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It was December 14. 10 days before Christmas Eve, when Rouge had asked him if he would go to Sonic’s annual party.
Of course, his first response, just the same as all the years before, was an immediate “No.”. but that didn’t dissuade her, not this year.
For the past 3 years she had taken his no with little to no argument. Apart from the year when she was her red echidna’s secret Santa and insisted that she needed back up just in case. She even tried to bribe him with new motorcycle parts. But of course, even with her bribery his answer was still no.
But this year Rouge said she’d give him the Green Chaos Emerald (his favorite) that she had recently “acquired”. He was pretty sure it wasn’t acquired through legal means. But still, a chaos emerald is a chaos emerald, especially since he lost the Red Emerald a few G.U.N. missions ago. He was kind of getting desperate after he searched for three weeks and couldn’t find another.
After at least two hours of him sitting at his desk weighing the pros and cons he decided to say yes. He needed an emerald.
He walked towards team dark’s shared living room/Omega’s charging room, only to pause in the doorway.
Rouge was leaning back while sitting in her plush dark purple recliner, her legs were crossed one over the over while her fingers were pressed together like the villains in the movies they watched. (it was because she already knew what Shadow would say before he did.) It made him want to change his mind. But, he still needed the emerald. So, after mentally preparing himself for Rouge’s antics during this conversation to come, he walked fully into the room after letting out a sigh.
Rouge’s eyes were already locked on him with a smirk as he walked full into the dim light of his, Rouge and Omega’s living room.
He slowly walked over to his navy blue recliner, avoiding eye contact as he went. Once he reached his recliner, he flopped down with a huff. Crossing his arms and staring down in his lap he mumbled something barely audible.
Rouge’s smirk turned into a teasing grin as she asked “What was that Handsome? I couldn't hear you over all that mopeing.”
Shadow pinched his brow as he let out a sigh, lifting up his head but still not looking at his roommate he huffed before saying in a low grumble “I said I will go to this Christmas party you've practically been begging me to go to for the past 3 years”
The white bat chirped indignantly, opening her mouth (most likely to tell Shadow that she hadn't been begging) only to get Interrupted by the red and black hedgie :) holding up a finger, before saying “I'll only if you show me the emerald first.”
“What, you don't trust me? After all these years Shadow, I thought maybe you'd at least START to trust me. After everything we’ve been through!” Rouge said in an overly offended voice while throwing her head back and placing the back of her hand on her forehead with closed eyes.
Shadow just stared at her, seemingly very unimpressed. His roommate, still in that same overly dramatic pose, peaked an eye open to see his reaction. The ebony hedgehog only raised a brow.
Rouge huffed at her roommate’s reaction, lowering the hand on her forehead and sitting up fully as she sighed “Well alright then handsome,” she uncrossed her legs as she stood, stretching her arms above her head as her chair rocked back and forth behind her. “I’ll go get the precious, shiney, beautiful gem.” the white bat gushed as she started walking through the living room towards the hallway.
After she disappeared into the darkness of the hallway Shadow sighed, leaning back and rubbing a hand against his forehead as his chair creaked beneath him. This is gonna suck. He let his hand drop from his face and just stared up at the ceiling. At least I don’t have to talk to anyone, that would be a nightmare…
He sat up straight and turned his head to look into the dark hallway when he heard the clicking of heels returning.
Rouge walked out of the hallway one hand on her hip while the other hand was holding the green chaos emerald, faintly glowing with the power of gods. She walked up to the front of his chair, leaning over slightly as she held out the emerald as if to present it to the hedgehog.
Shadow reached up to try and grab it but Rouge quickly moved it away out of his reach. The white bat lifted her other hand off of her waist and wagged one finger in his face as he glared up at her. “Sorry handsome, but you don’t get this pretty thing until after you complete your side of the deal.” She said in a sing-song voice, she straightened her back and wandered back to her chair.
She sat down in her chair with a creak, crossing her legs and resting one of the elbows on her knee, her hooded eyes looking up at him. “Speaking of, I have a few rules for the party.” She said with a smirk. Shadow’s expression of bored indifference immediately shifted to overwhelming disapproval of her statement.
I swear to Gaia if she makes me interact with people.
Rouge snickered at Shadow’s immediate disapproval. After she was done laughing at Shadow’s misery she moved her head away from her hand and held up one finger before stating, “Rule one, you cannot be hiding in a random room by yourself, you have to stay near the main group.” She held up a second finger. “Rule two, you can only look at your communicator if you get an important message, not just to look busy so no one talks to you.” Shadow sighed after he was told the second rule.
Rouge’s smirk turned serious as she held up another finger and stated the third rule. “Rule three, do not get into any verbal or physical fights especially with Sonic,” her smirk returned along with a more suggestive tone. “Although I could ignore if you and Sonic disappeared into his room for-” her sentence was cut off halfway through by a pillow flying right at her face, she ducked to the side smoothly, avoiding the projectile with a grace only a trained spy could have.
The white bat looked back at Shadow with a smirk. The dark hedgehog just crossed his arms and huffed as he closed his eyes and turned his head to the side arrogantly, a faint red tint (of anger) covering his muzzle.
After composing himself, Shadow turned back to the jewel thief to see what else she had to say.
“Rule four,” She brought her hand back up, with four fingers raised, to emphasize the last rule. “If someone comes up to you, you have to at least try to hold a conversation, and no glaring at people so they leave you alone.”
Gaia save me