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Pro: bear!
Con: leg!

Another pro: Extra long chapter!","writing":"[center][b]CHAPTER XXXI[/b][/center]\n\n[color=#4e9a06]Scourge rolled his eyes, though hearing Zonic sound just like him was...eerie. He turned to Zonic and stared but then cleared his throat.\n\n“I never skipped schoool,” He mocked, using Zonic’s voice then began to laugh almost obnoxiously loud. “That sounds -just- like you!!” He kicked his legs slightly. His laugh was loud enough to catch the attention of their fellow movie goers but as the lights dimmed, he tried his best to silence himself to a lower degree. “Also, why -not- prank call her? Wait, you’ll suck at being a disgusting asshole like myself so that might not work out. Coward.” He chuckled, sinking a little lower now that Zonic was leaning on him. Even without being much of the cuddly type, he seemed to adapt to things like this if he liked the person enough. Still, he wouldn’t reciprocate the same action by snuggling up close or nuzzling the other. That there just felt weird. \n\n“It’s… ugh, not fine but. We’ll manage. I mean we have this shit movie to wat-”\n\n“Shh! The movie’s starting!” \n\n“...” Scourge sat up, looking down at whoever shushed in. The man of that lovey dovey couple adjusting himself after turning back around… him. “You wanna fuckin’ say that to my face, dude?” \n\n“The -movie- is -starting-,” the guy repeated, looking back up at Scourge. The girlfriend pat the guy on the shoulder, giving him a look as to say not to fight. He huffed, turning back to the screen and leaned back. \n\n“Yeah, that’s right. Listen to ya girl and shut the fuck up,” \n\n“Yo, are you serious??” The guy stood up, turning towards Scourge. His girlfriend tried to yank him back down, this was not the best place to pick a fight. Scourge on the other hand just chuckled and remained seated. He shrugged, eating more popcorn as the girl tried to calm her boyfriend down so they could sit and watch the movie. It took them a while, but with a few angry spats between them, they were finally seated. Scourge felt sooo good doing that. He leaned back in his seat, chuckling to himself and drank some more of his soda. \n“Fuckin’ bitch…” He said under his breath. “Sooo tempted to piss him off more.” [/color]\n\n[color=#204a87]Zonic snorted at Scourge impersonating him. It sounded -so- strange but so authentic. \"I guess... maybe you should call her impersonating -me- but with -your- lack of manners.\" He chuckled and actually flinched at the guy complaining at them. His ears perked up and he sat straight again. Scourge, however was so much faster to react and before he knew what was happening there was a verbal fight going on. One that Scourge was clearly winning.\n\nHe was ready to interrupt the two if it got too wild though and as Scourge sat back down he earned a very displeased frown from Zonic. Still part of him found the scene entertaining and he turned the candy in his fingers again, considering to throw it at the guy's head. Instantly halting his thoughts and scolding himself for even considering it. Instead he sank back into his seat and slightly stretched his neck to be able to reach Scourge's cheek, kissing it briefly. \"You're awful, you know that, right?\"\n\nApparently his voice had been too loud as well, because the guy was standing again, shaking off his very annoyed and slightly desperate girlfriend. Ah, he was an asshole too. Zonic briefly regretted not throwing the candy at his head. He was about to walk up to them but his girlfriend stopped him efficiently eventually she just pulled him along to a seat that was further away from Zonic and Scourge. Technically not allowed, of course, but the theater was empty so it didn't matter.\n\nZonic noticed that he was grinning only now, throwing the candy into his mouth instead. \"We should make more noise...\" He proposed in a hushed tone. Why was this fun??? This should not be fun. This should not count as entertainment to him. He was a cop for fucks sake. He couldn't enjoy riling up an innocent civilian. What was -wrong- with him?! Well... the answer to this question sat next to him. Why was being bad so fun?[/color]\n\n[color=#4e9a06]Aw, they got up and moved. Scourge didn’t care, the movie just barely started, it wasn’t like they lost all the information they needed to keep up. For once, Scourge held his tongue, letting the couple walk away without him saying anything, though Zonic seemed to be...catching on? \n\n“What?” Scourge asked, turned to the other, actually surprised. “-You-??? Want to be louder?? Are you actually Zonic or did you get replaced by a clone?” He did’d know how to digest this. Was Scourge already rubbing off on the other? It seemed like it. So with that, Scourge decided, yes. He began to woop and holler when the title came up, clapped whenever there was an explosion. He couldn’t help but talk to the screen whenever something cool happened. He was great at this, just doing what he knew best. It felt like official permission was given to him, not that he needed it, but he was riding out the whole ‘be a dick’ thing as much as he could. Having Zonic actually join in felt like a little treat. \n\nScourge began to quiet down when the movie actually grabbed his attention. There was a really pretty mouse actress and a lot of almost-sex scenes with her. He whistled and laughed at the poor csensorship they were doing. Was it different in the No Zone how they handled the PG-13 movies? This felt sliiightly raunchier than the movies he remembered back home. The other people below them were between annoyed or uncaring. One other person had their phone out, so in the end it wasn’t too big of a deal. Scourge somehow had a nice little connection with another girl a few seats below as she would hoot and holler too, clapping when she felt it was needed and expressed fake anger when things went bad. The boyfriend of the girl was so irritated, he got up and left. \n\nWhen the movie was done, Scouge shoved all his trash onto the floor and laid his legs out. He felt so much better, stretching his arms above his head as he reached out. \n\n“That was a damn fine movie, even if it was pretty stupid. I guess no dimension is safe from mindless action like that… More sexy than I can remember action movies being...and also, there was this weird thing about angles, a looot more dynamic than what I’m used to I guess.” He stood up, sipping the last of his drink and looked at the people getting up. The girlfriend who decided to stay behind was huffing at her texts, the guy that had been on his phone still was and slowly exited, the girl that joined in being loud looked up at the two and gave a thumbs up before leaving. He was sure the last two came in pretty late… “Anywho, whatcha wanna do now? I’m completely satisfied for now.” [/color]\n\n[color=#204a87]Zonic laughed more at Scourge's reactions to the movie than at the movie itself. The sexscenes did absolutely nothing for him though. He watched carefully at first, trying to see what exactly got Scourge whistling. The girl was pretty. The guy was... nevermind that. The music during the sexual scenes was nice though so in the end Zonic enjoyed them at least for that part.\n\nHe was obviously not as good as Scourge at making noise and being rude but he cheered and clapped along as well as he could. Not without a good portion of guilt, though. The high speed action scenes were his favourite. In front of a screen as big as this one it made him feel like he was moving fast. That was exhilarating.\n\nAt the end of the movie he gave the girl a few rows down a grin. She'd clearly enjoyed not being the only noisier one. Alright. That had been fun. Back to being a respectable citizen and officer of the law. He bent down to pick up Scourge's trash and got up from his seat. \"I had fun too. It was really dynamic and the action scenes were fast paced... for an action movie it really wasn't half bad.\" He nodded, though he was well aware that, had he gone alone, he wouldn't have enjoyed the movie half as much. No matter. He had fun.\n\nAs for what they could do now? It was still only afternoon. 5pm to be exact. To early to turn in for the night. They couldn't do anything that involved too much walking because of Scourge's leg so the options were limited. \"Come on, let's think on the way out.\" He offered Scourge a hand to help him up. \"I like the idea of staying the night at a hotel... but it's definitely still too early to think about sleeping.\" he mused while leaving the cinema slowly due to Scourge's leg, though it seemed to be a little better now.\n\n\"Oh I know!\" He suddenly exclaimed. \"What are your thoughts on gaming arcades? I've never been... but with you it's bound to be fun. I bet you're good at these types of things. According to the girls at work having your man win you some sort of stuffed animal at an arcade is mandatory date etiquette. And I mean it's sort of a date...\" He grinned and shrugged. 99% of what he'd just said was a joke. He had no interest in bringing a plushie home. Why. For what? Still there was a part of him who was slightly curious if Scourge would take him seriously. And an even bigger part of him knew that -if- he was taken seriously he would treasure the heck out of whatever Scourge gave him. It made him feel silly. Was he a girl now? Was it even okay for a guy to think about these types of things? It felt like he'd get bullied for it at work if anyone found out. But then... no one would find out. Chaos, he'd never ever had a stuffed animal before in his life.\n\nBut either way an arcade seemed like a good idea. They could sit while playing most the games and Scourge would get to feel superior teaching him the games and possibly winning a lot. Nothing to raise the king's mood than to feed his superiority complex. Zonic was dead set on having this day be a nice memory for both of them despite the Zhadow drama after lunch.[/color]\n\n[color=#4e9a06]It was almost comical how zonic decided to clean up Scourge’s mess, but he didn’t help. It wasn’t their responsibility if there was a janitor to clean it up, Scourge’s own dumb philosophy on things which of course justified his laziness. When exiting the cinema, he looked down at the hands. He didn’t feel that unnecessarily intense emotion to touch the other now, so his hand wasn’t gripping Zonic’s as tightly as the other was doing to him. Getting back to the car, Scourge kept looking around, ears alert for all the sounds around them. Sure… an arcade sounded nice, but he hadn’t been to one since he was a kid. Was there a huge difference in the No Zone’s arcades? It’d be pretty interesting to play games on the damn wall, but it was still odd. \n\nHe got into the passenger seat and looked his leg over. It was… fine, but he knew that the aching pain in it really needed rest. He didn’t want to just go back to the house or whatever hotel Zonic was set on going to, he wanted to stay out longer. He frowned, rubbing it a bit and sat back with a pout on his face. He would love to run again… but that wouldn’t happen unless he made sure his leg was okay. \n\n“As long as I don’t have to win anything specific, sure.” He said, shrugging. “I haven’t played arcade games in forever, and who knows if the games here are entirely different from home.” He didn’t mind though, just maybe wasn’t something he was super thrilled to do but knew it -could be fun. Scourge wasn’t looking forward to being surrounded by bratty teens but he knew he could easily kick their asses if they decided to mess with him. He was aching for a fight, but his leg actually worried him. He was trying his best to remember to be as light-footed as he could be.[/color]\n\n[color=#204a87]Zonic looked over Scourge's leg mildly worried. \"We'll take it slow. And I suggest we don't move too much tomorrow...or... you don't move to much. And you don't have to win me anything.\" he chuckled. So Scourge was actually considering it. Now it really felt like they were on a date. Zonic's mood was all better, but clearly Scourge's wasn't quite up there yet.\n\n\"If you don't like the Arcades I'm open for suggestions.\" The drive wasn't very long. Everything in the city seemed to be sort of close, despite the city itself being rather huge. The Arcade itself was gigantic. Probably 4 floors tall and packed with...stuff. Zonic instantly felt completely overwhelmed with the noise. Every game seemed to play a different jingle. It was very confusing. Honestly he wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. Whatever it was, it was not -this-. He felt a bit lost. Everything was blinking and shining and flashing and making noise. It was fascinating but also really chaotic. Unconsciously he took Scourge's hand, walking slightly behind him.\n\nIt was more than clear that he hadn't been to a place like this before. \"This is... unexpectedly intimidating.\" He said just loud enough to be heard by Scourge. Scourge, whom he was using as a shield right now. There were a lot of people younger and older ones but because the arcade was so big they were spread thin and it wasn't overly hard to get to the actual machines.\n\n\"Maybe this wasn't as great an Idea as I thought it was...\" He confessed following Scourge deeper into the building. Still who knew... this could still be fun? They just had to actually play the games. \"Anything look familiar?\"[/color]\n\n[color=#4e9a06]Scourge didn’t respond, he didn’t want Zonic mothering him on his leg, but he knew he had to be careful. With such short drives from one place to another, he wondered if there were places a little further out so he had time to actually sit. But it wasn’t much of an issue for him. He didn’t mind, as the moment the arcade came into view, his eyes lit up so fast. He thought he wouldn’t care or would rather be doing something more ‘adult-like’--which he wasn’t sure what that’d be-- but this right here… a massive arcade that seemed to have a great assortment of games. He was slow to get out of the car, the outside wasn’t as colorful as it was inside, but man when they entered, his inner child was screaming. \n\nThe different lights, colors, sounds and overall mood of the place instantly lit him up. Scourge hadn’t been to an arcade so massive and this was definitely a huge throw back to his childhood. He felt nostalgic, excited, eager to play. He was gonna do his goddamn best on these games, as his competitive side began to take over. He didn’t mind his hand being grabbed, he now knew he was in a place where he was more knowledgeable than his companion. He was the one that knew how to work these machines. It felt good, he smirked wildly, turning to Zonic and laughed. \n\n“Have you never been to an arcade before?? Aren’t you excited?” He did his best to not job over to the counter for tokens. He nearly pounded his fists on the counter. “TOKENS.” He said to the clerk, grinning. “Lot’s of tokens! Let’s go!!” He turned to Zonic, “A lot of tokens to last us a while! C’mon you’ll get used to it!!” His shoulders hunched, his body slightly shaking. The pain in his leg completely ignored. Once they had a giant bucket of tokens, Scourge pulled Zonic over to the first game he saw. A racing game, something to sit and play. He pointed to the seat next to him. “We can’t run but we can race on here. Get a token inside and pick your car. I bet you I’m faster than you in -all- forms.” He sat down, setting the bucket of tokens in between the seats. “I can’t believe this place is so big! There’s like...4 fuckin floors!” \n\nHe started up 2 player, getting his hands on the wheel and accelerated the moment the race began. Scourge was enjoying himself, driving as fast and wildly as he could but drifted so well. He enjoyed the simulated adrenaline. It was interesting how this overly fake car race still made him feel so damn excited. Of course, since he was so experienced in these games, he won. He turned to Zonic and chuckled. \n\n“Wow, you gotta play these things more often, dude. They’re not hard but I’ll let your noobie ways slide for now.” He picked up the bucket. “Wanna try a shooting game? You being a cop and all… you might actually ace it better than me.” He got up, finding the first nice looking shooter that had plastic toy guns attached. Scourge was already making it happen without Zonic doing it himself, the game was set, the players were ready and now Scourge was waiting for Zonic to pick up his gun. “It’s fun! Just shoot at the zombies, yeah??” [/color]\n\n[color=#204a87]Zonic was suddenly pulled along. Well... at least Scourge seemed to be enjoying himself all of a sudden. Okay this was fine. He could do this. It just took a bit of getting used to probably. He felt a bit less overwhelmed holding Scourge's hand, and since the criminal seemed to know exactly what to do and where to go he could just let him drag him along. \"I've never been, no. I spent my youth -studyin- remember?\" He followed Scourge to the racing game. Chaos, it took him ages just to figure out how to make everything move. Obviously he lost gloriously, feeling a little sour. Unfair. He had absolutely no experience of course he lost. He was almost tempted to practice some more so he could beat Scourge.\n\nBut shooting sounded better so he followed. This, in fact was much much easier. It was like the shooting range at work. Except these bullets wouldn't kill anyone. Killing only the zombies and not the civilians was easy. This was literally a training task during police training. You got a bunch of targets, moving or static, some of which were criminals others were hostages. It was a matter of fast decision making. And -of course- he was the best at it. He was fast at everything. Well... except that stupid racing game. But that thing must've been broken anyway. The controls were all janky and it didn't feel realistic at all.\n\nNeedless to say the shooting went much much better for him and just when he suggested to do it again he was pulled again to the next game and that was that for his chances at winning. Pretty much every other game here was new to him and he kept losing. Somewhere after the fourths loss he was mentally so exhausted from all the noise and input that he had to take a break... somehow. \"I... I'mma sit that one out and find a restroom. I'll hurry so... stay here please.\"\n\nZonic escaped another potential loss, only as he entered the restroom he realized he just left a criminal unsupervised in a 4 floored arcade. He cringed and hurried. What could go wrong, right? Scourge wouldn't just suddenly escape while they were having fun. He still had a ton of chips to play away. No, he wasn't worried about Scourge escaping. What he was worried about was Scourge -not- waiting at that specific game and that it'd take him ages to find him again.\n\nHe'd been so desperate to get a minute of quiet to sort his overflowing brain that he hadn't thought about this at all. He left the restroom after hurriedly washing his hands hoping to find Scourge exactly where he'd left him. Except... as he returned to the hall he faced another problem; Where exactly had he -left- Scourge??? Everything looked the same. The lights and colours were so overpowering. He had no idea what the game looked like that he left his prisoner at. And after searching for it for a little he had to admit that he was hopelessly lost. Which floor was this anyway?[/color]\n\n[color=#4e9a06]The games were fun, even if Zonic was easy to beat, Scourge had to say that Zonic’s skill with the shooting game impressed him even though he was the least bit surprised. Of course there was such a perfect score with that, something he was slightly envious of. But from game to game, he could best the other endlessly. Whack-A-Mole, dance games that he shouldn’t have been playing but played anyways, rhythm games that required his hands to press the buttons ultra fast, more racing games, tabletop stuff, there was just so much. He didn’t mind Zonic going to the restroom, nodding as the other left and continued on. \n\nScourge was also lost, lost in the allure of the games around him. He was stuck in trying to get the best scores, pulling out tickets left and right. He even tried some crane machines just because. He smiled to himself, moving down to the next floor completely forgetting he was here with someone else. His mind was set, he needed to win as much as possible. Game after game, he came across a group of guys that were playing skee ball, he knew he could best these guys. He came up to them making himself known. \n\n“Bet all of you I can get a better score than you.” He said, so confident and excited. He just wanted to lose himself even further in this arcade, what a wonderful escape. The guys looked at one another, not sure who this green smug hedgehog was but they decided to play along. The game was a simple alternative to bowling, only getting the balls into certain slots for points was the goal. The ball was big enough to fit in one hand, the guys lined up in their own alley and began. Scourge was so confident, he kept shouting when he got it in the 50 or 100 points, it sort of annoyed one of the other guys. As the game went on, Scourge came in second place out of four other people, which wasn’t so bad but the winner did gloat. It wasn’t something Scourge was hoping for but it was fine, second place was… okay. \n\n“You came over here all high and mighty and still came in second, bro.” The winner boy said, highfiving one of his friends. “I’d rematch you but it’d just be the same.” Scourge grumbled, but smirked and shrugged. \n\n“Sure, but you’re just scared I’ll win again.” \n\n“Bring it the fuck on.” Both went one on one, the friends of the winner cheering him on as Scourge attempted to win. They went at it, Scourge had one yet another rematch as the other guy was not satisfied. “You fuckin’ threw your ball! You didn’t roll it right, that’s how you won!” \n\n“I didn’t, piss baby. Why ya being a sore loser??” Things got a bit heated, Scourge was antsy now, getting challenging by some kid who was probably fresh out of highschool. It didn’t bother him any, even though there were four other boys now surrounding him, he could still fight if he needed to. Only now his leg felt as though it was becoming a lot more of a pain to stand on, but again, Scourge ignored. \n\n“Rematch. I’ll show you I’m better, otherwise just get the fuck outta here.” \n\n“Ain’t your arcade to be tellin’ me what to do, kiddo. Accept defeat and I’ll be on my merry way.” \n\n“But you -cheated-” \n\n“I’m gettin’ real sick of you accusin me of shit I ain’t did!” Scourge stood closer to the kid, growling as one of the other boys kicked the back of Scourge’s bad leg. He caved, falling to the floor. The pain was worse than it had been in a week or so. What the fuck-- \n\nThe others jumped in, pushing him over with their feet as they stomped on him a few times. It wasn’t any horrible beating he would’ve suffered at the hands of someone like Sonic or Shadow, but it still hurt and pissed him off. When the group decided they had enough, one poured their drink on him. Whoops, that wasn’t a fun experience and it really made Scourge upset. He stood up, not allowing these guys to get out of this scott free. He raised up his sleeves, going after them and a fight suddenly ensued on the third floor. [/color]\n\n[color=#204a87]Zonic was hopelessly lost until he heard commotion. He had a really bad feeling about this. Any kind of fight going on was never a good thing. Even less if there was a chance that Scourge was involved. He walked in the direction that people were hurrying away from. With every step he became a bit faster. Please, don't be Scourge. Please, don't be Scourge. He prayed to no one but hoped his prayers were heard anyway.\n\nThere were horror scenarios playing in his head of the police being called. Scourge being taken. Scourge being injured. Anything. Chaos, please no. He was running zipping in snakelines through the arcade trying to make it through the people to where the fight was.\n\nWhen he arrived on the scene it was chaos. He made way for a guy stumbling past him and caught him by his arm before he hit the ground, sitting him down slowly instead. He couldn't see Scourge but the fight had to be broken up anyway. In an instant he had his work face on and stepped into the middle of the fight. Catching one guy's fist and a second guy's wrist, spinning him around and forcing him to kneel. \"POLICE! STOP THE FIGHTING THIS INSTANT! What is going on here?!\" He asked the kneeling guy with a stern face, holding up his badge. This made the fighters stop successfully.\n\n\"That green asshole picked a fight!!!\" The boy on the ground shouted, clearly still upset. Zonic felt his heart plummet into his stomach and he turned around. There he was. His prayers hadn't been heard. Not at all. Scourge was wet with some sort of drink, bleeding from his nose and he wasn't putting any weight on his injured leg.\n\n\"The fight is over.\" He said looking away from Scourge to scan the other trouble makers' faces.\n\n\"Ha! Yer in trouble, now, punk!\" The boy who had originally started the fight said confidently while scrambling to his legs and his friends were grinning as well. Zonic snapped. There was no doubt in his mind that Scourge was an overly competitive asshole but he knew he had to be provoked to actually go through the trouble to engage into a fist fight. Especially when he was already injured -and- wearing the inhibitor collar.\n\n\"You guys are staying. Everyone else. Scram.\" Zonic said shooing the onlookers away. \"So... punk.\" He said towering over the younger one's despite the fact that he was naturally quite short. These guys, thankfully, were shorter. \"-Who- started the fight?\" \"-Him-!!!\" Zonic turned around to look at Scourge. \"Who started the fight, Scourge?\" He was glaring and tense. All he wanted to know was who hurt Scourge. And if he -really- started the fight. In which case he'd be in trouble. But Zonic still had doubts. He -wanted- to believe in Scourge.[/color]\n\n[color=#204a87]The fight got pretty intense. Trying to fight off four different guys despite them being younger, it still made a drastic difference against him. Scourge hated that he was so weak compared to his actual strength. The fucking collar on his neck really worked against him as he was just as strong as any ol joe his size. He hated it, but never backed down as he knew he didn’t fuck up this time… well, he didn’t -try- to at least. Things like this just happened around him, he wasn’t looking for a fight at this time but it came to him anyways. He was punching, trying to not use his legs for kicks, as his bad leg was the one he’d rely on to land some heavy attacks. He was punched and kicked from different angles, it all hurt more than he remembered. He couldn’t keep this up for much longer due to his injuries still being somewhat there. \n\nHearing Zonic stop the fight felt like relief. He fell back on his ass, rubbing at his nose and gasping for air. Even though these little trolls were small, together they were pretty damn challenging to fight. Cowards. He stood up, his leg hurt so bad but he was not about to let Zonic’s work face intimidate him. He was now fully aware of how bad this could’ve gone… and one of the clerks were already reaching for the phone to call security, but thank Chaos Zonic was there. They set the phone back down, also relieved. Scourge lowered his head a little bit, he kind of felt bad it got to this point but...damn. \n\n“You fuckin’ pricks started the fight! You got pissy cause I won the rematch!” He barked, no way was someone going to -lie- on him like that. Not in front of Zonic when Scourge’s behavior was at least the most tolerable it’d ever been. \n\n“You came over to us and started actin’ all tough! You provoked a fight,” One of the boys, possibly the eldest of the four spoke up. “He was talkin shit the moment he came over, sayin’ he’d win against all of us then got butthurt cause he got second place!” \n\n“And then I asked for a rematch,” Scourge growled, “Not once did I raise a hand at you!” He balled up his fists, stepping closer, he was ready to continue the fight regardless if his body was screaming for him to sit the hell down. They kept arguing back and forth, the kids were yelling over Scourge accusing him of bullying them and being unfair, cheating and overall trying to best them with his fists. It wasn’t true and Scourge knew it wasn’t, turning to Zonic for reassurance. “You -know- I wouldn’t just act like a dick to pick a fight with -teenagers-! I was just trying to have a stupid competition and they got mad and attacked -me-! I swear I wasn’t trying to mess up, Blue!” [/color]\n[color=#204a87]\nZonic had heard enough. He didn't look at Scourge, because he knew he'd grow soft again. Hug him or fuss over his injuries. This was not the time. Instead he looked at the kids. \"So what you're saying is. He was going to compete with you in a competitive game, in a gaming arcade. And you agreed. He lost the first set and asked you for a rematch, which -you- lost. So you decide it's a good idea to empty your drink on him and fight him four against one?\" He asked. His voice was bone dry.\n\nBut before the kids could actually throw more accusations his way he raised a hand. \"You will write me the adresses and phone numbers of your legal guardians down, right now. Ma'am?\" He called the clerk over who'd been about to call the police. \"I ask that these four are banned from the arcade for at least a while, can you arrange that? I will make sure their guardians are contacted and notified of this... unacceptable behaviour.\"\n\n\"Yes, of course officer. I will talk to the manager about it.\"\n\n\"Thank you.\" He said handing the kids paper to write down their Guardians' numbers. \"And you guys, maybe next time before you go into an arcade, consider that every game can also be lost, and that this is meant to be a place to have fun. Your guardians will be informed of this... act of cowardice. And just as a warning if any of you write down false information on that paper I will personally sue all of you for compensation for immaterial damage. Aka. the injuries you inflicted upon him.\" He growled, half hoping some of them would write wrong numbers on the paper so he could make their lives a legal hell for a few months or years. After all... it was all he could do.\n\nWhat he -really- wanted was pummel them. But of course he couldn't.\n\nThe talk with the manager was brief and he excused himself, leaving his number behind. The staff had been apologizing to him and Scourge repeatedly offering to call an ambulance but Zonic declined. Once the teens were taken care of he hooked his arm around Scourge stabilizing him as he walked him out of the arcade and back to the car.\n\nHe sat his prisoner down carefully and finally let out the breath that he'd been holding for a while now. His work face melted away in an instant now that they were outside, making way for sincere worry. He looked upset. But instead of saying anything he pulled Scourge into a careful hug, trying not to touch any sore spots. \"How hurt are you?\" His voice was soft now as he let go of scourge. \"I'm sorry I couldn't look at you or talk to you in there or I would've... I would've beat them all up myself.\" He said clenching his teeth. \"I knew it wasn't you who started. I didn't doubt you for a second... but I'm still glad I was right.\" He said gently tilting Scourge's head to the side to look at the place that were starting to bruise.[/color]\n\n[color=#4e9a06]It was no question that the teens did as they were told, giving Scourge mean looks. He brushed them off, those meant nothing. He crossed his arms, sitting at a nearby bench as he waited for Zonic to finish up his business. He didn’t expect this to happen, and he still had so many tokens left. It felt bad returning them, though in the meantime that Zonic handled the whole thing with the arcade boss, he exchanged the tickets he got for a rubix cube and a bear. He wasn’t sure what else to spend the tickets on but this was fine enough for now, and there was a stuffed animal in the mix. \n\nBeing hauled back to the car and sat down, Scourge was a lot less okay. He was irritated and wanted to kick ass again, get those kids and dunk them all in toilet water. He wasn’t about to allow this to mess up his day, but man it already felt so ruined. He felt sticky and gross, as if he was starting to smell. He put his prizes in the back seat, suddenly feeling a warm and rather worried embrace. Scourge took a moment to pat Zonic’s back, though half-heartedly. He wasn’t in the mood for hugs. \n\n“It make it seem like I nearly got beat to death or something. What those dumbasses did doesn’t compare to prison, I’m good.” He said, leaning back out of the hug. He was so… mad. He didn’t mean to take it out on Zonic but the concern annoyed him. He felt like he was being babied and the inhibitor made everything that much harder. He could easily defend himself against for teens that were almost his size. He could easily turn them inside out and yet he probably lost that. It made him feel so much less than he knew he was. “I’m fine.” He said, not looking at Zonic. He was embarrassed, this wasn’t supposed to happen. He may have been amped up for a fight earlier, but not one this poorly fought. Scourge sat in his seat, putting on his seat belt and crossed his arms. “Guess we go to that hotel, right? Also uh… that bear in the back, you can have it.” He reached back, pulling both his prizes up and gave the bear to Zonic. He kept the rubix cube, pretty happy that it existed in the No Zone. He began to fidget with it, sometime to occupy his mind since he was very upset. [/color]\n\n[color=#204a87]Zonic didn't feel hurt as he was pushed back. He kind of expected as much. What he didn't expect was the bear that he was handed. He looked at it with wide eyes for a moment and then back at Scourge. \"You really got me one...\" he said quietly looking back at the soft animal in his hand.\n\n\"Uhm what? Yes. The hotel... right. Get you outta those sticky clothes.\" He mumbled and got into the car himself. The bear was laid down in his lap and he started driving. The hotel he had in mind was a good twenty minutes of a drive away. He kept quiet, unsure what to say. He felt bad for Scourge. This must've been humiliating, demeaning. After all they both knew at his normal strength levels he outmatched Sonic-prime. And yet a bunch of teenagers gave him a hard time. But there was nothing Zonic could do about it. It happened. It was unfortunate. And his pretty plans to have a nice end to the day were ruined along with Scourge's mood.\n\nAt the hotel he got them a room and brought the shopping bags full of clothes up into the room with him.\n\nHe felt awkward around Scourge right now. Unsure whether or not he should talk to him. And if yes then...what was he supposed to say? \"Do you wanna take a bath or a shower? Get that sticky stuff outta your fur? And I'll see what the room service has to offer?\" He sort of wanted to offer to take a bath together with Scourge but it felt like the other needed some time alone. And nothing he could think of would make the other feel better. Scourge wasn't angry at -him- to begin with.\n\nSo instead of talking more he sat on the bed and stared at the bear again. It had probably just been given to Scourge as he exchanged the tickets. It probably meant nothing. It was probably more of a joke than anything else but... somehow Zonic had a really hard time not to feel happy when looking at it. Maybe that was why the girls in his department said it was mandatory. He'd never owned a stuffed bear before. Stuffed animals in general just took up space and they didn't match his furniture. It'd look awfully out of place in his house and it couldn't be excused with having a nostalgic value to him. And yet still... he felt so happy.\n\nIt was the silliest thing to feel happy over. And he'd felt happy about a lot of silly things. He looked up at scourge, running his thumbs through the bear's soft fur. He wanted to say something. Anything. He couldn't just sit here quietly and make things more awkward. \"Thank... thank you.\" He finally brought out. \"The day wasn't... as nice as I thought it was gonna be but. I still had fun. Thanks to you. Next time... it'll be better. I'll beat you at that racing game next time and we can eat chilidogs instead of steak. It'll be better.\"[/color]\n\n[color=#4e9a06]“Hm.” Was all he said. No witty retorts, no harmless jokes, nothing that said that he felt -somewhat- okay. He watched Zonic play with the bear, not really… feeling much but he got it specifically for Zonic anyways. The cop seemed to connect with it, so that was good. He just headed into the bathroom, closing the door and began the water after getting rather confused how the faucet even worked. He got the water up to a good amount, pulling off his clothes. He was so irritated that his new shirt was already ruined. The allure of the arcade was fading, the hotel itself wasn’t interesting, he was just dwelling on the fact he lost to -teenagers-. It didn’t mean much but was quite the blow to his pride. \n\nGetting into the tub, he sunk low enough for his muzzle to be submerged. His nose was still above water, keeping him safe from drowning at all. His legs were bent, feet placed on the other end of the tub while his knees poked out. All the aching and pain in his body was very present, but it felt better soaking in hot water now than ever before. He hadn’t taken a bath since Zonic had washed him back when he was immobile. It felt odd, he’d ask the other to wash him if he wasn’t in such a shitty mood. Still, Scourge closed his eyes and sighed. Thinking about the events of today, they were way more eventful than he could remember. Seeing Zhadow for the first time, the dumbass kids that took him on… they pissed him off but it wasn’t enough to really ruin his day. In fact, despite being so upset, the moment during lunch stuck out to him the most. \n\nIt wasn’t easy to recount all the things Zonic said, the way he fell in love with Scourge was still such an odd thing to come to terms with. Here he was, a fuck up, a criminal that had a terrible temper that had -blood- on his hands, yet like all good Sonic’s, this cop looked past all that. He wasn’t a ‘monster’ in this one’s eyes, still someone who could probably redeem themselves. Scourge still didn’t believe that but being seen as someone that deserved a second chance and wasn’t just reduced to the thing that made him ‘anti-sonic’ felt...well, kind of good. He seemed to be so much more than a bad person, there was much more to him and for some reason, Zonic saw that. It made no sense and would never make sense to him, but it simply made Scourge feel like he was worth something in this strange place. \n\nIt took him about thirty minutes before he got out, still bewildered that he was on the damn wall and not on what would be the floor in his own dimension. Scourge dried off, placing the towel on his head and rubbed his spines as dry as he could. It’d been awhile since he went without clothes. It felt comforting. He opened the door, walking out from the bathroom and stared at the blue hog. Hm, he could sort of feel that emotion creep back… It wasn’t as strong but it was there. A calmness that kept him from thinking too much  about the dumb junk that ensued today. He kept the towel around his neck, moving over to Zonic’s side of the bed and grabbed his arm, spinning him toward him. His grip was a bit tight but he wasn’t trying to hurt. \n\n“Day ain’t all the way over yet, ya know. I’m fine.. In pain, but it’s whatever.” He frowned at the other, those goddamn green eyes though. What was it about this Sonic that stood out to him? They all looked alike so how was it that there was such a uniqueness that oozed from this one… He didn’t know. “Lookit you, being all soft again. Sounding like you were close to cryin’ cause I got hurt. Who does that?” His voice was low again, hand on Zonic’s chin. “I’m good, Blue.” [/color]\n\n[color=#204a87]Zonic sat on the bed, looked through the menu without really being able to read it, put the menu aside, and picked it up again. Rinse and repeat. He just couldn't concentrate. He paced through the room for a few minutes and sat down again. He was worried. A few minutes were spent standing in front of the bathroom door with a fist raised to knock. But then he didn't. He didn't know what to say so he sat back down hugging his bear and waited.\n\nOne of his ears swiveled back as he heard the bathroom door but he didn't actually turn around until Scourge actively grabbed and turned him around. Scourge seemed calmer now. He was looking at him directly. Talking to him. He felt relieved but his chest also felt awfully tight suddenly. \"I wasn't about to cry.\" He tried to retort... unfortunately that failed allover the place as his voice was breaking. His face felt hot but not the same way as when he was embarrassed or shy. He hadn't felt like this in a... very long time. Suddenly swallowing was painful and his eyes were stinging. Still he couldn't look away.\n\n\"I never cry.\" He wanted to sound offended but it was hard to accomplish while his vision was blurring and one tear after the other were rolling down his cheeks. He didn't even know why he was crying. There were so many things. Frustration because he'd wanted them to have nothing but fun today and things had gone so wrong. Relief that Scourge was more or less okay and calm again. Guilt because he was partially responsible for all the things that had gone wrong today. But really it was mostly relief. He hadn't seriously cried in so many years that he was seriously surprised by how much it hurt.\n\nThis was awfully embarrassing but he couldn't do anything about it. It'd just been too much for too long. And Scourge being gentle with him again was the last bit that made him overflow. Ironically he'd probably been A-Okay if Scourge had ignored him the rest of the night. Emotions were such a strange thing. He could bottle them up forever and ever, but the moment someone he cared about showed him kindness he broke.\n\nHe didn't even know what to say anymore. He wanted to say thank you and apologize. He wanted to ask Scourge questions and just go to sleep. He wanted to hold him and give him space. So instead of doing any of that he just quietly let the tears roll out of his eyes, holding Scourge's gaze. For the third time today he realised how much he was in love with the other. No matter how irrational. How much he needed him. How much he wanted him to just be part of his life and never leave.[/color]\n\n[color=#4e9a06]With words betraying the actions, Scourge didn’t know what to do. He didn’t expect actual tears. He tensed up, looking around almost frantically. Why was this happening, what did he do to cause this?? \n\n“H-Hey…! Wait a sec,” He said, not sure if saying that would even help. He stood up right and looked around. “Are you hungry? Do you need me to get food or??” He huffed, “I mean… look at the fuckin bear, isn’t this nice?? Comforting or whatever? Stop the crying… Chaos, this is weird, you’re a grown man, stop… !!” He frowned, wiping Zonic’s eyes and pulling the towel off his neck. He sat next to the other, patting under his eyes. “Jeez, I’m sorry okY? I shouldn’t have fought back, I shoulda minded my own business. We didn’t get in trouble, right? It’s cool! Ughhh… this is so weird, Blue please.” His ears flattened, he felt so odd witnessing this. “I swear I’ll fuckin’ behave, I know I fuck up a lot… is this cause I didn’t answer you earlier? Or the hug? Is the bear not good??” He pulled the bear up and looked it over. \n\nThis was really hard for him to understand. He didn’t really see all the stress that accumulated over time, just the events of today. He couldn’t pinpoint what made Zonic cry. He even said he never cried and here he was, face all wet. Scourge was beginning to panic for real. \n\n“Do… Do i have to call Zhadow or whatever? He probably knows more about this than I do. Maybe he can help you way more than me, I don’t… know! Just… please stop??” Scourge’s hands pressed against Zonic’s cheeks, smooshing them so his lips were pursed. He rubbed Zonic’s cheeks, trying to get him to laugh at looking so silly. “Look! Ya got duck face! Aha, it looks weird but it’s cool, right? Come on, stop being sad? I don’t handle this shit well and I know I fuck up a lot but I swear I wasn’t trying… ugh… Do you need to… cuddle??” He felt uncomfortable with the idea, but gave Zonic kisses on his cheek and head. He pet his ears and pulled him into a hug. This was so...gay and … weird. \n\n“Is that better? Come on…” He kissed his cheeks again, kissing his lips and tapped his head against Zonic’s. “I’m bad at this, man. You can’t expect me to be a pro. Don’t make me call Zamy now… please stop crying ugh…” [/color]\n\n[color=#204a87]Zonic watched Scourge go through a full fledged panic attack. He opened his mouth a few times to say something but was interrupted by the green one's fussing. Halfway through Scourge's panicked shenanigans Zonic had fallen in love with him all over again. He kept quiet through the hug and the petting and only as he was begged to stop crying for the nth time he chuckled quietly. There were still tears pouring out of his eyes as he cupped Scourge's cheeks and kissed him.\n\nHe leaned his forehead against Scourge's again after breaking the kiss. \"Shut up you idiot... I love you so much already don't make me fall even harder.\" He croaked, sniffed and kissed him again, pulling Scourge down with him, so they were laying down side by side. \"I'm not sad. Or mad. Or anything else. I'm just... relieved that you're okay. I'm glad that... no one called the police. That Zhadow didn't try to take you. That you didn't enjoy that hooker as much as I feared you would. That... we can stop fighting now. That it wasn't you who started the fight today. That you're being so gentle.\" He sniffed again rubbing the tears off his own face. \"I love the bear...\" He added quietly. \"I can't believe you actually got me one... I'm sorry today wasn't what I wanted it to be... and for crying, too. I'm not sad. I promise.\" He smiled. The tears were slowly stopping, too.\n\n\"But you can continue spoiling me anyway. Like petting my head or something.\" He joked, even though his voice was still sort of broke. He rubbed his forehead against Scourge's chest. \"You're surprisingly good at being gentle, you know that? And you're surprisingly cute when you're panicked and fussy, too. More sides to you that I didn't know.\"\n\nScourge was warm. He was close and the short fur on his chest was soft. Zonic could feel his heartbeat against his forehead. It was embarrassing that he'd cried but... somehow... he felt a little lighter now. \"Nothing bad's gonna happen anymore now..... I promise me crying was the last thing.\" He raised his head again to look at Scourge. \"Thank you... Despite the chaos... It was a really nice first date. For me anyway. Now we'll have to wait a while again before we can actually celebrate your leg healing though huh?\"[/color]\n\n[color=#4e9a06]It wasn’t fun thinking that he messed up but his words and panic died down. He was being kissed back and reassured, Scourge didn’t have much of a will to continue with his rambles, just allowing Zonic to explain himself. Laying on the bed, being held and cuddled, he was a bit… agitated. He flipped out over something but not something too big. Zonic was just overwhelmed by all this shit and was fine, ugh. He got so worked up… and it wasn’t that big of a deal. What cooled him back to being calm was being told ‘I love you’. It felt like something in his head broke. \n\nZonic’s confession said a lot but this was something that might become commonplace between them. He was going to be told ‘I love you’ now… why did that… break him. Scourge felt frozen on the bed,stiffening up as Zonic rubbed his cheek on Scourge’s cheek. There was so much going through his mind, Zonic was serious. Why didn’t this settle in as hard when Zonic told him he had fallen in love with him? Well… it did, but the fact that this was a constant…! He’d be told this all the time, it got his cheeks to become a bright pink, it just made him feel so weird but fluttery on the inside. That feeling was coming back, the same one from lunch earlier today. It was starting to overwhelm him. He didn’t think he was in love, but goddamn it he knew it was something close, right?? Still, for he himself, it didn’t feel right to return such heavy words. They made Scourge feel so impacted, he couldn’t say it. Those words carried such a meaning that he didn’t understand and he couldn’t lie to Zonic when he didn’t get it just yet. \n\nAll Scourge was aware of was that he caught something great here and he needed to do better to keep him around. All the sympathy and worry he felt for Zonic intensified along with his attachment. He’d do better if he could, though he knew he wasn’t going to be super reformed like Zonic may hope… but he’d do what he could. Scourge looked down, legs entangling with Zonic’s. He began to kiss him all over the face, pulling him as close as he could. He felt that fire again, the electric feeling that took over. He needed to be close again. It felt like a refreshing state of mind that was still so new to him. Yes, this was what he wanted some hours ago before Zhadow appeared. He was so… content. \n“Stop sayin’ shit like that, I’ll lose my mind.” He said in between kisses. His legs rubbing against Zonic’s. His hand lowered, Zonic’s lower abdomen rubbed and caressed. “I’m gonna fuck you so hard. I swear to Chaos I’ll mark you all over.” He couldn’t help it. Something about Zonic’s total devotion to him was a huge turn on. [/color]\n[color=#204a87]\nZonic felt the shift in the mood. Suddenly just cuddling with Scourge felt a lot more intimate. His eyes closed by themselves as his face was covered in kisses and he was pulled closer. So warm. This felt calm. This felt right. He returned the kisses as best as he could. Wrapping his arms around the other's back he reached for his communicator and a second later the inhibitor collar opened with a clicking sound, only to be pulled off the other's neck and dropped on the floor.\n\nHe didn't waste any time, leaning forward to kiss Scourge's neck, his teeth scratching over the skin and fur gently before he sucked some of it between his lips, leaving a dark spot that was gonna be hidden by fur. But at least he knew it was there. \"That's fair... at least I'm not losing my mind alone.\" He mumbled against the wet skin and fur. He was gonna leave more marks on Scourge tonight. wherever he could reach but for now...\n\nHe grabbed the other's shoulders, turning him on his back, and straddled him. He had to get rid of his clothes. \"Clothes really do get in the way.\" He said, pulling his shirt over his head. Zonic let his hands run down the other's chest, looking at him with half lidded eyes. He was so tempted to let scourge do whatever he wanted but... \"Are you sure... I mean your leg and all. You could lay back and let me do everything.\" He tilted his head slightly, grinding his rump against Scourge's crotch just once to prove his point.\n\nNot that he minded either way. This was probably the last act of reason and logic that he'd be capable off until morning came. His logic was already failing him as he took a good look at Scourge. Tracing a finger along his scars, up his chest and neck until he could cup his cheek again. His eyes were an open book at this point. There were so many emotions happening inside his body. He couldn't believe his luck. Scourge was right there. Right where, just yesterday, he thought he'd ever see him again. Everything had suddenly improved so much on one end, and gotten so much more chaotic on the other. And yet he felt hopeful. Maybe everything would just work out in their favour. Maybe miracles could really happen. After all, what were the chances for -this- particular situation to ever happen?[/color]\n\n[center][b]TBC.[/b][/center]","writing_bbcode_parsed":"
CHAPTER XXXI


Scourge rolled his eyes, though hearing Zonic sound just like him was...eerie. He turned to Zonic and stared but then cleared his throat.

“I never skipped schoool,” He mocked, using Zonic’s voice then began to laugh almost obnoxiously loud. “That sounds -just- like you!!” He kicked his legs slightly. His laugh was loud enough to catch the attention of their fellow movie goers but as the lights dimmed, he tried his best to silence himself to a lower degree. “Also, why -not- prank call her? Wait, you’ll suck at being a disgusting asshole like myself so that might not work out. Coward.” He chuckled, sinking a little lower now that Zonic was leaning on him. Even without being much of the cuddly type, he seemed to adapt to things like this if he liked the person enough. Still, he wouldn’t reciprocate the same action by snuggling up close or nuzzling the other. That there just felt weird.

“It’s… ugh, not fine but. We’ll manage. I mean we have this shit movie to wat-”

“Shh! The movie’s starting!”

“...” Scourge sat up, looking down at whoever shushed in. The man of that lovey dovey couple adjusting himself after turning back around… him. “You wanna fuckin’ say that to my face, dude?”

“The -movie- is -starting-,” the guy repeated, looking back up at Scourge. The girlfriend pat the guy on the shoulder, giving him a look as to say not to fight. He huffed, turning back to the screen and leaned back.

“Yeah, that’s right. Listen to ya girl and shut the fuck up,”

“Yo, are you serious??” The guy stood up, turning towards Scourge. His girlfriend tried to yank him back down, this was not the best place to pick a fight. Scourge on the other hand just chuckled and remained seated. He shrugged, eating more popcorn as the girl tried to calm her boyfriend down so they could sit and watch the movie. It took them a while, but with a few angry spats between them, they were finally seated. Scourge felt sooo good doing that. He leaned back in his seat, chuckling to himself and drank some more of his soda.
“Fuckin’ bitch…” He said under his breath. “Sooo tempted to piss him off more.”

Zonic snorted at Scourge impersonating him. It sounded -so- strange but so authentic. "I guess... maybe you should call her impersonating -me- but with -your- lack of manners." He chuckled and actually flinched at the guy complaining at them. His ears perked up and he sat straight again. Scourge, however was so much faster to react and before he knew what was happening there was a verbal fight going on. One that Scourge was clearly winning.

He was ready to interrupt the two if it got too wild though and as Scourge sat back down he earned a very displeased frown from Zonic. Still part of him found the scene entertaining and he turned the candy in his fingers again, considering to throw it at the guy's head. Instantly halting his thoughts and scolding himself for even considering it. Instead he sank back into his seat and slightly stretched his neck to be able to reach Scourge's cheek, kissing it briefly. "You're awful, you know that, right?"

Apparently his voice had been too loud as well, because the guy was standing again, shaking off his very annoyed and slightly desperate girlfriend. Ah, he was an asshole too. Zonic briefly regretted not throwing the candy at his head. He was about to walk up to them but his girlfriend stopped him efficiently eventually she just pulled him along to a seat that was further away from Zonic and Scourge. Technically not allowed, of course, but the theater was empty so it didn't matter.

Zonic noticed that he was grinning only now, throwing the candy into his mouth instead. "We should make more noise..." He proposed in a hushed tone. Why was this fun??? This should not be fun. This should not count as entertainment to him. He was a cop for fucks sake. He couldn't enjoy riling up an innocent civilian. What was -wrong- with him?! Well... the answer to this question sat next to him. Why was being bad so fun?

Aw, they got up and moved. Scourge didn’t care, the movie just barely started, it wasn’t like they lost all the information they needed to keep up. For once, Scourge held his tongue, letting the couple walk away without him saying anything, though Zonic seemed to be...catching on?

“What?” Scourge asked, turned to the other, actually surprised. “-You-??? Want to be louder?? Are you actually Zonic or did you get replaced by a clone?” He did’d know how to digest this. Was Scourge already rubbing off on the other? It seemed like it. So with that, Scourge decided, yes. He began to woop and holler when the title came up, clapped whenever there was an explosion. He couldn’t help but talk to the screen whenever something cool happened. He was great at this, just doing what he knew best. It felt like official permission was given to him, not that he needed it, but he was riding out the whole ‘be a dick’ thing as much as he could. Having Zonic actually join in felt like a little treat.

Scourge began to quiet down when the movie actually grabbed his attention. There was a really pretty mouse actress and a lot of almost-sex scenes with her. He whistled and laughed at the poor csensorship they were doing. Was it different in the No Zone how they handled the PG-13 movies? This felt sliiightly raunchier than the movies he remembered back home. The other people below them were between annoyed or uncaring. One other person had their phone out, so in the end it wasn’t too big of a deal. Scourge somehow had a nice little connection with another girl a few seats below as she would hoot and holler too, clapping when she felt it was needed and expressed fake anger when things went bad. The boyfriend of the girl was so irritated, he got up and left.

When the movie was done, Scouge shoved all his trash onto the floor and laid his legs out. He felt so much better, stretching his arms above his head as he reached out.

“That was a damn fine movie, even if it was pretty stupid. I guess no dimension is safe from mindless action like that… More sexy than I can remember action movies being...and also, there was this weird thing about angles, a looot more dynamic than what I’m used to I guess.” He stood up, sipping the last of his drink and looked at the people getting up. The girlfriend who decided to stay behind was huffing at her texts, the guy that had been on his phone still was and slowly exited, the girl that joined in being loud looked up at the two and gave a thumbs up before leaving. He was sure the last two came in pretty late… “Anywho, whatcha wanna do now? I’m completely satisfied for now.”

Zonic laughed more at Scourge's reactions to the movie than at the movie itself. The sexscenes did absolutely nothing for him though. He watched carefully at first, trying to see what exactly got Scourge whistling. The girl was pretty. The guy was... nevermind that. The music during the sexual scenes was nice though so in the end Zonic enjoyed them at least for that part.

He was obviously not as good as Scourge at making noise and being rude but he cheered and clapped along as well as he could. Not without a good portion of guilt, though. The high speed action scenes were his favourite. In front of a screen as big as this one it made him feel like he was moving fast. That was exhilarating.

At the end of the movie he gave the girl a few rows down a grin. She'd clearly enjoyed not being the only noisier one. Alright. That had been fun. Back to being a respectable citizen and officer of the law. He bent down to pick up Scourge's trash and got up from his seat. "I had fun too. It was really dynamic and the action scenes were fast paced... for an action movie it really wasn't half bad." He nodded, though he was well aware that, had he gone alone, he wouldn't have enjoyed the movie half as much. No matter. He had fun.

As for what they could do now? It was still only afternoon. 5pm to be exact. To early to turn in for the night. They couldn't do anything that involved too much walking because of Scourge's leg so the options were limited. "Come on, let's think on the way out." He offered Scourge a hand to help him up. "I like the idea of staying the night at a hotel... but it's definitely still too early to think about sleeping." he mused while leaving the cinema slowly due to Scourge's leg, though it seemed to be a little better now.

"Oh I know!" He suddenly exclaimed. "What are your thoughts on gaming arcades? I've never been... but with you it's bound to be fun. I bet you're good at these types of things. According to the girls at work having your man win you some sort of stuffed animal at an arcade is mandatory date etiquette. And I mean it's sort of a date..." He grinned and shrugged. 99% of what he'd just said was a joke. He had no interest in bringing a plushie home. Why. For what? Still there was a part of him who was slightly curious if Scourge would take him seriously. And an even bigger part of him knew that -if- he was taken seriously he would treasure the heck out of whatever Scourge gave him. It made him feel silly. Was he a girl now? Was it even okay for a guy to think about these types of things? It felt like he'd get bullied for it at work if anyone found out. But then... no one would find out. Chaos, he'd never ever had a stuffed animal before in his life.

But either way an arcade seemed like a good idea. They could sit while playing most the games and Scourge would get to feel superior teaching him the games and possibly winning a lot. Nothing to raise the king's mood than to feed his superiority complex. Zonic was dead set on having this day be a nice memory for both of them despite the Zhadow drama after lunch.

It was almost comical how zonic decided to clean up Scourge’s mess, but he didn’t help. It wasn’t their responsibility if there was a janitor to clean it up, Scourge’s own dumb philosophy on things which of course justified his laziness. When exiting the cinema, he looked down at the hands. He didn’t feel that unnecessarily intense emotion to touch the other now, so his hand wasn’t gripping Zonic’s as tightly as the other was doing to him. Getting back to the car, Scourge kept looking around, ears alert for all the sounds around them. Sure… an arcade sounded nice, but he hadn’t been to one since he was a kid. Was there a huge difference in the No Zone’s arcades? It’d be pretty interesting to play games on the damn wall, but it was still odd.

He got into the passenger seat and looked his leg over. It was… fine, but he knew that the aching pain in it really needed rest. He didn’t want to just go back to the house or whatever hotel Zonic was set on going to, he wanted to stay out longer. He frowned, rubbing it a bit and sat back with a pout on his face. He would love to run again… but that wouldn’t happen unless he made sure his leg was okay.

“As long as I don’t have to win anything specific, sure.” He said, shrugging. “I haven’t played arcade games in forever, and who knows if the games here are entirely different from home.” He didn’t mind though, just maybe wasn’t something he was super thrilled to do but knew it -could be fun. Scourge wasn’t looking forward to being surrounded by bratty teens but he knew he could easily kick their asses if they decided to mess with him. He was aching for a fight, but his leg actually worried him. He was trying his best to remember to be as light-footed as he could be.

Zonic looked over Scourge's leg mildly worried. "We'll take it slow. And I suggest we don't move too much tomorrow...or... you don't move to much. And you don't have to win me anything." he chuckled. So Scourge was actually considering it. Now it really felt like they were on a date. Zonic's mood was all better, but clearly Scourge's wasn't quite up there yet.

"If you don't like the Arcades I'm open for suggestions." The drive wasn't very long. Everything in the city seemed to be sort of close, despite the city itself being rather huge. The Arcade itself was gigantic. Probably 4 floors tall and packed with...stuff. Zonic instantly felt completely overwhelmed with the noise. Every game seemed to play a different jingle. It was very confusing. Honestly he wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. Whatever it was, it was not -this-. He felt a bit lost. Everything was blinking and shining and flashing and making noise. It was fascinating but also really chaotic. Unconsciously he took Scourge's hand, walking slightly behind him.

It was more than clear that he hadn't been to a place like this before. "This is... unexpectedly intimidating." He said just loud enough to be heard by Scourge. Scourge, whom he was using as a shield right now. There were a lot of people younger and older ones but because the arcade was so big they were spread thin and it wasn't overly hard to get to the actual machines.

"Maybe this wasn't as great an Idea as I thought it was..." He confessed following Scourge deeper into the building. Still who knew... this could still be fun? They just had to actually play the games. "Anything look familiar?"

Scourge didn’t respond, he didn’t want Zonic mothering him on his leg, but he knew he had to be careful. With such short drives from one place to another, he wondered if there were places a little further out so he had time to actually sit. But it wasn’t much of an issue for him. He didn’t mind, as the moment the arcade came into view, his eyes lit up so fast. He thought he wouldn’t care or would rather be doing something more ‘adult-like’--which he wasn’t sure what that’d be-- but this right here… a massive arcade that seemed to have a great assortment of games. He was slow to get out of the car, the outside wasn’t as colorful as it was inside, but man when they entered, his inner child was screaming.

The different lights, colors, sounds and overall mood of the place instantly lit him up. Scourge hadn’t been to an arcade so massive and this was definitely a huge throw back to his childhood. He felt nostalgic, excited, eager to play. He was gonna do his goddamn best on these games, as his competitive side began to take over. He didn’t mind his hand being grabbed, he now knew he was in a place where he was more knowledgeable than his companion. He was the one that knew how to work these machines. It felt good, he smirked wildly, turning to Zonic and laughed.

“Have you never been to an arcade before?? Aren’t you excited?” He did his best to not job over to the counter for tokens. He nearly pounded his fists on the counter. “TOKENS.” He said to the clerk, grinning. “Lot’s of tokens! Let’s go!!” He turned to Zonic, “A lot of tokens to last us a while! C’mon you’ll get used to it!!” His shoulders hunched, his body slightly shaking. The pain in his leg completely ignored. Once they had a giant bucket of tokens, Scourge pulled Zonic over to the first game he saw. A racing game, something to sit and play. He pointed to the seat next to him. “We can’t run but we can race on here. Get a token inside and pick your car. I bet you I’m faster than you in -all- forms.” He sat down, setting the bucket of tokens in between the seats. “I can’t believe this place is so big! There’s like...4 fuckin floors!”

He started up 2 player, getting his hands on the wheel and accelerated the moment the race began. Scourge was enjoying himself, driving as fast and wildly as he could but drifted so well. He enjoyed the simulated adrenaline. It was interesting how this overly fake car race still made him feel so damn excited. Of course, since he was so experienced in these games, he won. He turned to Zonic and chuckled.

“Wow, you gotta play these things more often, dude. They’re not hard but I’ll let your noobie ways slide for now.” He picked up the bucket. “Wanna try a shooting game? You being a cop and all… you might actually ace it better than me.” He got up, finding the first nice looking shooter that had plastic toy guns attached. Scourge was already making it happen without Zonic doing it himself, the game was set, the players were ready and now Scourge was waiting for Zonic to pick up his gun. “It’s fun! Just shoot at the zombies, yeah??”

Zonic was suddenly pulled along. Well... at least Scourge seemed to be enjoying himself all of a sudden. Okay this was fine. He could do this. It just took a bit of getting used to probably. He felt a bit less overwhelmed holding Scourge's hand, and since the criminal seemed to know exactly what to do and where to go he could just let him drag him along. "I've never been, no. I spent my youth -studyin- remember?" He followed Scourge to the racing game. Chaos, it took him ages just to figure out how to make everything move. Obviously he lost gloriously, feeling a little sour. Unfair. He had absolutely no experience of course he lost. He was almost tempted to practice some more so he could beat Scourge.

But shooting sounded better so he followed. This, in fact was much much easier. It was like the shooting range at work. Except these bullets wouldn't kill anyone. Killing only the zombies and not the civilians was easy. This was literally a training task during police training. You got a bunch of targets, moving or static, some of which were criminals others were hostages. It was a matter of fast decision making. And -of course- he was the best at it. He was fast at everything. Well... except that stupid racing game. But that thing must've been broken anyway. The controls were all janky and it didn't feel realistic at all.

Needless to say the shooting went much much better for him and just when he suggested to do it again he was pulled again to the next game and that was that for his chances at winning. Pretty much every other game here was new to him and he kept losing. Somewhere after the fourths loss he was mentally so exhausted from all the noise and input that he had to take a break... somehow. "I... I'mma sit that one out and find a restroom. I'll hurry so... stay here please."

Zonic escaped another potential loss, only as he entered the restroom he realized he just left a criminal unsupervised in a 4 floored arcade. He cringed and hurried. What could go wrong, right? Scourge wouldn't just suddenly escape while they were having fun. He still had a ton of chips to play away. No, he wasn't worried about Scourge escaping. What he was worried about was Scourge -not- waiting at that specific game and that it'd take him ages to find him again.

He'd been so desperate to get a minute of quiet to sort his overflowing brain that he hadn't thought about this at all. He left the restroom after hurriedly washing his hands hoping to find Scourge exactly where he'd left him. Except... as he returned to the hall he faced another problem; Where exactly had he -left- Scourge??? Everything looked the same. The lights and colours were so overpowering. He had no idea what the game looked like that he left his prisoner at. And after searching for it for a little he had to admit that he was hopelessly lost. Which floor was this anyway?

The games were fun, even if Zonic was easy to beat, Scourge had to say that Zonic’s skill with the shooting game impressed him even though he was the least bit surprised. Of course there was such a perfect score with that, something he was slightly envious of. But from game to game, he could best the other endlessly. Whack-A-Mole, dance games that he shouldn’t have been playing but played anyways, rhythm games that required his hands to press the buttons ultra fast, more racing games, tabletop stuff, there was just so much. He didn’t mind Zonic going to the restroom, nodding as the other left and continued on.

Scourge was also lost, lost in the allure of the games around him. He was stuck in trying to get the best scores, pulling out tickets left and right. He even tried some crane machines just because. He smiled to himself, moving down to the next floor completely forgetting he was here with someone else. His mind was set, he needed to win as much as possible. Game after game, he came across a group of guys that were playing skee ball, he knew he could best these guys. He came up to them making himself known.

“Bet all of you I can get a better score than you.” He said, so confident and excited. He just wanted to lose himself even further in this arcade, what a wonderful escape. The guys looked at one another, not sure who this green smug hedgehog was but they decided to play along. The game was a simple alternative to bowling, only getting the balls into certain slots for points was the goal. The ball was big enough to fit in one hand, the guys lined up in their own alley and began. Scourge was so confident, he kept shouting when he got it in the 50 or 100 points, it sort of annoyed one of the other guys. As the game went on, Scourge came in second place out of four other people, which wasn’t so bad but the winner did gloat. It wasn’t something Scourge was hoping for but it was fine, second place was… okay.

“You came over here all high and mighty and still came in second, bro.” The winner boy said, highfiving one of his friends. “I’d rematch you but it’d just be the same.” Scourge grumbled, but smirked and shrugged.

“Sure, but you’re just scared I’ll win again.”

“Bring it the fuck on.” Both went one on one, the friends of the winner cheering him on as Scourge attempted to win. They went at it, Scourge had one yet another rematch as the other guy was not satisfied. “You fuckin’ threw your ball! You didn’t roll it right, that’s how you won!”

“I didn’t, piss baby. Why ya being a sore loser??” Things got a bit heated, Scourge was antsy now, getting challenging by some kid who was probably fresh out of highschool. It didn’t bother him any, even though there were four other boys now surrounding him, he could still fight if he needed to. Only now his leg felt as though it was becoming a lot more of a pain to stand on, but again, Scourge ignored.

“Rematch. I’ll show you I’m better, otherwise just get the fuck outta here.”

“Ain’t your arcade to be tellin’ me what to do, kiddo. Accept defeat and I’ll be on my merry way.”

“But you -cheated-”

“I’m gettin’ real sick of you accusin me of shit I ain’t did!” Scourge stood closer to the kid, growling as one of the other boys kicked the back of Scourge’s bad leg. He caved, falling to the floor. The pain was worse than it had been in a week or so. What the fuck--

The others jumped in, pushing him over with their feet as they stomped on him a few times. It wasn’t any horrible beating he would’ve suffered at the hands of someone like Sonic or Shadow, but it still hurt and pissed him off. When the group decided they had enough, one poured their drink on him. Whoops, that wasn’t a fun experience and it really made Scourge upset. He stood up, not allowing these guys to get out of this scott free. He raised up his sleeves, going after them and a fight suddenly ensued on the third floor.

Zonic was hopelessly lost until he heard commotion. He had a really bad feeling about this. Any kind of fight going on was never a good thing. Even less if there was a chance that Scourge was involved. He walked in the direction that people were hurrying away from. With every step he became a bit faster. Please, don't be Scourge. Please, don't be Scourge. He prayed to no one but hoped his prayers were heard anyway.

There were horror scenarios playing in his head of the police being called. Scourge being taken. Scourge being injured. Anything. Chaos, please no. He was running zipping in snakelines through the arcade trying to make it through the people to where the fight was.

When he arrived on the scene it was chaos. He made way for a guy stumbling past him and caught him by his arm before he hit the ground, sitting him down slowly instead. He couldn't see Scourge but the fight had to be broken up anyway. In an instant he had his work face on and stepped into the middle of the fight. Catching one guy's fist and a second guy's wrist, spinning him around and forcing him to kneel. "POLICE! STOP THE FIGHTING THIS INSTANT! What is going on here?!" He asked the kneeling guy with a stern face, holding up his badge. This made the fighters stop successfully.

"That green asshole picked a fight!!!" The boy on the ground shouted, clearly still upset. Zonic felt his heart plummet into his stomach and he turned around. There he was. His prayers hadn't been heard. Not at all. Scourge was wet with some sort of drink, bleeding from his nose and he wasn't putting any weight on his injured leg.

"The fight is over." He said looking away from Scourge to scan the other trouble makers' faces.

"Ha! Yer in trouble, now, punk!" The boy who had originally started the fight said confidently while scrambling to his legs and his friends were grinning as well. Zonic snapped. There was no doubt in his mind that Scourge was an overly competitive asshole but he knew he had to be provoked to actually go through the trouble to engage into a fist fight. Especially when he was already injured -and- wearing the inhibitor collar.

"You guys are staying. Everyone else. Scram." Zonic said shooing the onlookers away. "So... punk." He said towering over the younger one's despite the fact that he was naturally quite short. These guys, thankfully, were shorter. "-Who- started the fight?" "-Him-!!!" Zonic turned around to look at Scourge. "Who started the fight, Scourge?" He was glaring and tense. All he wanted to know was who hurt Scourge. And if he -really- started the fight. In which case he'd be in trouble. But Zonic still had doubts. He -wanted- to believe in Scourge.

The fight got pretty intense. Trying to fight off four different guys despite them being younger, it still made a drastic difference against him. Scourge hated that he was so weak compared to his actual strength. The fucking collar on his neck really worked against him as he was just as strong as any ol joe his size. He hated it, but never backed down as he knew he didn’t fuck up this time… well, he didn’t -try- to at least. Things like this just happened around him, he wasn’t looking for a fight at this time but it came to him anyways. He was punching, trying to not use his legs for kicks, as his bad leg was the one he’d rely on to land some heavy attacks. He was punched and kicked from different angles, it all hurt more than he remembered. He couldn’t keep this up for much longer due to his injuries still being somewhat there.

Hearing Zonic stop the fight felt like relief. He fell back on his ass, rubbing at his nose and gasping for air. Even though these little trolls were small, together they were pretty damn challenging to fight. Cowards. He stood up, his leg hurt so bad but he was not about to let Zonic’s work face intimidate him. He was now fully aware of how bad this could’ve gone… and one of the clerks were already reaching for the phone to call security, but thank Chaos Zonic was there. They set the phone back down, also relieved. Scourge lowered his head a little bit, he kind of felt bad it got to this point but...damn.

“You fuckin’ pricks started the fight! You got pissy cause I won the rematch!” He barked, no way was someone going to -lie- on him like that. Not in front of Zonic when Scourge’s behavior was at least the most tolerable it’d ever been.

“You came over to us and started actin’ all tough! You provoked a fight,” One of the boys, possibly the eldest of the four spoke up. “He was talkin shit the moment he came over, sayin’ he’d win against all of us then got butthurt cause he got second place!”

“And then I asked for a rematch,” Scourge growled, “Not once did I raise a hand at you!” He balled up his fists, stepping closer, he was ready to continue the fight regardless if his body was screaming for him to sit the hell down. They kept arguing back and forth, the kids were yelling over Scourge accusing him of bullying them and being unfair, cheating and overall trying to best them with his fists. It wasn’t true and Scourge knew it wasn’t, turning to Zonic for reassurance. “You -know- I wouldn’t just act like a dick to pick a fight with -teenagers-! I was just trying to have a stupid competition and they got mad and attacked -me-! I swear I wasn’t trying to mess up, Blue!”

Zonic had heard enough. He didn't look at Scourge, because he knew he'd grow soft again. Hug him or fuss over his injuries. This was not the time. Instead he looked at the kids. "So what you're saying is. He was going to compete with you in a competitive game, in a gaming arcade. And you agreed. He lost the first set and asked you for a rematch, which -you- lost. So you decide it's a good idea to empty your drink on him and fight him four against one?" He asked. His voice was bone dry.

But before the kids could actually throw more accusations his way he raised a hand. "You will write me the adresses and phone numbers of your legal guardians down, right now. Ma'am?" He called the clerk over who'd been about to call the police. "I ask that these four are banned from the arcade for at least a while, can you arrange that? I will make sure their guardians are contacted and notified of this... unacceptable behaviour."

"Yes, of course officer. I will talk to the manager about it."

"Thank you." He said handing the kids paper to write down their Guardians' numbers. "And you guys, maybe next time before you go into an arcade, consider that every game can also be lost, and that this is meant to be a place to have fun. Your guardians will be informed of this... act of cowardice. And just as a warning if any of you write down false information on that paper I will personally sue all of you for compensation for immaterial damage. Aka. the injuries you inflicted upon him." He growled, half hoping some of them would write wrong numbers on the paper so he could make their lives a legal hell for a few months or years. After all... it was all he could do.

What he -really- wanted was pummel them. But of course he couldn't.

The talk with the manager was brief and he excused himself, leaving his number behind. The staff had been apologizing to him and Scourge repeatedly offering to call an ambulance but Zonic declined. Once the teens were taken care of he hooked his arm around Scourge stabilizing him as he walked him out of the arcade and back to the car.

He sat his prisoner down carefully and finally let out the breath that he'd been holding for a while now. His work face melted away in an instant now that they were outside, making way for sincere worry. He looked upset. But instead of saying anything he pulled Scourge into a careful hug, trying not to touch any sore spots. "How hurt are you?" His voice was soft now as he let go of scourge. "I'm sorry I couldn't look at you or talk to you in there or I would've... I would've beat them all up myself." He said clenching his teeth. "I knew it wasn't you who started. I didn't doubt you for a second... but I'm still glad I was right." He said gently tilting Scourge's head to the side to look at the place that were starting to bruise.

It was no question that the teens did as they were told, giving Scourge mean looks. He brushed them off, those meant nothing. He crossed his arms, sitting at a nearby bench as he waited for Zonic to finish up his business. He didn’t expect this to happen, and he still had so many tokens left. It felt bad returning them, though in the meantime that Zonic handled the whole thing with the arcade boss, he exchanged the tickets he got for a rubix cube and a bear. He wasn’t sure what else to spend the tickets on but this was fine enough for now, and there was a stuffed animal in the mix.

Being hauled back to the car and sat down, Scourge was a lot less okay. He was irritated and wanted to kick ass again, get those kids and dunk them all in toilet water. He wasn’t about to allow this to mess up his day, but man it already felt so ruined. He felt sticky and gross, as if he was starting to smell. He put his prizes in the back seat, suddenly feeling a warm and rather worried embrace. Scourge took a moment to pat Zonic’s back, though half-heartedly. He wasn’t in the mood for hugs.

“It make it seem like I nearly got beat to death or something. What those dumbasses did doesn’t compare to prison, I’m good.” He said, leaning back out of the hug. He was so… mad. He didn’t mean to take it out on Zonic but the concern annoyed him. He felt like he was being babied and the inhibitor made everything that much harder. He could easily defend himself against for teens that were almost his size. He could easily turn them inside out and yet he probably lost that. It made him feel so much less than he knew he was. “I’m fine.” He said, not looking at Zonic. He was embarrassed, this wasn’t supposed to happen. He may have been amped up for a fight earlier, but not one this poorly fought. Scourge sat in his seat, putting on his seat belt and crossed his arms. “Guess we go to that hotel, right? Also uh… that bear in the back, you can have it.” He reached back, pulling both his prizes up and gave the bear to Zonic. He kept the rubix cube, pretty happy that it existed in the No Zone. He began to fidget with it, sometime to occupy his mind since he was very upset.

Zonic didn't feel hurt as he was pushed back. He kind of expected as much. What he didn't expect was the bear that he was handed. He looked at it with wide eyes for a moment and then back at Scourge. "You really got me one..." he said quietly looking back at the soft animal in his hand.

"Uhm what? Yes. The hotel... right. Get you outta those sticky clothes." He mumbled and got into the car himself. The bear was laid down in his lap and he started driving. The hotel he had in mind was a good twenty minutes of a drive away. He kept quiet, unsure what to say. He felt bad for Scourge. This must've been humiliating, demeaning. After all they both knew at his normal strength levels he outmatched Sonic-prime. And yet a bunch of teenagers gave him a hard time. But there was nothing Zonic could do about it. It happened. It was unfortunate. And his pretty plans to have a nice end to the day were ruined along with Scourge's mood.

At the hotel he got them a room and brought the shopping bags full of clothes up into the room with him.

He felt awkward around Scourge right now. Unsure whether or not he should talk to him. And if yes then...what was he supposed to say? "Do you wanna take a bath or a shower? Get that sticky stuff outta your fur? And I'll see what the room service has to offer?" He sort of wanted to offer to take a bath together with Scourge but it felt like the other needed some time alone. And nothing he could think of would make the other feel better. Scourge wasn't angry at -him- to begin with.

So instead of talking more he sat on the bed and stared at the bear again. It had probably just been given to Scourge as he exchanged the tickets. It probably meant nothing. It was probably more of a joke than anything else but... somehow Zonic had a really hard time not to feel happy when looking at it. Maybe that was why the girls in his department said it was mandatory. He'd never owned a stuffed bear before. Stuffed animals in general just took up space and they didn't match his furniture. It'd look awfully out of place in his house and it couldn't be excused with having a nostalgic value to him. And yet still... he felt so happy.

It was the silliest thing to feel happy over. And he'd felt happy about a lot of silly things. He looked up at scourge, running his thumbs through the bear's soft fur. He wanted to say something. Anything. He couldn't just sit here quietly and make things more awkward. "Thank... thank you." He finally brought out. "The day wasn't... as nice as I thought it was gonna be but. I still had fun. Thanks to you. Next time... it'll be better. I'll beat you at that racing game next time and we can eat chilidogs instead of steak. It'll be better."

“Hm.” Was all he said. No witty retorts, no harmless jokes, nothing that said that he felt -somewhat- okay. He watched Zonic play with the bear, not really… feeling much but he got it specifically for Zonic anyways. The cop seemed to connect with it, so that was good. He just headed into the bathroom, closing the door and began the water after getting rather confused how the faucet even worked. He got the water up to a good amount, pulling off his clothes. He was so irritated that his new shirt was already ruined. The allure of the arcade was fading, the hotel itself wasn’t interesting, he was just dwelling on the fact he lost to -teenagers-. It didn’t mean much but was quite the blow to his pride.

Getting into the tub, he sunk low enough for his muzzle to be submerged. His nose was still above water, keeping him safe from drowning at all. His legs were bent, feet placed on the other end of the tub while his knees poked out. All the aching and pain in his body was very present, but it felt better soaking in hot water now than ever before. He hadn’t taken a bath since Zonic had washed him back when he was immobile. It felt odd, he’d ask the other to wash him if he wasn’t in such a shitty mood. Still, Scourge closed his eyes and sighed. Thinking about the events of today, they were way more eventful than he could remember. Seeing Zhadow for the first time, the dumbass kids that took him on… they pissed him off but it wasn’t enough to really ruin his day. In fact, despite being so upset, the moment during lunch stuck out to him the most.

It wasn’t easy to recount all the things Zonic said, the way he fell in love with Scourge was still such an odd thing to come to terms with. Here he was, a fuck up, a criminal that had a terrible temper that had -blood- on his hands, yet like all good Sonic’s, this cop looked past all that. He wasn’t a ‘monster’ in this one’s eyes, still someone who could probably redeem themselves. Scourge still didn’t believe that but being seen as someone that deserved a second chance and wasn’t just reduced to the thing that made him ‘anti-sonic’ felt...well, kind of good. He seemed to be so much more than a bad person, there was much more to him and for some reason, Zonic saw that. It made no sense and would never make sense to him, but it simply made Scourge feel like he was worth something in this strange place.

It took him about thirty minutes before he got out, still bewildered that he was on the damn wall and not on what would be the floor in his own dimension. Scourge dried off, placing the towel on his head and rubbed his spines as dry as he could. It’d been awhile since he went without clothes. It felt comforting. He opened the door, walking out from the bathroom and stared at the blue hog. Hm, he could sort of feel that emotion creep back… It wasn’t as strong but it was there. A calmness that kept him from thinking too much  about the dumb junk that ensued today. He kept the towel around his neck, moving over to Zonic’s side of the bed and grabbed his arm, spinning him toward him. His grip was a bit tight but he wasn’t trying to hurt.

“Day ain’t all the way over yet, ya know. I’m fine.. In pain, but it’s whatever.” He frowned at the other, those goddamn green eyes though. What was it about this Sonic that stood out to him? They all looked alike so how was it that there was such a uniqueness that oozed from this one… He didn’t know. “Lookit you, being all soft again. Sounding like you were close to cryin’ cause I got hurt. Who does that?” His voice was low again, hand on Zonic’s chin. “I’m good, Blue.”

Zonic sat on the bed, looked through the menu without really being able to read it, put the menu aside, and picked it up again. Rinse and repeat. He just couldn't concentrate. He paced through the room for a few minutes and sat down again. He was worried. A few minutes were spent standing in front of the bathroom door with a fist raised to knock. But then he didn't. He didn't know what to say so he sat back down hugging his bear and waited.

One of his ears swiveled back as he heard the bathroom door but he didn't actually turn around until Scourge actively grabbed and turned him around. Scourge seemed calmer now. He was looking at him directly. Talking to him. He felt relieved but his chest also felt awfully tight suddenly. "I wasn't about to cry." He tried to retort... unfortunately that failed allover the place as his voice was breaking. His face felt hot but not the same way as when he was embarrassed or shy. He hadn't felt like this in a... very long time. Suddenly swallowing was painful and his eyes were stinging. Still he couldn't look away.

"I never cry." He wanted to sound offended but it was hard to accomplish while his vision was blurring and one tear after the other were rolling down his cheeks. He didn't even know why he was crying. There were so many things. Frustration because he'd wanted them to have nothing but fun today and things had gone so wrong. Relief that Scourge was more or less okay and calm again. Guilt because he was partially responsible for all the things that had gone wrong today. But really it was mostly relief. He hadn't seriously cried in so many years that he was seriously surprised by how much it hurt.

This was awfully embarrassing but he couldn't do anything about it. It'd just been too much for too long. And Scourge being gentle with him again was the last bit that made him overflow. Ironically he'd probably been A-Okay if Scourge had ignored him the rest of the night. Emotions were such a strange thing. He could bottle them up forever and ever, but the moment someone he cared about showed him kindness he broke.

He didn't even know what to say anymore. He wanted to say thank you and apologize. He wanted to ask Scourge questions and just go to sleep. He wanted to hold him and give him space. So instead of doing any of that he just quietly let the tears roll out of his eyes, holding Scourge's gaze. For the third time today he realised how much he was in love with the other. No matter how irrational. How much he needed him. How much he wanted him to just be part of his life and never leave.

With words betraying the actions, Scourge didn’t know what to do. He didn’t expect actual tears. He tensed up, looking around almost frantically. Why was this happening, what did he do to cause this??

“H-Hey…! Wait a sec,” He said, not sure if saying that would even help. He stood up right and looked around. “Are you hungry? Do you need me to get food or??” He huffed, “I mean… look at the fuckin bear, isn’t this nice?? Comforting or whatever? Stop the crying… Chaos, this is weird, you’re a grown man, stop… !!” He frowned, wiping Zonic’s eyes and pulling the towel off his neck. He sat next to the other, patting under his eyes. “Jeez, I’m sorry okY? I shouldn’t have fought back, I shoulda minded my own business. We didn’t get in trouble, right? It’s cool! Ughhh… this is so weird, Blue please.” His ears flattened, he felt so odd witnessing this. “I swear I’ll fuckin’ behave, I know I fuck up a lot… is this cause I didn’t answer you earlier? Or the hug? Is the bear not good??” He pulled the bear up and looked it over.

This was really hard for him to understand. He didn’t really see all the stress that accumulated over time, just the events of today. He couldn’t pinpoint what made Zonic cry. He even said he never cried and here he was, face all wet. Scourge was beginning to panic for real.

“Do… Do i have to call Zhadow or whatever? He probably knows more about this than I do. Maybe he can help you way more than me, I don’t… know! Just… please stop??” Scourge’s hands pressed against Zonic’s cheeks, smooshing them so his lips were pursed. He rubbed Zonic’s cheeks, trying to get him to laugh at looking so silly. “Look! Ya got duck face! Aha, it looks weird but it’s cool, right? Come on, stop being sad? I don’t handle this shit well and I know I fuck up a lot but I swear I wasn’t trying… ugh… Do you need to… cuddle??” He felt uncomfortable with the idea, but gave Zonic kisses on his cheek and head. He pet his ears and pulled him into a hug. This was so...gay and … weird.

“Is that better? Come on…” He kissed his cheeks again, kissing his lips and tapped his head against Zonic’s. “I’m bad at this, man. You can’t expect me to be a pro. Don’t make me call Zamy now… please stop crying ugh…”

Zonic watched Scourge go through a full fledged panic attack. He opened his mouth a few times to say something but was interrupted by the green one's fussing. Halfway through Scourge's panicked shenanigans Zonic had fallen in love with him all over again. He kept quiet through the hug and the petting and only as he was begged to stop crying for the nth time he chuckled quietly. There were still tears pouring out of his eyes as he cupped Scourge's cheeks and kissed him.

He leaned his forehead against Scourge's again after breaking the kiss. "Shut up you idiot... I love you so much already don't make me fall even harder." He croaked, sniffed and kissed him again, pulling Scourge down with him, so they were laying down side by side. "I'm not sad. Or mad. Or anything else. I'm just... relieved that you're okay. I'm glad that... no one called the police. That Zhadow didn't try to take you. That you didn't enjoy that hooker as much as I feared you would. That... we can stop fighting now. That it wasn't you who started the fight today. That you're being so gentle." He sniffed again rubbing the tears off his own face. "I love the bear..." He added quietly. "I can't believe you actually got me one... I'm sorry today wasn't what I wanted it to be... and for crying, too. I'm not sad. I promise." He smiled. The tears were slowly stopping, too.

"But you can continue spoiling me anyway. Like petting my head or something." He joked, even though his voice was still sort of broke. He rubbed his forehead against Scourge's chest. "You're surprisingly good at being gentle, you know that? And you're surprisingly cute when you're panicked and fussy, too. More sides to you that I didn't know."

Scourge was warm. He was close and the short fur on his chest was soft. Zonic could feel his heartbeat against his forehead. It was embarrassing that he'd cried but... somehow... he felt a little lighter now. "Nothing bad's gonna happen anymore now..... I promise me crying was the last thing." He raised his head again to look at Scourge. "Thank you... Despite the chaos... It was a really nice first date. For me anyway. Now we'll have to wait a while again before we can actually celebrate your leg healing though huh?"

It wasn’t fun thinking that he messed up but his words and panic died down. He was being kissed back and reassured, Scourge didn’t have much of a will to continue with his rambles, just allowing Zonic to explain himself. Laying on the bed, being held and cuddled, he was a bit… agitated. He flipped out over something but not something too big. Zonic was just overwhelmed by all this shit and was fine, ugh. He got so worked up… and it wasn’t that big of a deal. What cooled him back to being calm was being told ‘I love you’. It felt like something in his head broke.

Zonic’s confession said a lot but this was something that might become commonplace between them. He was going to be told ‘I love you’ now… why did that… break him. Scourge felt frozen on the bed,stiffening up as Zonic rubbed his cheek on Scourge’s cheek. There was so much going through his mind, Zonic was serious. Why didn’t this settle in as hard when Zonic told him he had fallen in love with him? Well… it did, but the fact that this was a constant…! He’d be told this all the time, it got his cheeks to become a bright pink, it just made him feel so weird but fluttery on the inside. That feeling was coming back, the same one from lunch earlier today. It was starting to overwhelm him. He didn’t think he was in love, but goddamn it he knew it was something close, right?? Still, for he himself, it didn’t feel right to return such heavy words. They made Scourge feel so impacted, he couldn’t say it. Those words carried such a meaning that he didn’t understand and he couldn’t lie to Zonic when he didn’t get it just yet.

All Scourge was aware of was that he caught something great here and he needed to do better to keep him around. All the sympathy and worry he felt for Zonic intensified along with his attachment. He’d do better if he could, though he knew he wasn’t going to be super reformed like Zonic may hope… but he’d do what he could. Scourge looked down, legs entangling with Zonic’s. He began to kiss him all over the face, pulling him as close as he could. He felt that fire again, the electric feeling that took over. He needed to be close again. It felt like a refreshing state of mind that was still so new to him. Yes, this was what he wanted some hours ago before Zhadow appeared. He was so… content.
“Stop sayin’ shit like that, I’ll lose my mind.” He said in between kisses. His legs rubbing against Zonic’s. His hand lowered, Zonic’s lower abdomen rubbed and caressed. “I’m gonna fuck you so hard. I swear to Chaos I’ll mark you all over.” He couldn’t help it. Something about Zonic’s total devotion to him was a huge turn on.

Zonic felt the shift in the mood. Suddenly just cuddling with Scourge felt a lot more intimate. His eyes closed by themselves as his face was covered in kisses and he was pulled closer. So warm. This felt calm. This felt right. He returned the kisses as best as he could. Wrapping his arms around the other's back he reached for his communicator and a second later the inhibitor collar opened with a clicking sound, only to be pulled off the other's neck and dropped on the floor.

He didn't waste any time, leaning forward to kiss Scourge's neck, his teeth scratching over the skin and fur gently before he sucked some of it between his lips, leaving a dark spot that was gonna be hidden by fur. But at least he knew it was there. "That's fair... at least I'm not losing my mind alone." He mumbled against the wet skin and fur. He was gonna leave more marks on Scourge tonight. wherever he could reach but for now...

He grabbed the other's shoulders, turning him on his back, and straddled him. He had to get rid of his clothes. "Clothes really do get in the way." He said, pulling his shirt over his head. Zonic let his hands run down the other's chest, looking at him with half lidded eyes. He was so tempted to let scourge do whatever he wanted but... "Are you sure... I mean your leg and all. You could lay back and let me do everything." He tilted his head slightly, grinding his rump against Scourge's crotch just once to prove his point.

Not that he minded either way. This was probably the last act of reason and logic that he'd be capable off until morning came. His logic was already failing him as he took a good look at Scourge. Tracing a finger along his scars, up his chest and neck until he could cup his cheek again. His eyes were an open book at this point. There were so many emotions happening inside his body. He couldn't believe his luck. Scourge was right there. Right where, just yesterday, he thought he'd ever see him again. Everything had suddenly improved so much on one end, and gotten so much more chaotic on the other. And yet he felt hopeful. Maybe everything would just work out in their favour. Maybe miracles could really happen. After all, what were the chances for -this- particular situation to ever happen?

TBC.
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