Don't You Know I Care?
Rouge the Bat was thoroughly enjoying her only day off from being a G.U.N. agent. She went shopping, scouted out an old temple she heard had some valuable jewels hidden inside, and even had time for lunch at a fancy cafe. But right now she was face down on a massage table getting a massage from one of Eggman's robots she had gotten reprogrammed to do things for her. She was really getting into it when she heard the doorbell to her loft apartment ring.
"Eh, it's probably just a Girl Scout or something." She muttered as she put her head back down. But the ringing persisted and was accompanied by some knocking on the door. "Well, have to give the girl credit for persistence." Rouge said getting up and putting a robe on to cover her body. When she opened the door she was in for a surprise. Standing in her doorway was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog and slumped over his shoulder was the form of Rouge's teammate, best friend, and secret crush Shadow the Hedgehog.
"Hey Rouge, can we come in?" Sonic asked and she nodded still a bit in shock.
"What happened?" She finally got out.
"Things got a bit hairy. Eggman attacked Station Square with a huge Egg Walker and we started fighting it. Shadow realized that it was a distraction and that the real target was the Chaos Emerald Tails had in a bank vault for safe keeping and headed there alone. When I finally got there all I saw was Shadow next to the smoking remains of what looked like Metal Sonic. He was unconscious and since I don't know where he lives I took him here since you're the one who knows him the best."
"And I wasn't called why?" Rouge asked a bit upset.
"Shadow said he tried to, but your G.U.N. communicator was offline." It was true, she always turned it off so no one would bother her on her days off.
"Okay. Well, thank you for bringing him here. I'll get him all patched up and he should be fine by tomorrow." Rouge assured Sonic. Sonic nodded and speed off, probably to go help even more people in need. Rouge on the other hand had an unconsice ultimate lifeform on her hands. So she laid him on her couch and went to her room to get dressed first since she didn't want Shadow to suddenly wake up and see her only in a robe. "Yeah, then he'll never want to be with me." She said to herself. She put on a black tank top and a pair of black formfitting sweats with a flower on the legs. Normally that would be what she wore on the rare occasions she wanted to ride her Extreme Gear, but she had found that the outfit was comfortable for wearing around the apartment as well. After that she went to the bathroom and got some rubbing alcohol and some bandages for Shadow. Before she could get back to the living room though she was stopped by her robot servant.
"Miss Rouge, would you like me to take care of your friend on the couch?" It asked her trying to take her supplies away.
"No thank you, I'll do it myself." She told it and it nodded and rolled away. Next she walked to the couch and Shadow was still on conscious. So she put some alcohol on a rag and started wiping away blood from Shadow's cuts. Even though he was unconscious Shadow still winced every time she did so.
"Well, if you wouldn't go off by yourself all the time trying to be all macho you wouldn't be in this situation now would you?" Rouge asked him rhetorically. "I mean I know you're supposedly immortal, but what if your head gets cut off one day or you suffocate in a fire? Don't you know that you have people who care for you? Don't you know I care?!" She was getting worked up with every subsequent question but that last one shocked even her. "If only I could ask you that when you're awake." She said as she put the last bandage on him. Then she put Shadow on one of her chairs as she pulled out the bed that was inside the couch he was laying on. She laid him back down and put the covers over him and then headed to her kitchen to make herself some dinner. When she was done eating she decided to go to bed, but before she could her phone rand and she answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hi Rouge, it's me Amy. Sonic told me that he took Shadow to your house and I wanted to make sure he's okay." Rouge always appreciated Amy loyalty to her friends, and this time was no different.
"He's should be okay. He's sleeping on my fold out couch bed and I bandaged him up as best as I could."
"That's good, but shouldn't he be sleeping in your bed with you?" Amy, being the romantically inclined person that she is, knew from the moment her and Shadow became G.U.N. partners that Rouge liked him.
"You know how Shadow is, if I did something like that and he didn't like it he'd be kinda mad. I'm still looking for a way to tell him how I feel though."
"Well, I wish you luck. Goodnight Rouge."
"Goodnight Amy." And Rouge hung up the phone. Then she went over to check on Shadow one last time. He was still sleeping peacefully and Rouge actually thought he looked kinda cute in that state. "It's nice to see you without a scowl permanently on your face." She said getting closer. "Someday I'll tell you how I feel, but for now this will have to do. Goodnight Shadow." And with that she placed a small kiss on his cheek. She then stood back up and tried to leave but Shadow's arm grabbed her's. "Shadow?" Rouge asked turning around. She hoped that he was awake and well, but he was still asleep. "Shadow, let me go!" She said but it didn't help. In fact Shadow pulled her back towards the bed. Eventually they moved to a position where Shadow had his arms around her body and was resting his head on her chest. Rouge was content with their position so she decided to just fall asleep. But when she woke up in the morning their position was such that Shadow was now behind her but still had her in his super strong arms. Rouge tried to get free again, but couldn't.
"You know, I like you and all, but seriously let me go!" She slightly yelled while trying to squirm out of his grasp. But what he said to her froze her completely.
"Why would I want to? You're warm and you smell nice." He said in a low voice that inadvertently sent shivers up Rouge's spine. He then turned her around to face him and placed a light kiss on her lips. "I know you care about me, but I care about you too. That's why I try my best to keep this world safe from danger."
"You were awake the whole time weren't you?" Rouge asked him with grin.
"Well, not the entire time, the rubbing alcohol woke me up."
"So what now? I mean, where do we go from here?"
"I don't see why anything should change. I mean yeah, we can go on dates and stuff I guess, but I like the dynamic we have going on at the moment. Thought it would be nice if I had a place to stay."
"Well, if you have too, I guess you can stay here with me." Rouge said with a sarcastic smile.
"Good. Now where was I? Oh yeah this." And with that he kissed Rouge more passionately which confirmed in her mind that yes, he did care about her.