Operation: Love Birds [ShadAmy]

Chapter 4

Lmao sorry abt that wait. Got stuck. Ended up forgetting abt it for a while. Still waffling.

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Rouge pretends not to notice Shadow's suspicious glare as she and Amy exit the small store with only a single shoe box. She absently hands Shadow the box as she follows Amy.

Amy stops in front of one of those mall maps and starts scanning the long list of stores. Rouge tries to be patient, but when Amy starts going through the list for a third time, her patience starts to wear down. "Why don't we just–,"

"Found it!" Amy exclaims. She quickly switches her attention to the actual map and quickly scans the floor. Once she finds what she's looking for, she turns away from the map with a very determined look on her face

Shadow gives Rouge a questioning look. She shrugs, pretending not to know anything.

They follow Amy as she makes her way to the escalator. It's fairly full so they're stuck standing around as the escalator slowly makes its way up.

Rouge is about to pull out her phone when she notices Shadow suddenly look towards the receding floor. confused, and alert, Rouge quickly scans the floor below them. Finding nothing, she looks around in confusion.

They reach the top and Amy steps off the escalator, and that's when Rouge sees it. From where she's standing, and certainly from where Shadow's standing, she can see up Amy's shirt and have full view of her bra.

She holds back a snort, but ultimately thinks it's sweet seeing Shadow look away. She won't even tease him about it.

Amy's bouncing on the balls of her feet as she stops in front of a a store. "Tada!" She says with the exact same exaggerated flourish as when she had presented her prisoner to them.

Rouge would find that amusing, if a bit unsettling, if she hadn't been distracted by the store. It's like a gunge take on motorcycle fashion; all super serious and really macho.

"How do you even know this place?" She asks skeptically.

"My neighbor works for the company and sometimes gives me clothes to test out," she says proudly. "And now I get most of Knuckles' gifts from here."

Rouge can't piece together how testing out the clothes and Knuckles tie in together. "How do you even..." She trails off as she watches Shadow walk into the store.

Amy's smile excitedly. She seems proud that Shadow likes the store she picked out. "Come on!" She motions to Rouge as she darts inside too.

Rouge continues to eye the place as she follows suit. How had she never come across this place herself? She'd searched for hours to find Shadow a fitting jacket.

Shadow blends into the crowd of the store well, but she and Amy stick out like sore thumbs.

"Are those honest-to-Gaia cloaks?" She asks coming up behind Amy.

Amy glances back at her and pulls one off the rack. "Yep! They're meant for cold and windy places like Holoska," she turns it over in her hands, examining it closer. "But they work just as good in the desert!"

Rouge raises an eyebrow. She can't imagine Amy wearing it or purposefully going into a desert. "How'd you figure that out?"

"I got one for Knuckles' birthday a few years ago since Angel Island can get really cold and windy," she explains. "But he uses it almost exclusively to treasure hunt in the desert."

Intrigued, Rouge grabs one from the rack. It's fairly light weight and feels like a strange mix of canvas and something else. Definitely something that can buffer sand and ice easily.