Work Text:
Rouge opened the door to the hotel room and lugged her baggage inside. She had been travelling with Knuckles for hours by car for a mission. Ordinarily, she would just fly and be where she wanted to go, but they had to be inconspicuous. She was surprised to admit that being the passenger still made her tired and she was excited to curl up in the nice hotel bedding.
“Are you coming in, big guy?” she called behind her.
Knuckles rolled his eyes before following her. “Obviously. What, did you think I was staying in the hallway?”
“Maybe I was hoping you would,” Rouge replied, halting suddenly.
Knuckles, not paying attention, bumped into her. “Ugh, what’s the issue now? Didja see a mouse or something?” He restabilized himself and followed Rouge’s gaze.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“There’s only one bed, Rouge.”
“I know. I don’t know why because I asked for two. I made sure there were two when I checked us in.” Rouge was still frozen solid, unsure of the next course of action.
“You could go down and ask for a new room,” Knuckles suggested. “I mean, if you’re uncomfortable.”
Rouge nodded. “For once, Knuckles, you’re right. I’ll go do that now.”
And she did, turning on her heel stiffly and brushing past Knuckles. She went straight out the door and immediately to the elevator. Honestly, Knuckles wasn’t too sure how to feel about her lack of hesitation. On one hand, he didn’t want to share a bed with her! It was unprofessional and she probably snored anyway. On the other hand, why didn’t she want to share a bed with him? It wasn’t like he stank or anything. Probably. He showered most days.
He began setting up his belongings, organizing his clothes and claiming his spot by the sink. It didn’t take long for Rouge to return from her little quest. Knuckles heard the door click shut and turned towards it. Rouge just stood in front of it, her sparkly mouth pulled downwards into a distinct frown.
“Any luck?” Knuckles called.
“No. All the rooms are booked.”
“Well, that sucks but it’s also good because I just set my stuff out. It would be a shame to move it again.”
“Sure.”
Rouge didn’t move for a moment, still looking upset. “What are we going to do about the bed situation?”
Knuckles had forgotten about that. He didn’t think it was a big deal. “I don’t know. We could just share; it isn’t that deep.”
She was silent. “If you say so. I’m gonna… get some work done.”
And with that, she found her laptop and got to work. It was just tedious paperwork, really, but it had to be done before G.U.N. started complaining about it. She knew it was important, but she procrastinated so much on the assignment that it had built up into a mountain of work. As a consequence, it was taking longer to finish. Much longer. Not like she was complaining, though.
Once she was done, she wouldn’t have an excuse not to join Knuckles in the bed. It wasn’t that she had an issue sharing with him, it was just… she had feelings for him, as embarrassing as it was for her to admit. She had only realized after they stopped at a gas station earlier and he had bought Rouge’s favorite snacks for her without her even telling him what she liked or even that she was getting hungry in the first place. She was trying to suppress the feelings, but Rouge liked the dumb guy and it killed her that he acted like sharing a bed didn’t hold any significance. It wasn’t that surprising, but it still hurt nonetheless.
Whatever, Rouge pushed the frustration down. It doesn’t matter to me.
It did matter though. As she thought about it more because these new emotions couldn’t have come out of nowhere, she realized that she’d been crushing for a little more than a little bit. They’d been on a handful of missions together and he never failed to make her laugh or to make sure that she was all right. She’d thought she just appreciated the thoughtfulness, but it turned out to be more than that.
She refocused back on her work, oblivious at the echidna staring at her from the bed.
Knuckles didn’t understand what the deal was. Rouge had been acting weird since the gas station, withdrawn and untalkative. It was unusual behavior for her and Knuckles missed her witty retorts and their easy banter.
Was it his fault?
Maybe, but Knuckles was pretty sure that he had chosen the right snacks to get Rouge. Before the trip, he had gone to Shadow to see what kind of things she liked and he had followed the guidance perfectly. Why did he go to Shadow, one might wonder? Well, he liked Rouge, plain and simple. He had been at a party, watching her chat with Amy when Sonic elbowed him in the side.
“You like her, Knux?” he had asked, smiling cooly.
If Knuckles was able to get any redder he would have. “What? What are you talking about? Rouge? What?”
Sonic had laughed at him and slapped him on the shoulder. “Notice how I didn’t mention anyone in particular? Aww, Knuckie’s got a little crush on Rouge.”
Knuckles had turned away with a harumph.
“Hey, it’s good. Nothing to get embarrassed about. As a matter of fact, I’m sure she likes you back.”
That was enough to get Knuckles listening again. “You mean it?”
“Yeah!” Sonic pointed over at Rouge. “She was literally just looking at you.”
And she had been, it was true. But her blue eyes had flicked away from him and she was back to talking with Amy now, so it didn’t matter. She was pretty– a real beauty in Knuckles’ eyes. She probably had scores of candidates waiting for their chance to be with her, ones that were better than him and could offer her way more.
Anyways, that was how he found out. For a little bit, he thought the feelings would go away on their own accord. Initially he had thought he had some sort of allergy against her, because why else would his face get hot around her, or why would his heart beat a little quicker, or why else would he get so worked up. Now that he knew what he was dealing with, he found that he didn’t want the feelings to go away. He wanted to treat her nicely and in battle he discovered that he searched for her more and was actually worried when he couldn’t find her.
So, why was she ignoring him? It couldn’t actually be that he smelled bad. Was she worried that he was going to do something to her? The idea popped into his head, unbidded, and it left a sick feeling in his stomach.
“Hey, Rouge,” he called softly, not wanting to disturb her too much.
“Hmm?” She tilted her head toward him, but her eyes never left her screen and her fingers continued typing.
“How long are you going to be?” he asked. “You know we have to leave in the morning.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I want to get this done, so I’ll go to sleep whenever that is.”
Reasonable enough. Rouge was confused about why he was asking. It wasn’t any of his business if she was going to sleep tonight or not. She had decided that she wasn’t going to– she was technically nocturnal anyways and she could just sleep during the car ride tomorrow. It would save her the trouble and the heartache of sleeping next to him.
Another half hour passed and the sun had gone down long ago. Knuckles decided that enough was enough. Rouge had to go to sleep one way or another. He’d sleep on the floor or even in the car if it was such a big deal to her.
He got out of bed and went over to the desk that she was at. He tried to muster up the energy that she’d listen to. “Girl, you gotta get some sleep.”
Rouge blinked up at Knuckles, which made him feel a little silly. “Um, what?”
“Look at the time, Rouge. You got to go to bed.”
Rouge averted her gaze. “Not yet. I’m almost done.”
(She’d actually been done for a while now, but Knuckles didn’t need to know.)
“No, now.”
Knuckles lifted her out of the chair by her armpits the same way one would pick up a petulant child from the ground.
“Hey! Put me down!” Rouge’s wings flapped uselessly as she tried to make her escape.
“Not until you tell me what's wrong,” Knuckles said. “If you don’t wanna share the bed with me, just say so. I can go find somewhere else to be if you want.”
Rouge closed her eyes. This whole situation was just ridiculous. Like, what were they doing right now. “It isn’t that I don’t want to… share a bed… with you. I just…”
“You just what?” Knuckles set her down. He was a warrior, but still, holding mobians up was tiring and he wanted fresh arms for the next day.
“I like you!” Rouge blurted. She didn’t know why she said it; she just did. Immediately she turned around, cursing herself. God, now everything is awkward! Why was it that she could kick through walls and dismantle robots and she dealt with a crummy job every day, but she couldn’t deal with how she felt?
Knuckles on the other hand had short-circuited. “Oh.”
That was not the explanation that he was expecting at all. That was the last thing he would have guessed she’d say. Sonic had said that she liked him back, but Knuckles hadn’t believed him. But now? Shocked. Stunned. Astonished.
He swallowed. “Oh.”
Rouge still couldn’t look at him. He hadn’t said anything to make her think that she hadn’t screwed up big time. She felt a hand on her shoulder, turning her around. “Don’t you make fun of me, Knuckles.”
“I wasn’t going to,” he said. “I like you too.”
He said it so matter-of-factly that it was Rouge’s turn to be taken-aback. “Really?”
“Yeah. I figured it out a while ago.”
“Oh my god.”
“I was thinking that I really messed up somehow.”
“No, I was just dealing with my feelings. I realized earlier today.”
“Soo… is the bed still an issue?”
“No.” Rouge smiled at Knuckles. “No, it isn’t.”
He smiled back. “Good.”
He went back to the bed and crawled in. Rouge still had to do her nightly routine, but it didn’t take long for her to follow Knuckles into the bed too.
“I feel so silly now, Knux,” she said. If she had known that the whole thing would be this easy, she would have confessed her feelings to him earlier.
“Me too,” he agreed. “Y’know, Sonic told me that you liked me at his party.”
“Oh, did he now?” Maybe Rouge should do something about that hedgehog. Figuring out her feelings way before she even knew about them and telling everybody about them. There should be a law against that sort of thing.
“Yeah, but I thought he was just making things up.”
“I guess he got it spot on.”
“Hmm.”
Rouge looked over at Knuckles. The guy had fallen asleep in the middle of their conversation. Untasteful. She smiled and shook her head at him. She pulled the covers over her more, relishing the warmth radiating from Knuckles’ body. Maybe this whole thing wasn’t as bad as she thought. She could get used to this feeling and with that thought in her mind Rouge slowly fell asleep.
If Knuckles scooted closer in the night, and Rouge threw her arm around his shoulders, then that was their prerogative..
If they woke up in each other's arms in the morning, comfortable and warm with sunlight gently streaming in through the window, well, nobody needed to know.
If they both pretended to be asleep, just so they could bask in that feeling of being held, then that was their business.