Mr. Unsmiley
A/N: My fic's title's obviously based on the OST name for Sky Rail from Sonic Adventure 2. It fits so well given Shadow smiles once in a blue moon to never at all anyways. Typical FanFic about him looking after Cream and all that whatever. Innocence and fluff I guess (from Cream's end) and emo and boringness (from Shadow).
Shadow grunted in annoyance as he pulled up next to the house of Amy Rose and her beloved roommates Knuckles and Tails. Amy had just broken Shadow's relaxation time with a phone call asking him last minute to look after Cream. He wanted to growl 'no', but then again remembered how much he assisted Amy, Tails and Knuckles in the past such as providing the funds to repair the water damage and supplying all three members in the household with Mobian's SSI benefits.
The dark hedgehog had done a lot of good, but in his mind he's done too little—especially after he chose to discontinue working for G.U.N. and entered retirement. Rouge was surprised to hear the news of her gloomy partner 'calling it quits'. But then again, she knew it had something to do with the new director giving the hedgehog a bad time. She remembered when Shadow stormed into headquarters after a few months after his retirement in demand for his whit-held checks he received on the tenth of every month to support him and his needs.
Shadow gripped his steering wheel in thought of that day he almost Chaos Speared the man in the ass. He needed to be calm before he startled the little one he'd be watching over for a few days, so, by taking in a few deep breaths, Shadow exited his SUV and headed towards the door.
Ringing the doorbell, it didn't take long for the door to open and Shadow was greeted by a tipsy Knuckles. How the echidna was allowed to be in such a state before a child was beyond the gloomy hedgehog's beliefs. He raises an eyebrow unamusedly, and notices Tails emerging from behind him and turns his gaze towards the fox instead.
"I'm here to collect Cream." Shadow stated flatly. Tails looked up at Knuckles with a half-lidded gaze and nods.
"She's in Amy's room. Come on in, Shadow."
Stepping to the side to avoid Knuckles whom was drooling and seems half awake, Shadow followed the fox to the room furthest from the living room and picked up the sound of giggles from behind the inch of dark brown wood. It stopped the moment Tails knocked.
"Amy? Cream? Shadow's here." Tails called out.
"Oh! Be right there! C'mon Cream get your stuff." Amy could be heard telling the young rabbit as shuffling could be heard. Shadow took a step back before the door swung open and both girls emerged into the hallway.
"Hey Shadow, what's up?" Amy smiled before looking over at Cream. "Be good now, Cream. You know how Shadow is."
The young rabbit nodded as she held her Chao close to her.
"Of course Ms. Amy." She hopped towards Shadow and buried her face into his belly as she hugged him.
"Hi Mr. Shadow!" The hedgehog grunted in annoyance but placed a hand around the rabbit's back tenderly.
"Hello, Cream."
"Shadow, thanks again for looking after Cream for me. Me and her mom really appreciate it." Any smiled nervously. Shadow simply nodded.
"Don't worry, Rose. I'm only doing so because I promised."
A crash in the living room startled the four and they went there to see Knuckles had fallen on the coffee table.
"Oh goodness! Knuckles!" Amy scolded rushing over to help the drunken echidna up. He was mumbling something incoherent and Amy shook her head.
"Tails, was Knuckles drinking again when I was with Cream in my room?"
"Yes."
"Ugh. I'm so sorry Shadow, Cream."
"It's ok Ms. Amy. Mr. Knuckles looks funny when he's tired." Cream was too innocent and young to understand that Knuckles was drunk. Shadow raised an eyebrow at how she didn't knew he was drunk until now in the first place.
"Rose, it's best that I leave with Cream now." With that he looked down at the rabbit. "Ready?"
"Yes Mr. Shadow." Cream answers.
The two begin walking to the front door as Tails escorted them out. Amy held Knuckles as she came outside with a stumbling echidna in her arms and watched as Shadow helped Cream get into his older model SUV. He had a booster seat courtesy of himself given he like all Mobians had them when driving in vehicles. It was an adorable sight to humans, but it was just an average thing to Mobians.
After fixing Cream into the booster seat and waving farewell to Amy, Tails and the tipsy knucklehead Knuckles, Shadow drove off back to his house just ten minutes away from the trio's shared residence.
Shadow had to acquire gas for his car so he made a detour to the gas station where he scanned his card at the pump and began to fill. He had rolled the windows down prior and asked Cream is she wanted a snack from the minimart.
"Cream, do you want something from the store there?" Shadow offered gruffly. Cream smiled sweetly.
"Can I have some Crisps Mr. Shadow?" Cream asked innocently. Shadow showed no emotion to the girl and stop fueling his truck before nodding.
"Alright then. Normal or what flavor?" Shadow asked.
"Original's fine." Cream replies.
"Alright then. I'll be back." The elder hedgehog walks into the gas station's convince store and heads for the chips isle. He finds the chips Cream favored and picks it up. He decides to get himself a BBQ flavored back and a Coke for the meantime.
"Hello sir, find everything alright?" The gas clerk looked like a nerdy-looking early-twenties man with glasses. Shadow snarls at him while setting the snacks down.
"Yes. I did." Shadow spoke calmly. The man scans the snacks and Shadow hands him the required change, and walks out with the stuff in hand. He returns to his car and hands Cream her bag.
"Here."
"Thank you Mr. Shadow." She promptly opens it and hands a chip to her Chao who eats it happily.
"Don't make a mess." Shadow grumbled.
"Sorry Mr. Shadow." Cream apologizes. The hedgehog just grunted and pulled off into the direction of his house. After some time they reach his house and Shadow pulls into his driveway.
Shadow lived alone...obviously... His grass was growing wild and his windows appeared boarded up. This made Cream and Cheese uncomfortable at first but knowing Shadow, there could be a reason for this. This was her first time being babysat by him at his residence.
"C'mon, get your backpack and come inside." Shadow instructs. The rabbit gathers her little yellow and orange backpack and rushes to catch up to the elder hedgehog at the door.
He glared down at her before unlocking the door with his keys. Once it was open, he escorted her inside where Cream was stunned by the darkness of the house. There was a lamp in the corner with a busted bulb inside, the coffee table had empty beer bottles, weed and ashtrays laid about. The couch was old, the TV was brand new and appeared to be a fifty-five inch. The carpet was a dirty brown color and appeared to have spills of whatever here and there.
"Mr. Shadow...?" Cream was about to ask why was his house in such disarray.
"Yes?" Shadow looks down at her.
"Why is your house so messy?" The innocent question made the elder hedgehog look around his living room and back at her.
"Back when I was working for G.U.N. I never really had time to tidy up my place. I apologize that it's not presentable." Shadow grunts as he walks inside and grabs the weed on the table, obviously to avoid having the young rabbit ask him what it was. He placed the stuff in his "pocket" and turns in the television.
"I will be in my room if you need me. If you get hungry you can make a sandwich from the fridge unless I have to make it for you. The bathroom is the one door in the middle of the hallway there, my bedroom is the last door adjacent to it. Don't go into the spare room unless Rose were to call me saying you have to spend the night." Shadow eyed the girl who nodded tenderly. He resumed his instructions to her.
"Story only in the living room and watch tv or play with your toys, your Chao, whatever. Unless you need me for whatever reason I won't be around. Ok Cream, you listening, child?"
"Yes Mr. Shadow. I promise I won't bother you unless I really need you." Cream answers him, smiling.
"Good girl." With those words, Shadow walked into the hallway to his room and can be heard closing the door, leaving Cream alone with Cheese.
The rabbit hopped onto the couch and looked around the dark house.
"Well Cheese, what do you wanna do?" Cream asks her Chao.
"Chao! Chao!" Cheese answers.
"Really? You think Mr. Shadow would appreciate that?"
"Chao!"
"Ok then. I hope he doesn't mind then..,"
X-X-X-X
An hour later, the living room and kitchen was spotless as if Cream used a magic wand to clean up the place. She smiled at her and her Chao's work, and decided to head out to the front yard to do the same. Taking the rake and bin from the garage, Cream raked the leaves that blew from the neighbor's tree onto Shadow's yard. Little Cream was used to cleaning up. She enjoyed helping her mother clean the house and drink lemonade afterwards on their porch.
Cleaning Shadow's house for him while he was oblivious in his bedroom was fun to her and her Chao and she made sure to keep quiet until he come out. After raking the leaves, she dumped them in the garbage can for green waste and returned the gardening supplies to the garage. Only the overgrown grass in the front and back yards remained but the lawnmower was too big for her to handle.
"C'mon Cheese, lets go inside and watch tv now!" Cream told her Chao and they quietly enter the house and turn in the television, watching her favorite cartoons on Shadow's large tv.
X-X-X-X
Inside his bedroom, Shadow was fumbling with some files he had askew on his desk, mumbling to himself as he scanned through them. They were files to be shredded and burned now that he retired from G.U.N. He didn't need them anymore. They overflowed his desk, the filing cabinet and the spare bedroom. Loads of tan files filled beyond their limits with important information on past missions he documented.
"I'll need to burn all this." Shadow says to himself while sighing. He placed a hand on his forehead and rubs it tenderly, a headache form reading all of them was killing the poor hedgehog. His ear twitches at the sound of giggling from his living room and he nearly forgotten that he was babysitting Cream. He gets up from his chair and slowly creams open the door.
He hears the television and a cartoonish voice speaking to another cartoon character. More giggles escape Cream's lips and Shadow slowly strides into the living room. His serious expression is replaced with surprise as he noticed how clean the house was. Despite the darkness of the newspaper-covered windows, Shadow still say the beauty in his hues now.
"Cream, what happened to the house?" Shadow looks at the girl with an eye ridge raised.
"Oh, Mr. Shadow!" Cream jumps off the couch and skips to the hedgehog with her hands behind her back. "Me and Cheese cleaned your house for you! We felt bad that you never had time to clean it so we did it for you!"
Shadow stares down at the girl for a moment, unsure of what to say. She did a damn good job of making the place look lively for once Shadow could bet.
"C-Cream I..." Shadow was lost for words. Cream just giggled and hugged him unexpectedly, causing the hedgehog to gasp slightly. He was taken aback by everything that happened while he was just in his room reading files. Is this girl really that sweet?
"Thank you, Cream." Shadow finally manages to say after Cream releases him. "I appreciate the thoughtfulness of you to spruce up my residence, but you didn't have to."
"Oh Mr. Shadow, it was Cheese's idea."
Shadow looks at the Chao and nods.
"Thank you, Cheese."
"Chao! Chao!"
This made the hedgehog smirk slightly, but he frowned and turned his attention to the kitchen.
"Are you hungry, Cream?" Shadow asks. Surely all that unnecessary work the girl did made her somewhat famished.
"Yeah, a little."
He heads for the kitchen and she follows, watching as he opens his fridge to scan for something edible.
"Would you like a sandwich or some cereal?" The hedgehog says gruffly.
"A sandwich please, Mr. Shadow." Cream answers. With a nod, Shadow gets out some wheat bread, mayo, cheese and ham and begins to prep the girl a ham sandwich. She sits at the dinner table and watches him with a smile.
He finishes making the sandwich and watches the rabbit eat her food. Shadow couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of adorable to Cream. She was such a sweetheart with a big heart and loving attitude to just about anyone she meets. The way she makes Knuckles crumble into a big softie when he plays with her is a sign she's just too sweet for her own good. Shadow knew he's been quite unfriendly lately to her so he decided he'd try and make up to her before the day's done—only because it was only right for him to be less grouchy for once and more kind.
"Cream." He gruffly speaks. The rabbit lifts her head.
"Hm?"
"Is there anything you'd like to do? Like watch tv together, go to the park or play a game or anything?" Shadow felt strange asking her such questions. He'd knew Sonic probably did these things with her so why didn't he?
"Can we play Four Square?" Cream jumps out of her seat excitedly much to the elder hedgehog's chagrin.
"What is Four Square?" Shadow asked. He honestly didn't knew what she was talking about.
"Oh, never mind. It's a game will have to lay outside and we need four players. Cab we play a board game instead?" Cream asks.
"I guess we can. I have chess in my room we can play that." Shadow offers.
"But, I don't know how to play chess Mr. Shadow." Cream says. Shadow looks at her.
"Ok then. Do you have a board game in your bag we can play?" Shadow was honestly getting annoyed by this, but he did offer the girl on what she wanted to do.
"Oh! I know! Let's play Charades Mr. Shadow!" Cream giggles.
"Chao! Chao!" Cheese chimes in. He wanted to play too.
"Charades?" Shadow questions.
"Yeah! We don't need a board game for that! It's fun Mr. Shadow!" Cream takes his hand and drags him into the living room. He sits down on the couch and looks at the girl as she stands few feet from him in front of the tv.
"Ok, so Mr. Shadow, the way the game works is that we each take turns doing something and the other person's supposed to guess what it is, ok?" Cream explained to the dumbfounded hedgehog who was very unsure on what he was doing but since nods, letting the girl know he "knew" what she meant.
Giggling, Cream started first. She decided to go easy on Shadow by pretending to rake up leaves.
"Are you raking...leaves?" Shadow asks. The girl claps her hands.
"Yay! That's right Mr. Shadow! Now it's your turn!"
"Cream, I—" Shadow notices the sadness in Cream's face so he kept his mouth shut and joined in on the fun.
Shadow had no idea what he was doing so he decided to pretend to duck and cover by crouching down and covering his ears
"Are you pretending to hear a loud sound so annoying that it hurts your ears, Mr. Shadow?" Cream asks. Shadow pretends to look over his shoulder and continues crouching. He was told that he couldn't speak during your turn acting out.
"Are you pretending to see someone in public so you're hiding from them so they don't see you, Mr. Shadow?" The hedgehog sighed and got up off his knees.
"I'm taking cover, Cream. Like in the action films where a bomb's going off so you hide behind something to protect yourself."
"Oh..." The rabbit giggles. "That's a good one, Mr. Shadow!" Cream claps. "My turn!"
Shadow sighs. He was getting annoyed by the game but he didn't want to make the girl cry. He sits at the couch and watches her do something he had no idea what she was doing and was beginning to not care. The rabbit sees his lack of interest and frowns.
"Mr. Shadow, what's wrong?"
"Cream, dear one I'm getting tired of playing this game." Shadow admits while wiping his forehead. "I think I'll go back to my room to rest up for a bit." He gets up from his seat and sees the sadness in Cream's eyes. He almost felt guilty but ignored the feeling and started to walk away when he heard the rabbit sniffle.
Instantly Shadow pauses in his step and turns around to see Cream sniffle more and wipe away some tears.
"M-Mr. Shadow, you don't want to play anymore?" Cream's innocence was much more adorable when she cried. Shadow would never admit that out loud of course. Growling, he returned to the couch and told the rabbit to join him so they could watch television instead. Her mood changed instantly and was happy to share her love of childish cartoons Shadow didn't give a damn about.
Few hours later, Shadow drank a soda while Cream ate her lunch from her lunch pail her mother packed for her that she put in the fridge earlier. They watched the cooking channel together—something Vanilla and Shadow had in common. No wonder her mother made the delicious of anything she made. Shadow wasn't into cooking too much given he didn't need to eat exactly, but it was better then watching the news which often broadcasted Eggman attacking downtown and Sonic's blue butt.
The woman on the TV had light caramel skin and curly black hair. Her nails were long and painted pink. She was whipping up some kind of desert she was preparing for a party she'd be hosting at her house. Shadow looked at Cream from the corner of his eye, acknowledging how attentive she was to the woman's cooking skills. At this, the elder hedgehog smirked just slightly for the first time all day long. He looked back to the TV in time to see the woman on screen place her cake into the pan, the yellowish batter dropped into the rectangular pan before the woman placed oven mittens on and placed it into the waiting oven.
"Look Mr. Shadow!" Cream and Shadow watched as the woman took out the perfectly baked cake out after a fast-forward time lapse on the show. The two Mobians watched her icing and decorate the cake before showing her guests arriving and enjoying her food. After the show ended, another show that appeared to be a cooking competition premiered. The two continued watching the cooking channel silently until Cream broke the silence.
"Mr. Shadow?" Cream says.
"Hmm?" Shadow looks at her.
"Why don't you ever smile?" Her eyes brightened as Shadow raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean by that, Cream?" Shadow grunts.
"I never seen you smile before, Mr. Shadow. You're always grumpy-looking when I see you." Cream was telling the truth about never seeing Shadow smile. He hadn't smiled in a long time. Sure he smirked a while ago but she didn't see it. He wasn't going to tell her he did earlier either.
"I'm just a serious person Cream. Serious people don't smile." Shadow answers.
"But they still do Mr. Shadow. What about Mr. Knuckles? He's serious but he still smiles." Cream says. Shadow looks at her again. Knuckles had gotten soft over the years. He wasn't as aggressive as he was before he met Cream. Just thinking about the echidna reminded Shadow of how tipsy he was for some weird reason this morning. He must've made a face, because Cream was giggling when he regained his thoughts.
"Mr. Shadow your face is funny!" Cream giggles with her Chao next to her on the sofa. Cheese was quiet this entire time because he was asleep.
"I didn't intend to make any face, Cream." Shadow states seriously, folding his arms and closing his eyes. Cream smiles up at him before he opened his eyes again to look at the TV. He kept his arms folded and he leaned back further into the chair to get more comfortable. Shadow sighed and directed his eyes to the rabbit when he heard her giggling again.
"What's so funny this time?" Shadow rasped.
"You're so cool Mr. Shadow." Cream says. Shadow 'humphed'.
"I'm 'cool'?" He repeats and the rabbit nodded.
"What makes me so 'cool', dear one?" Shadow grunts and Cream smiles.
"You're a cool babysitter like Mr. Sonic, Mr. Shadow."
"Sonic? Don't compare me to that blue mother— I mean, you can't compare me to Sonic, Cream. We're nothing alike." Shadow snarls. This made Cream frown briefly, but she smiled softly.
"Oh but Mr. Shadow, you two are very much alike. You're both super fast, super cool and super nice!" Shadow raised an eyebrow at the last part.
"I'm not nice, Cream"
"But Mr. Shadow—"
"No buts, child."
He folded his arms in defense again and this time he stayed silent even when Cream tried to speak again. The hedgehog was visibly irate and tired and the rabbit felt as if it was her fault for causing him to feel this way. She was glad that he appreciated her cleaning up his house earlier.
"Cream." Shadow said, gaining the rabbit's attention. "I'm sorry." She smiles at this and hugs him tightly, his chest fur tickling her nose and face as she buried herself into him and the chair.
"It's ok Mr. Shadow. I didn't mean to ask you why you're so mean." Cream replies back and buried her face into his chest again.
Shadow was pinned between the couch and her so he had no choice but to hold the rabbit and return the hug back. After she let go she sat closer to him then before and Shadow found himself slowly growing attached to Cream despite his thoughts he wouldn't. All day long the rabbit showed nothing more then sweetness and compassion to the gloomy hedgehog even when he was getting upset. It made him realize that there's more to life then what he thought.
Shadow looks down at Cream and to his surprise, he wraps his arm around her to pull her closer to his warm body and she smiles with her eyes closed, snuggling closer to him. At this Shadow feels warmth bubbling up inside him that he'd never felt before. He was unaware of his light purring when Cream giggled again. He looks down at her.
"You're purring Mr. Shadow." She says muffled into his chest. He smirks.
"You're the reason I'm purring, Cream." Shadow admits and he tickles her side making her squeal into his chest. Her giddiness amuses him and he tickled her a second time.
"Mr. Shadow you're tickling me!" Cream giggles.
"I think you made my heart grow three sizes today." Shadow comments aloud.
"I did?" Cream asks sweetly. Shadow smiles at her.
"Yes. You did."
"Like the Grinch?" Cream laughs and Shadow chuckles.
"Yes, like the Grinch, Cream. Like the Grinch."
The two cuddled up to each other for the rest of the afternoon.
X-X-X-X
It was now evening and Shadow had to take Cream back home. Amy called and said that Vanilla was waiting at her, Tails and Knuckles' place so Shadow made sure that the young rabbit and her Chao had everything they needed before they left. Cream didn't want to leave Shadow's side, but knowing Amy, she'll invite him over to aid babysitting her the next time something cane up for Vanilla.
Once Shadow pulled up to the house, Shadow helped Cream get out and she ran into her mother's arms happy to see her. Amy, Tails and Knuckles was waiting outside also for Shadow and Cream to show up. The sight of daughter and mother hugging each other tightly made everyone smile.
"Mama, I had so much fun with Mr. Shadow today!" Cream said excitedly.
"That's wonderful dear." Vanilla said. She looked at Shadow with a warm smile.
"Thank you for watching over her Shadow. Amy said she couldn't watch her today but said you'd be able to." Vanilla smiled. Shadow nodded.
"It was a pleasure watching over Cream, ma'am. She's a sweetheart." Shadow said and winked at Cream much to Amy's surprise. She still smiled however.
"She sure is." Vanilla looked down at her daughter. "Come Cream, lets go home." The two rabbits walked over to the little red sedan Vanilla owned and left while waving goodbye to everyone. After they left Any cleared her thirst to gain Shadow's attention.
"She's gotten to you too, huh Shadow?" Amy teased. Shadow folded his arms defensively and scowled at Amy.
"What do you mean, Rose?" Shadow asked. Tails and Knuckles looked at each other while standing behind the pink hedgehog with confusion on both their faces.
"Cream's made you a happier person. She brightened your day, didn't she?" Amy was still pestering Shadow into admitting Cream made him go soft but Shadow wasn't going to admit it to Amy and her roommates.
"Rose, I don't have time for messing around. I have work to do at home." With that, Shadow got into his car and left, leaving Amy smirking with her hands on her hips and Tails and Knuckles still dumbfounded.
"Amy, what where you asking Shadow?" Tails asked.
"If Cream's changed him for the better. He seemed more friendly then how he was earlier. I think Cream's hit Shadow's soft spot while over at his house."
"Does that matter?" Knuckles grunted. Amy growled at him.
"Of course it matters Knuckles!"
"Shit, calm down Amy I was joking!" Knuckles defended himself with his hands raised.
Tails just shook his head in disbelief at the two.
X-X-X-X
When Shadow returned home, he noticed a paper on the coffee table. When he turned it over, it was a crude drawing of him and Cream smiling while holding hands. It made Shadow smile, knowing the girl liked him a lot despite his recluse exterior. He looked at the picture again before looking up at the wall.
"Thank you, Cream."
A/N: Goodness, it took a while to write this. Nonetheless, I enjoyed writing this one shot about Shadow and Cream and I hope someone enjoys reading it.