Supposed To Be Me (Shadow x Reader)

Chapter 7 A Tropical Paradise(?)

After the event that occurred only moments before, you and Shadow were off to find the chaos emerald. Apparently, the reason you passed out the day before was that you had not eaten anything in so long. So, you made sure to eat as many mangos as you could. The sweet fruit seemed to be everywhere on the island. You found yourself plucking the fruit from the ground and from trees. Never before have you ever tasted a mango. It was delicious. There was one thing you loved Earth. All of its delicious food that you never tried before.

As you and Shadow were walking along, the memory of moments earlier hung over the both of you. A huge urge made you want to glance over at him every four or five seconds. Not to mention, the both of you were awkwardly silent which made conversation... even more awkward.

"So... Where do you think the chaos emerald is, Shadow?"

"I'm... uh... pretty sure it's that way."

"Oh."

"..."

You felt his gaze on you like a boiling hot laser. Whenever you'd look back to meet his burning gaze, you'd realize he wasn't actually looking in your direction. Or was he? It drove you insane wondering what he was thinking about you. Something in the both of you had drastically changed. What? What was this feeling?! Why didn't you feel like telling him?! It was embarrassing to even think about pointing it out. Why? It was only a moment before you got your answer.

"Listen, about earlier--!" Shadow suddenly blurted out of the blue. He froze when he spoke it as if only then second-guessing himself.

You jumped after the long silence. "Huh?! What about it??"

Shadow fought to find the right words in his head. "You know, the... kiss thing..."

So that's what it was...

Shadow looked down at the ground as if meeting your gaze was simply an impossible task for him. "I'd prefer if we... completely forgot all about that..."

"Completely forget about it? Why?" you asked feeling disappoint bubble up inside of you. If anything, you wanted him to do it again. And again. And again, and again, and again... Your mind suddenly started trailing off to some sort of daydream fantasy land where Shadow was once again holding you in his embrace with his lips at yours. It was simply an image you both craved and feared at the same time.

"I... I wasn't myself this morning, and I was just doing whatever I wanted without any restraint. I shouldn't have yelled at you, shoved you, or kissed you. Which is why we're pretending that... it was all a dream," he concluded without your input.

You huffed and stepped in front of him to block his way. "How do you know I want that? I... I didn't mind at all! Shadow, I kind of liked the kiss, and you finally opened up to me! Don't take that away!"

Shadow looked up in bewilderment as if you said something in another language. You didn't completely misunderstand the kiss, did you?? Was it not the lip-to-lip contact? "You... liked it? Most people would get scared off by something like that. All that kiss amounted to was a sign of my greed and my lack of consideration." He seemed to give the subject some thought. "I guess I'll explain later what it meant... For now, I think we should focus on the chaos emerald," he told you as he looked up.

"Why are you looking up? What's in the sky that's so--?" You stopped when you saw what he was talking about. Smoke was rising up into the sky and the slope shot from mild to steep in an instant. You used one of these in a story once. It was a volcano. A mountain with boiling, hot lava inside. Based on Shadow's expression, you concluded that inside was where the next emerald was...

Shadow stopped where he was for a moment and looked over to you with a stern expression. "You're going to stay here. I'll get the emerald."

Again with this... You crossed your arms already knowing he was going to say that. "Oh really? I'm not sure if you can handle it by yourself in a volcano, Shadow!" you pointed out with a smug grin. Unlike all those other times, you had a plan.