately, Sonic's face lit up with a smile. "Shads! You're okay!"

Shadow soon found himself crushed in the blue hedgehog's arms, heat rising to his face easily. "Of course I'm okay, faker. My body has just been overworked these last few days."

"You scared me so much, just passing out like that!" Sonic hugged him tighter.

"Ugh, I'm fine! Let me go!" Shadow was surprised at how believable he sounded when in reality, he just wanted to stay in the other's arms forever.

"Sorry!" Sonic apologized as he let him go.

Shadow simply huffed and walked out of his room and to his kitchen, preparing himself some coffee. Sonic followed behind happily.

Shadow sighed as he glanced to the other face heating up slightly. Sonic had stayed all night just to make sure he was okay. He looked so haply when he awoke to Shadow getting up. The very thought made Shadow's muzzle turn red.

He looked down to his coffee maker. "You're right."

"Huh?" Sonic glanced to him, tilting his head curiously.

Shadow gripped the edge of his counter. "I can't say that I still hate you after all these years...."

Sonic smiled. "I already knew you couldn't. You ready to be friends?"

Shadow debated his next line for a second before having a small smile on his face that Sonic couldn't see. "I thought we already were."