This is my first Shadow/Rouge fic. Unfortunately, I didn't put too much effort into it, as I have an Earthbound fic that's currently in progress. I kept getting distracted while writing, but I wanted to have this up about a week ago...that obviously didn't happen. Anyway, in this short oneshot, Shadow and Rouge go bowling with Sonic and Amy. Shadow's never bowled, but he catches on. It's a pretty simple story, and like I said, I didn't really put too much effort into it. With that being said, I'd still like some critique, so please review! (Also, please read and review the beginning of my Earthbound fic if you know what Earthbound is!)
"Do we really have to go bowling with that blue bastard and his crazy pink stalker?" Shadow groaned as he relaxed on the bed, watching Rouge finish her makeup. Rouge sighed and rolled her eyes, turning to face Shadow.
"First, don't call Sonic a bastard." Rouge huffed, placing her lipstick on the bathroom counter. "Second, Amy isn't his stalker, she's his girlfriend." Shadow just shrugged as he slid off of the bed. He walked over to Rouge, placed his gloved hands on her hips, and gently kissed her lips.
"Hope I didn't ruin your makeup." Shadow smirked as he walked out of their bedroom. Rouge rolled her eyes once again, smiling. Her and Shadow had been dating for a year and a half, and had been living together for about four months. She was glad he was hers; even though he could seem insensitive, he was very romantic at times.
After putting away all of her makeup products, Rouge looked herself over in the mirror one last time before leaving the bedroom. When she entered the living room of their small apartment, she didn't see Shadow anywhere. Frowning and looking around, she noticed that the window was open. Rouge sighed, remembering that Shadow liked to balance precariously on the small ledge outside of their window, taking in the scenery and frightening her in the process.
"Shadow, it's time to go!" She shouted as she put her shoes on. Shadow sighed and rolled backwards through the window, landing on his feet safely. After closing the window, he walked over to Rouge and slipped his hand around her waist.
"I have a confession to make…" He murmured into her ear, chuckling. "I've never been bowling before." Rouge looked shocked.
"Are you serious?" She said. Shadow nodded. "Well, it's pretty simple. You have to try to knock all 10 pins down each frame. There are 10 frames, and you get two tries to knock the pins down each frame, except on the last frame. In the last frame, you have the potential to knock all the pins down three times if you get a strike."
"So, a strike is when you knock all the pins down in one try?" Shadow asked, heading out the door. Rouge nodded as she locked the front door behind them.
"It'll make more sense once we get there." She said. Shadow shrugged, and with that, they were off to the parking garage to retrieve his motorcycle. Rouge loved riding on Shadow's motorcycle, mostly because she got to tightly hold onto his waist. When they got to the motorcycle, Shadow quickly started it up as Rouge sat behind him.
"You ready?" He asked her, feeling her arms around his waist and her cheek pressed into his back. He felt Rouge nod her head, so they were off. Luckily, Shadow knew where the bowling alley was. He sped toward it, taking the fastest route he remembered. Rouge turned around to see all of the slow vehicles behind them, noticing a police cruiser among them.
"You'd better slow down!" She shouted, poking her knuckle into Shadow's back. He sighed but slowed down a little bit, keeping his speed just above the speed limit. Within minutes, the bowling alley was in sight. When they reached the parking lot, Shadow expertly slid into a parking spot and quickly turned the motorcycle off. He and Rouge slipped off of the motorcycle and headed toward the front door.
Looking around at all of the cars, Shadow said, "Damn, there sure are a lot of people here." Rouge nodded, grabbing him by the hand, and dragged him to the entrance. When they walked into the noisy, smoky establishment, Shadow flattened his ears back, scowling.
"Deal with the noise just for tonight, okay?" Rouge spoke into his ear as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I'll try…just for you." Shadow agreed, letting out a sigh. He pecked Rouge on the nose, making her smile. The two walked toward the large central counter, holding hands. Shadow looked around at all of the lanes, trying to spot Sonic and Amy, but they were nowhere to be found.
"We need one lane," Rouge said to the man behind the counter. "And I'll take a pair of size five shoes." The fat man whose nametag read "George" sighed and pushed himself up from his chair to get the shoes for Rouge. Shadow looked at her, confused.
"Shoes?" He questioned. "But you're wearing shoes…" Rouge laughed at him. "Whaaat?"
"They're special bowling shoes that you need to wear." She explained.
Frowning, Shadow asked, "Well, why do I have to wear them? I've got my own shoes that I find quite comfortable." From behind the counter, George slapped Rouge's pair of shoes onto the counter.
"Them's the rules, buddy." He said to Shadow in a thick Jersey accent. "You gots to wear the bowlin' shoes." Shadow sighed, rubbing his forehead. He didn't even know what size shoes he needed; the only pair he'd ever worn were the ones he had on.
"I guess I'll try a size eleven…" Shadow mumbled, watching Rouge put her rental shoes on. The man called George shrugged and grabbed him a pair of size eleven shoes, dropping them on the counter. Rouge paid George the money they owed him as Shadow put his rental shoes on, cringing at the smell. He was very happy, however, when he learned that they were going to be bowling in the very last lane. They would be less conspicuous in the far corner.
"I hope Sonic and Amy get here soon." Rouge commented as they walked to the lane at the end. Shadow snickered.
"I sure hope they don't." He said, causing Rouge to lightly punch him in the arm. When they reached their lane, Rouge placed her shoes under one of the uncomfortable looking chairs. Shadow followed suit. Standing back up, he looked down the lane at the grouping of pins and laughed.
"What is it?" Rouge asked, walking over to the monitor to input their names.
Pointing down the lane, Shadow answered, "They're all grouped together! I thought it would be harder than that." Rouge gasped as he held out his hand and closed his eyes. "Chaos…BLAST!" Suddenly a burst of energy jolted from Shadow's hand, headed toward the pins. There was a bright flash of light, scaring everyone in the alley. When Shadow opened his eyes, the end of the lane was charred and the pins were nowhere in sight. He smiled smugly.
"Woah, Shad!" A familiar, cheery voice said. "Why'd you do that!" Shadow spun around and glared at Sonic.
"I thought we were going bowling." He said calmly. Behind him, Rouge had her face in her hands, shaking with silent laughter.
"You have to use a ball, silly!" Amy Rose cheerfully shouted, emerging from behind Sonic. Shadow frowned, noticing the round bags that they both were carrying. Rouge stood up and walked toward Shadow.
"I think we've got to move over a lane now, guys." She said, trying to hold her laughter in. They did move over, and luckily there had been a group of people playing in the lane next to them, so they didn't need to confront George again to activate the lane. They figured he wouldn't talk to them about the charred lane, because he probably didn't care what they did as long as it didn't involve him getting up from his seat. Looking around, Shadow noticed that everyone in the bowling alley was staring at him, making him very nervous. Sonic, Rouge, and Amy noticed, too, and Amy decided to do something about it.
"Hey, stop staring!" She shouted, frowning. "You're all just lucky he didn't knock the power out!" Most of the people stopped staring and mumbled amongst themselves, continuing what they were doing. "You're welcome, Mr. Shadow." Amy said with a smile. Shadow ignored her and walked to the shelf he now noticed, selecting a ball from it. While he did this, Rouge put their names into the monitor; Amy first, her second, Shadow third, and Sonic last.
"I just don't get it…" Shadow mumbled, balancing the ball on his fingers. "Why do I have to use a ball?" Everyone started laughing at him.
"That's the whole point of bowling, Shaddie!" Rouge said, now getting a ball for herself. Shadow shrugged, still not fully grasping the concept of bowling. He stepped up onto the area behind the lane, still balancing the ball on his fingers, and effortlessly lobbed the ball into the air toward the pins. The ball landed with a thunk, causing all of the pins to go flying. Somehow, Shadow had managed to not break a hole in the lane.
"There, I used a ball. Happy now?" He said grumpily. Once again, Shadow had people staring at him and Sonic, Rouge, and Amy laughing at him. "I still did it wrong?"
"Wow," Sonic said, still laughing. "You're not very observant, are you?" He walked over to Shadow, put an arm around his shoulder, and gestured toward the people who were bowling. "See? They're rolling the ball down the lane." Shadow removed Sonic's arm and walked back toward the seats, embarrassed.
"I'm kinda stupid sometimes…" He mumbled, looking at the ground. Amy leapt up from her seat and gave him a hug.
"Look on the bright side, Mr. Shadow!" She exclaimed excitedly. "At least you got a strike for me." Freeing himself from Amy's hug, Shadow turned around to look at the monitor above their lane. He sighed, seeing that it had indeed been Amy's turn. As Shadow sat back down, Amy and Sonic put their bowling balls onto the rack, and Rouge chose a ball.
"I haven't done this in a while…" Rouge said, stepping up closer to the lane. She held the ball against her chest, exhaled, and slowly walked forward. Shadow studied her technique, watching as she knocked all but one pin down. Rouge turned around and smiled at them, waiting for her ball to reappear.
"Well, that wasn't so bad for not playing in a while." Sonic commented as Shadow gave Rouge a thumbs up and Amy cheered her on. When her ball emerged from the return, she quickly snatched it up and positioned herself to knock down the last pin. They all fell silent as she released the ball, hoping for the best. Luckily, Rouge managed to knock down the final pin.
"I haven't bowled in over a year!" She exclaimed, doing a little happy dance. "I'm surprised I did that well." When Rouge stepped down from the lane, Shadow stood from his seat, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and picked up his own ball.
While waiting for the machine to put the pins down, he said, "You know, having to roll the ball doesn't make it any harder for me to knock the pins down." At that, Shadow turned around and without a second thought launched the ball down the middle of the lane. They all watched as the ball sped incredibly fast and straight down the lane, striking the pins head on. Shadow laughed as the pins flew out to the side, barely being contained in their lane. He turned around to face Rouge, Amy, and Sonic, seeing their shocked faces. "Told you so."
"Well, damn. This isn't gonna be any fun!" Sonic complained as he passed Shadow on his way to the ball return. Shadow sat down next to Rouge, watching Sonic pick up his bowling ball. It was, of course, blue. He also had a pair of his own special bowling shoes that looked almost exactly like his normal ones.
"Oh, shut your pie hole, Sonic!" Amy squeaked, smiling. "It doesn't matter that Shadow's gonna kick our butts; we can still have fun." Sonic grunted angrily and stepped up closer to the lane. He quickly sent the ball sliding down the lane. It didn't go quite as fast as Shadow's, but he managed to get a strike.
"Your turn, Amy." Sonic said as he walked back to his seat, now with a smug smile on his face. Amy gave him a glare as she stood and went to grab her ball. She also had her own ball, and it was obviously pink. Her bowling shoes were bright pink with sequins on them, which Sonic felt was unnecessary.
"I may not be as good as you three," Amy said, turning to face them. "But I've been practicing!" Rouge cheered her on as she turned back to the lane, preparing herself. Amy took a while before she began walking forward, but when she did, she somehow got a lot of power behind her swing. The ball curved slightly to the left, but somehow all but one of the pins got knocked down at once. The last one was stubborn and still wobbling, but Amy yelled at it and it eventually fell down.
"Woah, nice job, Amy!" Sonic said, standing to give her a hug as she hurried toward her seat. Amy jumped up and down excitedly after hugging Sonic.
"That was awesome! I guess my practice payed off." She said, finally sitting back down.
xxx
The group of four had a very nice night in the bowling alley; a night filled with laughter, cheering, and anger. Sonic was especially angry when he had three open frames in a row, each time missing one last pin. Amy managed to cool him down, literally, by dumping her cup of water onto his head. He wasn't very happy about that, but he couldn't help but laugh along with the others. In the end, Sonic's score ended up being 243.
After a while, the rest of the group had begun to tire of Shadow's "amazing" bowling skills. He was pretty bored himself, wondering why everyone seemed to think bowling was difficult. Time and time again, Shadow would send the ball rolling down the lane at lightning fast speeds, nearly breaking the pins. His score obviously turned out to be a perfect 300.
Amy tried her best, and with some support from the rest of the group, managed to get quite a few more strikes than she normally did. Sonic was shocked at how well she had done, because the last time they went bowling, she only scored a measly 115. This time, to everyone's surprise, Amy somehow scored her highest score yet: 179. In honor of her success, Sonic got her ice cream from the bar in the bowling alley. Later, however, he quietly told Shadow that he would've bought Amy ice cream no matter what she scored, making Shadow chuckle.
That night, Rouge also achieved a new high score. During previous bowling outings, she came close to breaking 200, but ended up a few points short. Rouge's new high score as of that night was 219. She figured it had to be the shoes, as they slid better than the ones she had worn in the past. This also convinced her that she needed her own pair of bowling shoes, and tried to convince Shadow as much, but failed.
xxx
Later that night, as Shadow and Rouge lay in bed with their foreheads pressed together, Rouge softly said, "We should go bowling again sometime. That was fun." Shadow frowned and shifted anxiously.
"No way. It's way too boring." He mumbled, staring into Rouge's eyes. She pouted at him, succeeding at looking adorable.
"Pretty please?" Rouge whined, batting her eyelashes. "Just for me?" Shadow rolled onto his back, shaking his head and smiling.
"If you make me go bowling again…" He said slowly, staring at the ceiling. "I'll never buy you any fancy, sparkly jewelry again." Rouge jokingly gasped.
"Fine then." She said, trying not to laugh. "I won't make you go. Not ever again." Shadow laughed at Rouge, turned onto his side, and tickled her. She could no longer hold her laughter in, so they both laughed together, staring into each other's eyes. They both stayed awake through the night, talking about nothing and everything.