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Rouge slammed the door of their apartment closed, ears pinning back as the sound shot through her. Whoops. Hopefully that didn’t wake the others or something. That would suck.
Dropping her purse to the ground, she fumbled with her white heeled boots, giggling a little at her incompetence. A little bit of partying and her body was like a wet noodle. Her normal composure nowhere to be seen. The quiet thuds echoing in the foyer told her she finally got them off. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief as her claws finally got the chance to breathe. Damn bat anatomy.
Stumbling toward the kitchen she carelessly ripped the earplugs out of her ears and tossed them onto the island. Gingerly, she brought the tips of her fingers to her temple, suppressing a groan. The influx of new noises made her head pound a little more than it was already.
Speaking of new noises, her ears twitched to the sounds of heavy footsteps approaching. She glanced up to see her favorite robot friend entering the room from one of the halls. Giving what she hoped was a crooked smile, she turned to face him, ignoring how her wing bumped into the counter.
“Megs? Wha’re you doin’ up?” she slurred, idly watching the world tilt.
Suddenly, she was jolted up, a cold grip clutching onto her bicep. She peered up at whoever had caught her and was met with the bright red eyes of Omega. Silence stretched between them for a moment, only the hum of his mechanisms filling the space. He seemed to scan her for a moment before quietly beeping.
“YOU ARE INEBRIATED,” he stated, not a question at all. Not that she could deny it. She frowned slightly, a wobbly hand coming to comb through her sweaty hair. She had hoped it would take at least a bit longer for either of her br- teammates to figure it out.
“Mmmyeah?” she said, glancing to the side. She tried to shrug, though with one of her arms still in the robot’s grip it was a bit hard. She tugged at the restraint, a flicker of irritation igniting in her chest.
“IT IS TO MY UNDERSTANDING THAT YOU WISHED TO AVOID THIS STATE.” He leaned down, getting into her space.
She leaned back in response and made a feral noise in the back of her throat, completely unlike the easygoing femme-fatale persona she had crafted. What the hell did he know anyway? If she kicked his leg and fucked it up then maybe she could get away. Wouldn’t have to deal with his meddling. She was strong enough to do so, even now.
Her brow furrowed at that, staring at nothing. What an odd thing to think.
Her brief moment of confusion allowed Omega to guide her toward the living room and sit her down on the couch. Swiftly, he left her to stew in her own thoughts while he fucked off somewhere.
Rouge sighed quietly, letting her wings droop and shifting somewhat restlessly as her gut turned. Her paws idly picked at the hem of her skimpy black dress, watching as the moonlight from the window turned it silver, thoughts moving sluggishly. What the hell had she even been doing?
It had been nice. It had been so nice. The lights, the music, the drinks. But now she just felt like shit. She needed something to take the edge off. She wanted to feel better again. She needed another bottle.
And wasn’t that just terrifying?
Not bread, coffee, or any of those other fake “get sober quick” hacks on the internet could’ve sobered her up quicker than that little thought. It felt like being plunged into freezing water, allowing a moment of clarity.
She had been doing so well.
What was it? One? Maybe two months since she had last had alcohol? She couldn’t remember. It had simultaneously felt like ages and days. She thought she was genuinely getting better.
She felt tears well up along her waterline but forced them back.
It was fine. Everything was fine. This was just a little bump. Yeah, that was it. Just a bump in the road off life. A pebble, really. Except, instead of a normal pebble it was the size of a giant fucking boulder.
Rouge took a breath, dragging a paw down the side of her face. She could come back from this. She just needed to keep fighting off the thoughts. It was what she was doing before, she just needed to get back to that.
If only thinking about it didn’t make her skin itch.
Her groggy mind barley even processed the sound of Omega’s footsteps returning, even with her earplugs out. Finally realizing his presence, she quickly turned her head to try and see him but immediately winced as it caused a massive wave a nausea to hit her like a derailed freight train.
Her paws flew to her head as if they could keep the world from spinning if she held tight enough, claws digging into her scalp. Compared to the shit storm rolling around in her gut, the pain felt like heaven. More tangible. Easy to grab onto and ground herself with.
Just as she began to feel like she was going to vomit, she felt something cold brush up against one of her paws. The feeling was a welcome change against her burning skin.
Gingerly, she cracked her eyes open—briefly wondering when she had closed them—to see one of Omega’s claws lightly gripping her paw. In his other, he held a glass of water. Once he noticed he had her attention, his grip tightened and he slowly brought Rouge’s paws away from puncturing her skull.
The glass was pressed into her unsteady paws.
“IN ORDER TO BE A WELL FUNCTIONING UNIT, ALL TEAM MEMBERS MUST PERFORM AT OPTIMAL LEVELS,” he stated, slowly lowering himself onto the floor with a quiet whirr that didn’t grate on Rouge’s ears.
She looked at the water with a small amount of disgust. This wouldn’t make her feel better. Well, it would eventually help sober her up, but it wouldn’t make her feel better.
She tried not to think about it. Instead, she thought about how the amount of liquid had lessened. Her throat felt wet. She put the glass on the coffee table.
“YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE STRUGGLING,” Omega continued. His head rotated until it was pointing toward the hallway leading to another section of the apartment. All the while, Rouge struggled to keep up with what he was implying.
“SHADOW REQUIRES HIS TEAMMATES.” His head swiveled back towards her, red optics burning a hole through her very being. “BOTH OF THEM.”
The bat willed herself to sit up a little straighter. Shadow? What was wrong with Shadow? Her head pounded. She attempted to analyze Omega for any sort of clue for what he was talking about. What was normally difficult now felt impossible as she squinted at the shifting shapes that made up her friend.
Well, it didn’t seem like anything life threatening if Omega was fine hanging with her. But… her stomach still churned. And she wasn’t sure it was entirely from the alcohol.
Her gaze drifted to the floor, thoughts beginning to swarm, head feeling like it would explode. What if something had happened? She was the eldest—the leader— she should be there to boss the others around. They could’ve been here, fighting for their lives or dealing with something too big for just the two of them or… something. All the while wondering where she was.
And what was she doing? Dancing on broken feet and sinking to the bottom of a bottle? Finally letting that demon of her lineage sink its claws into her?
Fucking hell.
She tried to stifle a sob, though the tears still slipped down her cheeks. White hot shame filled her already feverish body. Her head hurt and she felt gross and ugly. She was always so emotional when drunk. It made her question why she did it sometimes.
“QUERY: WHAT IS WRONG?”
It would have startled her how fast her shame turned to anger had she been thinking clearer.
“I- Fuck, Megs- I don’t- i’un know?” She snapped, glaring sharply at the machine for daring to speak. Her paws furiously swiped at her face despite the continuos stream of tears soaking into her fur and making her feel ickier than she already did.
“Everythin’s jus’ too fucking much an’ my ssstupid emotions are all wrong. And m’getting so damn dehydrated from all this dumb crying-!”
“Roo?”
It was as if someone had drained all the fight out of her.
She ducked her head down as fast as she physically could without inciting another nausea attack. She scrubbed her face so hard it hurt, though the glitter of her tears probably stayed stuck to her muzzle. With a final sniffle and no small amount of trepidation, she glanced toward the hallway entrance, toward her bro- teammate.
“Hey, kiddo,” she said as coherently as she could.
Shadow simply hummed. He was leaned up against the doorframe, using it to support as much of his weight as it could. With her dizziness it was difficult to make out any finer details, but just from posture alone it was obvious he was having a rough night as well.
With a quiet grunt he pushed off the wall and limped around Omega and towards the couch. As he came into the moonlight, it became a bit easier to see him. His fur and quills were tussled and messy, like he had gotten into a fight with his blankets, and his eyes were bloodshot and half lidded with exhaustion. The long tail that was usually held aloft and swaying gently now dragged along the floor.
The hybrid practically flopped on top of her, forcing her to lean back to accommodate his body, something her insides did not appreciate. Rouge turned her head to the side in anticipation as she felt her stomach roll. Somehow, she managed to not throw up through sheer force of will.
So focused was she on not further ruining her poor carpet,— the thing had seen its fair share of damages— that she didn’t even register Shadow nuzzling against her front.
But it wasn’t the blatant affection that startled her, no, she was much too out of it to even register that. She was worried about his nose.
Even though it had been a bit since she had any, the alcohol smell still clung to her fur and dress, she knew it did. And with Shadow’s whole “heightened senses thing” he must still be able to smell it as clear as if it were freshly poured. Surely it bothered him? Stung his nose with the unmistakable burn?
But even so, he stayed put.
With more effort than should have been required, Rouge flopped onto her side, dragging Shadow with her. It wasn’t her first time taking care of herself after a night of drinking after all. Choking on her own vomit was not how she was gonna die, thank you.
Though, she noticed she wasn’t feeling as nauseous anymore. Thank Chaos.
She shuffled around a bit, trying to fold her wings in a comfortable way, and failing. With her body feeling heavier by the second, she settled on ‘good enough’, holding her friend close. She was vaguely aware of the feeling of a tail wrapping around her leg.
Gently, she placed her chin on top of Shadow’s head. This small biohog that had come to mean so much to her.
She brushed her lips against his forehead, feeling the skin twitch as the hidden third eye beneath moved in response to the sudden stimuli. Shadow made a grumbling noise and snuggled deeper into her neck fluff and Rouge’s heart damn near melted on the spot, a few stray tears traveling down her cheeks. Whether their origin lay in joy or sadness she wasn’t sure anymore.
After an undetermined amount of time that could have been minutes to hours, she could hear Shadow’s breathing changing, almost asleep. Omega had shifted closer to the pair, his own eyes dimming as he prepared to power himself down. Rouge’s own eyelids were beginning to droop, each millimeter of surface area made out of lead, consciousness fading fast. The quiet sounds of her brothers’- teammates’ respective heartbeat and processors were a soothing lullaby.
A strange warmth spread through her, not the fiery burn of too much alcohol, but gentler. Like a comforting blanket; vulnerable and sweet. She found herself curling closer to Shadow, a wing resting lightly on his side.
It would be so easy to share her sins like this, the thoughts and feelings unbefitting of the most powerful thief in the world, to allow them to be trapped in thick black quills among random trinkets and the occasional chaos emerald. Forgotten by the lucid mind.
Her mouth moved before she could even process it.
“Y’know… I used t’a think I’d always feel like shit,” she whispered, eyes closing, “But… then I ‘member seeing’ you guys smile for th’ firss time after our first su’sessful mission ‘n feeling kinda okay for a bit.”
“…What?”
But Rouge didn’t elaborate, didn’t even say anything, already asleep.