Knuckles was the first off then plane when they arrived in Holoska, never one to worry about the cold that one, he barely even felt it, this was the same echidna who ran around ice cap zone without so much as shivering mind you, Rouge however was not as resilient to the elements and after a moment she stepped off the plane in a large fluffy winter coat.

"Well, you certainly look toasty. Can you even hear in that thing?" Knuckles asked with a playful smirk.

"What?" Rouge replied before pulling the hood down. "Honestly, I don't know how you tolerate this weather like that."

"My soul burns hot, hotter than the earth's core even," Knuckles boasted before being shut up by Rouge pulling a navy blue beanie over his head. "HEY!"

"Look, I'm sure your soul is as fiery as your temper, but I'm not looking after you if you catch a cold out here." Rouge lectured, wrapping a matching scarf around the echidna's neck.

"It told you I'm fi-" Knuckles stopped short, realizing how close she had gotten to him before looking off to the side as she finished putting the scarf on. "Thank you."

"Maybe you are too warm. You've gone so red." Rouge joked, leaning over so Knuckles couldn't avoid looking at her. "Or perhaps is that because of me?"

"In your dreams, bat girl." Knuckles dismissed the possibility, still refusing to look directly at her, eventually deciding to just avoid the conversation entirely by walking ahead.

"You know you're cute when you're flustered like this." Rouge called after him pretty easily catching up.

"You really are the worst, you know that." Knuckles mumbled to himself as they approached town.

"Says the guy who was so desperate to spend time with me." Rouge pointed out flatly before moving swiftly onwards. "I managed to rent a cabin for the two of us just outside of town, but before that, we're going sledging."

"Have you ever been sledging before Rouge?" Knuckles asked just thankful they'd seemingly moved on from that somewhat awkward topic.

"Nope, not once. I always thought it sounded fun though how about you?" Rouge didn't imagine he had. When did he ever leave his island?

"I mean, there was that one time at the Winter Olympics with the guy in green." Knuckles reminisced for a moment before shrugging. "Not that I was any good, Silver was great at it."

"Well, still better than me. Maybe you could show me the ropes?" The spy asked, though admittedly Knuckles wasn't sure he'd be much use as a teacher.

—

Knuckles quickly remembered why he never took up sledging as a hobby

He was used to going fast of course he wasn't as fast as Sonic but he was no slouch still when he was running he was in control he could stop and start as he pleased, right now he felt like he could crash any second and judging by Rouge's reaction she felt the same.

"Why didn't you tell me this was so scary!" Rouge yelled, clinging onto him for dear life as the pair raced down a hill.

Normally, he'd have been embarrassed being this close or make fun of Rouge for being scared, but at this moment, he didn't have much room to talk.

"Even if I did, it's not like you'd have listened!" Knuckles snapped back, trying to steer this thing. Just about avoiding slamming into a rock.

"How do we stop this thing?!" Rouge shouted, shaking Knuckles back and forth. Without a word, Knuckles firmly planted his feet on the ground to try and stop the sledge.

He didn't think that one through, the speed they were going combined with the sudden stop caused the sled to tilt forward knocking Rouge into Knuckles and sending them both rolling down the hill before landing in a heap at the bottom.

Knuckles dragged himself to his feet, rubbing the back of his head a little. Thankfully, he wasn't too hurt, but he felt a little bad about causing them to crash like that. "Rouge? Are you okay?" Knuckles looked around for her, but after a brief pause, he'd get a response in the form of a snowball hitting him in the back of the head.

Knuckles quickly turned around, coming face to face with a rather annoyed looking Rouge. "You could have gotten us killed, you idiot!" She scolded, throwing another snowball at him

"You asked me to stop it!" Knuckles argued he kinda knew this was his fault, but he was far too stubborn to admit that.

"No, I asked you if you knew how to. I never told you to -" Rouge was interrupted by Knuckles throwing a snowball back at her.

He laughed to himself before being tackled by Rouge pushing him over in the snow. Knuckles, momentarily forgetting this was Rouge he was with, immediately flipped them over, pinning her to the ground. He looked down at her for a second before realizing the position they were in and immediately jumping back.

"I'm so sorry!" Knuckles stammered to apologize though Rouge didn't seem to care.

"Relax, I'm not hurt. Honestly, I forget how strong you are." Rouge mused, brushing herself off. "I kinda started that anyway. I'm hardly in any position to complain. Still though I'm cold, you know because you pushed me in the snow. " Rouge was joking, of course, but Knuckles still felt a little bad. "Let's head to the cabin so I can warm up a little."

"Right." Knuckles nodded in agreement before following after her.

—

The Cabin rouge had gotten for the two of them seemed like it was really meant for small families, but apparently, it was the only one available, not that knuckles could complain it meant they had plenty of room

As soon as Rouge entered, she sat down on the couch and made it pretty clear she wasn't getting back up. "Figure out how to turn the heating on, unless you want to spend the rest of this trip with an batcicle" Rouge ordered waving a hand at him, he'd argue but he still felt bad about earlier.

Knuckles sat down on the sofa, sighing to himself. Today had been hectic. His relaxation was short lived however as Rouge leaned up against him. "Hey, the couch is big enough for the two of us."

"Well, yeah, but the heating will take a little while to warm up, and I'm cold now. Besides, you owe me." Rouge complained, really trying to play on that for sympathy.

"Again, sorry about that." Knuckles mumbled, trying to avoid making eye contact.

"Okay, I forgive you, so long as you let me use you as a hot water bottle." Knuckles didn't really like how she worded that, but nonetheless, he nodded, laying back on the couch and putting one arm around her.

At some point, they fell asleep; neither one had even realised it until Knuckles woke up, momentarily forgetting how they'd gotten like this he rather awkwardly fell off the sofa waking Rouge in the process.

"Did you really have to jump off the couch, Knucklehead?" Rouge dragged herself up, but before Knuckles even responded, both of them were distracted by a flash of Cyan light from outside.

The pair watched from one of the upstairs windows, dancing swirling streams of Greenish Blue light with occasional flashes of red and purple. Though Knuckles found himself distracted from the Northern Lights. Something about how Rouge looked illuminated by the nightlight like this. Whatever it was, he practically had to force himself to look away, even though he knew it was rude to stare.

"The sky is beautiful," Rouge marvelled, enchanted by the light show.

"Yeah…. very beautiful." Knuckles replied wistfully though he wasn't really talking about the sky.

Oh no

This was bad

He liked Rouge the bat.

—

Development!? In my one-shot collection? The very idea sickens me!

Anywa, on a more serious note, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next destination is… Chun-nan? I think it's been a while since I played Sonic Unleashed, but I think that's next. They're not going to Eggman Land though, that'd be a downer to finish things on.

Any and all reviews are appreciated as always, okay bye