030. Wisdom Catastrophe

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Shadow was aware of how people acted after they came off of the anaesthesia. Throwing a few tantrums, cursing for absolutely no reason, saying things that they wouldn't say normally, accidentally admitting a few things that would cause a huge disaster after. He'd seen it all.

So he was mildly surprised that when he was called in by the surgeon to pick up Tikal, she was quiet. Very quiet.

She had just gotten her wisdom teeth taken out after complaining that they were starting to hurt. It wasn't hard for him to make a quick appointment, though it was difficult to encourage the echidna to stay calm since she was petrified of the dentist in general. It was a workload trying to get her out of bed this morning.

"How are you feeling?" Shadow asked, sitting down on the chair beside the stretcher as he leaned forward to brush his hand over her head.

Tikal looked tired, her eyes in small slits. "Where am I...?"

"In the dentist," he said with a small smile, "You just had your wisdom teeth taken out."

She blinked at him and raised her hand to touch her teeth. "I did?"

"Yes," Shadow gently stopped her hand from reaching her mouth, "You have gauzes underneath your teeth to stop the bleeding, so don't touch it."

"Okay..." Tikal winced when she sat up, "I-I need water."

He grabbed a cup and filled it with water. Slowly pressing the cup against her lips, he helped her sip the water into her mouth. She grimaced as she swallowed it down but managed to finish drinking all of it.

The dentist came in and had him sign the discharge forms before saying they were free to go. Shadow carefully prompted Tikal onto her feet and helped her walk out of the clinic. She staggered against her steps on their way out of the building so he had to eventually carry her back to the car. He carefully set Tikal inside the passenger seat, resting her head against the restraint so she felt comfortable before fastening the seatbelt on her.

Tikal fell asleep on the drive back home so thankfully he didn't have to worry about her causing any distractions. He didn't think she would though regardless, seeing how unusually calm she was right now despite the pain she must've been feeling.

After he parked the car in front of their house, he carried Tikal inside before quietly pushing their room door open with his foot. Once he laid her down underneath the covers, he kissed her forehead and walked out of the room, leaving the door left ajar as he went downstairs into the living room.

Shadow set up his laptop and went into full work mode. Once again, GUN loved giving him all the paperwork in the world to do. It didn't help that many were off sick either and while he would be doing a practical mission today, leaving Tikal alone in the house in the state she was in wasn't an option.

Two hours later, he heard footsteps coming from downstairs. He turned his head and was greeted with Tikal wobbling herself down the staircase. In an instant, Shadow was by her side. "What are you doing?" he asked, "You're meant to be resting..."

His voice trailed off when Tikal ignored and walked past him into the kitchen. Following her cautiously to make sure she doesn't fall, he saw that she was about to get something to eat from the fridge.

"You can't eat anything right now," Shadow stopped her arm and closed the fridge. When he glanced back at the echidna, her tired eyes now widened at him as if he did something offensive.

"W-Why not...?"

"Because the dentist said so and you still have your gauzes on," he explained and looked into her mouth, "Which we need to replace-"

Tikal hiccuped which turned into a tearful whine as she suddenly yelled at him. "B-But I'm HUNGRY! I haven't eaten anything all day!"

Shadow paused at her outburst, his unsure look settling onto her. "...I know but-"

"Then let me EAT!" Tikal cried and struggled weakly against his hold, "I want to eat something!"

Oh Chaos. So the anesthetic was acting on her now, was it?

"You'll have to wait a few more hours," Shadow stated calmly but immediately feared the worst when she shot him a glare through her tears, "...I'm sorry but that's what the dentist-"

"Y-You don't love me, do you?" Tikal whined as she pulled away from him.

Shadow's eyes widened at her absurd statement and quickly reached for her again. "Okay, no. That's not true, I do love you-"

"No you don't!" she shook her head vigorously, wrapping her arms around herself, "You don't want me to eat because you don't like my body! You want me to starve! You think I'm fat!"

"I don't want or think that at all," he tried saying but really, he was panicking on the inside, "I love you just the way you are-"

"You're so good looking, y-you're so cute... you're so everything!" Tikal continued to sob, "H-How could you love someone like me? I'm just someone who gets in your way!"

"...Tikal-" Shadow stopped when she let out another wail and kept berating herself. He decided to stay quiet, afraid that anything else he'll say would suddenly rile her up even more.

When Tikal had calmed down after many sob stories, she rubbed her eyes and stared over to him. Her cheeks were red and a little swollen due to her mouth, but Shadow could see she was exhausted.

"Who are you again?"

...Or so he thought.

Damn, what did they even put in the anesthetic for someone to act so out of their nature? He prayed to Chaos that he'll never be put under it.

"Shadow," he answered her anyway and then gently pulled her against him, "...Your boyfriend."

"My boy...friend?" Tikal blinked up at him and touched his face, "Are you sure? But you're so handsome..."

Shadow felt a blush rising up to his cheeks but fought it down as he clasped his hand over hers. "Yes, I'm sure."

She looked at him longingly before smiling... and then giggling, her arms wrapping around his neck. "Th-That means you're mine?"

"I'm yours."

Tikal gasped excitedly. "Are we married yet?"

He froze up for a moment, blinking down and kept his gaze locked onto the echidna before awkwardly clearing his throat. "No... not yet."

Her eyes beamed cutely anyway and jumped. "I'm sooooo lucky!"

Shadow quickly caught her, wrapping her legs around his waist as he steadied himself. Not as lucky as I am. "All right, I'm going to take you back to bed."

"Ooh, we're going to bed!" Tikal giggled again and snuggled her nose underneath his muzzle, "I can't waaaait!"

Shaking his head, he took her back upstairs and laid her against the headboard of the bed as he replaced her gauzes with clean ones. After tucking her in once more, Tikal finally slipped into a deep sleep.

Shadow watched her, pulling away a strand of her dreads from her face as he sat quietly. He then brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it.

"Are we married yet?"

Her question lingered in his head. It was laughable... seeing what the anesthesia could do to you. Tikal had always been shy and reserved, so seeing this was an experience for him and he couldn't wait for the medicine to wear off so he could tease her about it.

Marriage. They had all the time in the world to get married but...

Shadow let out a short chuckle and wandered off back downstairs.

Well, if that's what she wants.