028. Snow globe

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He broke it.

He broke Tikal's snow globe.

Utter dismay and horror washed over his features. I'm fucking dead. Shadow looked around frantically, hearing the water running from down the hall upstairs. Tikal was in their bathroom, showering. He had just come back from work early and asked her if she would like to go out for dinner tonight instead.

It had been an accident. He was watching TV to pass time as Tikal was getting ready and he was walking backwards towards the kitchen, eyes completely glued onto the screen as he fetched for a glass of water. Too absorbed, he wasn't paying any mind until his leg bumped into the small, dark brown table Tikal had bought just to display the beautiful snow globe.

Shadow's wide eyes stared at the shattered mess surrounding in his feet in silent terror. Tikal was going to murder him. Sure, Tikal was a sweet soul and was one of the most purest and innocent people he had ever met. No one could never imagine her getting angry. But Shadow could and had witnessed it. Once. When he took away the Chao's popcorn because he was sulking that his team lost to Sonic's in a kart race. And he never realised Tikal was sitting right there and saw it all. She had him trembling in his feet.

He vowed never to make her angry again after that.

"Shit..." Shadow cursed at himself profoundly. What the hell had he got himself into? He was already cringing at the scenarios that could happen.

He couldn't fix it. There was liquid in that damn thing.

Whipping out his phone, Shadow quickly searched the store she told him she had bought it from, knowing that it was a limited edition snow globe and he prayed that they weren't sold out.

The hedgehog flinched, a strangled gasp escaping from his throat when he saw the price.

However, it was far more better and cheaper than to see Tikal showcasing her wrath at him.

Making up his mind, Shadow cleaned the mess up. He made sure to throw it outside the garbage bin nearby their house that they shared with the rest of the residents so that Tikal wouldn't see, and then made a mad dash towards the store. For once, he was thankful Tikal took her time in the shower.

"I need this snow globe!" he shoved his phone under the nose of the store keeper.

The store keeper adjusted her glasses and stared at the screen. "Oh, good choice," she said, "Is it for-"

"Yes, I'm going to buy it," Shadow cut her off desperately and slammed his credit card down onto the desk, "Just please hurry."

She rung up the purchase as he checked his phone. By now, Tikal should be drying off her hair before dressing up. Hopefully she wouldn't leave their room until she was all done. Shadow thanked the store keeper before zooming out the shop.

...

Shadow carefully placed the snow globe in the centre of the table with minutes to spare. He threw out the box in the back garden and once he went back inside, Tikal was already coming downstairs.

"Hey, where did you go?" she asked.

Heart pounding in his chest, he tried to calm his breathing and then casually shrugged. "Some of the plants needed watering."

Tikal nodded. "Oh, right. I forgot to water them this morning," she smiled before walking over to the kitchen, "Let me just get my purse and we can go."

"All right," Shadow sighed and collapsed against the couch. Sheer relief washed over him. He couldn't believe he did it! Tikal would never know... and he felt quite smug about it.

"Okay, let's go!"

Tikal was checking to make sure that everything was inside her purse when she accidentally bumped into the table with the snow globe on it. Shadow's ears twitched and he stood up, leaping forward to catch it. However, it slipped past his fingers and smashed onto the floor. He almost screamed in disbelief. Are you fucking kidding me?!

"Oh dear," Tikal stepped back, "I guess you'll have to wait another minute while I clean this up."

Shadow snapped his head up at her. "You're... You're not upset?"

"Hm? Oh, of course not!" she laughed and put her purse to the side, "Usually when I babysit Sonic and Amy's kids, they love running around all over the house. Whenever I'm expecting the company of children, or Vector and Charmy," she added, amused, "I replace the real snow globe with an almost identical knock off. It was really cheap from that place called Chinatown you took me to earlier this year! But that reminds me, I won't be having any children in the house for a while so I really need to replace this knock off with the real- ...Sh-Shadow? Shadow, what's wrong...?"

Shadow looked at the shattered pieces of the snow globe and then over to Tikal, his fists balling as he tried to contain his real emotions. "Nothing... Nothing's wrong."

Their dinner date went well but Tikal couldn't figure out why he was in such a foul mood and spent the entire night sulking.