Knuckles sat atop of a concrete slab atop Angel Island, his home. It didn't have much life, but to Knuckles it was the norm. He enjoyed the silence, it was his life, and there was no changing it.

Until a certain bat came along.

He didn't know why Rouge loved to see him everyday, but it sure did not brighten the mood. Almost everytime Rouge stopped by, she always got the upper hand on him, although this time, Knuckles was sure to one up her!

He just needed to wait until the night.

"That damn bat girl..." He muttered to himself, as he sat criss cross on the floor, his arms crossed as he waited for Rouge's inevitable encounter.

It was going to be a long night.


Rouge loved teasing Knuckles, it was her favorite pastime, apart from stealing jewels and looking pretty.

She looked at the recent find she had "bought" from a jewelry store. It was a multifaceted gem. Its luster was red and was heavy in Rouge's hand. She smirked, examining the jewel in her hand.

"Hmmm... what a nice shade of red. Even kind of reminds me of..." Rouge shook her head before she finish her sentence.

To say she liked Knuckles was an understatement, for she loved him, even more than Amy loving Sonic. Though, unlike Amy, Rouge would never admit it. Rouge tucked the gem away in a safe place.

She walked towards the apartment she, Shadow, and Omega had rented together. It wasn't much, but as long as they were Team Dark together, that's all that mattered.

"Oh boys, I'm home~" Rouge said out loud.

"Hm. You're home early." Shadow replied, being in corner.

"Yes yes, isn't that great?" Rouge said, striking a pose as she teased him.

"..." Shadow merely blinked in response, which was no surprise to Rouge.

"...Yes thank you Shadow..." Rouge sighed a bit as she walked towards her room.

"Hmm... She interrupted my brooding." Shadow muttered, going back to the corner he was previously brooding in.

"ROUGE. WELCOME BACK." Omega greeted, an apron on him.

"Oh Omega, nice to see you again," Rouge said as she shot him a small smile.

"I BAKED THESE COOKIES AT APPROXIMATELY 350 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. INGREDIENTS INCLUDE FLOUR, SUGAR, AND L-O-V-E." Omega said, showing the cookies he had made.

"...As in human love, and not 'levels of execution points' love... right?" Rouge sheepishly asked.

"HUMAN EMOTION DOES NOT COMPUTE." Omega stated.

"...Thank you anyways Omega," Rouge said with a smile as she took a single cookie and closed the door behind her.

She placed the gem next to the multiple things she had on her nightstand. There was a picture of Team Dark, the time she had her first steal, and a picture of Knuckles from Sonic's birthday. She smiled and blushed as she reminisced on happy moments with Knuckles: The day they first met, the moment he saved her, how often they would bicker over the most trivial things, the multiple times she flirted with him. It warmed her heart a little, to say the least. Rouge and Knuckles do not get along that well, especially since her time as a treasure hunter had gained her the reputation of being a thief, something Knuckles did not appreciate because of the Master Emerald's importance. However, it wasn't her fault that she had a huge crush on him.

It wasn't her fault that Knuckles was capable of carrying multiple others at once, captivating his braun, strength that Rouge would secretly swoon over as she would ogle at Knuckle's strong physique. It wasn't her fault that Knuckles was blessed with purple eyes that reminded her of the violet hue of amethyst gems that she loved staring at whenever he was peeved. It wasn't her fault that Knuckles was, to say the least, a dork. A big huge dork with a big heart and no social skills and his stupid naivety, which caused him a lot of trouble. It wasn't her fault that Knuckles was committed; committed to his job at protecting the Master Emerald, being so serious and level-headed that Rouge had admired this so much. It was all Knuckles' fault that Rouge had him in her mind. She hated him for that.

And yet, she loved him madly.

Rouge screamed internally and she shook her head yet again.

"Grrrr... How did the hell do I get him out of my mind? Knuckles is such as idiot! I wish that... something would happen to him so that I didn't love him as much!"
Rouge said, covering her mouth at the last part, until an idea popped up in her head. She smirked, having the perfect plan.


Nightfall had hit Station Square. Rouge quietly snuck out of her window to be on her way to Angel Island. She flew and saw her favorite familiar red echidna.

"Oh Knuckie~" She called out his name.

Knuckles looked up as she saw the bat that annoyed him so much.

"Oh, you again, long time no see, huh, Rouge?" Knuckles greeted, a small but unnoticeable smile crept up on his face. "You here to steal the Master Emerald again?"

Rouge said nothing as she flew down and tackled Knuckles to the ground. "YOU STUPID IDIOT!" She said with a growl.

"WHAT THE HELL?! ROUGE!" Knuckles exclaimed as her weight crushed him.

Rouge growled as he saw his face, a little brushed up from the tackle. Her softened a bit, but Knuckles didn't seem to notice.

"Tonight, I don't care about the Master Emerald." Rouge stated, staring at him dead in the eyes. "I care about plummeting your face into the ground." She smirked.

"Oh really?" Knuckles scoffed, as he flipped her, making Rouge the one pinned down. "Let's see you try." He shot back.

Rouge blushed deeply, his arms were firm and tough, his muscles were in perfect form. Rouge tried to her hardest to not internally nosebleed.

Their nightly encounters were mostly civil. It was usually small talk that Rouge would start and Knuckles would listen to, the two of them falling asleep closely to each other, but not so close.

Tonight was different than usual. Of course, there was play fighting but it was never this rough. Rouge and Knuckles were going at it. Punches, kicks, slaps. It's as if Rouge hated Knuckles, but everyone knows, that's not entirely true, is it?

An hour passed and they were both exhausted and sweaty, bruised from the fighting.

"You... have gotten a lot stronger..." Rouge panted, her face turning red.

"Likewise..." Knuckles groaned in pain for a bit.

"When in the hell did you get stronger? You barely do anything besides guard the Master Emerald everyday..." Rouge started.

"It's easy to train. It's not like the emerald is my wife." Knuckles shrugged.

Rouge huffed for a bit, she slowly got up and saw the night sky. She saw the stars and how pretty they were, and Rouge swore she saw a Knuckles constellation.

"Sure is beautiful up here..." She muttered to herself.

"Sure is." Knuckles replied, having heard her somehow.

Rouge blushed. She hated how stupid he sounded sometimes.

"You know Knucklehead. You were pretty weak back there, mind going for another round of your dumb face being shoved onto the ground?" Rouge teased.

Knuckles glared at her. "You just said a minute ago that I got stronger, so what's it to ya?!" He growled, still huffing.

"I'm just saying... look how tired you are... you must feel pretty exhausted that I beat you." Rouge explained, batting her eyelashes towards Knuckles.

Knuckles growled as he got up.
"I'm not exhausted! You just caught me off guard with your moves! You really like having the kicker, don't you?!"

Rouge smirked, seeing his purple eyes have that same look, the one she secretly loved.

"My my, are you admitting I'm indeed stronger after all?" Rouge asked. "Just think of the headlines: Rouge the Bat beats Knuckles the Echidna in strength, heroism, and wit!"

"Now wait just a minute." He growled.
"You? Heroic? Please! You're about as Heroic as Shadow, and you're not as smart as you think you are. You're a- OOF!" Knuckles was cut off as Rouge smacked him upside the head.

"WHY IN THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!" He cried out.

"Because you're disrespectful, and you need to be disciplined, Knucklehead." Rouge replied as Round 2 of sparring began.

Nevertheless, it's like not these two got hurt, right?

Knuckles and Rouge were both laughing at the end. They nevertheless had a good time with each other. Rouge smiled sweetly at Knuckles, who was laughing so hard his chest started hurting.

"Well looks like I need to get going, until then, handsome~" Rouge teased.

Knuckles blushed. "Uh... yeah... sure!" That was all he managed to get out.

Rouge got up, however as she did so, she heard a strange noise. "K...Knuckles...? Do you hear that?" She nervously asked.

Knuckles soon then got up. "Yeah... I do..."

They both decided to examine the source, in case it was an intruder after all. They both slowly approached the noise and then...

"Shit! It's a badnik, but what is it doing here?!" Knuckles groaned.

Out popped a larger-than-average Rhinobot, its horns ready to charge at both of them.

"Rouge... I need you to get behind me..." Knuckles declared, as he covered Rouge like a shield, making the white bat girl blush.

"But... don't you need help?" Rouge asked, "After all, I am stronger than you, Knucklehead!"

Knuckles groaned, "Well, I just don't want you getting hurt, that's all."

Rouge stopped in her motion and blushed deeply, her face turning red as he said that.

"Knuckles..." She began, "Are you saying you care about me?!"

"Eh... to a degree, yes," Knuckles replied, getting ready to fight the badnik.

Rouge said nothing as she was too shy (and flustered) to speak.

The Rhinobot charged, Knuckles soon after. It looked like an even match, with the Rhinobot taking a few hits here and there. Rouge did not as she just stared at the fight, she would do something, but she was too busy ogling at Knuckles to help. She saw how fast his movements were, how awesome he was for protecting her! Rouge smiled as she saw it all. Although, Rouge only shook her head again as she then looked angry. She was supposed to be stronger than him! Rouge thought to herself. 'There's no way I'm letting that idiot win this fight!' Rouge exclaimed in her head.

She flew up a bit, and saw the right moment to attack the Rhinobot.

"ROUGE! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Knuckles called out.

"...Proving I am indeed stronger than you, Knucklehead~" Rouge teased the red echidna.

"This is no time to prove that! This badnik is more faster than usual... You're dealing with one of Eggman's robots for crying out loud!" Knuckles exclaimed.

Rouge only said nothing, as she kicked the Rhinobot. She smirked, although that turned into a frown. The Rhinobot directed their attention to the white bat. Rouge gulped as the badnik was ready to charge at her. Rouge stood up and was about to fight, until...

Knuckles attacked the badnik and landed somewhere else on Angel Island. Rouge didn't realize the kick would really piss off the Rhinobot, but it was really going at it with Knuckles.

"Knuckles...?" She squeaked out, as she saw what happened at gasped.

perhaps i'll leave off here, be on the look out for chapter 2! feedback is appreciated :)