Shadow’s POV:
“Yes. I will be careful. Okay. Sayōnara, father.”
Pearl put the phone back and thanked Tails in Japanese again for letting her use it to explain things to her father. The yellow kitsune shyly smiled and looked down at the ground. I wonder if he’s starting to like her. I was about to leave the living room when that Faker bumped into me.
“Hey, watch it!” I snapped.
“S-sorry…” Sonic said, rubbing his chest, “I was just wondering if you could help Darlene take the lights and other stuff off the tree, please? I gotta head back home to fix things for Pearl since she’ll be living with Tails, Darlene and I from now on.”
Yes. Not only does Sonic have a mansion, he has a house. He only uses the mansion for parties like the one we had a few days ago for Christmas. I growl as I head over to the tree. Why can’t he quickly do it himself?
“Shadow, you don’t have to. I don’t want to waste your time,” Darlene told me as she took the tinsel off.
“You’re not the one wasting my time,” I told her, “Sonic is wasting my time.” I began to take the ornaments off the tree. I then noticed the ladder was creaking a bit and bending slightly. I then feel something I haven’t really felt in a long time: panic…
What if the ladder broke and Darlene fell? “D-Darlene…” I said, suddenly stuttering a little. I cleared my throat and spoke again. “Is there another ladder?”
“No. Why?” she asked as she took the lights off. Just then, the ladder cracked and broke, causing Darlene and the lights to fall, her arms flailing in panic. I caught the female as she fell.
“You okay?” I asked. I then realized the lights had tangled themselves around her body. She opened her eyes and looked at me with wide eyes.
“Yea…” she mumbled. We stared at each other in silence for a bit. I feel my chest tighten a bit in nervousness, and I feel myself blush a little. She must have noticed because she smiled and giggled a little. “Um…Are you okay, Shadow? Hee hee…”
I tried to speak, but my voice got caught in my throat. I then, unconsciously, leaned forward to her. She stayed where she was and closed her eyes, as if waiting for something to happen. I pulled her closer to me, our lips almost touching…
Then my ears picked up the sound of footsteps. Someone’s coming. I start untangling her as she opened her eyes and looked at me in disappointment. I gestured over to Rouge, who was watching us, to try and explain why I stopped.
“I heard something crash,” Rouge said to us, “What happened?”
“The ladder collapsed on me while I was getting the lights. Luckily, no one was hurt, and nothing was broken,” Darlene explained.
“So you got saved by your knight in shining armor?” Rouge asked her.
We both blushed a little at what she called me. “Rouge, it’s not like that! We’re just friends!”
“If you are just friends, then why are you acting like your hiding your feelings?”
“I-I’m not!” Darlene shouted at the bat. She then got up and walked back to the tree to remove the rest of the decorations on it.
“What’s with you?” I asked Rouge, “Ever since we met Pearl, you’ve been teasing everyone. Mostly the other girls.”
“I don’t know,” she answered, “It’s just…everyone has that one secret that they think no one should know.”
“Okay, what’s yours?” I challenged.
“What?”
“What’s your secret?” I repeated.
“It’s not really a secret anymore.”
“You kidding?” I asked incredulously.
“Yep. Remember that I was a jewel thief before joining G.U.N?”
“Well, you’re not anymore,” I told her, “And I don’t think Darlene likes me that way.” I watched the brown hedgehog as I tried to imagine how she would act if she did like me.
“But you do.”
“What?!”
“You like Darlene that way, don’t you?”
She nudged my right arm, and I sighed. “No, I don’t. She’s my best friend. She may not be able to replace Maria, but she is definitely similar to her.”
The bat frowned. “Well, somebody’s in denial.”
I crossed my arms. “Even if I was, would I tell you I loved Darlene?”
Rouge stayed silent. “Good point.”
Darlene then took down the tree and put it outside.
“I thought that tree was fake,” Rouge said.
“Tails told me to put it outside,” Darlene responded, “He said it makes a good decoration for the mansion.”
Silence. “O…kay…?” Rouge said awkwardly. She then checked her phone. “Oh! Look at the time! I better go! Bye!” We waved to her as she ran off.
After a while, I asked Darlene, “Darlene? Let’s say you were in love with me. What would you do to show it?”
Darlene looked at me and replied, “I would do everything I can to make sure your happy. Even if you were with someone else, I’d make your happiness a priority.” She looked down at the ground shyly. “W-why do you want to know?”
“Rouge brought something up that made me think about it.” I paused for a minute, and then I continue. “So you’d do what you’re already doing now.”
I noticed her cheeks turn a light pink as she said, “Y-yeah… As long as my friends are happy, I’m happy.”
Hmm…she’s making it seem like she does it for everyone. “Okay then. What if I joined Eggman again? Would you stay with your friends, or would you join me?”
She hesitated and avoided eye contact with me. “I, uh…don’t know how to answer that…I-I’d better go help Sonic with the house…” And with that, she left.
I thought so…I thought to myself as I watched her leave. It seems like she does like me. I’ll keep my knowledge a secret, though she better not be surprised if I start being a bit more affectionate towards her.
* Sayōnara- (Japanese) Goodbye
