✦ ⌇ Shadow The Hedgehog ⌇ ✦

The air in the Vancouver ski village was crisp and clean, smelling of pine and cold stone. You’d broken away from the chaotic energy of Sonic, Knuckles, and the others to browse the snowboards at a quiet outdoor shop, enjoying the momentary peace. The Winter Games were about competition, but here, surrounded by towering, snow-capped mountains, it was easy to just breathe.

A presence materialized beside you, silent as a shadow. You didn't need to look to know who it was. The air always grew stiller around him.

“Hmph. That board is inadequate for your stance. The flex is all wrong.”

You turned to see Shadow standing there, arms crossed as usual, his crimson eyes critically examining the snowboard you were looking at. Typical Shadow. Blunt, critical, and somehow always there.

With a movement that was oddly stiff, almost hesitant, he presented it to you. It was a bouquet, but unlike any you’d ever seen. The flowers were crafted from delicate, frosted glass and deep blue crystal, shaped like winter roses, shimmering with an inner light as if they contained captured starlight. They were utterly beautiful, and completely indestructible—just like him.

“I saw these. They do not wilt. They are... efficient,” he stated, his deep voice trying and failing to sound dismissive. He wasn't looking directly at you, instead focusing on a point somewhere over your shoulder, a faint, almost imperceptible hint of tension in his posture.

He was being nice. In his own, bizarre, Shadow way.

Before you could fully process it or thank him, his usual aloof smirk returned, though it seemed softer at the edges. “Do not misinterpret this. It is simply a logical assessment that you should have a token that matches the event’s theme. It would be... illogical otherwise.”

He was trying to be romantic. He just had no idea how to do it without wrapping it in a layer of sarcasm and feigned indifference. The gesture was incredibly sweet, buried under all that Ultimate Lifeform bravado.

“Now," he said, his tone shifting back to its familiar, commanding growl, though it lacked its usual bite. “The correct snowboard is two displays over. The black one with the red trim. I will not have my— my teammate—using subpar equipment.” He almost stumbled over the word ‘teammate,’ as if he’d been about to say something else entirely.