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It's easy to forget how dangerous it all really is when they're in the midst of it. Kick, parry, punch, block, spindash, boost, tackling- A veritable fight that had the same elegance of a dance with more bloodlust. It's that dance part that Shadow leans into so heavily that he forgets the blood element. To the outside view it's violent, vicious. From the inside, they're in a beautifully orchestrated choreography. It's a fantasy. A beautiful, dirty and dangerous fantasy.
He gets so into it that he forgets that Sonic is Less than Him. He's punched Sonic so hard that he is pushed back and the dirt below him travels with him. Tiny specks of crimson sparkle on his glove in tandem with his inhibitors. The fantasy ends abruptly. The reminder that in the end all that he is- is a weapon, and nothing more takes hold against his better thoughts.
“What's the matter, Shads? Need a break?” Blood sprays in a fine mist when Sonic speaks. Red pools down from his nose and mouth, and cuts litter his entire front. Still, he smiles, as if he isn't hurt at all.
Shadow looks around them, they've got through this entire forest fighting, but the damage is minimal compared to the blue hedgehog. Some broken branches here and there, but neither of them had dipped into any special attacks. Not his chaos abilities or whatever Sonic had up his sleeve this week. The ground looks the worst. Grass overturned to moist dirt. Its stained the white parts of their shoes.
Sonic spits out another mouthful of blood and saliva onto the ground, wiping it off on the back of his glove. The white fabric makes it look brighter. “Seriously though if you don't need a break, we can keep going.”
“Me-? You're bleeding. We should stop.”
Sonic laughs, walking towards him,“C'mon, you want to stop because of a little blood?” With every syllable his spit still remains thick with new blood. Between words, it's visible that there's a large gash on the top of his gums. He spits down his chin and wipes it off again, “I mean, I know it's gross, but I'm pretty sure that being grossed out isn't really a deal breaker for you -”
“Don't be stupid!” Shadow steps forward into his space, ready to push him back. When he doesn't, the other looks mildly dissatisfied, but still he repeats, “We should stop.”
“You're… you're not joking, are you?” His eyes widen as he processes the situation.
Shadow scoffs, crossing his arms, “Of course I'm not. Hurting you to the point of bleeding…”
When he trails off, Sonic snaps his fingers. “I see the problem.” And then he smiles. His pearly whites are stained. It takes Shadow aback with how there's no sign of pain with the motion.
“You know one of the reasons I do this is because you're the only one who can make me bleed, right?” And now it's the azure hedgehog leaning into his personal space. His eyelids low across his eyes.
He masks his confusion with a huff and a gruff tone,“You're making me start to wonder how hard I hit you, hedgehog.” A shiver runs up his spine as the other's smile only widens.
“No, no, I'm serious,” he wags his finger back and forth, a gesture he's seen a thousand times, but his voice is deadly serious, “Knuckles could do it- but then I got faster, and he just got more stubborn about not leaving his island. And Mighty, woo boy, Mighty ” he whistles appreciatively, “He had the strength and speed. And then I still got faster than him as we got older and,” his look gets a little distant, “we're always traveling in opposite directions.” Then he looks back up to him, eye contact unflinching.
He feels intimidated by Sonic’s presence, they're so close now that Shadow can smell the copper breath coming from his nose. His eyes are at the intensity usually saved for when they're in the heat of battle.
“But you Shadow ? You can keep up. You can make me bleed.” His lips graze his own with those words. Shadow can taste the tangy metallic liquid. There's some sort of sweetness to it that he can't quite place that lingers in the back of his throat with his every breath.
“But, I- You-” Despite it all there's a reason he's always followed this hedgehog. He keeps him truly challenged in his life. Always guessing. Always on his toes.
“Oh don't worry, I can make you bleed just as easily.” And Sonic reaches up behind Shadow’s ear.
He pulls his hand away. His white glove is not only stained with his own blood, but a dark half coagulated green. The wound must've happened earlier on for it to be so. He's so used to his minor wounds healing so quickly that he hadn't even checked himself over. Usually within an hour of battle his chaos energy would redistribute itself from fighting to healing. Besides that, it's less noticeable on his fur, with the majority of it being black. It made blood of any color practically disappear.
Sonic rubs his finger under his nose, “I see I've given you a lot to think about. I guess we can end early today.”
Shadow opens his mouth to speak before Sonic lowers his finger and runs it quickly over his upper lip. He smiles again, the wound closed- nearly completely gone. There's an awkward line of where blood has been wiped away on his upper teeth. The blue hedgehog shakes his head a little and sighs fondly. He leans in again, and presses a soft kiss to Shadow’s cheek.
“I'll see you later, sweetheart.” Then he takes one step, two steps backwards and is off in a blur of brilliant blue.
Shadow blinks. Then blinks again. He lifts his hand up to his cheek. Through his glove he can feel the mixture of sanguine saliva left over from the kiss. From the outside it might look more like a lipstick stain than anything.
It's a dangerous game that they play. So much so that sometimes Shadow forgets that he isn't actually that Less than Him after all. A foolish assumption to make. Though it was one Sonic wanted people to make. He runs his hand behind his ear, sending a quick stream of chaos energy over it to heal the wound. No, it's his mistake. It's not forgetting that Sonic is Less than Him, but in some ways More. It's about trying to split apart the image that Sonic shows to everyone else compared to what he shows him.
He sighs, feeling his thoughts criss-crossing and tangling. It's something he'll have to work out later, in a more calming environment. He needs to wash himself off first. Disappointingly, wash off the evidence of the kiss.
Shadow looks down at the ground, where it's torn up. Lumps of grass thrown to the high heavens which had landed in odd places. Where Sonic had stood. Unfortunately today's fight had truly ended.
But Next Time?
Next time, Shadow wasn’t going to hold himself back. He was going to make Him Bleed.