After a long needed and long awaited shower, Finn cut off the water and shook himself remotely dry. He was finally clean! Such joy! He no longer smelled of dry blood and mud, but he still needed a brush; one of the downsides of having long hair and fur.
"Shadow probably has a spare," he told himself, rubbing a body towel over his head as he stepped out the shower. "He's always got his stupid quills up in a style anyway."
As he passed his room he saw out the window that the worst of the storm had passed, leaving just a light drizzle instead. That was fine, as long as there wasn't any more thunder. It brought back old, bad memories.
He shook his head clear and looked at Shadow's bedroom door, where a sticker said 'hedgehogs only'. It was crossed out, and under it 'male hedgehogs only'. That too was crossed out, and under was 'EVERYONE JUST STAY OUT'.
Shadow's door was closed, as suspected, but luckily not locked. Finn opened the door just a crack and stopped, tilting his head and straining to hear any movements. He waited a few seconds, and when nothing came back, he cracked the door open a bit more and peeked in.
The room was nearly the exact opposite of Shadow. The walls and ceiling were painted a light blue colour, and the bedsheets were green with yellow pillow cases, but the only thing that was still like him was the pitch black carpet. He had a desk instead of a simple table, where a closed white laptop sat along with a cup full of pens and pencils and an adjustable red lamp. Framed pictures hung everywhere, of him with Rouge or Knuckles or Sonic and Tails. Many of them were simply just scenery.
He even had a TV mounted on the wall that was currently on but muted, displaying the news. The jackal squinted at it and read that they were decreasing tax on something or another, but he didn't know what that meant so he ignored it.
The hedgehog himself laid in bed, facing the door, with his eyes gently shut. He was sleeping so lightly, the only indication that he was out being his slowly rising chest and the light hum he was creating.
It all looked way too odd so Finn looked away and went to walk in, pausing just inches away from the ground when a thin thread came into view. Finn followed it with his eyes, trailing it to the walls where he found that the string was connected to lights and bells.
Clever. he thought, stepping over the tripwire and silently closing the door behind him. But not clever enough.
Now it was time to look for a brush. He figured it would be on or in Shadow's desk, but he would save that for last because he didn't know how heavily the other slept. The dresser was his best bet, but before he even had the chance to open the first drawer, he spotted the gift that had been in his room earlier. It was long and pretty thin, wrapped in plain brown paper and tied shut with a red ribbon bow.
A long life of living as a mercenary told him to never leave any clues behind, but... How could he not open it?
No! Brush first! He mentally growled and pulled open the top drawer, being met with a sleek black case. His ears folded back and he looked to Shadow, waiting for any movement yet again. All he did was flick an ear and sigh.
...does everything have to be in a box? The jackal opened the case, seeing as it was already there anyway, just to slightly panic. It was full of knives. Just a case stuffed full of fancy, intricate, sharp, pointy, dangerous knives.
Why would Shadow have knives?
Why would Shadow keep knives??
Why would Shadow keep knives in his bedroom???
Finn hurried to close the case and move on to the next drawer, being met with faded, old belongings. It didn't interest him in the slightest at first so he moved on, but
curiosity got the best of him and he opened the drawer again, taking the things out gently. They were so old he feared they all would fall apart if he handled them too roughly.
There was a extremely faded, almost grey stuffed bunny toy with black beady eyes. Next to it was a neatly folded, also blue, puffy sleeved dress. He didn't try to unfold it in case he would ruin folding it back up. Underneath it, though, was a copy of Shadow's rings. They were a more vibrant gold than the ones he wore now, but the inside was scratched up so much it looked like he tried his hardest to tear them off. They didn't look removable. The last things inside were a copy of his shoes, missing the black leather, and a photo album that had seen better days.
Knowing he didn't have much time to look, but being too nosey to not look, he flipped it open to a random page and saw... pictures, as expected, but of Shadow with a girl and a large man that was slightly familiar. Pictures where there was a black blur zipping by and a few of Shadow draped over the girl, both sleeping in what looked like a hospital bed. A couple of him in what looked like testing rooms, some even while he was in the middle of an attack. Finn flipped through all the pages a bit quickly, careful of the frail paper, and grew disturbed with each one. More of Shadow with scientists, with the girl in blue, with the large old man. Then, he came to one where Shadow floated in a tank, hands and nose pressed to the glass while a very, very young child in a tiny hospital gown did the exact same thing on the other side. The photo was dated but the numbers were much too faded to read. On the page right next to it sat another solitary picture, or Shadow standing in front of a large window with nothing but stars and the Earth beyond it.
Finn closed the book and shook his head, putting it back along with everything else he took out and finally moved from the drawer. He was far too disturbed from it, somehow. What was so wrong about those pictures? Nothing should have been wrong about them, so why was he so distraught when looking at them?
The second side started with gloves and socks, the next drawer holding gaming consoles and games themselves, and the last old-looking books. Finn didn't take Shadow as a gaming person, but it didn't matter much to him. By now he was getting sick of searching, but really that left one other place to look: Shadow's desk.
Finn gathered up his courage and snuck over to the bed, peeking over at Shadow again. He continued to sleep, lax and dead to the world. The good sign was that he was still humming, which was probably his version of snoring. Luckily the hedgehog didn't snore, that would actually be pretty annoying.
The desk was an absolute mess but that wasn't what he was there for. He saw a small framed photo, of Shadow, the girl, and the old man standing together. they all were smiling. Shadow was smiling.
Finn pulled out the only drawer and found it had many hair ties and bands and brushes and combs, every single thing that he needed! There were also bobby pins, and hair clips, and small containers of things and gels he didn't entirely recognize. So, he took a long bristled brush and a hair tie and turned to leave.
Something caught his eye seconds away from stepping over the tripwire and leaving, and that was the present still in the right corner, leaning on the side of the dresser. The top and the box itself were wrapped separately; all he had to do was untie the bow to open it and tie it back when he was finished. Shadow wouldn't find out! He just... wanted a peek.
The jackal did a full 180 and went over to the present, setting down the hair items to lay the present flat and grab the ribbon. A quick lean to glance at the sleeping hedgehog and he pulled, the simple knot coming apart and the ribbons falling loose. He grabbed the top and hissed when the paper crinkled loudly, sitting perfectly still while the hedgehog stretched in bed and shifted his position. Finn held his breath, and, when the light hum came again, he hurried to pull off the top and look down.
It was his sword. His red shortsword...! It was really it, really there!! Where did Shadow find it!? He... Finn gave it up when he learned he would be much stronger as Infinite, and he thought he wouldn't need a sword anymore.
His tail thumped the ground in mixed feelings, looking at the sword and remembering all the times he had with his squad, when he first got it, and where it was made. He ran his fingers along the smooth blade, gently smiling as his tail began to wag freely behind him. There were a few chips and scrapes here and there, but it was clean and shiny just like brand new. He remembered when Brant first sharpened it for him, running a sharpening stone over the blade, over and over and over. He would pause and lift it to the sun, giving Finn high hopes he would be done, but he'd go right back to sharpening it. The sword never cut anything so well before, and he swore he would be able to down a tree in one swing. Of course, he couldn't, but it sure felt like it.
He let go of the blade and simply stared at it in the box, but something felt off. Just, really off, like something was missing. Nothing was wrong with his sword-- sure, it could use a sharpening, but that was it. He stared down at it, rubbing his thumb along the blue and red leather handle and tried to figure out what was wrong. Then it hit him like a brick; The humming stopped.
All his fur stood up on end and he peeked around the dresser, looking at Shadow as he now sat up in bed. He was staring at his desk, luckily turned away from the corner. Finn's heart was beating so hard he was sure Shadow could hear it. Shadow turned to look straight ahead again and Finn yanked himself back behind the dresser, staring at the wall with a hand slapped over his mouth.
The hedgehog stood up, yawned tiredly, and dragged himself over to the door and left, shutting it behind him.
The jackal let his breath go but didn't let himself relax whatsoever, quickly boxing back up the sword and putting it back where it leaned. He picked up the brush, sprinted to the door, and pressed his ear to the it. He faintly heard Shadow doing something in the bathroom, like running water. Finn opened the door and tiptoed out, nearly launching himself down the stairs and to the living room where he sat on the couch and started to brush his tail like nothing had ever happened.
Minutes later, after tossing out the shed fur from his tail and silently glaring at his hair where the brush now sat, tangled beyond retrieval, Finn heard Shadow coming downstairs and turned to him.
"Hell-- What... are you doing?" Shadow stopped in his tracks with an expression the jackal hadn't seen on him before "You look so terrible-- is that my brush?"
"Come on, now's not the time. Pity me, I've been yanking at this thing for hours!" Finn emphasized it by pulling hard on the brush, screeching in pain just a second later when it still didn't come free. In fact, a few strands were ripped out instead of the brush.
"It is the time, considering that's my brush, but I'll still help you." He sighed and went to the other side of the couch, accessing the damage.
Finn's fur was naturally sectioned off, similar to quills, but what he ended up doing with his brush, specifically not made for fur, was undo half of that and get increasingly tangled in the other. He looked like a fuzzy haired aging clown in the middle of a hairdo.
"This is terrible," he sighed and lifted the brush gently, pulling at a few strands in hopes he could retrieve his brush. And save Finn's hair, too, yeah. "And not so salvageable. I have to cut it free, so--"
"You will not cut my hair!! A Jackal's hair is sacred!" Finn shouted, raising his hands to protect his disheveled fur "Just remove the damn brush, hedgehog!"
By then Shadow had already left for the chest of drawers, opening the top one and pulling out scissors (actually made for fur, I say again) and the brush Finn was supposed to use in the first place. He had no electric razors because he never had a need for them, and since Rouge was always styling and cutting her hair over at his house he had no reason to throw them out.
"Yeah yeah, sacred, cannot be cut even when things are tangled in it, blah blah." Finn looked over to him and opened his mouth wide, ready to yell or say something to get the scissors away from him, but with a quick snip the brush fell down and thudded against the couch before falling to the floor.
Shadow picked it up and pulled the now loose hairs from it, happily concluding that he could still use it without having to buy another.
"...My hair..." a whine distracted him, so he frowned when he saw Finn was actually upset about a lock of his hair being missing. So, he went back to the chest and showed him a mirror, where the jackal quickly went red in the face and pulled back his ears at the terrible state his hair was in anyway.
"I can fix it so it at least looks normal, alright? I'm going to make dinner afterwards so if you complain too much I won't give you any." The threat worked and the other shut his mouth with a snap, going over to sit in the wooden chair Shadow set up and frowning at his lap.
This was... odd and uncomfortable. He already hated being touched, and being touched by Shadow was icing on the poisoned cake. If he was totally honest it wasn't that bad, it felt nice for someone to help him when he was struggling, but feeling the brush, hearing the snips of the scissors, and feeling the scratchy, crunchy feeling of them slicing through his fur was terrible. He wasn't even sitting for ten minutes before there was a bit of a tug and Shadow said "done" and left.
Fin whirled around, looking at the relatively small amount of hair along the floor just as he was handed the mirror again.
His hair... barely changed. It was shorter, yes, but not by much. Maybe a few inches. It was also tied up in a loose ponytail. Finn found himself actually frowning at his reflection, wishing that Shadow did cut it shorter.
"Were you telling the truth?" He blurted out, tilting the mirror so he could see Shadow moving about in the kitchen.
"About what, your hair? It's not bad, I didn't really cut anything."
"No, about... your parents, and the stupid space thing." he saw Shadow pause, in the middle of stretching up the reach something. He sighed as he grabbed it and looked over at the back of his head.
"I was. I technically never had parents, but the person I considered my father is dead. The person I considered my sister is dead. I don't know why I'm even explaining since you don't believe me." The hedgehog placed something in the pan and there was a loud sizzle. "Just drop this, alright? I don't want to explain." Finn decided to stand up and turn around, sitting backwards on the chair.
"Then make me believe it." he started, not even sure where he was going with the sentence. "I don't actually know anything about you, how can we be friends if you don't explain yourself?"
'Father' and 'Sister' irked him, too. Were those people...?
The agent turned around slowly, staring at Finn with dark eyes. Then, "My name is Shadow the Hedgehog, and that's all you need to know. Now drop it, jackal, if you know what's good for you." He turned back, breathing slightly sped up. "And-- Remember, I'm cooking your food. You have no idea what I'm putting in it." he added as a threat, hoping the other would leave him alone.
Luckily he did, leaving the hedgehog to his own thoughts in the kitchen.
Shadow glared down at the stake. If Finn had the gall the sneak into his room, open up the gift he was going to give him tomorrow, and go through his most personal belongings, who was he to try to demand knowledge he had already seen?
It was really hard to keep focus, but, soon, Shadow took a breath and finished dinner. The steak also had mashed potatoes so he did get a good mash going along with letting off some steam. Green beans were the veggies and, after he made both plates, he called Finn into the kitchen so they could eat.
The jackal slowly and quietly found his seat, whispering a small "thank you" and staring down at his food. Shadow started to eat silently, watching the jackal out the corner of his eye.
He was practically drooling at the sight and smell of the food, but was hesitating. "I didn't actually poison your food, you know. I was upset at you so I made something up." he dragged his fork through his potatoes, and seconds after he finished speaking, Finn tore through the steak like he never saw food in five days.
Finn was eating like a slob, but Shadow wasn't too upset about it. As disgusting as it was to see, it was a compliment to his cooking skills. Didn't help that Sonic ate around the same way, but faster.
"Since you already saw it, I'll explain. Those left of your squad had kept it, and when I talked to them, they demanded I take it and give it to you as a symbol of forgiveness." He didn't add 'but they don't want to see you again' because he didn't entirely want to ruin the other's day.
"S-saw what?" Finn choked, but it was far too late for lies. Shadow continued to side-eye him as he stabbed some green beans.
"After sneaking a look at a present, one would think you would re-tie the ribbons."
The jackal whimpered a small sorry, but was secretly excited. His squad forgave him? Shadow hadn't lied to him yet, from what he saw with the pictures, so they must have!
A weight settled in his stomach when the pictures came back to mind, finally figuring out what was so wrong with them. In every single one, Shadow looked the same. He didn't age.
"Stop staring into space and eat. In a couple of days you're going back to the bunker to start training; You're not going to sit around and do nothing while I'm around."
xox
ooh thanks for all the positive reviews!! you all are so nice!! Shout out to Bajy, AdmiralKirk, Infinite Ruby, and AbyssusTheDarkNightmare (nice name btw) for being just so awesome and helping me post this a bit early!
I can't edit this a ton, it's late now.