The ice cream bars are already melting when Silver finds the others under one of the massive oak trees in the park. Shadow sees him first, as he always does, and nods at him. The closest thing to, “Hey, welcome back, sweetheart,” he seems capable of. Sonic’s still talking until he notices that Shadow’s attention has wandered elsewhere, and he meets Silver’s eyes with a grin.
“Yo, Silver!” he exclaims, waving. “You got the stuff!”
“Sure did!” Silver plops down at Sonic’s right and hands them each a bar. “I, uh, think they’re melting, though. You know how you can feel it through the bag? That it’s melting?”
Shadow lets out a hmph. “It makes no difference to me.”
Sonic rolls his eyes. “Whatever, Shad,” he says, and starts unwrapping his ice cream bar. “And thanks for getting these, Silver. Man, I’ve really been craving them for some reason!”
“Probably because it’s really hot out?” Silver suggests. “Because it’s summertime?”
Sonic looks at him.
“Uh—sorry. Also, you’re welcome.”
Sonic keeps looking at him—and then he grins, shakes his head. “Love you too, Silver.”
There’s a brief silence as they unwrap their bars, consider them. They’d melted more than Silver had expected; the gumballs that make the character’s eyes are starting to peel away from their spots. He picks them off and places them back in the wrapper for later.
Sonic, a demon of chaos, licks the gumballs off first. Silver knows that he’ll end up swallowing them, freak out about how bubblegum “stays in your stomach for seven—years,” and then forget about the whole thing in half an hour.
Shadow, though—Shadow fears nothing. Silver and Sonic watch in horror as he bites into the ice cream bar, slicing right through the stick, and chews.
“That,” Sonic says, “is terrifying.”
“My teeth hurt just looking at that,” Silver says. “How… how?”
Shadow looks at them coolly and takes another bite.
Silver finally blinks, breaking himself out of the trance of watching Shadow defy all that is holy, and turns away to lick the melting bits of his ice cream bar. Chocolate? Banana? He’s still not entirely familiar with the desserts of this time. Tastes good, though.
“So what do you guys wanna do after this?” he asks.
Sonic lets out a deep, contented sigh, and Silver looks to see that he’s already finished his ice cream. He’s leaning back against the tree now, hands behind his head, and the stick from the ice cream bar hangs loosely from his mouth. “I dunno,” he says. “But I’d be fine with just chilling here for a while, you know? Just… enjoy us. Being here.”
Silver and Shadow both glance at him. It’s the closest to sappy he’ll ever get, and Silver feels a grin spread across his face. He leans in to kiss Sonic’s cheek, ice cream sticking to it, and rests against him.
“I’d be fine with that, too,” he says.
He hears Shadow huff. “And… so would I.”
Sonic sighs again. “Thanks, guys,” he says, settling into them, and Silver forgets about his ice cream until he realizes there’s nothing left.