Chapter Text
As much as Shadow absolutely did not want to ever step foot into the vet clinic again, he was told that today it would be strictly for visiting and not an examination. There was some sort of surprise for him.
It was January now in Green Hills, and leaving the warm house to go anywhere besides the Mean Bean was awful to even think about. Shadow was bundled up in his winter coat, boots, scarf, and thigh high black socks.
Sonic was also bundled up and they were sitting together in the back of the Subaru while Maddie drove them to the clinic. Sonic looked excited, bouncing his leg and slightly irritating his companion, however he refused to reveal why.
Like the last time, Maddie carried Shadow inside since he really was not a fan of a lot of humans all towering over him at once. They were all quite happy to see him again. He allowed the woman who gave him candy last time to scratch between his ears.
They made their way to a back room, where Shadow could finally see what the surprise was. Kittens, some poor mom cat had given birth to 10 kittens. They were 7 weeks old now and had their first round of vaccines the week before, which meant Maddie was comfortable with the hedgehogs playing with them.
Shadow's eyes were wide as she sat him down and took his and Sonics coats from them. Sonic immediately took his gloves off and scooped a couple up as they batted at his quills. Shadow pulled his gloves off as well, learning that it was because their tiny claws tended to get stuck in them, and let them sniff his hands.
“They're so .... small.” He gently picked up a calico one and cradled her against his chest fluff. She immediately began purring. Shadow's ears perked right up. “Oh they also purr. That explains a lot.”
Sonic laughed, “the mom will also trill and chirp at them.” Right on cue, the mom did just that and a few of them ran over to her.
Shadow chirped back at her and she tilted her head. Shadow did the same back. However he accidentally moved his foot too fast and scared one kitten that began to hiss and spit at him. Shadow then realized that to this little creature, he seemed big and scary. He noticed how one of the kittens was laying with her paws tucked underneath herself, and copied her. Or well tried to, he had to take his boots off first. He then rested his chin on the floor and waited for the scared kitten to approach him.
Sonic was just staring. “Oh my god you can loaf? How did you do that?” He attempted to copy him, but struggled to get his legs tucked underneath himself. “Dude what.” A few kittens climbed onto his back as he kept attempting to copy his friend.
“Shhh I'm trying to get this one to trust me.” Shadow tried chirping at her, and she slowly deflated her fur and walked towards him. She still emitted a few tiny growls, but after sniffing Shadow's face she determined he wasn't dangerous and climbed onto his head instead.
Maddie came to check on them and squealed and startled a few of them, as well the hedgehogs. “Oh sorry … just ... you're so cute … wait are you loafing? You can loaf?!”
Shadow tilted his head at her and sat up. “What does that even mean?” He picked up the kittens that almost tumbled off his back and held them to his chest instead.
“It's what we call that specific position cats like to lie in, when all their paws are tucked away. They look like a loaf of bread.” She sat down on the floor with them and the mom cat quickly ran over to her and settled on her lap.
“Yeah I can't do it so it must be from his non hedgehog genes.” Sonic leaned into Maddie and pet the mom cat's face.
Shadow laid down on his back this time and suddenly had about six kittens all sitting on him, some started kneading into his chest fluff and tried to groom him. He just laughed. “That kind of tickles. Their claws are so small.”
Sonic cringed and laughed. “Tickles? It hurts dude.”
“You're just jealous that they took your favorite spot.”
Shadow was thankfully ignoring him to focus on the kittens, because Sonic blushed at that comment. Especially when Maddie gave him a look like ‘are you together?’ and Sonic just sighed and shook his head no. Shadow still didn't quite understand flirting or romantic gestures yet, so anything Sonic did he just assumed was a normal friend thing.
One of the kittens began to tug at the laces on one of Shadow's boots he had taken off and untied it more. He chuckled and sat up and scooped him up. “Well you're a little troublemak- OW … christ, who is attacking my tail?!”
Sonic doubled over laughing, leaning into Maddie who was also laughing now.
Shadow pulled a little orange boy out from behind him. “Don't bite my tail, or I'll bite yours.” The kitten ignored his threat and instead began to chew on his finger, sinking a tooth right into his pink finger pad.
“.... aaaaah. No stop that. Okay you're right they are actually shaaaARP …...... really?” Another kitten had latched onto his tail and bunny kicked it. Shadow just gave up and let it happen. At least he immediately healed from any small wounds they were inflicting.
Sonic was just laughing more, until a kitten found his tail. Thankfully she was more just batting at it and leaping around it instead of tackling it. “See mine is a solid color, but yours has that cute little white tip now and they probably think it's a bug or something.”
“Of course my coat pattern changing after shedding and quilling would come back to bite me … literally. Are you done?” The kitten chirped at him and then ran away sideways before tumbling over. Shadow couldn't help but laugh louder, a very soft genuine laugh mixed with a giggle.
Sonic's tail began to wag and thump against the floor at Shadow laughing so cutely, and that got his tail fully attacked finally. “Oooow. Okay. Come on kids, leave our tails alone.” He scooped up a couple more and laid down on his back to protect his tail. They settled onto his chest and curled up together.
Maddie kissed both of their foreheads as she got up to go to her first appointment of the day. When she returned, the hedgehogs were laying side by side with all the kittens on top of them in a pile. Even the mom had made herself comfortable on top of Shadow's legs. She then realized the two of them had also dozed off. Their semi hibernation was kicking in during this cold weather, and they were both sleeping a lot more as a result. She just let them all nap together until lunchtime.
Around lunchtime Tom came to pick them up and bring Maddie something to eat. He sat down in the room with them and several kittens abandoned their hedgehog beds to go investigate the new human. Shadow yawned and sat up and scooped up the mom cat. She seemed to really like him now.
“We should go back home boys, but I'm sure you can see the kittens again another day.” He let Shadow put his boots back on and handed them their coats before scooping him up. The mom cat chirped at Shadow and he chirped back at her. Tom just looked down at Sonic who was holding his hand, “uh ... can they communicate?”
“I have no idea. Maybe this will convince you to finally let us have a cat though????” He gave Tom big puppy dog eyes.
Tom laughed, “We will see. I trust Shadow to actually help take care of it compared to you, so maybe we will.”
Tom felt Shadow's tail thump against his coat, which meant there was a good chance they might end up adopting one in the future.