A/N: Hey All!

I've been having a good time writing one-shots lately, so here's another one! Don't worry, I'm continuing "Guardian Angel", but I'm just taking a short break from it right now.

This story is a spoof of Shadow759's Youtube video, "Shadow the Hedgehog Can Smile", but it's got my own spin. Not only are they trying to get him to cry, but it's got a side (okay, more than a side) of ShadRouge. I like that couple a lot, after ShadMaria, even though I think Knuckles's ideal girlfriend would be Rouge. But anyway, enough of my complicated pairing logic! On with the story!

It was a cold, lonely day in Station Square. The only thing that could be heard above the rain was the booming sobs of an elderly lady. She was crouched over on the street, holding something furry and limp. Just moments before, the street corner had heard the scream of a car brakes, but still a loud thump. "My cat!" She yelled, "My poor kitten!"

Sonic the hedgehog's ears went limp and flattened against his head as he observed this. He, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Silver, Blaze, Rouge, and even Shadow were all seeking refuge from the storm, but they all stopped as this tragic event occurred.

"I could've saved the woman's cat!" Sonic yelled at Knuckles as he suddenly turned around, "But you grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back! Why did you do that?!"

"You were about to run in front of a car!" The red echidna shouted back, "It could've killed you too!"

"No, it wouldn't have. I would've had the poor animal on the other side of the street before it was halfway to us!"

"You don't know that Sonic. You could've... tripped on a pebble or something."

"Stop making excuses for yourself." Sonic gave up on yelling and lowered his head in sorrow. Everyone wiped away tears as the woman carried her late feline away.

Amy held a handkerchief to her face and blew her nose as Rouge walked over to the man who was still in his blood-stained car and screamed at him until her lungs grew numb. As all this happened, Tails looked over at Shadow, who had his arms crossed, looking quite annoyed.

"Infuriating, isn't it?" He asked, "To think that humans are this reckless...?"

"Hmph." Shadow replied, looking down and closing his eyes. "They're pathetic beings. Get used to it."

The two-tailed fox gave up on getting Shadow to sympathize and asked Amy if she was okay. She slowly nodded her head and Rouge came back to the sidewalk as the car drove away. "Idiot..." She muttered, "...Should get arrested for manslaughter..."

"The worst part is," Sonic said, trying to control himself from not getting any angrier, "that what he just did is perfectly legal here."

Knuckles scoffed in disgust and Rouge stamped her foot.

-XXX-

After reaching Amy's apartment, everyone wrapped themselves in towels and sat on the floor of her living room, drinking hot chocolate. All but Shadow of course, who leaned against the far wall with a snow white towel slung casually over his shoulder. His eyes were closed like before, and his arms crossed.

"You know," Tails began, breaking the silence and tearing Rouge's attention away from how attractive Shadow was looking, "I think we all shed a few tears today, except for Shadow."

Everyone looked up at him. Rouge laughed slightly. "Not a surprise, either." He opened one eye, then the other.

"Well, what do you want from me?" The ebony hedgehog asked in an irritated tone.

"Do you even possess the physical ability to create tears?" Sonic asked jokingly.

"Hmph." He closed his eyes again.

"We should try to get Shadow to cry." Knuckles said. The others nodded and smiled mischievously. "Hey," the red echidna called across the room.

"What the hell do you want?" Shadow was becoming aggravated.

"What do you think is sad?"

Shadow flashed his dagger-like teeth in a snarl. "Leave me alone."

"Uhh..." The guardian racked his brain for something to say. "Oh, um, Maria hated you!"

In a split second, Shadow had jumped the other side of the room and pushed Knuckles against the wall by his neck. He began to squeeze and Knuckles grabbed for Shadow's hands to no avail. "Don't you EVER speak her name!" Shadow screamed as the others pried him off the other.

"Shadow, calm down, he was just joking!" Silver exclaimed, helping to pull him away by using his telekinesis.

"How dare you people mock her with repulsive comedy!" As soon as he was released, he dashed back to the wall and glared around the room, meeting everyone's eyes as a low growl reverberated through his throat. The towel from before laid sprawled out on the ground by his feet.

"Okay, Dude! Whatev. Let's just... talk about something else."

"No. I'm leaving." Shadow grumbled as he grabbed the doorknob. It was locked, so he just pulled harder and broke the lock before walking out into the hall. Rouge followed after him.

"Shadow, are you okay-"

"Please, Rouge. Don't bother me right now." His tone softened but the irritation was still obvious. Rouge put a hand on his shoulder and he shook it off.

"Shadow, I really want to talk to you."

"..."

"You get so angry sometimes. Just, let them have their fun and ignore it. It's complementing them to respond. Walk away and it'll end it."

"But they can't speak about Maria that way. They're not worthy of her."

"...Am I worthy of her?"

"..."

"Shadow?"

"..."

"Am I?"

He swung around and looked at her. "I'll go back in, but only because I don't want to go back out in the rain."

"Great!" Rouge didn't need an answer right now. At the moment, she just wanted him to feel better.

When they walked back in, Sonic and his friends clapped and chuckled, saying, "Hey, Shadow's back!"

Rouge watched the black hedgehog's fists clench in fury, and she cleared her throat. He released his hands and turned to Amy. "Can I be alone somewhere?"

She nodded. "Down the hall and to the left. It's the spare bedroom if you want to collect your thoughts or whatever."

He nodded in thanks and quickly left. Rouge sat down on the couch and faced the group of guys who were sitting on the floor again and talking. Knuckles looked up at Rouge and asked, "What were you two talking about out there?" They all burst into laughter. It was mostly just Sonic and Knuckles who were laughing. Silver and Tails were just sitting by, trying to remain part of the group. She could tell they were uncomfortable.

"Are you really going to try to get him to cry?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Sonic asked.

"It's mean! You could really hurt him, or he could hurt you."

"Nah. It's just for laughs."

"Well, if you haven't noticed, Shadow's not really much of a jokester."

They didn't answer. Just turned back to the group.

"Ugh. Men these days." Rouge muttered, turning to Amy and Blaze.

-XXX-

Shadow sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. How could Knuckles just bring up Maria like that? How could he even suggest that she hated Shadow? What was those jokesters' ultimate goal? How could people be so cruel?! Shadow's head was spinning so fast that he didn't even hear Rouge walk into the room and sit down on the bed next to him. He wasn't aware of her presence until she wrapped her arms around him.

"What're you doing?" He asked, drawing his hands from his face and beginning to push her away.

"It's okay! You can tell me anything. I'm your friend, remember?"

"That doesn't answer my question." He pushed her off and crossed his arms. "What the hell was that for?"

"It was called a hug, Shadow. It's often to make someone feel better? Ring a bell?"

He scoffed. The only person he had ever hugged was Maria, so it didn't feel right to let Rouge embrace him.

"What are you thinking?" She asked.

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because I'll listen. Unlike some jerks we know."

He sighed. "I..."

"What?"

"It's really weird. I don't really... talk to people much anymore."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. I never really learned how to socialize with anyone other than... nevermind."

"Other than Maria, right?"

His eyes flew open and his breathing caught, but he didn't react angrily. Instead, he just sat in silence for a moment before turning to her suddenly. There was a sadness to the look he gave her, and she tried hugging him again. He let her this time, but didn't hug her back. He just kept his arms crossed.

"So, am I worthy?"

"...Yeah, I guess."

She smiled a bit and they sat in more silence as she kept her arms around him. "Mind if I ask why?"

"Uh-huh. I do, actually. We're leaving it at that."

She looked at his face and saw that his cheeks were red. This made her smile wider. "That's fine. I already know why anyways."

He raised an eyebrow. "You think you do?"

"Yep."

"Okay. Why do you believe that you're worthy to talk about her?"

"Because you feel the same way about me that you did about her."

"Man, it's impossible to get a straight answer from women these days."

She sighed loudly. "Let me rephrase that." She straightened herself up and leaned into his head so she could whisper into his ear. Shadow could feel Rouge's breath on his skin, but he was okay with how close she was. He found himself kind of enjoying it. "You have a crush on me, don't you? Hehehe!"

"What? No!" He exclaimed once she pulled away from him, "That's insane!"

"Is it? So if I kiss you right now, will you be disgusted?"

"Yes."

"Care to prove it to me?"

"...Sure."

Rouge pressed her lips against his and he didn't kiss her back. She pulled away after a moment and said, "Any disgust?" Shadow tried to hold back a smile, but all attempts to suppress it failed as he turned away. Rouge grabbed him by the shoulders and laughed. "You loved it."

"Shut up." She could hear him beaming, so the phrase didn't convince her at all.

"Want me to kiss you again?"

"..."

She still had his shoulders in her grip and she spun him around, revealing his grin. "I'll take that as a yes." With that, she crashed her lips against his, more forcefully than before, and he returned the romantic gesture. She caressed his cheek and he put his hands on her hips.

Before either animal knew what had hit them, the door opened and light poured into the dark room. Sonic's hysterical laughter could be heard, followed by Knuckles, then even Tails and Silver. This was just too big of news. They looked up to see everyone standing there in the hallway. Amy "aww"'d at the scene and Shadow quickly pushed Rouge away and crossed his arms.

"SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!" His face was even redder than before and Rouge just wasn't sure what to say. She didn't really blame Shadow for being embarrassed, knowing him.

-XXX-

A few hours later, the women were watching TV, and the men were sitting around the kitchen table talking. Well, all but Shadow, who had left and was now who-knows-where.

"So," Sonic said with a mouthful of potato chips, "how're we gonna get Emo Boy to cry?"

"Dunno." Knuckles replied, "Maybe we can..."

"I'VE GOT IT!" Sonic screamed, making Knuckles fall backwards from his chair in shock, and Tails and Silver to flinch.

"What?" They all yelled, causing a large jumble of noise.

Sonic held his hands up in the air for everyone to quiet down. "We get someone to dress up like Maria, and pretend she's back from the dead or something, and then maybe Shadow will get so emotional that he cries!"

"You think it'll work...?" Silver asked reluctantly. He wasn't sure if this was such a good idea.

"Yeah!"

"But..." Tails added, "What if he strangles 'Maria' when he finds out that she's still dead?"

"Uh, I wouldn't worry about that. I mean, we managed to pull him off of Knuckles! And besides, I don't think he would actually kill one of us!"

They all grew silent for a moment, wondering. "Nah." Knuckles decided, breaking the silence, "He wouldn't do that."

"Awesome!" Sonic exclaimed, "Now, who are we gonna get to be Maria?"

More silence followed.

"Well," Silver spoke up, "We could get one of the ladies to do it."

"Yeah, alright. Go ask!" They all cheered as he approached Amy, Rouge and Blaze, who were watching a nature show narrated by an Australian guy.

They paused the TV and looked up at him, putting the poor time-traveler on the spot. "Hey, so uh..."

"Yeah?" Blaze called up to the ivory hedgehog, her eyes sparkling with the delight of seeing him.

"Yes?" Amy asked through a mouthful of popcorn. She reminded him of Sonic sometimes, despite their obvious differences.

"What?" Rouge wondered aloud, irritated that he had interrupted their program before they'd gotten to see the crocodiles.

"We were wondering, and you don't have to do it if you don't want to, but we were just thinking..."

Rouge sighed loudly. "Can we get back to our show, before we grow any older?"

"Yeah, sorry... It's just that, we were wondering, if you wanted to... dress up like Maria so we can get Shadow to cry." He said the last part of his sentence so fast that it took the TV watchers a moment to understand what he said. Pretty soon, they all began to laugh.

"No way!" Rouge replied, "You guys have been big enough jerks already!"

"Not gonna happen." Blaze said with a laugh, "I don't wanna be murdered."

"I would never do something so mean!" Amy responded, a look of shock on her face, not even if Sonic asked me!"

"Why don't you do it yourself?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah!" The word from Sonic and the men's laughter could be heard from the kitchen. Silver's ears went limp on his head and his cheeks turned as red as Shadow's when they caught him kissing Rouge.

-XXX-

The next day, they had located Shadow under a tree in a meadow near Station Square, and Silver was in costume, ready to go. They had found him a dress almost identical to Maria's, and even a blonde wig and matching blue headband. "This is so embarrassing!" Silver protested, "Why do I have to be the one to do this?"

"Because, it's funnier that way!" Sonic and Knuckles laughed, high-fiving each other. The guys shooed him off to go talk to Shadow, and he approached the moping hedgehog slowly. Shadow had his arms crossed, and he was looking out into the horizon, still as a statue. His ears darted left and right on his head, listening to every little noise that the outdoors had to offer.

He looked over his shoulder and saw "Maria" standing there before he/she had even made his/her way completely across the field.

His eyes widened. "M-Maria?!"

"Oh crap..." Silver muttered under his breath, realizing he had to get into character, and fast. "Shadow!" He squealed in his highest voice, "I thought I'd never find you!"

"Maria!" Shadow screamed, running up to the imposter and giving "her" a hug. "How is this possible?! You're dead, and you can't even go to Earth because you're sick, and you should at least be an old woman by now!"

Silver had to improvise. "Um, well, none of those things are true anymore because I'm immortal! I'll explain how that happened later, I just want to catch up with your life!" Oh my God, he was actually falling for this.

Shadow hugged "Maria" tighter. "I missed you so much... I had to be without you for so long! You were my best friend!"

"I'm here now. It's okay, I'll never leave your side." A tear rolled down Shadow's cheek, and Silver cheered mentally. The guys across the field were high-fiving, but Shadow didn't pay them any attention. He pulled away and looked into "Maria"'s eyes, but then his shockingly warm smile turned into a frown.

"Silver...?" His voice sounded half like an angry male's, half like a growling beast's. He. Was. Pissed.

"...How'd you know?"

"Your eyes are yellow, you idiot!"

"...Dammit..."

Shadow began to growl even more fiercely and stepped back to observe his target. Silver held up his hands in defeat, but then remembered he had telekinesis. Shadow lunged for his throat, only this time he didn't look like he was going to wrap his hands around Silver's windpipe, he looked like he was going to tear his teeth through it.

He screamed in fury as Silver caught him in mid-air telekinetically. "Put me DOWN, YOU SON OF A B*TCH!"

"Calm down!" Silver found himself saying again, "It was a dumb prank that Sonic and Knuckles talked me into!"

"Well I'm going to KILL YOU ANYWAY!" He screamed, "I really believed you! You made me think she was alive! I felt so great for a moment..." He had gone from a yell to hardly above a whisper, and Silver decided to put him down now. Shadow put a hand to his forehead, ruffling his spikes, and pushed past Silver with his free hand. He walked right past the guys who were on the ground laughing, and walked straight to Amy's apartment, looking for Rouge.

-XXX-

Rouge, Amy and Blaze were chatting at the kitchen table now, as they ate lunch that Amy had prepared, and Blaze had cooked for them instantly. They were just laughing about the conveniences of pyrokinesis when Shadow banged on the door so loudly it made them all jump. "Open the door or I'm breaking it off its hinges!" He yelled.

"It's open; you already broke the lock, remember?" Amy muttered. He heard her and walked in, sitting down at the table.

"You look upset. Would you like some tea? I just made it a few minutes ago." Amy offered. He waved a hand in dismissal of the idea.

"No. I need to talk to Rouge, alone."

Amy giggled and Blaze smirked as they left to go eat their lunch in front of the TV, leaving Shadow and Rouge alone in the kitchen.

"What's wrong, Hon?" She asked, putting a hand over his.

He pulled away from her grip and set his hands on his lap. "They finally got me to... well... get a little teary-eyed."

Her eyes widened. "Oh no. Really? How?!"

He just looked at her, and she remembered what Silver had asked them the previous night. "Oh, I see..."

He nodded his head, not looking her in the eye.

"Were you embarrassed?"

He didn't answer, just said, "They keep giving me so much crap. Don't they already know I hate them?"

"I think they see you as their friend, and friends play pranks on other friends. I would take it as a compliment, if I were you. I mean, c'mon. Silver's nice!"

He just looked at her and said, "Are you taking it as a compliment that you're the only one I like to talk to about things like this?"

"Yes. I can tell you think of me as a friend too." She said it not wanting to come on too strong, but she hoped that he thought of her as more.

"Rouge, that's the thing. Relationships are so confusing..."

"What do you mean, Shadow?" Rouge couldn't believe how much he was opening up to her.

"I mean, I don't think of you as a friend."

"Oh. Really?"

"Nope."

"Oh." Memories of the shameful look on Shadow's face after they kissed came flooding back. She began to beg to God that he was going to say she was more to him, but at the same time, other thoughts came charging into her head. Maybe he only kissed her the night before because she pressured him into it.

In simpler words, her mind was a tornado of hopes and fears at that moment.

But then she was snapped back to reality, because in one swift movement, Shadow had grabbed her shoulders and pulled them closer together until their foreheads were touching.

"Rouge, you're wrong about a lot of things."

"...Like what?" She asked, dazed.

"Well first of all, last night you assumed that I had a crush on Maria, which is completely untrue. I loved her as a sister. I knew her for too long to feel anything romantic for her. And secondly, I don't think of you as a friend, but I don't have a crush on you either."

"Then... why are you holding me so close to you?" She asked, her eyes wide.

"Because I love you." Without giving her a second to respond, he kissed her and she kissed him back. They were caught up in the heat of the moment and were kissing too passionately to notice Amy and Blaze walk back into the kitchen. The two peeping ladies didn't make a sound, just slowly walked back out, suppressing giggles.

When they finally pulled away, Rouge said, "I love you too, Shadow." It felt so good to get that off her chest. She had screamed it in her head every time she saw him for the past two years. Now she could finally say it without fear of rejection. And all this time, he had loved her back!

They stared into each other's eyes, about to kiss again, when they were both suddenly caught off guard and showered in tapwater. "What the hell?!" Shadow exclaimed, looking up from his seat at the table to see Blaze and Amy laughing with buckets of water in their hands.

"Not cool!" Rouge shouted, but then she began to laugh too.

Shadow didn't join the uproar, but he did smile slightly. Despite the cruel prank that Sonic and friends had played on him, the ultimate life-form was having the best day of his life.

The End