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The cool wind ruffles Shadow's quills as he stands on the flat roof of the hotel building Team Dark is staying in–G.U.N had purchased them a few nights while they completed their latest mission. It’s yet to be a success, but the first day had still been fruitful–however, Shadow's chest feels tight with apprehension.
His arms are folded, eyes darting between the blinking lights of traffic below, crawling along like ants, and the illuminated screen on his wrist.
“Alright, spill,” Rouge says from behind, hand on her hip. Shadow uncharacteristically jumps, having been deep in thought.
He turns, and cocks a brow at her. “‘Spill?’”
She walks up to stand next to him, peering down, and he leans back against the walled ledge.
“You've been staring at your comm all day.” She leans over to look, and he shuts his screen off, glaring.
Rouge's eyes meet his. “I try to be respectful with your secrets. But if you're completing some secret side mission while you're here, I would hope you'd ask for help.”
Shadow blinks. “It’s not a mission,” he sighs, turning back to the cityscape. “But I don't need help.”
“Then why have you been glued to the screen? Finally out of your old man era? Embracing screen addiction?”
He doesn't answer, and she sighs. “Okay, okay. I’ll leave you alone to brood.” Her heels click against the concrete as she walks away.
Shadow glances at his communicator again. His eyes dart back and forth, before he rolls them with a groan. “If you must know, since I can hear you pouting from here, I got a message from Iridian, and I've been wondering how to respond.”
Rouge snaps her wings open to rush back over. “Oh ho ho,” she says. “Rainbow Brite was bold enough to message you? What did she say?”
Shadow turns the screen back on so Rouge can see.
It's a .gif of an animated chao waving and beaming. Below it is another message that says:
Hope the mission is going well! ✨️🤗
Rouge gapes. “You left her on ‘read?’”
“I left her on…what?”
“Dear Chaos,” Rouge mutters, pressing a gloved hand into her forehead. “It means that your comm told her comm that you read her message at–” She glances at the timestamp, then her eyes bulge– “11:34 AM? Shadow, it's nearly midnight!”
“And?”
“She probably thinks you're ignoring her, poor girl.”
“But I’m not. We’ve been busy, she should know that.”
“We got in three hours ago. What have you been doing since then?”
“Decompressing. Thinking on how to respond.”
“Well, you could confess your undying love for her–”
Shadow glares, blushing profusely. “Rouge.”
She holds her hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, don't bite my head off. You're overthinking this, Shads. Just apologize for being busy and say everything is fine.”
“Seems too formal, don't you think?”
“That’s kind of your whole thing, Mr. Strictly Business.”
“I wanted to send her one of those…short repeating videos, whatever they are, but I don't know how.”
Rouge laughs sharply, voice echoing off the surrounding skyscrapers.
Shadow rolls his eyes. “Never mind.” He started to stalk off. “I knew I shouldn't have–”
Rouge stops him with a firm hand on his shoulder. “Wait, Shadow. I'm sorry. I’ll stop teasing you. Let me show you how to find a .gif.”
Shadow huffs, and turns back to her.
They spend the next few minutes finding the perfect .gif to send, and settle on one they find that's actually art of him (Rouge explains there's all sorts of fan creations of all the big heroes) giving some sort of salute greeting (and she did briefly tease him for being full of himself, but Shadow insisted it was because it was “well-done”).
“I should say something else,” Shadow says, beginning to type.
Hello. The mission has been successful so far.
Rouge makes a disapproving click.
Shadow glares. “What.”
“Nothing! You're doing great!” She gives him a strained, toothy grin and a thumbs up.
Shadow deletes it.
Hi
Delete.
Good even
Delete.
I apologize for
Then, three animated dots appear on Iridian's side of the texting screen.
“What is that?” Shadow asks.
Rouge excitedly smacks Shadow a few times repeatedly in the arm. “She's typing!”
Shadow side eyes her, but she stops one hit before he would have attempted to restrain her.
“Already?”
“She was probably worried about you and eagerly awaiting your response.”
“Does it show the same dots on her screen?”
“Yes.”
“Great.” He deletes the text he was composing.
After a few seconds, her dots disappear too, but no message comes through.
“She's probably not wanting to seem desperate,” Rouge says. “Go ahead and send a text.”
Shadow sighs.
Good evening. I apologize that I haven't responded. It's been quite busy, but the mission is going well.
Shadow doesn't send it yet, hovering over the key.
“Ask her how her day has been,” Rouge suggests.
Shadow nods, types more, then hits send.
They wait, not realizing they're holding their breaths until Iridian responds.
It's okay! I'm glad to hear it's going well. Today has been slow, but we did some training after my gymnastics class. I'm tired!
Below appears another .gif of a chao, this one melting dramatically onto the ground.
Shadow huffs at the thought of Iridian doing something similar, a small smile breaking through his tough exterior.
“You both type like old people,” Rouge mutters.
“I am old,” Shadow says.
Shadow: You should sleep if you're tired. Maybe you will wake up early for once.
Before he hits send, Rouge says, “Um! Maybe add an emoji. To show that you’re teasing her?”
“A what?”
“Click the smiley face. There you go. Send one of those.”
Shadow’s brow furrows. “I don't like them.”
“Then maybe just send ‘lol.’”
“What does that mean?”
Rouge bites her tongue to keep her teasing remarks at bay. “‘Laugh out loud.’”
His brow furrows even further–not in irritation, but in some sort of concern. “But I didn't laugh out loud.”
“You don't have to.”
“That feels disingenuous.”
“Yeah, because you're the king of genuineness.” She rolls her eyes. “Send her a winking .gif.”
“She might see that as a flirtation.”
Rouge stares, and then nods, slow and dramatic. “Uh huh.”
Shadow sighs, and he searches for a fitting .gif. Finding another one of him–smirking, this time–he sends that one with the text.
Iridian: Ha ha! Don't count on it. I am the restoration's sleepiest soldier.
Iridian: I might not be able to out-lap Sonic but I can out-nap him 🤣
Shadow huffs, feeling a mixture of endearment and maybe even pride for her beating Sonic at something, even if it's not something that really deserves bragging rights.
Iridian: I'm sorry that was an awful joke
Shadow: It wasn't.
Rouge yawns, and stretches her arms over her head. “I’m going back to the room. You coming?”
“Sure,” he says. They walk together to the door to the stairwell.
As Rouge puts her hand on the doorknob, she stops.
“Shadow?” She looks at him with a smile. “I'm happy for you.”
He rolls his eyes. “Don't–”
“No, just–” She puts her hands on his shoulders– “listen, for a second. I truly am happy for you. It's nice to see you smile more.” She tilts her head with her own smile, softer than her usual painted smirk.
Shadow's face softens. “Thank you. I appreciate your help, and support.”
"Don't mention it.” Rouge opens the door and enters the stairwell. “Don't push her away, yeah? She's sweet, and she genuinely cares about you.”
Shadow stops in the doorway as Rouge extends her wings to simply fly down the middle of the stairwell.
“I'll do my best.”
—
The room is dark and silent, other than Shadow's communicator illuminating his face and the keys making soft, brief vibrations as he's typing.
“ARE YOU TEXTING YOUR FEMALE COMPANION.”
Shadow jumps, cursing. “Omega,” he whispers harshly. “I didn't know you were online.”
“I WAS MERELY IN SLEEP MODE. I CAME ONLINE WHEN YOU AND ROUGE ACTIVATED MY SECURITY PROTOCOL BY ENTERING THE ROOM AT APPROXIMATELY 11:46 PM.”
Shadow shushes him, then points to Rouge's sleeping form in the other bed.
“VOLUME DOWN TO 10.” There's a brief pause. “IS THIS ACCEPTABLE?”
“Yes. Although you should return to sleep mode. You need a full charge.”
“YOU NEED TO CHARGE AS WELL. YOU ARE A STILL A FLESH BAG, REGARDLESS OF YOUR ULTIMATE LIFEFORM STATUS.”
Shadow chuckles. “I'm okay, Omega.”
“YOU ARE STAYING UP LATE INSTANT MESSAGING YOUR FEMALE COMPANION. I CAN EXPLAIN HOW TO SILENCE YOUR COMMUNICATION DEVICE IF YOU WOULD LIKE. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT FOR OPTIMUM REST.”
“She's not my ‘female companion.’ We're…” He thinks for a moment. “...friends.” It’s strange to admit that he has a friend outside of Rouge and Omega.
“‘COMPANION’ IS SYNONYMOUS WITH ‘FRIEND.’”
“Not the way you're insinuating.”
“THAT IS TRUE. I AM INSINUATING THAT YOU HAVE ROMANTIC FEELINGS FOR THIS BRIGHTLY COLORED FLESH BAG.”
Shadow groans. “You've been spending too much time with Rouge.” He rolls over, back to Omega.
“I APPROVE OF HER. SHE IS SMALL AND ADORABLE. SHE SAID I WAS FORMIDABLE. I COULD NEVER EVISCERATE HER.”
“Thank you, for that.”
“I CAN PROVIDE YOU ROMANTIC ADVICE, IF YOU WOULD DESIRE.”
Shadow looks back over his shoulder with a laugh. “What do you know about romance, Omega?”
“I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ALLURED A FEMALE FLESH BAG. THE FIERY DESTRUCTIVE ONE BY THE NAME OF BLAZE. WE HAVE BEEN ON SEVERAL DATES.”
“You have,” Shadow says, incredulous.
“AFFIRMATIVE. WE HAVE DESTROYED NUMEROUS AMOUNTS OF ENEMIES SIDE BY SIDE. SHE BURNS MY CENTRAL PROCESSOR AS EXTENSIVELY AS SHE BURNS ROBOTNIK'S OTHER CREATIONS.”
“That's not–”
“Boys,” Rouge groans. “Or should I say ‘girls.’ I love that you're gossiping about your crushes, but you are interfering with my beauty sleep.”
“IF YOU ARE FEELING EXCLUDED, WE CAN ALSO COMMUNICATE ABOUT THE GUARDIAN ECHIDNA YOU FIND HANDSOME.”
“His eyes are dreamy,” Shadows deadpans with a smirk directed at Omega, then laughs as a pillow smacks into his face.
“I AM RETURNING TO SLEEP MODE SOLELY FOR THE SAKE OF ROUGE NOT BEING INSUFFERABLE TOMORROW.”
“Much appreciated,” Rouge grumbles. “Good night.”
“Night.”
“ENJOY YOUR UNCONSCIOUS VISIONS OF OSCULATING YOUR DESIRED FLESH BAGS.”
“Of what?” Rouge demands.
But Omega goes offline before he can hear his friends’ confusion–or, after them looking up the word, their embarrassed aggravation.