Author's Notes: Alright, there'll be absolutely no further updates to EAI until I can make myself get further on Crimson. I did have a sudden burst of inspiration on this, and I'm sure you can all understand that I don't want to quell any inspiration, but at the same time, it's been about a month now... So I've got to do something.
For those of you who don't know, I recently set up a DeviantArt account on which to also post some of my stories. An artist by the screename of CandyandBiffle on that site posted a piece of art for Chapter 6 of this story, so if any of you would be interested in taking a look at that, just go to my account on that site, and it'll be near the top of my favorites.
Some inspirations for this chapter came from the Flu Bug story by the Nevermore Raven.
An element of this chapter was included because of a detail featured in the art piece drawn by CandyandBiffle.
Ironically, I've been sick for the last week... God has a sense of humor.
Chapter 7: Shadow is Sick
When he awoke, Shadow was surprised and slightly afraid to find himself in utter and complete darkness, as if he'd woken up without waking up. Immediately running his fingers over his eyes, he soon discovered that the lids were tightly closed, sealed shut by some sort of disgusting crusty material.
Although repulsed, he gently picked it away, finally allowing his eyelids to slowly glide open, seemingly flooding his vision with the, in actuality, rather dim light. The room looked unchanged from the night before, and with frustration he noted that the only part of his body that he seemed to be able to move freely was his head.
His arms hung limply by his sides, and his eyes were teary and bloodshot. He was having some difficulty breathing, which he quickly recognized to be rather heavy nasal congestion, the sum totality of which could only mean one thing...
He was sick.
Shadow had been sick once before on the ARK when he was very young. The sterile metal halls contained sparse bacteria, and they were often quickly eliminated by a top-of-the-line sanitary system. The researchers had become worried that he would never build up any of the same natural immunities that a dweller on the surface would, so they gave him a super-immunization.
Fight off most of the diseases known to mankind all at once had not been easy on him, even with an immune system that was by far superior to that of a human being. He'd been sick for a week, and worse, had to kept away from Maria the entire time... lest she catch even the slightest hint of his infection.
Pulling him from his thoughts, the door cracked open, revealing brilliantly sparkling sapphire eyes. Upon seeing Shadow awake, the ivory huntress stepped through the door, Omega stomping along begrudgingly behind her. She was clad in a loose fitting, cream colored tank top, and a pair of simple, hip-hugging jeans. A pleasant aroma wafted gently from the plate she carried, and Shadow's eyes flicked immediately from her, to it, and back to her.
Their robotic companion came to a stop directly next to Shadow, and ran a beam of dim green light over the incapacitated hero, silently analyzing the results, as Rouge sat coquettishly on the edge of the bed.
"Readings show that Shadow is battling a severe, mutated strain of the influenza virus. His immune system is functioning at approximately one percept capacity, which is about half that of a normal person," he reported, increasing Rouge's concern.
"Shadow, are you okay?" she'd already heard Omega's report, but not much sympathy could be derived from those cold words, and she wanted to hear it from the obsidian hedgehog himself.
"I'm- I'm fine," he insisted, determined to appear strong despite sniffling profusely.
"Hmm... that's a shame. In that case, you won't be needing this extra special Chicken Noodle soup I made in case you were sick..."
The black hedgehog seemed horrified at such a prospect.
"Oh... the pain! Argh, I think I'm terminal," he moaned in a hyperbolic fashion. "It hurts... everywhere."
"Well, shall I kiss it then, make it feel better?" she winked. "You're such a baby," she teased as she placed the plate in front of him.
Seeing the food in front of him swirling in a vat of warm broth and catching the scent, which mixed indecipherably with Rouge's own sweet smell was enough to make Shadow wonder if he was in heaven. It set his stomach rumbling with a volume that seemed to mock thunder. Rouge giggled slightly at the gurgling inside him, while noting that he seemed to have an ascetic appreciation for both it, and her.
Yet to his intense frustration, his muscles were still so sore that at his every attempt to move his arms, white hot pain shot up his form, wracking his body.
"Well, aren't you going to eat it?"
"I would," he began, licking his lips as he looked at her, "but seeing as how my arms can't move..." He lamented this with a sobriety that seemed appropriate for a funeral.
"It appears Shadow will require assistance," Omega commented, while placing the Chaos Emerald on the night-stand to accelerate his recovery by replenishing his energy reserves. "...I just realized, I must... depart in order to complete a... um... top... secret... objective. Salutations."
Shadow's eyes seemed to simultaneously beg Omega to stay, as if he thought Rouge were a carnivorous animal that he thought would devour him, and at the same time, implored him to leave in anticipation of this very... consumption
Opting for the latter route, the robot stomped out of the room, almost seeming to smirk devilishly as he went.
The crimson streaked hedgehog seemed to be in shock, his eyes as wide as saucers as Rouge leaned over him and conveyed the meal to his lips in small, deliberate portions. She sat across his lap, the dish laying in her own, as she fed him as tenderly as one might care for a dearly beloved child.
"Why... are you doing this?" he asked when she had finished, but she remained straddling him nonetheless. "Why are you taking care of me? Nobody ever takes care of me."
She smiled slightly, prompting a rush of unfamiliar warmth that coursed through his body, an altogether foreign, but not in the least unpleasant feeling.
"I care about you, Shadow. I want to take care of you," she answered, removing herself from the bed, and taking the pleasurable warmth with her.
For a moment that felt like an eternity he considered asking her to come back, it felt so right with her near him, but being more than a little confused by the sensations within him, he decided against it. Rouge commented that he should rest, and began to leave, before he called out.
"Please don't go!" his voice was hoarse, and the exclamation exploded from his lungs with involuntary force, and was followed by a rough cough.
Rouge blinked in disbelief, he heart aflutter. 'Did he... just say please?'
She turned in surprise to look at him, and he seemed to be wrestling with something deep inside of himself. Now that he'd asked her to stay, he knew he had to come up with an excuse.
"I... I find your presence calming," he said, seeing a distinct flicker of joy in her eyes.
Rouge couldn't keep a slight smirk from finding its way onto her face, as she sat down on the bed next to Shadow. He moved over to make room for her, and waited for the feeling of warmth to return to him.
But it did not, and after a moment, he realized that he only experienced the sensation when he was touching her. Pondering this for a moment, he cleared his throat and spoke up.
"...Um, Rouge? I feel cold," he explained, a crimson tinge coloring his cheeks as he continued. "and you're warm."
Rolling her eyes but smiling nonetheless, she slipped under the covers, causing Shadow to immediately snuggle up to her. She thought with surprise that he was being strangely affectionate, and rationalized that his cold was probably messing with his head, but she had to admit she enjoyed it.
Upon bringing himself into direct contact with the alluring bat, he found that the sensation of warmth returned with even greater intensity in the pit of his stomach, followed by a frantic pounding in his ribcage.
'Mm, she's so... soft,' he couldn't help but think, wondering at how layers of thick blankets could not dispel his chills, but the feeling of her seemingly volcanic form pressed against him ignited an inferno in his chest.
Rouge didn't care in the slightest if she caught whatever sickness Shadow had; he needed her, so she would be there for him. That was what would get through to him, and seemed to be doing so already.
As the ultimate lifeform drifted off into a peaceful sleep, he unconsciously maneuvered himself closer to the comforting warmth, eventually resulting in the two of them becoming inseparably intertwined, so that Rouge could not have removed herself from his embrace if she had wanted to.
But she didn't want to let go, she wanted to stay with him like that forever. In that moment, there was no awkwardness, no concerns, just Rouge pressing her head against the soft fur of his chest and lying on top of him. She was soon also sleeping peacefully.
Either the Chaos Emerald, or some supernatural vitalizing affect Rouge had on him sped Shadow's recovery to remarkable speed so that he still felt some of the symptoms of his flu, but was now able to move. He woke up before Rouge did, not remembering they'd effectively fallen asleep snuggling, and having been a little bit delirious when he'd been awake last.
He felt a weight on his body, and a curious separation between himself an his hands. Eyes snapping open in surprise, he found his hands to be resting absently on Rouge's shapely backside, a realization that combined with the incredible closeness of their bodies, produced a furious reddening of his cheeks.
Quickly removing his hands and pulling away the covers, the truth of their position was made clear to him abruptly. Rouge's head was nestled into the downy patch of white below his collarbone, and her arms were wrapped around his torso, pressing her chest into him. Their hips were about even with each other, and were for the most part imperceptibly either deliberately or inadvertently pressed together by the way their legs held them together like a vice. Each one of the pair was wrapped tightly around to other like braided strands.
The position was one of great contradiction, almost to the degree of paradox. At the same time as he felt the impossible softness and warmth of her body was surreally comforting, the realization of the awkwardness of it created an overwhelming sense of discomfort.
All at once he wished that she would wake up and that she would stay like she was; he wanted to distance himself from her touch and the incredible, uncomfortable feelings it aroused, and yet he felt as if somehow, they should be and could be in an even deeper, almost supernatural embrace.
The conflict inside of him confused Shadow, for he had no idea what was occurring within him. He'd never felt like this before, and was entirely unsure of how to proceed... whether he should be cold and distant, or whether he thirsted for more.
'What is happening to me?' he wondered, as Rouge's mild and milky sweet scent rolled over him in waves with the gentle rising and falling of her bosom.
'What is this bewitching effect she has on me, that at her touch my heart races and my stomach churns?'
His thoughts seemed to prompt her awakening, as her long lashes drew up lids like the strings on a puppet, revealing glittering aquamarine orbs that mimicked precious jewels.
Her own initial reaction was identical to his own: ignorance followed by surprise, surprise followed by investigation, investigation followed by inevitable mental innuendo.
If she was ashamed, or derived no pleasure from waking up straddling shadow, with her entire form pressed against him she gave no sign of it, rather smiling sweetly, almost seductively. She sat up slowly, but tightened the grip her legs had on the helpless black hedgehog, effectively placing all her weight against his pelvis.
"Well... good morning Shadow!" she said cheerily, yawning and stretching. "You sleep well?"
The dark hedgehog had trouble summoning his voice, and attempted to wiggle out from underneath her, but to his chagrin, this only produced the effect of grinding himself against her. Realizing that she was all-too aware of this, and seemed to be taking an uncomfortable amount of pleasure in watching him squirm, he saw the necessity of making some sort of reply.
"Uh, yeah... I feel... much better now," he half gasped, half said, as he struggled to contain the signs of his arousal. "So, exactly why did we..."
The phrase 'sleep together' came to mind, but he didn't want to make matters worse for himself by saying something with such a dual nature. Rouge smirked and placed a hand lightly on the ivory crest of his torso, stroking him gently.
"Something about you being cold," she explained, giggling slightly afterwards.
With her on top of him like this, the last thing he felt was cold: hell itself seemed to course through his veins.
Having made her point, had her fun, and not wanting to torment him too much and scare him off, Rouge reluctantly released him, crawling lazily off and allowing Shadow to get up. He seemed to do so rather hurriedly, as if he half believed she would pounce on him again at any moment, tackling him violently to the bed and having her way with him... which probably wasn't incredibly unlikely.
Rouge once again rifled though her closet, picking some casual garments for the day ahead. She stepped out into the bathroom, leaving Shadow alone with his thoughts and unbelievably turbulent emotions.
He noted absently that he was barefoot, and that his air shoes sat neatly in the corner, a pair of socks folded over them. Walking over the retrieve his belongings, he noted as he put them on that the socks were not his own, but rather ones Rouge had bought for him since she'd taken him in.
'How much trouble has she gone to just to make me comfortable, and give me a place to stay,' he realized suddenly. 'I didn't even have to ask, she came looking for me... Rouge wants me here... I can never thank her enough. She saved my life.'
He glanced about his surroundings as he waited for Rouge who, like most (or all) women, seemed to deliberately take eons to change, just to be torturous and increase the anxiety of those waiting on them.
On the bedside stand, he noticed a photo in a hot pink frame, which was covered in rhinestones. The picture was a snapshot, ironically enough taken by Omega, of Rouge viciously hugging Shadow and him gasping for breath, the almost indecipherable curve of a smile at the corner of his lips and the faintest hint of red teasing his cheeks.
Abruptly emerging from the bathroom in a light pink, skin-tight t-shirt and a pair of shorts, she winked at Shadow as his eyes flicked involuntarily to her. He looked away abruptly, turning back to the picture, and she noticed what his attention was fixed on, and picked up the photo in appreciation.
"We look good together," he noted, while her ebony companion nodded silent. "But you always look good, Shadow." He was hardly hearing her words, and he couldn't keep his eyes from flicking back to her again and again, particularly her eyes, they were mesmerizing.
"I have the day off from work, so why don't we do something fun?"
He thought about this for a moment, and although he was quick to agree to spending time with her, he honestly had trouble generating ideas for leisure activities, especially one conducted with another.
"I'd like that, but what should we do?"
She seemed surprised that he had trouble conjuring ideas, but determined to expand his experience in everyday life and treat him as a person, not a lab experiment, she offered her own suggestion.
"We'll go to the Ice Cream shop!" she smiled, clutching his hand tightly and pulling him along, as a distinct rose inflamed his face.
A quaint little bell rang joyously as the pair came through the door, Rouge still tightly gripping his hand. They were met with the distinct aromas of frozen desert: freezer coolant, milk, and the conglomeration of all imaginable flavors and toppings, from classic vanilla to some more eccentric ones.
An incredibly wide man with a flat, square face greeted them with a smile that oddly enough resembled a grimace of pain. He looked as if he must have lived in the parlor, because he looked as if he worked there out of a passion for the delicacy itself, and perhaps for that reason, would be nearly too wide to fit through the door.
"What can I do for the lovely couple?" his smile broadened, stretching his face until it seemed the taut skin of his fleshy cheeks would tear. Shadow quietly slipped out of her grasp, stepping forward to peer boyishly through the fogged pane.
"What is it?" he asked in what seemed to be a comical mixture of wonderment and fear.
The shopkeeper's grin died all at once, as such a sombre look came over his face, one would've thought the end of the world was at hand. Indeed, his reaction to the near destruction of the planet by the Black Arms had not been so severe.
"You're- you're... an Ice Cream virgin?" he said in a low, rumbling tone.
"I would certainly think so!" he wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but he'd heard the word 'virgin,' and responded literally. He didn't know where this was going, or what this 'Ice Cream' stuff was, and he was starting to get suspicious.
The man's smile abruptly returned in greater force, as he clapped enthusiastically and threw confetti in the air. "Then your first one is free!"
'Where on Earth did he conjure that confetti from?' Shadow thought in confusion.
The obsidian hero seemed to relax at this anticlimactic resolution to their conversation, but seemed a little put off nonetheless. Rouge stared at him expectantly, a slight smile curling the corners of her lips.
"...I'll try this 'vanilla' substance. I hope it doesn't kill me," he finally said with a bit of hesitation.
"I'd like mine to be chocolate," Rouge added, as the shopkeeper wiped his hands on his apron, and began dishing the treat.
The two of them sat at a booth in the shop, which was otherwise deserted except for the winking shopkeeper.
He was surprised at first by the temperature of the snack, but found its sweetness to quickly overwhelm his sense of taste. The flavor of vanilla was mild but nuanced, sweet and simple and deliciously milky. It reminded him vaguely of something... or someone, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it was love at first taste.
Similarly, the chocolate (which was Rouge's favorite) had its own unique taste. Not as sweet as the creamy vanilla, it was dark, with an ever so slight bitter aftertaste that added character and depth. It seemed one moment sweet and the next black, but the contrast made is fascinating to her. As had been shown many times before, it had a chemical effect that warmed the body and tickled the stomach, sweeping her off her feet. It was often compared with the feeling of being in love.
When the two of them had finished, they went up to the counter so Rouge could pay. The ebony hedgehog's piercing crimson eyes scanned over the menu in curiosity, wondering what other delights were there to be had.
His eyes fell on the word 'milkshake' and his brows furrowed.
"They... shake... milk? What exactly is the difference between shaken and unshaken milk?" A mental image of a cow strapped in to some sort of enormous shaking machine came to him with amazing clarity.
The vanilla-colored bat laughed at Shadow's sometimes surprising naiveté, making him cross his arms indignantly. "No, silly. They mix together milk and Ice Cream and then shake it," she continued chuckling at his expense.
"Well, then why not call it an Ice Cream Milkshake?" this seemed to be basic logic to Shadow, that something was called what it was.
"Because it's easier to just say milkshake, Shadow. You can be so stubborn!" she said this as if it were an endearing trait. "Oh, don't be so grouchy about it. I'll get you one and you can try it yourself."
Every interaction between the two, the store keeper's grin grew wider, until it seemed to defy the laws of physics. By the time Rouge turned to make their final purchase, he was smiling blindingly.
"What flavor, miss?"
She thought for a moment, trying to pick one the chocolate-colored hedgehog would like. "Banana."
Slurping contentedly from the straw, the obsidian hero left the store, failing to notice that Rouge had casually linked arms with him. "This is... amazing... This is... incredible!" he said breathlessly in between drinks. "This is... the Ultimate milkshake!"
He cried out over-dramatically, attracting the attention of the passing people. With a shrug and a sheepish smile, he moved along, now speaking in a whisper to Rouge, the sound of his breath in her ear thrilling her.
"It is my new life mission to create the perfect milkshake!" he announced. "Come, Rouge, to the bat-cave! I need your milk!"
"There's multiple things wrong with what you just said."
Author's Notes: Very much a fluff chapter, obviously. For those of you who prefer action, I can assure you that there will be plenty of it, but I want to make sure that I spend plenty of time developing the romance side of the story before I introduce any distractions. After all, remember what my goal here was.
It seems Shadow's all better. Medicine to the soul is medicine to the body as well, it appears.
*Mimicks TV announcer on a cheesy soap opera* Alright everybody out there in TV land, it looks like Shadow and Rouge's relationship is accelerating, as he wrestles with the meaning of his feelings, and his place in the world. But Shadow is an independent spirit, and will not allow himself to be coddled forever. How will he be at peace with his masculinity (especially as the Ultimate Lifeform) with Rouge taking care of him? Will he ever learn to respond in kind of Rouge's flirting? Will she stop conveniently finding ways to crawl on top of him? (Probably not.) Find out, in the next exciting installment of Ebony and Ivory!