Work Text:
3 AM.
Rouge fumbled with her keys, the metallic glint shimmering in her eyes and splitting the image. Damn it, he's still home, I know he is. She managed to grasp the correct key, thoughtfully adorned with a red cap, and shoved it into the handle of the apartment door. She tripped on the lip of the floor as she entered, barely catching her balance as the door slammed behind her. She sloppily snapped the deadbolt shut as the bat glanced around the dark apartment. "Shadow?" she said, her voice sounding thick in her own mouth.
The only reply was an audible sigh from the kitchen table. She turned to see a folded pair of hands resting on the table, barely illuminated by the orange street lights coming from the window beside the kitchen. She grit her teeth as she strode over to him. "I tried calling you for a ride," she scowled, whipping her purse onto the table with a thud. "I had to walk all the way across town in these--" She hiked her leg up on the table for emphasis, revealing a stiletto boot and sheer panty hose. Her leather skirt rode halfway up her hip as she did so. "--and I can't fly after a few drinks, you know that."
Shadow's gaze rose from the table to meet her own, his eyes dark in the dim light. "I shut my phone off," he replied, very quietly, very carefully, as if his tone were walking on a tightrope. "I did not want to get a call from GUN tonight."
"But I called the landline!" Rouge insisted, lifting her leg off the table and stripping her boots off. "Look, I get it. I don't like being on call either, but when your roommate calls you for a ride, fuckin' hammered, you could at least answer the Chaos damned phone."
Rouge struggled with her other boot, fussing with the zipper as it continuously escaped from her gloved fingers. Trying to catch it was another issue. "Damn it," she hissed. A shadow passed over her. "You know, if you weren't so selfish, maybe--"
The venom seeped from her voice until Shadow's gloved hands wrapped around her boot and gently pulled it from her leg. "I am sorry, Rouge," he muttered, setting the boots aside. He offered a hand to her, but did not meet her eyes. She sighed, but reluctantly took it anyway.
"Look, did something happen?" she slurred as he led her to her bedroom. She wasn't sure if she was actually walking or being dragged, even given the pain in her feet. "How should I know, you don't friggin' tell me anything."
Shadow took a deep breath as he set her down on the bed. "I..." he began, then stopped. He stared at the floor for a moment, then turned and left the room, across the hall, to the bathroom.
"Hey! Get back here!" she barked. She tried grabbing for his tail, but only managed to limply reach out a half second too late, nearly slipping off the bed.
"I am coming back," he replied. She heard the tap run, then stop. Did his voice crack? Shadow...
He returned with a glass of water, and placed it in her hands, cupping them around the glass securely. "Drink," he said simply.
"Not until you tell me what the hell's wrong with you," she retorted, scowling up at him. "I want a good explanation for why you'd leave a beautiful lady like me hanging."
He smirked, just barely. It was the first semblance of a smile she had seen on him all night, but his eyes did not match it. "I found some old files in GUN's database. Old pictures," he said.
She raised an eyebrow as she took a long drink of water. "GUN's database? What were you doing down there?"
"I was instructed to gather some choice files for the Commander," he replied, sitting beside her.
"Must've been a slow day."
"Why do you suppose you got the day off so easily?"
Rouge giggled, taking another long drink of water. "Okay, so what did you see, then?"
Shadow fell quiet, and his hands tightly clasped themselves together in his lap. "Maria...and I."
Oh, this again. "I thought you were past that," she said, then bit her lip. I'm not sober yet, apparently. He hasn't talked about her in some time, though...
"Me too," he said with a heavy sigh. "I thought that any photos would have fallen with the ARK. These...were ones..." His speech became slower, more careful once more. "I had...never seen before. I do not recall anyone taking pictures of the two of us..."
He shivered, just barely, just enough for Rouge to notice. Instantly, he became tense and still once again. "She looked...happy."
She put a hand on his back and rubbed between his spines. "Hey, I'm sure--"
"It is fine," he said, covering his eyes with one hand for a moment. "It is...fine. I would rather remember her happy, than..."
He paused, then dragged his hand down his face and stood up. He clenched his fists, then relaxed them and turned back to Rouge. "You need to sleep," he said.
"But--" she began, but he had already taken the glass from her hands and set it on the nightstand. Is that all? Is that all you're going to tell me? she thought as he pulled her legs onto the bed. His hands started to shake as he tucked her into the sheets. He doesn't usually show weakness like this. I don't think he wants to. It's probably best to let sleeping dogs lie. "Shadow?"
"Yes?" he said. He still refused to make eye contact, but even without it, she could see his deep red irises swimming.
"Did you get rid of the pictures?" Rouge asked.
"Yes," he said, with his back turned. "Good night, Rouge."
***
The next day, Rouge stumbled into the kitchen in a bathrobe with a fistful of headache medication. She glanced at the clock, which read 11:12 AM. "Prince of darkness is gone," she muttered as she poured a glass of extra-pulp orange juice into a coffee mug. As she sat down, a piece of notebook paper fluttered across the table. What's this? She picked it up, squinting at the print:
"Rouge--
I told the Commander you would be coming in late.
Thank you. I will pick you up next time.
--S"
"'Thank you' for what?" she scoffed, smirking. "I was the one who came home drunk--"
Underneath the note was a photograph. Oh? She took a long drink of juice as she held it up to the light. It was faded in the corners, but still legible. In it was a picture of a young girl sitting beside a black hedgehog on a bed. She had a book laid out in her lap. The pair seemed to be engrossed in themselves, the girl laughing at the book, while the hedgehog was smiling directly at the girl. She turned to the back of the picture, where a small annotation was scrawled in script: "Maria and Shadow. 12/3/...." The date had been smudged.
So this was Maria. Cute.
She shook her head. "You're a terrible liar, Shadow the hedgehog," she sighed, smirking to herself. She tossed the photo in the trashcan as she disrobed and made her way to the bathroom.