024. Late nights
.
.
.
Tikal fluttered open her eyes when she heard the room door squeaking open. She blinked a couple of times, seeing Shadow slipping inside as he closed it quietly. Even though the room was dark, she was able to make out his eyes and saw how tired they were. She didn't question him and let him go into the shower room. Tikal sat up with a soft sigh and switched on the lamp from the nightstand as she waited for the hedgehog to finish cleaning up.
Shadow came out ten minutes later with a towel over his head, quills dripping with water whilst he began drying them off. When he noticed that she was awake and was looking at him, Tikal only sent him a tired smile and motioned for him to sit down. When he did, she took the towel and helped him dry his hair.
"Did Rouge drag you around her club or something?" the echidna laughed out softly when she put the towel away.
"Something like that..." Shadow muttered, "I don't want to see another bottle of wine ever again."
"Mm, it was only for one night," Tikal said and started to rub his shoulders, "You're so tense. Did something happen at work?"'
He groaned, presumably from her massaging or the fact that she brought up work, or probably from both. "Paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork."
She grimaced at the thought of him speeding his way through piles of paper all day. She'd seen stacks of them when she visited his office one time to give him his lunch. He was supposed to come home early that day but ended up coming just before midnight and it just recently became a daily occurrence.
"Shadow," Tikal said underneath her breath, "You really should consider the week off. It's been like this since the New Years and it's April now."
Shadow didn't reply. More like he didn't want to reply. The grouchy hedgehog...
She sighed once more and drifted her fingers into his hair, lightly grazing the scalp and temples. "You're working too hard again."
"You're not going to start giving me a lecture at one in the morning, are you?"
The echidna smiled. "No," she removed her hands from his quills and gently pulled him down onto the bed with him on top as she wrapped her arms around his neck, "I wish we could do something together at night that doesn't revolve around you coming home late but..."
Shadow's eyes darkened considerably and she could already see the lust becoming evident in them. As much as they both wanted each other at that moment, Tikal knew they were both far too tired.
"But," she pressed her finger against his lips when he tried to lean down for a kiss and giggled when he let out an annoyed grunt, "I want you to sleep. It can wait another day."
She gave his lips quick smooch and settled his head against her chest, smoothing out his quills as he began falling into a deep slumber. When hearing Shadow's soft breathing, Tikal smiled and left one last kiss on his forehead and drifted into sleep herself.