*Sonic's POV *
I hesitated but held Shadow's hand and walked with him to the center of the room where he they then put a hand on my waist and another remained on my hand. We danced at the rhythm of the music which he was surprisingly good at.

"Whats going on?" I asked knowing Shadow wouldn't do this without reason.

"Turns out I am your new guard." He rolled his eyes and my ears perked up.

"What?" I asked then groaned. "My uncle..."

"Correct. He tried to threaten me, in his own weird way and asked me to keep you safe then told me to come dance with you."

"You will not."

"I have no choice." He growled at me.

"I will not have you after me."

"He knows I'm the only one who can."

"I'm going to-"

"What? I dare you to try, Faker."

I stayed quiet then sighed. The music ended up but I wasn't done talking with him so I stayed holding onto him. "This is turning out to being more complicated than I thought."

"Yeah." Was all Shadow said. I could tell he was uncomfortable which made me chuckle.

"Where did you learn to dance, Shad."

"Maria." He said in return making me miss a step and nearly trip which he held onto me and caused for me to get even closer, our noses nearly touching. I blushed then thanked chaos for the mask as I readjusted myself but I could already hear others whispering around us. "Watch it, Faker." He growled again.

"Sorry, you just never talk about her." I shook my head. "Come to my house tomorrow. Alone. We can talk about all this then. Did you actually agree to my uncle?" I decided to ask.

"I had no other choice, Hedgehog." He answered then let go as the song ended.

The whispering stopped as soon as everyone saw how annoyed Shadow looked being around me as he walked away. At least there won't be any rumors tomorrow about us dating.

The night went on the same, more people approaching me and trying to dance with me but no one caught my attention. At the end of the night I left my clothes in my room and made my way out of the castle secretly making sure no one would see me or recognize me.

I made it home after an hour, taking many turns to make sure no one would follow. I removed the mask and put it in the backpack then hid it at the back of my closet.  I laid down and went over what happened today then fell asleep.

I can't believe I danced with Shadow.

"What are you doing here?" I asked shocked whennI walked into my living room and Shadow sat in my couch.

"Your family is insane. Your uncle kept calling me and shouting for me to check up on you and make sure you got home without anyone seeing you." Shadow growled clearly annoyed.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and counted to 10 mentally. I walked around my house looking for my phone then texted my uncle to leave Shadow alone.

"I'm sorry." I sighed as I tossed my phone on the counter. "Breakfast?"

"I have to go to work." He grabbed something from his quills. It was some kind of device with just one button. "Anything happens, press this and it will send me your location." He was about to handed it to me when he immediately stopped. "Dont be pressing it just for fun, Hedgehog." He said seriously as he gave it to me. "Oh. And... Happy birthday." He then chaos controlled away.

Chaos.

*Shadow's POV *
"Whats up with the dance yesterday?" Rouge asked as she walked into our office. "You asked him to dance~ Do you like the prince~?"

"Shut it, Bat. His uncle asked me to." I explained.

"He liked you to be Maurice's husband, then." I rubbed my face. "You do know that was the reason for the party, right?"

"Yes, I know. But never in a million years will I get married, specially with that one."

"Why do you chose to make enemies everywhere you go?" Rouge sighed. "Do you know how easy your life would be? It's clear he liked you."

"What?" I asked then shook my head.

A few days passed and there hadn't been any threats which made it easier for my 'job'. It meant I didn't have to see Faker. And just when I thought he would never need me, my phone rang, he had pressed the button.

I was at home at the time so I immediately dropped everything and chaos controlled where he was. I glanced around trying to find him when I spotted Metal had him pinned down to the floor and was tried to choke him. I charged a chaos spear and tossed it at him then skated to Faker and chaos controlled him out of the way.

He ignored the fact that I moved him out of harms way and went to attack Metal with me. We surprisingly made a great team when we weren't fighting and I knew that, only if he wasn't always bothering me.

---
"Do you want some breakfast?" Faker asked.

About 3 weeks had passed since the party and we had made it a routine for me to check up on him every morning. I couldn't lie, I was getting used to having him around and he wasn't as annoying as he usually was. Now that I knew his secret, he wasn't bombarding me with questions or clinging onto me every second.

"Sure." I said and stood up to help him cook something. "How come you're less annoying now?" I rolled my eyes as I grabbed some eggs and started whisking them.

"How come you're not as mean?" He laughed. "You wouldn't let me talk to you before, I would bother you to try to get to know you." He said as he turned on the stove and cut some ham so we could mix with the eggs. "So you really don't hate me as much? Or you only tolerate me because I'm a prince?"

He smiled as he faced me now waiting for me to finish with the eggs. I handed him the bowl and he tossed them in the pan. I had to admit, something about him was catching my attention more and more everyday, I looked forward to see him every morning. 

"What are you talking about, Faker? I still hate you." His ears perked up as he laughed.

"You've got jokes, Shad~? I know you don't hate me anymore. Or else you'd still find a way to hurt me." He poked my side. "Come on~ Admit that you like me~" He continued making me start to get annoyed. I was not used to the touch, let alone getting poked.

"Stop it, Hedgehog." I said but he didn't listen. He continued until I got enough of it and pinned him to the fridge, his hands to the side of his head as I growled. "I said to stop!" I snapped but froze as I realized how close we were and suddenly I realized why my heart was racing so fast.