AN: It's been a few weeks. Have some buddy-buddy Rouge and Shadow.
"Confrontation"
"Why don't you ever call me?"
Those six words were the very last thing he'd expected her to say the minute that they walked out of G.U.N headquarters. If anything, he'd anticipated a little small talk on the way to the site of their mission, and not much else. It was true that the relationship he had with her was unique, but what Rouge was asking him at the moment was something that he was simply not equipped to handle. Never in his life had he been asked to interact in such a way with another person. He had not the slightest idea of how to effectively maintain a non-professional relationship.
Of course, he could have told her all of this and much, much more, but he chose not to. God forbid he ever communicate to anyone his true feelings instead of lying as he usually did.
"I never find the time," he remarked casually as the two of them boarded the small helicopter and prepared for takeoff. "Besides, even if I was available to do such a thing, I wouldn't have much to talk about. You know what my life is like outside of G.U.N."
"I'm talking about whenever you're feeling low or something like that," she replied, turning away from him and pretending to look out the window. "You never call me, or anyone, for that matter. You go and hide somewhere all by yourself and wallow in your misery. Why don't you just give me a call sometime instead of resorting to curling up in a corner?"
He wanted to answer affirmatively, but, as he opened his mouth to do so, he found that he just couldn't come up with the right words to say. Instead of making a complete fool out of himself, he crossed his arms over his chest and fixed his eyes down at the metal-tiled floor.
"I-I'll think about it," he finally said. At this, he heard her smile and felt her hand make its way onto his arm.
"There's a start."
Her response nearly made him smile as well, but he caught himself just in time.
~End~