"You should forgive her. She was just worried about you." The azure hero told his former rival who was sitting on the couch thinking over what Rouge had told him.

"You heard that?" His crush answered back as he looked up at him, the fox had gone to his lab and told the two of them to not bother him til the next day so they were alone now.

"I was worried about you so I listened. Sorry." The hero rubbed the back of his neck and sat beside the ebony one.

"I don't know." Shadow answered now looking at his phone. He was staring at Rouges name displayed on his screen and was hesitant to call her. He wanted to talk to her but it felt too soon to do so.

The ebony one couldn't help but remember how lost and alone he felt and how close he felt to giving up on his own life. He always told himself not to get attached to other because they were going to leave or give up on him eventually, he never thought Rouge would be one of them.

He knew Rouge wasn't in the wrong those years ago for giving up on him but he couldn't help and feel hurt. Truly hurt that the one person he'd made an exception for, gave up.

"Rouge cares about you more than you think. You should hear what she has to say at least." Sonic held his hand and squeezed, giving him his full support. "I'll be with you."

Shadow gave in and decided to call Rouge. She was at the foxes house in less than the 30 minutes they had agreed to. The azure one let her in and they all sat at the table, Rouge across from Shadow and Sonic.

"I'm sorry, Hun. I truly am sorry. I saw you every single day going over every single thing you knew about that night. You wouldn't sleep, you wouldn't eat, you were doing nothing to take care of yourself. I was hurting too from losing Blue, and I felt like I lost you too. It was too much for me. I went back when I realized what I had done but it was too late. You had already left." Rouge went on explaining herself as the other two remain silent, letting her talk. "Will you forgive me?" She finished.

The ebony one remained silent, looking at her as he thought about everything she had said to him. Sonic held his hand under the table and squeezed again, letting him know he was there for him.

"It's okay." Shadow answered with a sigh. "I understand, I didn't make it easy for you."

The bats ears perked up in surprised and she smiled happily but didn't get near him. "I'll give you your time but I am here if you need anything, okay?" With that said, the said goodbye to each other then Rouge left home.

Sonic and Shadow went back to the couch as Shadow tried to calm himself down from what had just happened. "Weren't you going to leave?"

The heros family wanted the hero back at the castle but he decided not to go since he felt like he needed to talk to Shadow. "No." He shook his head. "I actually needed to talk to you about something."

The ebony one rested back on the couch and crossed his arms as he answered the hero with a hum, letting him know he was listening.

"Are you finally going to give me an answer?" He asked and watched as his crush tensed up and his face turned red. The hero then punched his arm playfully.

"Tails already told me you know." He looked away, covering his face. "Do I need to answer anyways?"

"Yes. I asked you, I need to hear an answer." Shadow chuckled. "Will you go out with me, FAKER?" Sonics ears perked up and he laughed.

"Dont call me that."

"Then give me your answer." Shadow hummed again as he waited, Sonic stopped laughing.

The hero looked at his former rival, feeling butterflies in his stomach and his face turned red from the question again. He couldn't bring himself to say his answer, he was scared it would change things. The hero proceeded to look down at his hands and messed with his gloves then took a deep breathe.

"No." The hero answered calmly making his former rival look at him confused. "I like you, Shadow. I really do. But I am not sure if what you're feeling this way because I went missing after I save all of you or because you truly feel this way. Trust me, I want to say yes, but we don't even know each other."

"You're crazy." Their ears perked up as they heard the fox speak, they hadn't noticed he had come out of his lab. "Sonic, Shadow couldn't stop asking questions about you. He wanted to know more about you and just spent 3 years trying to figure out what really happened. I'm sorry, but you're stupid if you really think Shadow doesn't truly like you, do you think he would have helped me otherwise? Now stop making stupid decisions and say yes, you know you want to." The fox ranted off and went back to his lab without anything else to say making Shadow laugh and Sonic look at his former rival in shock.

"He's not wrong, Hedgehog. I didn't know what you were to me until I lost you. It's okay if you don't want anything, I'm still going to protect you and be here making sure nothing else ever happens to you." Shadow answered after he stopped laughing.

"Do you really mean that?" He asked Shadow and he nodded. "And knowing everything that you know now, do you truly like me? Shadow, I don't date around, I want a serious relationship. If I go into this, I need to know you're serious about it too."

The ebony one looked at Sonic and leaned closer to him. "I am serious about this." The azure one leaned closer as well. "Is your answer still a no?" The azure one looked into the others lips wanting to lean closer and kiss him but he was frozen in place. Shadow saw his reaction but decided to mess with him and moved back when Sonic didn't answer. "Alright then."

"N-No..." The hero rolled his eyes and giggled softly then pulled his former rival down and kissed him passionately. Shadow tensed up not expecting for Sonic to kiss him like that but wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss instantly. Sonic pulled away a few moments later, softly panting. "Yes... My answer is yes."

Shadow didn't waste another second and kissed him again, hungrily as he let out a soft growl making Sonic gasp and open his mouth for Shadow.

"Oh! Chaos!" The fox sudden scream made them pull away quickly as they both blushed to the tip of their ears. "Use a room!" Tails said making Sonic laugh.

"I-Im sorry...!" The hero apologized as he let go of his boyfriend and stood up.

"That was way too fast." Tails sighed with a chuckle of disbelief. "Chaos..."

Shadow watched as Sonic walked to the kitchen and started cooking something for them.

He didn't just like Sonic, he loved him.

He loved Sonic.

He loved him and was going to make sure no one ever harmed him again, he was going to protect him with his life. He would do anything for him.

"You're staring at me." The hero said nervously from the kitchen.

"Sorry." The ebony one apologized and went to the kitchen to help, kissing his forehead when he stood beside him. "I can't help it."

The ebony one couldn't help but remember the years he spent looking for Sonic again. He couldn't help but remember how hurt, sad, lost and heart broken he was. He thought he'd never see him again.

It was good Shadow never listened to the ones who told him to give up, after all, he finally got his happy ending.

THE END.

******
A/N: Never give up! Even if others try to put you down, never give up! <3

Also, finished this story now I get to focus entirely in the other 2 I've been writing :)
If yall didn't know, I made a sequel to "Secrets" and the first 4 chapters are already out! Go check it out! Let me break your heart with it T-T