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lookin' to get your feelings punched? Then this is the chapter for YOU.","description_bbcode_parsed":"You lookin' to get your feelings punched? Then this is the chapter for YOU.","writing":"[center][b]CHAPTER XIV[/b][/center]\n\n[color=#204a87]He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he entered his empty bedroom. And for a moment he just stood there staring at the bed. He was so tempted to go to Scourge and just sleep on the couch with him out of protest. But no. His book said he had to give the other room. Right? He couldn't really remember. In fact thinking in general was so hard right now. So he gently closed the door behind himself and fell into his cold sheets. He'd been alone all his life. His childhood memories were a compilation of him sitting at home studying. So was the entirety of his teen years. And now he lived alone in this little house, in this little neighbourhood. And he'd always been content. His bed had always been warm and welcoming. He never had trouble falling asleep.\n\nAnd yet here he was. In his freezing cold bed, that seemed much too big for him alone. And he was lonely. It was the Alcohol he was sure. Just the Alcohol. Still he ended up rolling his blanket and wrapped himself around it, trying to fall asleep. It took another hour or two before exhaustion finally got the better of him. And it felt like he'd only -just- closed his eyes when his alarm startled him out of bed.\n\nHe started the day with a groan and the desire to smash the stupid alarm clock. His head felt like there was a guy with a jackhammer living in it, his hips were still aching, but not as badly as yesterday, his voice had mostly recovered too. A small relief.\n\nHe wasn't feeling well still. But life had to go on. So he tried to remember his routine. Take some painkillers. Shuffle into the bathroom. Shower. Get dressed. He'd fetch breakfast on the way. The front door fell into lock behind him and as he got into his car he tried to get himself into work mode. Some of his cuts and hickeys were still visible but at least it was an office day. He wouldn't have to meet too many people.\n\nIn fact he was the first to arrive at the headquarters, and he drowned himself in work to keep his mind off scourge. It'd worked so well the past week. Why was it so hard today. He had a lingering feeling there was a detail about last night that he'd forgotten about. But what?\n\nHis hopes that the day would be relatively calm were over when Zamy entered his office to chat. Of course she saw the hickeys and cuts and it took him two hours and Zally's assistance to get her to calm down. Zally, thankfully, made up a story of getting him hurt while sparing and after much doubt, Zamy finally bought it. After the upset, pink hedgehogette was finally gone he was about ready to go to bed again. But no. More paperwork.\n\nZally saved him a second time that day when, in the evening, she had mercy on him and let him go without dinner or explanations.\n\n\"You look absolutely awful. I have no idea what happened to you, but go home and get some sleep.\"\n\n\"Thanks Zal.\"\n\n\"See? Not even a witty comeback. Are you sure you'll be okay?\"\n\n\"You know me. I'll be fine.\"\n\n\"I do know you. -That- is exactly why I'm worried. I'm not in office tomorrow but the day after you'll buy me dinner and tell me -everything-. You hear me?\"\n\n\"Yes ma'am.\" He said with half a grin and saluted her.\n\nIt was 8 in the evening when he finally got home. He was tired. He hated paperwork and phone calls. Additionally he'd had to explain his hickeys to all his male co workers during break and they'd made bets on what was the cause of it all. A few thought he was going out with some S&M Chick and swore the rest of his body probably didn't look better than his neck. Others thought he'd gotten his ass kicked in a fight and was too proud to admit to it now. And then a few made up a wild story of him accidentally falling off the the gravity grid and crash landing on the planet.\n\nEither way he just wanted to rest and relax now. He carelessly kicked off his shoes, briefly tempted to just leave them sitting in the entrance messily like that. But in the end he turned around and placed them at the side where they belonged neatly.\n\nThen he wandered into the livingroom, passed by the couch and went into the kitchen to drop a small shopping bag off on the counter. He'd bought icecream. So after putting Scourge's cup of icecream into the freezer he took a spoon and his own and meandered back to the couch. Letting himself flop down with a long groan.\n\n\"I hate you.\" He said, exhaustion clear in his voice. The ice cream was pried open and he started eating. The sugar really helped.[/color]\n[color=#4e9a06]\nScourge’s day began a little after 1 pm. He had rolled right off of the couch-bed and onto the floor. He shot up from the floor almost instantly and looked around. Still at zonic’s with no nightmares this time. He felt his lame leg, it was… better today, but still hurt. If the fall off the bed didn’t fuck up his healing process, him stubbing his toe on a corner probably did. He groaned, trying to shake off the pain as he explored the house just to see if his cop companion was still around. No sign of the other, he was back to being alone again. \n\nHe let out a fake sigh of relief, trying to convince himself this was a good thing. If he remembered correctly, this was day one of him being ‘himself’. No sudden weird kisses to his male companion, not hugs or blowjobs, nothing that spelled out ‘horny for you’ in any which way. He was gonna abstain from it, be his own person without acting like a needy bitch. He huffed, clenching his fists and nodding to himself. So it began. \n\nHe started off his day with a shower, getting cleaned up. He stole Zonic’s toothbrush, ignoring the whole ‘indirect kiss’ thoughts and checked to make sure his teeth were sparkly and clean. \n\n‘Everything about your mouth is hot’. No… he wouldn’t try to recollect last night. He didn’t need those thoughts today. He left the bathroom, grabbing some clothes out of Zonic’s closet. None of these fit him at all, but they were enough to really keep people off of being suspicious of him, in case anyone wondered who this green hedgehog was or put two and two together that ‘Scourge the Hedgehog is here!’. He knew it wouldn’t go that way but he had to be careful regardless, not just for his sake but he -guessed- the cop’s too. He was going out today, to explore this place just enough to at least familiarize himself with it.\n\nThere was a laptop on the couch still. He didn’t even notice it there before, but he knew that Zonic had brought it out to read something on it. Having had been without his own phone and junk for a while, assuming that zonic had kept his personal items somewhere in here but Scourge forgot to ask for it all back. He opened up the device, seeing that there was a bunch of text about… somethin’. He didn’t really care what the cop was reading, he was a nerd like that. The words ‘Minimize stress at home, make sure your loved one has space and time for rest and relaxation’ lined up in his field of vision. The fuck was this? He read further, they seemed to be guidelines. \n\n“PTSD? … Jesus, that idiot really thinks I have something like that? Pssh.” He closed the book and moved on to search for nearby places around the neighborhood within a short walk from here. He knew his leg wasn’t going to be able to handle being out for too long. There were some fast food restaurants, some clothing stores and a small mini mall a little further down. He frowned, maybe he could just order a car to take him there but he was broke. He looked around, the guy had to have some cash stashed around. Within minutes, he found a stash in Zonic’s room, just enough for him to buy some junk food and maybe something from that minimall. He wasn’t about to spend it all, but hey, his new cop companion did make bank. \n\nHe didn’t feel bad about snooping around for some money, shoving what he could into his pockets. He pulled the face mask, jacket and shoes all over to himself, putting them on and walking to the door. \n\nThe outside air was fresh, the afternoon felt warm but not too warm. He was outside, looking up at the sky as well as the other side of the street which stood vertically at a 90 degree angle. He didn’t think he’d ever get fully used to this weird set up of a dimension. It took him about twenty minutes to get to that minimall, there weren’t too many people on account of it being the middle of the week. He felt a little on edge, not sure if there’d be people that recognized him, but there were other green hedgehogs strewn about the pathways of the slightly busy building. He visited just about all the stores, grabbing a bite to eat and hung out on the bench just to watch people walk by once his leg felt like it needed a rest. So far so good, his day was moving smoothly. He liked that he was able to leave, but he would probably be found out by Zonic at some point that he just up and left.. With this current situation, he could easily just stay away. He could hide, leave off to live a new life or search for a warp ring. He had all those options, he was completely free, but handicapped with the collar on his neck still. Sure, he’d be able to live with it on a little longer if he decided to run away but… Ugh, he hated being somewhat sentimental about this. \n\nComing across what seemed like a bootleg ‘naughty’ shop, Scourge raised a brow. He walked inside, seeing that the store wasn’t too raunchy and all this good shit was plastered in the back. He traversed through the vulgar shirts, the silly mugs that definitely spoke his lingo and came to the goldmine of sex toys and lingerie. He gulped, how much he’d love to see Fiona in one of these costumes, or just to see her in general. He sighed to himself, a store clerk came up behind him asking if he needed help, but there was nothing of interest. He shrugged off the employee and gaped at the many different toys around him. There were no porno dvds to invest in, just mostly stuff for ‘her pleasure’. He frowned, part of him was… well, kind of tempted to buy a toy. \n\nBuying a dildo just… sounded so gay. He already swore off of that kind of shit. No Zonic so no fake dicks either. He shook his head, This was pointless. It’d just set him back if he stayed in here longer. Making his way back to the house, Scourge had bought himself a shirt more to his liking, a pair of pants and a new set of shades. He wore the shades throughout the rest of his day, having stew for dinner and laid on the couch with his shoes kicked off to the side. His snacks from last night sat next to him as he sucked on a vine of licorice. By the time Zonic came home, he stiffened. He looked back but quickly turned back to the tv. He’d figure out Scourge had left but… he fuckin’ came back so it wasn’t an issue, hopefully. \n\n“That any way to talk to your king…” He said plainly, not meaning to call back to all of Zonic’s teasing talk last night. He frowned, seeing the ice cream in the other’s hands. “And you didn’t get me any?” He asked accusingly. “You look like shit by the way. Your day must’ve been fun. Mine was.”[/color]\n\n[color=#204a87]Zonic scoffed and turned his face to Scourge. \"Yours is in the Free...zer... what's that stuff you're wearing?\" It took a long long second to click in his brain but then his eyes widened. \"Yeah... I can -see- your day was fun.\" He said quietly, looking at the shoes next to the table. The new snacks. The clothes. He was a lot paler all of a sudden.\n\n\"You went outside?\" It felt like his heart stopped and the icecream in his hand was forgotten. He placed the cup on the table and got up from the couch. \"What... what in the world were you THINKING?!\" Now his heart was racing. Playing horror scenarios for his mind's eye. \"What.... DO YOU KNOW WHAT COULD'VE HAPPENED IF YOU WERE SEEN?! You know some of my coworkers are in civil clothes too, right?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?! Do you WANT to go back to Zone-Jail?!\"\n\nHe was running his fingers through his spines, adrenaline rushing through his veins. His day had been awful. He was tired. He could not deal with a shock like this right now. Sure he was worried Scourge could be found, and brought back to prison. He was worried about both of their fates if that happened. But what got him most was the fact that he'd been so careless. his front door unlocked. Scourge unchained. He could be -gone- now. He could've run. He could be gone forever. He was in no way prepared for that.\n\n\"Chaos...\" He whispered to himself succumbing to his number one stress response. Cleaning. He picked up Scourge's shoes and brought them back to the entrance. Then he went to the kitchen to fetch Scourge's icecream and a spoon. Except instead of giving it to the hedgehog he threw it at his chest with enough force to make him feel the impact very clearly.\n\nThen he sat back down on the couch with his thighs pressed tightly against his chest, resting his chin on his knees. His hands were running through his spines again. He had to calm down. He had to calm down. \"I said don't go out without me. I said listen to what I say. Do you think this is a joke? We could both lose everything.... it's my fault though. You were so... okay... that I got careless. I got careless. It's not gonna happen again.\" He was more talking to himself at this point. Trying to calm down. His heartbeat was still running faster than his feet ever could.[/color]\n\n[color=#4e9a06]The extent of Zonic’s anger intensified a lot more than anything Scourge had seen yet. He knew the cop’s temper wasn’t anything to be frightened of, nothing to feel threatened by as he -always- remained somewhat cool about his outbursts. Not this time, oh chaos, not this time. The way Zonic yelled, got up and stomped off threw Scourge off guard. He stared at the other, speechless and unsure what to say. It’s not like Scourge -wanted- to get caught and being stuck inside, he knew he’d deal with his thoughts all day. This was just to distract himself, not incriminate the cop. He frowned at first, his automatic response to yelling or any kind of anger was to be angry back. He bared his teeth, about ready to fight the other but with Zonic out of the living room, he relaxed. \n\nHe rolled his eyes, not even phased by what -could- have happened, cause it -didn’t- happen. He crossed his arms, leaning back only to have a goddamn tub of ice cream torpedoed at him. \n\n“Ow! Fucker..!” He exclaimed, rubbing his chest and looked at the small pint sized cup with a spoon a lil further off on the couch. He frowned, picking it up and setting it on the coffee table. “Look..! I wasn’t trying to get you in trouble, aight??” He was trying to remain calm in this, from all the weird shit they built up in the past few week and some days, he didn’t want to be chained back up again. He was almost sure Zonic would’ve at least did that. “I just…” He frowned again, now upset that he was almost close to apologizing for -taking care of himself-. “You don’t get it at all! You don’t have to live with these fuckin’ thoughts everyday! Having to sit here and stew in garbage all day cause there’s shit else to do around here! I got needs too, Cop. I can’t just sit in here for fuckin 8 hours just to play puppy and sit by the door waiting for you to come back so things can be at -LEAST- somewhat entertaining! Get pissy, whatever, but I was careful!” He wasn’t. He didn’t try to be. He was casual and unphased, explored without thinking and even gave out his name to some people that had asked if he’d like a survey of sorts. He was not careful and now it felt like it was gonna bite him in the ass at some point. He didn’t write anything down or make any official decisions like sign up for a store credit card or give out his number, just… slight small chat. He kind of regretted this now. \n\n“... I… I was… just trying to …” He was irritated, now pissed off for being called out. He didn’t do anything wrong! He just needed to be away from here. “No one recognized me… s-so whatever. Right?? Who cares! It’s… it’s over now!” [/color]\n[color=#204a87]\n\"Do you -realize- that you're a prisoner? I know living here doesn't feel like zone-jail, and that's good.... but you're a prisoner. You can't just go out and wander around.\" He was a little calmer now but the shock still sat deep. \"You can go out... with me. But not alone, never alone. You have that collar on. If anything happened to you... you couldn't even fight back. Inhibitor collars are widely enough known throughout the no-zone as prison wear... and nothing about you or your personality is subtle.... well it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. This was my fault. I can't be mad at you. You acted like everyone would've acted in your situation. This is on me.\"\n\nStill restless he got up again, just to pace a little more. To one end of the couch, and back, rinse and repeat. \"I want to give you another chance. But unfortunately... this was your second chance already, wasn't it? You're too careless. I can't trust you to just stay put. I understand. It's boring. There's nothing to do in here. I know. It's not freedom. But that's the life you picked by becoming a criminal and messing with several dimensions. This is on you.\"\n\nHe let out a long, exhausted sigh and sat down again. \"I'm glad you're safe.\" He mumbled after a moment of silence, his face buried in his hands. He felt so tired. This day alone probably cost him years of his life.\n\nMore and more he noticed that he was less afraid for his own fate than he was for Scourge's. This wasn't okay. He shouldn't feel anything of the kind about his prisoner. He should go back to disliking him. To being paranoid. To being mistrustful.\n\nHe groaned and leaned back, rubbing over his face once more. \"Because I'm a fool. One more chance. You blow it and I'm chaining you again. I don't know what I'm thinking. So accept it before I change my mind. No more trips to the town without me. Today is the worst day I've had since that case with the murdered twins seven years ago.\" He fished for his ice cream and started eating again. Somehow it just made him want to cry now. Not that he'd ever cry. He wouldn't. He never did. Well not from sadness, frustration or exhaustion at least.\n\n\"Couldn't you have gone out on a day that was less awful in general? Your timing is the absolute worst.\" He was just staring at the ceiling in silence now, eating his icecream. Calming down. Finally. He had to calm down. The worst about this was that he was actually tempted to hug scourge right now. Now that his anger and shock were turning into relief that everything had ended well despite the chaos.[/color]\n\n[color=#4e9a06]“You…!” He began, but the way Zonic faltered pissed him off even more. Nevermind the fact that he was actually putting them both in danger, now the cop was winding down and taking blame. What was UP with Sonic’s and being the ones to always blame themselves for EVERYTHING? He hated that, he really did and he knew he fucked up but admitting it sucked. He hated to admit he was wrong cause deep down, he didn’t like being scolded or corrected. He hated feeling like he messed everything but this shit here wasn’t going to help either of them in anyway and for some reason… it just made him angrier. \n\n“You’re a fucking cop! You’re supposed to be the righteous one here! The stern one that’s keeping the rules upheld or whatever! You wanna know what’s really your fault?? Not being strict enough! I’m not scared or intimidated by you, whatsoever! You’re soft and gentle, you don’t even try to punish me for real! You don’t strike fear so I do whatever I want! Doesn’t that… doesn’t it bother you??? Limiting yourself like that? What kind of Sonic are you??” He huffed, it just didn’t seem right. A policeman that just let things like this go. “I get you shouldn’t have brought me here and yeah, I’m giving you hell and continue to do so cause I’m an asshole, remember? But you’re not even trying to be hard on me. That’s… annoying! I don’t know why it’s so fuckin irritating! I should just be grinning and taking this little ‘chance’ you’re giving me and fuckin run away, but BY CHAOS CAN’T YOU TRY A LIL HARDER??” \n\nScourge sat back, more surprised that he even said this shit. What, did he want to be bound and unable to leave?? He didn’t know, he just hated people with such -potential- waste it by being soft and kind. What the fuck did that do for anyone? They just got stepped on and pushed around, it was why he couldn’t feel any fear of anyone around him… Not like those inmates… they were a different story, they struck true fear in him. But this… a fellow Sonic being as passive aggressive as they came. It was worst than their Prime self. \n\n“Get the fuckin’ chain, Zonic. You’re being to easy. What if I leave again, huh?? I did fuck up. And ya wanna know what else I did?? I introduced myself to a few people, I took off my jacket with the collar on! I was at that mini mall! Even going to the park would be bad too right??” He crawled over to him. “You’re a cop, fuckin’ act like it! You still actin’ all heart-eyes over me or are you gonna treat me like the bad guy I am??” He pressed a finger harshly at Zonic’s arm. “You’re such a -bitch-. It’s ANNOYING. I wanted to leave so bad, I was so ready to escape and I will if you keep this dumbass attitude up. Just you wait and see, you keep actin’ all nice and shit, you won’t see me anymore.” \n\nScourge felt he was going to regret this… no he knew he was. He wasn’t going to like how this would play out the next day. Why was he suddenly the right one?? [/color]\n\n[color=#204a87]For a while Zonic just let Scourge's outrage bounce off of him. Then he made a fist trying not to get angry again. But something about that last bit did it anyway. He almost -heard- something snap inside his head. In the blink of an eye he'd grabbed the other's wrist, spun him around and twisted his arm behind his back. With the other hand he took a hold of Scourge's shoulder and pulled him off the couch.\n\nEverything went incredibly fast. Scourge was forced down the hallway, through a door and one second later a steel bared sliding door clicked shut behind him. \"You wanna know why I'm soft on you?\" He asked, his voice was calm but his eyes weren't calm at all. \"Because I like having you around. Because I feel more alive since you're here. BeCAUSE!\" And his voice was no longer calm. \" BECAUSE I'M SELFISH. BECAUSE I THINK EVERYONE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE. BECAUSE YOU'RE EVERYTHING I'M NOT... But you're never going to leave. This is your life sentence. I just wanted to make it less awful for both of us... because it's my life sentence too.\" His chest hurt while he was talking.\n\nThis wasn't how he wanted this to be. But more than anything else, he was afraid that the other would leave. He wouldn't make it far. And then both of them were in trouble.\n\n\"Enjoy your new home.\" This time he sounded outright bitter. Nobody had taught him that after spending time with criminals you'd start to see them as 'people'. Nobody had taught him how hard it was to be strict. Nobody taught him that sometimes the 'baddest of the bad' were strangely likable. And how hard it would be to not just let them go.\n\nHe turned his back to the cell and stared at the entrance back into his house. His house that was gonna be empty now.\n\nNow he remembered what he'd forgotten about his drunk night. He remembered what loneliness felt like. Scourge was right. He wasn't acting like an officer of the law. What was he trying? To be Scourge's friend? He couldn't be. He knew it was impossible. But then why did it feel so bad?[/color]\n\n[color=#4e9a06]The transition from couch to cell was a lot quicker than he thought. -This- wasn’t what he asked for, this was not what he was aiming to do. The fuckin chain was all he asked for, but that’d go against what he was just preaching so passionately about. He struck a chord, turned something on in Zonic’s mind and fucked up everything for himself. The sound of the door locking behind him, the fact that now he was in his own personal cell with very little light inside besides a tiny window much too high up for him to reach… Chaos, he fucked up so bad acting the way he did. Scourge turned to the door, punching it, hoping that he could make some kind of noise while he thrashed about. \n“I just asked for you to put the fuckin chain on!!” He yelled, but felt it wasnt really worth trying. Now he was stuck in here, with even less to do. Maybe the idiot would grow soft and feel bad like always… maybe he’d actually be taken out of here in the middle of the night while Zonic got horny or needy. Maybe… Shit. “Piece of… shit, asshole mother… fucker!” He kicked at the door, then the wall then punched at the ground. He threw his tantrum and felt like he lost all his energy in just a span of a few minutes. He sat down on the small cot in the corner, covering his face with his hands, ready to rip off his own eyelids for this stupid stunt. Everything was… going okay! The only setback was just the weird sexual bullshit they kept getting into! That was all he had a real issue with! Yet he pushed way further… \n\n“You should be fuckin’ happy I didn’t leave… Asshole.” He grumbled… Well, he -did- tell him to be more strict, this was just a bit overboard. “Life sentence… pssh.” He muttered, now feeling the weight of this whole thing. He was gonna be stuck with Zonic till the day he fuckin’ died if he didn’t get out of here. Forever someone else’s secret, something to hide away… He wouldn’t be able to leave freely, feel the wind against his face, travel where ever he wanted. He was stuck here, stuck with this do-gooder cop who thought he was doing some type of good work. The fuckin fool. It hurt, it really hurt knowing his life was completely determined by others now, something he fought so hard against back home. He didn’t want others to determine his fate. That was HIS job, no one else’s, and now he was suffering under the constant control of others. \n\nScourge felt like vomiting again, but there was nothing to throw up and he didn’t feel the need to get up and chuck up bile. He laid on the bed, flipping his shades over his eyes and closed them. What the fuck could he do now? How was he gonna entertain himself… Well, on the bright side of things, he didnt have to worry about acting on primal instincts… aka, sex with a guy. At the very least, maybe he needed this. Still, it pissed him off. He dug his own grave and had to sleep in it. \n\n“Why didn’t I just leave…”[/color]\n\n[color=#204a87]After half an hour of stress-cleaning the house looked like Scourge had never been there in the first place. Still he felt restless. He felt awful. He wanted to scream and shout but it wasn't going to change anything. Still he was not going to falter. Not this time. At least not yet. If Scourge was going to be a shit about every attempt of his to be nice to him then he was going to deal wit the consequences as well.\n\nAnd so began the probably hardest time since he'd saved the green hedgehog. Three times a day he brought Scourge food. It wasn't prison food but it was no gourmet stuff either. Once a day Scourge was allowed to roam the house for about two hours but while Zonic was at work or asleep he was behind bars. Whenever Scourge was in the house Zonic was watching him, he talked to him more or less normally but whenever the topic of the prison cell came up he changed the topic or simply ignored it.\n\nHe had a work-face on. A pokerface. At least while Scourge was around. But as soon as the other was gone he crumbled. This was painful. It shouldn't be, but it was. Painful enough to make him drown himself in work. He told Zally most of the story over dinner but he left out the parts that included sex and getting drunk, and him feeling awfully lonely and hurt over the fact that he was alone in his apartment again because Scourge just -had- to act like a prick. Not that he -needed- to tell her. She'd pretty much figured it all out after a few days because she noticed the change in his behaviour. It wasn't that he wasn't working properly. Quite the opposite actually. He did overtime until he fell asleep at work, forgot to eat, his desk was clean and tidy enough to be part of a furniture store. And then there were the hickeys and cuts. She just put one and one together. Not that she approved. In fact she was pretty shocked that Zonic couldn't deny it when she confronted him.\n\nThe talk had been... eventful. Zonic had spent most of it being very pale. But he couldn't lie, and she knew that. At least he wasn't actually in -Love- with Scourge. Even though Zally was convinced he was crushing on the other hedgehog pretty hard at least.\n\nOne week passed. And then another. At first both Zally and Zonic had hoped that the cop would recover and everything would return to normal, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Instead he got worse as time passed. For one because he didn't know what to do with himself anymore, except for work work work, and second because he also noticed that Scourge was getting worse.\n\nThe third time Zally found Zonic sleeping at his desk at the headquarters she snapped at him. Told him to get a grip of himself and to fix his stupid situation that was caused by nothing but the combined stubbornness of two hedgehogs.\n\nSo the next time Zonic walked up to the little cell to free his prisoner for his usual two hours of roaming, he had a plan.\n\nHe unlocked the door and pushed it aside. \"Get up and get into the car. We're going on a little trip today.\" His voice was as stern as it had been nonstop for two weeks now. The only indication for him being unwell were the shadows underneath his eyes.[/color]\n[center][b]\nTBC...[/b][/center]","writing_bbcode_parsed":"
CHAPTER XIV


He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he entered his empty bedroom. And for a moment he just stood there staring at the bed. He was so tempted to go to Scourge and just sleep on the couch with him out of protest. But no. His book said he had to give the other room. Right? He couldn't really remember. In fact thinking in general was so hard right now. So he gently closed the door behind himself and fell into his cold sheets. He'd been alone all his life. His childhood memories were a compilation of him sitting at home studying. So was the entirety of his teen years. And now he lived alone in this little house, in this little neighbourhood. And he'd always been content. His bed had always been warm and welcoming. He never had trouble falling asleep.

And yet here he was. In his freezing cold bed, that seemed much too big for him alone. And he was lonely. It was the Alcohol he was sure. Just the Alcohol. Still he ended up rolling his blanket and wrapped himself around it, trying to fall asleep. It took another hour or two before exhaustion finally got the better of him. And it felt like he'd only -just- closed his eyes when his alarm startled him out of bed.

He started the day with a groan and the desire to smash the stupid alarm clock. His head felt like there was a guy with a jackhammer living in it, his hips were still aching, but not as badly as yesterday, his voice had mostly recovered too. A small relief.

He wasn't feeling well still. But life had to go on. So he tried to remember his routine. Take some painkillers. Shuffle into the bathroom. Shower. Get dressed. He'd fetch breakfast on the way. The front door fell into lock behind him and as he got into his car he tried to get himself into work mode. Some of his cuts and hickeys were still visible but at least it was an office day. He wouldn't have to meet too many people.

In fact he was the first to arrive at the headquarters, and he drowned himself in work to keep his mind off scourge. It'd worked so well the past week. Why was it so hard today. He had a lingering feeling there was a detail about last night that he'd forgotten about. But what?

His hopes that the day would be relatively calm were over when Zamy entered his office to chat. Of course she saw the hickeys and cuts and it took him two hours and Zally's assistance to get her to calm down. Zally, thankfully, made up a story of getting him hurt while sparing and after much doubt, Zamy finally bought it. After the upset, pink hedgehogette was finally gone he was about ready to go to bed again. But no. More paperwork.

Zally saved him a second time that day when, in the evening, she had mercy on him and let him go without dinner or explanations.

"You look absolutely awful. I have no idea what happened to you, but go home and get some sleep."

"Thanks Zal."

"See? Not even a witty comeback. Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"You know me. I'll be fine."

"I do know you. -That- is exactly why I'm worried. I'm not in office tomorrow but the day after you'll buy me dinner and tell me -everything-. You hear me?"

"Yes ma'am." He said with half a grin and saluted her.

It was 8 in the evening when he finally got home. He was tired. He hated paperwork and phone calls. Additionally he'd had to explain his hickeys to all his male co workers during break and they'd made bets on what was the cause of it all. A few thought he was going out with some S&M Chick and swore the rest of his body probably didn't look better than his neck. Others thought he'd gotten his ass kicked in a fight and was too proud to admit to it now. And then a few made up a wild story of him accidentally falling off the the gravity grid and crash landing on the planet.

Either way he just wanted to rest and relax now. He carelessly kicked off his shoes, briefly tempted to just leave them sitting in the entrance messily like that. But in the end he turned around and placed them at the side where they belonged neatly.

Then he wandered into the livingroom, passed by the couch and went into the kitchen to drop a small shopping bag off on the counter. He'd bought icecream. So after putting Scourge's cup of icecream into the freezer he took a spoon and his own and meandered back to the couch. Letting himself flop down with a long groan.

"I hate you." He said, exhaustion clear in his voice. The ice cream was pried open and he started eating. The sugar really helped.

Scourge’s day began a little after 1 pm. He had rolled right off of the couch-bed and onto the floor. He shot up from the floor almost instantly and looked around. Still at zonic’s with no nightmares this time. He felt his lame leg, it was… better today, but still hurt. If the fall off the bed didn’t fuck up his healing process, him stubbing his toe on a corner probably did. He groaned, trying to shake off the pain as he explored the house just to see if his cop companion was still around. No sign of the other, he was back to being alone again.

He let out a fake sigh of relief, trying to convince himself this was a good thing. If he remembered correctly, this was day one of him being ‘himself’. No sudden weird kisses to his male companion, not hugs or blowjobs, nothing that spelled out ‘horny for you’ in any which way. He was gonna abstain from it, be his own person without acting like a needy bitch. He huffed, clenching his fists and nodding to himself. So it began.

He started off his day with a shower, getting cleaned up. He stole Zonic’s toothbrush, ignoring the whole ‘indirect kiss’ thoughts and checked to make sure his teeth were sparkly and clean.

‘Everything about your mouth is hot’. No… he wouldn’t try to recollect last night. He didn’t need those thoughts today. He left the bathroom, grabbing some clothes out of Zonic’s closet. None of these fit him at all, but they were enough to really keep people off of being suspicious of him, in case anyone wondered who this green hedgehog was or put two and two together that ‘Scourge the Hedgehog is here!’. He knew it wouldn’t go that way but he had to be careful regardless, not just for his sake but he -guessed- the cop’s too. He was going out today, to explore this place just enough to at least familiarize himself with it.

There was a laptop on the couch still. He didn’t even notice it there before, but he knew that Zonic had brought it out to read something on it. Having had been without his own phone and junk for a while, assuming that zonic had kept his personal items somewhere in here but Scourge forgot to ask for it all back. He opened up the device, seeing that there was a bunch of text about… somethin’. He didn’t really care what the cop was reading, he was a nerd like that. The words ‘Minimize stress at home, make sure your loved one has space and time for rest and relaxation’ lined up in his field of vision. The fuck was this? He read further, they seemed to be guidelines.

“PTSD? … Jesus, that idiot really thinks I have something like that? Pssh.” He closed the book and moved on to search for nearby places around the neighborhood within a short walk from here. He knew his leg wasn’t going to be able to handle being out for too long. There were some fast food restaurants, some clothing stores and a small mini mall a little further down. He frowned, maybe he could just order a car to take him there but he was broke. He looked around, the guy had to have some cash stashed around. Within minutes, he found a stash in Zonic’s room, just enough for him to buy some junk food and maybe something from that minimall. He wasn’t about to spend it all, but hey, his new cop companion did make bank.

He didn’t feel bad about snooping around for some money, shoving what he could into his pockets. He pulled the face mask, jacket and shoes all over to himself, putting them on and walking to the door.

The outside air was fresh, the afternoon felt warm but not too warm. He was outside, looking up at the sky as well as the other side of the street which stood vertically at a 90 degree angle. He didn’t think he’d ever get fully used to this weird set up of a dimension. It took him about twenty minutes to get to that minimall, there weren’t too many people on account of it being the middle of the week. He felt a little on edge, not sure if there’d be people that recognized him, but there were other green hedgehogs strewn about the pathways of the slightly busy building. He visited just about all the stores, grabbing a bite to eat and hung out on the bench just to watch people walk by once his leg felt like it needed a rest. So far so good, his day was moving smoothly. He liked that he was able to leave, but he would probably be found out by Zonic at some point that he just up and left.. With this current situation, he could easily just stay away. He could hide, leave off to live a new life or search for a warp ring. He had all those options, he was completely free, but handicapped with the collar on his neck still. Sure, he’d be able to live with it on a little longer if he decided to run away but… Ugh, he hated being somewhat sentimental about this.

Coming across what seemed like a bootleg ‘naughty’ shop, Scourge raised a brow. He walked inside, seeing that the store wasn’t too raunchy and all this good shit was plastered in the back. He traversed through the vulgar shirts, the silly mugs that definitely spoke his lingo and came to the goldmine of sex toys and lingerie. He gulped, how much he’d love to see Fiona in one of these costumes, or just to see her in general. He sighed to himself, a store clerk came up behind him asking if he needed help, but there was nothing of interest. He shrugged off the employee and gaped at the many different toys around him. There were no porno dvds to invest in, just mostly stuff for ‘her pleasure’. He frowned, part of him was… well, kind of tempted to buy a toy.

Buying a dildo just… sounded so gay. He already swore off of that kind of shit. No Zonic so no fake dicks either. He shook his head, This was pointless. It’d just set him back if he stayed in here longer. Making his way back to the house, Scourge had bought himself a shirt more to his liking, a pair of pants and a new set of shades. He wore the shades throughout the rest of his day, having stew for dinner and laid on the couch with his shoes kicked off to the side. His snacks from last night sat next to him as he sucked on a vine of licorice. By the time Zonic came home, he stiffened. He looked back but quickly turned back to the tv. He’d figure out Scourge had left but… he fuckin’ came back so it wasn’t an issue, hopefully.

“That any way to talk to your king…” He said plainly, not meaning to call back to all of Zonic’s teasing talk last night. He frowned, seeing the ice cream in the other’s hands. “And you didn’t get me any?” He asked accusingly. “You look like shit by the way. Your day must’ve been fun. Mine was.”

Zonic scoffed and turned his face to Scourge. "Yours is in the Free...zer... what's that stuff you're wearing?" It took a long long second to click in his brain but then his eyes widened. "Yeah... I can -see- your day was fun." He said quietly, looking at the shoes next to the table. The new snacks. The clothes. He was a lot paler all of a sudden.

"You went outside?" It felt like his heart stopped and the icecream in his hand was forgotten. He placed the cup on the table and got up from the couch. "What... what in the world were you THINKING?!" Now his heart was racing. Playing horror scenarios for his mind's eye. "What.... DO YOU KNOW WHAT COULD'VE HAPPENED IF YOU WERE SEEN?! You know some of my coworkers are in civil clothes too, right?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?! Do you WANT to go back to Zone-Jail?!"

He was running his fingers through his spines, adrenaline rushing through his veins. His day had been awful. He was tired. He could not deal with a shock like this right now. Sure he was worried Scourge could be found, and brought back to prison. He was worried about both of their fates if that happened. But what got him most was the fact that he'd been so careless. his front door unlocked. Scourge unchained. He could be -gone- now. He could've run. He could be gone forever. He was in no way prepared for that.

"Chaos..." He whispered to himself succumbing to his number one stress response. Cleaning. He picked up Scourge's shoes and brought them back to the entrance. Then he went to the kitchen to fetch Scourge's icecream and a spoon. Except instead of giving it to the hedgehog he threw it at his chest with enough force to make him feel the impact very clearly.

Then he sat back down on the couch with his thighs pressed tightly against his chest, resting his chin on his knees. His hands were running through his spines again. He had to calm down. He had to calm down. "I said don't go out without me. I said listen to what I say. Do you think this is a joke? We could both lose everything.... it's my fault though. You were so... okay... that I got careless. I got careless. It's not gonna happen again." He was more talking to himself at this point. Trying to calm down. His heartbeat was still running faster than his feet ever could.

The extent of Zonic’s anger intensified a lot more than anything Scourge had seen yet. He knew the cop’s temper wasn’t anything to be frightened of, nothing to feel threatened by as he -always- remained somewhat cool about his outbursts. Not this time, oh chaos, not this time. The way Zonic yelled, got up and stomped off threw Scourge off guard. He stared at the other, speechless and unsure what to say. It’s not like Scourge -wanted- to get caught and being stuck inside, he knew he’d deal with his thoughts all day. This was just to distract himself, not incriminate the cop. He frowned at first, his automatic response to yelling or any kind of anger was to be angry back. He bared his teeth, about ready to fight the other but with Zonic out of the living room, he relaxed.

He rolled his eyes, not even phased by what -could- have happened, cause it -didn’t- happen. He crossed his arms, leaning back only to have a goddamn tub of ice cream torpedoed at him.

“Ow! Fucker..!” He exclaimed, rubbing his chest and looked at the small pint sized cup with a spoon a lil further off on the couch. He frowned, picking it up and setting it on the coffee table. “Look..! I wasn’t trying to get you in trouble, aight??” He was trying to remain calm in this, from all the weird shit they built up in the past few week and some days, he didn’t want to be chained back up again. He was almost sure Zonic would’ve at least did that. “I just…” He frowned again, now upset that he was almost close to apologizing for -taking care of himself-. “You don’t get it at all! You don’t have to live with these fuckin’ thoughts everyday! Having to sit here and stew in garbage all day cause there’s shit else to do around here! I got needs too, Cop. I can’t just sit in here for fuckin 8 hours just to play puppy and sit by the door waiting for you to come back so things can be at -LEAST- somewhat entertaining! Get pissy, whatever, but I was careful!” He wasn’t. He didn’t try to be. He was casual and unphased, explored without thinking and even gave out his name to some people that had asked if he’d like a survey of sorts. He was not careful and now it felt like it was gonna bite him in the ass at some point. He didn’t write anything down or make any official decisions like sign up for a store credit card or give out his number, just… slight small chat. He kind of regretted this now.

“... I… I was… just trying to …” He was irritated, now pissed off for being called out. He didn’t do anything wrong! He just needed to be away from here. “No one recognized me… s-so whatever. Right?? Who cares! It’s… it’s over now!”

"Do you -realize- that you're a prisoner? I know living here doesn't feel like zone-jail, and that's good.... but you're a prisoner. You can't just go out and wander around." He was a little calmer now but the shock still sat deep. "You can go out... with me. But not alone, never alone. You have that collar on. If anything happened to you... you couldn't even fight back. Inhibitor collars are widely enough known throughout the no-zone as prison wear... and nothing about you or your personality is subtle.... well it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. This was my fault. I can't be mad at you. You acted like everyone would've acted in your situation. This is on me."

Still restless he got up again, just to pace a little more. To one end of the couch, and back, rinse and repeat. "I want to give you another chance. But unfortunately... this was your second chance already, wasn't it? You're too careless. I can't trust you to just stay put. I understand. It's boring. There's nothing to do in here. I know. It's not freedom. But that's the life you picked by becoming a criminal and messing with several dimensions. This is on you."

He let out a long, exhausted sigh and sat down again. "I'm glad you're safe." He mumbled after a moment of silence, his face buried in his hands. He felt so tired. This day alone probably cost him years of his life.

More and more he noticed that he was less afraid for his own fate than he was for Scourge's. This wasn't okay. He shouldn't feel anything of the kind about his prisoner. He should go back to disliking him. To being paranoid. To being mistrustful.

He groaned and leaned back, rubbing over his face once more. "Because I'm a fool. One more chance. You blow it and I'm chaining you again. I don't know what I'm thinking. So accept it before I change my mind. No more trips to the town without me. Today is the worst day I've had since that case with the murdered twins seven years ago." He fished for his ice cream and started eating again. Somehow it just made him want to cry now. Not that he'd ever cry. He wouldn't. He never did. Well not from sadness, frustration or exhaustion at least.

"Couldn't you have gone out on a day that was less awful in general? Your timing is the absolute worst." He was just staring at the ceiling in silence now, eating his icecream. Calming down. Finally. He had to calm down. The worst about this was that he was actually tempted to hug scourge right now. Now that his anger and shock were turning into relief that everything had ended well despite the chaos.

“You…!” He began, but the way Zonic faltered pissed him off even more. Nevermind the fact that he was actually putting them both in danger, now the cop was winding down and taking blame. What was UP with Sonic’s and being the ones to always blame themselves for EVERYTHING? He hated that, he really did and he knew he fucked up but admitting it sucked. He hated to admit he was wrong cause deep down, he didn’t like being scolded or corrected. He hated feeling like he messed everything but this shit here wasn’t going to help either of them in anyway and for some reason… it just made him angrier.

“You’re a fucking cop! You’re supposed to be the righteous one here! The stern one that’s keeping the rules upheld or whatever! You wanna know what’s really your fault?? Not being strict enough! I’m not scared or intimidated by you, whatsoever! You’re soft and gentle, you don’t even try to punish me for real! You don’t strike fear so I do whatever I want! Doesn’t that… doesn’t it bother you??? Limiting yourself like that? What kind of Sonic are you??” He huffed, it just didn’t seem right. A policeman that just let things like this go. “I get you shouldn’t have brought me here and yeah, I’m giving you hell and continue to do so cause I’m an asshole, remember? But you’re not even trying to be hard on me. That’s… annoying! I don’t know why it’s so fuckin irritating! I should just be grinning and taking this little ‘chance’ you’re giving me and fuckin run away, but BY CHAOS CAN’T YOU TRY A LIL HARDER??”

Scourge sat back, more surprised that he even said this shit. What, did he want to be bound and unable to leave?? He didn’t know, he just hated people with such -potential- waste it by being soft and kind. What the fuck did that do for anyone? They just got stepped on and pushed around, it was why he couldn’t feel any fear of anyone around him… Not like those inmates… they were a different story, they struck true fear in him. But this… a fellow Sonic being as passive aggressive as they came. It was worst than their Prime self.

“Get the fuckin’ chain, Zonic. You’re being to easy. What if I leave again, huh?? I did fuck up. And ya wanna know what else I did?? I introduced myself to a few people, I took off my jacket with the collar on! I was at that mini mall! Even going to the park would be bad too right??” He crawled over to him. “You’re a cop, fuckin’ act like it! You still actin’ all heart-eyes over me or are you gonna treat me like the bad guy I am??” He pressed a finger harshly at Zonic’s arm. “You’re such a -bitch-. It’s ANNOYING. I wanted to leave so bad, I was so ready to escape and I will if you keep this dumbass attitude up. Just you wait and see, you keep actin’ all nice and shit, you won’t see me anymore.”

Scourge felt he was going to regret this… no he knew he was. He wasn’t going to like how this would play out the next day. Why was he suddenly the right one??

For a while Zonic just let Scourge's outrage bounce off of him. Then he made a fist trying not to get angry again. But something about that last bit did it anyway. He almost -heard- something snap inside his head. In the blink of an eye he'd grabbed the other's wrist, spun him around and twisted his arm behind his back. With the other hand he took a hold of Scourge's shoulder and pulled him off the couch.

Everything went incredibly fast. Scourge was forced down the hallway, through a door and one second later a steel bared sliding door clicked shut behind him. "You wanna know why I'm soft on you?" He asked, his voice was calm but his eyes weren't calm at all. "Because I like having you around. Because I feel more alive since you're here. BeCAUSE!" And his voice was no longer calm. " BECAUSE I'M SELFISH. BECAUSE I THINK EVERYONE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE. BECAUSE YOU'RE EVERYTHING I'M NOT... But you're never going to leave. This is your life sentence. I just wanted to make it less awful for both of us... because it's my life sentence too." His chest hurt while he was talking.

This wasn't how he wanted this to be. But more than anything else, he was afraid that the other would leave. He wouldn't make it far. And then both of them were in trouble.

"Enjoy your new home." This time he sounded outright bitter. Nobody had taught him that after spending time with criminals you'd start to see them as 'people'. Nobody had taught him how hard it was to be strict. Nobody taught him that sometimes the 'baddest of the bad' were strangely likable. And how hard it would be to not just let them go.

He turned his back to the cell and stared at the entrance back into his house. His house that was gonna be empty now.

Now he remembered what he'd forgotten about his drunk night. He remembered what loneliness felt like. Scourge was right. He wasn't acting like an officer of the law. What was he trying? To be Scourge's friend? He couldn't be. He knew it was impossible. But then why did it feel so bad?

The transition from couch to cell was a lot quicker than he thought. -This- wasn’t what he asked for, this was not what he was aiming to do. The fuckin chain was all he asked for, but that’d go against what he was just preaching so passionately about. He struck a chord, turned something on in Zonic’s mind and fucked up everything for himself. The sound of the door locking behind him, the fact that now he was in his own personal cell with very little light inside besides a tiny window much too high up for him to reach… Chaos, he fucked up so bad acting the way he did. Scourge turned to the door, punching it, hoping that he could make some kind of noise while he thrashed about.
“I just asked for you to put the fuckin chain on!!” He yelled, but felt it wasnt really worth trying. Now he was stuck in here, with even less to do. Maybe the idiot would grow soft and feel bad like always… maybe he’d actually be taken out of here in the middle of the night while Zonic got horny or needy. Maybe… Shit. “Piece of… shit, asshole mother… fucker!” He kicked at the door, then the wall then punched at the ground. He threw his tantrum and felt like he lost all his energy in just a span of a few minutes. He sat down on the small cot in the corner, covering his face with his hands, ready to rip off his own eyelids for this stupid stunt. Everything was… going okay! The only setback was just the weird sexual bullshit they kept getting into! That was all he had a real issue with! Yet he pushed way further…

“You should be fuckin’ happy I didn’t leave… Asshole.” He grumbled… Well, he -did- tell him to be more strict, this was just a bit overboard. “Life sentence… pssh.” He muttered, now feeling the weight of this whole thing. He was gonna be stuck with Zonic till the day he fuckin’ died if he didn’t get out of here. Forever someone else’s secret, something to hide away… He wouldn’t be able to leave freely, feel the wind against his face, travel where ever he wanted. He was stuck here, stuck with this do-gooder cop who thought he was doing some type of good work. The fuckin fool. It hurt, it really hurt knowing his life was completely determined by others now, something he fought so hard against back home. He didn’t want others to determine his fate. That was HIS job, no one else’s, and now he was suffering under the constant control of others.

Scourge felt like vomiting again, but there was nothing to throw up and he didn’t feel the need to get up and chuck up bile. He laid on the bed, flipping his shades over his eyes and closed them. What the fuck could he do now? How was he gonna entertain himself… Well, on the bright side of things, he didnt have to worry about acting on primal instincts… aka, sex with a guy. At the very least, maybe he needed this. Still, it pissed him off. He dug his own grave and had to sleep in it.

“Why didn’t I just leave…”

After half an hour of stress-cleaning the house looked like Scourge had never been there in the first place. Still he felt restless. He felt awful. He wanted to scream and shout but it wasn't going to change anything. Still he was not going to falter. Not this time. At least not yet. If Scourge was going to be a shit about every attempt of his to be nice to him then he was going to deal wit the consequences as well.

And so began the probably hardest time since he'd saved the green hedgehog. Three times a day he brought Scourge food. It wasn't prison food but it was no gourmet stuff either. Once a day Scourge was allowed to roam the house for about two hours but while Zonic was at work or asleep he was behind bars. Whenever Scourge was in the house Zonic was watching him, he talked to him more or less normally but whenever the topic of the prison cell came up he changed the topic or simply ignored it.

He had a work-face on. A pokerface. At least while Scourge was around. But as soon as the other was gone he crumbled. This was painful. It shouldn't be, but it was. Painful enough to make him drown himself in work. He told Zally most of the story over dinner but he left out the parts that included sex and getting drunk, and him feeling awfully lonely and hurt over the fact that he was alone in his apartment again because Scourge just -had- to act like a prick. Not that he -needed- to tell her. She'd pretty much figured it all out after a few days because she noticed the change in his behaviour. It wasn't that he wasn't working properly. Quite the opposite actually. He did overtime until he fell asleep at work, forgot to eat, his desk was clean and tidy enough to be part of a furniture store. And then there were the hickeys and cuts. She just put one and one together. Not that she approved. In fact she was pretty shocked that Zonic couldn't deny it when she confronted him.

The talk had been... eventful. Zonic had spent most of it being very pale. But he couldn't lie, and she knew that. At least he wasn't actually in -Love- with Scourge. Even though Zally was convinced he was crushing on the other hedgehog pretty hard at least.

One week passed. And then another. At first both Zally and Zonic had hoped that the cop would recover and everything would return to normal, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Instead he got worse as time passed. For one because he didn't know what to do with himself anymore, except for work work work, and second because he also noticed that Scourge was getting worse.

The third time Zally found Zonic sleeping at his desk at the headquarters she snapped at him. Told him to get a grip of himself and to fix his stupid situation that was caused by nothing but the combined stubbornness of two hedgehogs.

So the next time Zonic walked up to the little cell to free his prisoner for his usual two hours of roaming, he had a plan.

He unlocked the door and pushed it aside. "Get up and get into the car. We're going on a little trip today." His voice was as stern as it had been nonstop for two weeks now. The only indication for him being unwell were the shadows underneath his eyes.

TBC...
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