Sonic's P.O.V

The next morning I wake up to see Shadow next to me, snuggling into my chest. I wondered why until I recalled the previous night. I graze my thumb gently across Shadow's forehead to wake him up. I hear a tiny grumble and I let out a chuckle. "Shadow, wake up." I say in a soft tone.

Shadow lowly awakens and opens his wide eyes. He seems shocked to see me, but he's also confused. He sits up. "The heck..? Where am I?" I let out a short chuckle and sat up beside him, rubbing his head with a single hand. "Calm down, you're in my room." He looks up at me and then tilts his head. "How..?"

I rub behind his ear with my thumb while smiling softly down at him. "You came here in the middle of the night, waking me up... you thanked me for getting you back the chaos emerald." "I did..?" "Mhm. You did. Do you not remember?" He shook his head. That's strange... "Yeah, ya pounced on me last night and hugged me. It was... kinda cute, not gonna lie." 

Shadow looks like he's in deep thought now. "I don't remember doing that... what time- y'know what? Nevermind. I remember being exhausted after my trip to the library, and falling asleep when we went to get the chaos emerald back, but I don't remember waking up after that until just now." 

I raise an eyebrow at him. "So you don't remember pouncing on me, thanking me, or hugging me?" "No... not at all." "You're not lying to me, are you?" "Don't talk to me like I'm a kid, no, I'm not lying to you." "Oh, you don't want me to treat you like a kid? Does that mean you want me to stop rubbing your ear?" Shadow realizes what I'm doing and crosses his arms, pouting. He doesn't tell me to stop. He even leans into my hand a little.

I'm a little surprised on the inside, but I look smug on the outside. I smirk down at him. "Awww... the ultimate lifeform likes head rubs?~" I tease. "Hmph, shut up." I chuckle a bit. "...why do you keep doing it?" My smirk grows. "'Cause you never told me to stop." He rolls his eyes. "I mean voluntarily?" He says as if it was obvious he meant that.

I think for a moment. "...It feels nice. Rubbing your soft ear is nice. And it's warm." "Weird damn faker..." I chuckle a bit and ruffle his quills. Shadow rolls his eyes at me and fixes his quills by hand. I tilt my head. "How do you know where-" "Do you know how many times I've had to fix my quills without a mirror?" I shake my head. "Every time you break one." He smirks up at me as my jaw drops.

I stared at him in disbelief until, for no reason, I grabbed Shadow's head and put my face close to his. "Listen here, ya little shit. I'm helping you. And if you wanna act disrespectful and rude you can live on the streets, ya got that?" Shadow looked scared. He nodded fast as I let go of his head. 

He looked down and whimpered. Then I instantly felt guilty. My ears drooped and I lifted his head up to look at me. "I'm sorry, Shadow... I don't know what got into me." "It's ok... you're not wrong, though." I look at him confused. "...since when do you say I'm right?" "Since when do I whimper? Or cry? Or- hug you? That doesn't sound normal to me."

I think for a moment. He's right... "Well, we shouldn't dwell on it for now, agreed?" "...You said I pounced on you in the middle of the night. Did I look wide-awake?" "Well- yeah..?" "So how could I not remember something that clearly happened? Something I did?" He wipes his eye as if wiping his tear. "It doesn't make sense..." 

Poor guy... is he really that upset about this whole thing..? I sigh and pick him up into my lap. I wrap my arms around him like a seat belt. I look down at him and he looks up at me. "What's wrong with me, Sonic?" I was shocked. I didn't know how to answer. First, he never calls me 'Sonic'. I think he did last night, but he can't remember that. Second, I don't know how to answer that question. I don't believe there's anything wrong with anybody, so I guess... well, what do I say?

"Shadow, I don't think there's anything wrong with you." "But I'm acting weird... and not like normal." "Weird can be a good thing!" "How so?" "Well, no one's the exact same as someone else, Shadz! You're still your own unique person, you've just- changed a little bit. And change can be a good thing." 

Shadow thinks for a moment. "Can it really..?" He looks up at me with hopeful eyes. "Yes... I'd never lie to you, Shadow..." Shadow leans his head into my body. It made me confused, sure, but he's too cute... I know it sounds wrong because he's my rival, but he's so dang adorable.

I rubbed Shadow's head a little bit. "So... you want breakfast?" I smirk down at him. "Yes." "That's crazy! I thought the ultimate lifeform didn't need food!" Shadow lets out a small giggle and then covers his mouth after realizing what he did. My smirk falls and I look at him shocked. "...last I checked, the ultimate lifeform never found me funny, either." I give him an unsure and concerned look.

Shadow's P.O.V

I crawl out of Sonic- Why do I keep calling him Sonic?? Ugh, I crawl out of faker's lap. Or, at least I tried. Son- faker! Damn it, brain! I mentally groan. Faker grabs me and sets me back down in his lap. "Faker, lemme go." OK, I didn't call him 'Sonic' but I said 'lemme' which is WAY WORSE. "Um- no. What's going on, Shadow? If you feel like something's wrong, then tell me."

I roll my eyes. "Nothing's wrong, Faker. I'm fine." "Bull crap." "Oh, so now you're not cursing at me?" I tease with a smirk on my face. Sonic rolls his eyes. Y'know what? Fine, I can refer to him as Sonic in my head. "Shadow, this is serious." "I didn't say it wasn't." "Why are you acting like it isn't?" 

I tried to crawl away again, but he grabbed me and placed me back in his lap. "I'm not." "Yes, you are. You're acting like an immature child. And yes, it's adorable, I can have my own opinion, sue me, but I don't like this Shadow. I like my edgy rival better, so if you're gonna be weird and not tell me why, then I'm gonna keep you here until you tell me why."

Is he serious? "You're joking, right?" He stays silent. "Right..?" "...Shadow, I don't want you to lose hope. I don't want you to lose yourself. And I don't want you to get upset." "But..?" "But... there is a chance you could be stuck like this. In this body... forever." I scream and cover my mouth, looking up at him in horror. "Now, I know this sounds bad..."

WHAT?! "It 'sounds' bad?! Sonic-" I called him by his name... shit...táke! "Shadow, did you just-?" I feel tears well up in my eyes and I can tell Sonic noticed as well because he held me closer and stroked my quills. I wrap my tiny arms around his stomach area and start to cry into his body. "Sonic... you have to help me..." "Hey, hey... don't cry, Shadow... I won't let you be stuck like this... I'll do whatever it takes. Don't cry, Shadz... I gotcha..."

 Sonic's P.O.V

After a while, Shadow fell back asleep. Huh, no wonder he was acting weird... he was cranky! I carefully detach his arms from my body and place him on one of my pillows, pulling the blanket over him. 

I walk into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. I make myself some eggs and I make a pancake with some syrup for Lil' Shadz. Y'know, I might just stick with 'Lil' Shadz' as his main nickname. What do you guys think? Tell me in the comments! (Sorry, I couldn't resist breaking the fourth wall- 🤣🤣🤣)

Anyways, I went back upstairs to get Lil' Shadz, but surprisingly he wasn't there. I checked the bathrooms and the guest room. And when I saw he wasn't there, I started to panic. I ran around the whole upstairs and found no trace of him. 

I then dashed down the stairs to see Shadow eating his pancakes. When I arrive, he smirks at me. "Aww, so you do care! And I was starting to think you were faking it... anyways, thanks for breakfast, faker." "...You. Little. Ass!" I notice his chaos emerald on the table, but I ignore it for now.

He laughs a little, which shocked me enough to make my anger fade away. "Since when does the so-called 'fastest thing alive' swear at a mere child?" "Ah- I-" I realize what he's doing. "Are you- Are you getting sassy with me?!" 

He smirks deviously. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not, whatcha gonna do about it?" "I- ..something!" "Oh, yeah, that sounds terrifying." He rolls his eyes at me and finishes his breakfast. Damn, he eats fast. "Chaos control!" He grabs his chaos emerald and chaos controls to- the sink..? He puts his plate in the sink while sitting on the counter. He washes his hands as well. "Why didn't you just walk?" "I lack the height to reach the sink, duh." "Oh, so that's the fancy way of saying you're short?" 

"...that's the gist of it. But, if you must know, I'm stealing something from you." He smirks. I raise an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? What?" "Your positive outlook on things." Say what now? "Huh?" "I'm gonna make the most of my situation. I've also realized a few things about this transformation. One, I act more like a toddler at times. When I do, please tell me. Two, I need to eat, sleep, and... use the restroom, like a normal mobian now. Three... I don't have my chaos powers." His ears lower when he says this. "Four..." He mutters something under his breath I cannot hear.

I tilt my head slightly. "What did you say?" "Nothing..." "Shadow... please?" He sighs. "For when I have to... 'do my business' I also lack the ability to reach... well, y'know." I look confused until I realize what he's talking about. "OHHH... so... what do we do about that..?" 

Shadow has an unsure look on his face. "I dunno..." "Well... I'd google it, but I don't want that one to be in my google search history. The only thing I can think of is diapers, but-" "No!" "...exactly." "Please google it..." He looks up at me with pleading eyes. I try to resist, but I can't. I sigh and pull out my phone.

Shadow smiles sweetly up at me. "Thank you!" "Yeah, yeah... it says potty chairs, which look... well, with this, I still have to see your droppings,  but I don't have to touch them or your 'special areas', so it's a win-win. Clean regularly? With gloves, I will." Shadow looks happy. "Thank you!" "Yeah, yeah, you owe me one. No, actually? You owe me, like, three now." "Yeah, yeah, I got it, I know... thank you, Sonic." 

"Ordering one now. Blue or pink, Shadz?" "Seriously?" "Hey, tots don't usually like black." "'Tots?" He raises an eyebrow at me and I roll my eyes like it's obvious, which it is. "Toddlers." "Oh... blue then, I guess." I smirk and order it.

So, Shadow needs extra attention, he might act like a toddler, so I have to help him out when he does, try to keep him a secret from everyone else, make sure he puts the ice pack on regularly, and- chaos, there's so much stuff. Is this what having a kid is like? 

Welp, I don't think I'm gonna be having one in the future if that's the case. And- wait, what was that last thing? Oh, yeah! He needs protection because he doesn't have any chaos powers besides chaos control. Jeez, I kinda feel bad for him... oh, well.

Shadow, I promise to protect you no matter what.