Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There’s something in your backyard—

Well, someone.

You’ve seen the news—you’re not as much of a hermit as people tend to think. The attack in Tokyo, the satellite nearly torching a line straight through the Earth—you’ve seen the creatures that helped prevent the Earth’s destruction. What you don’t remember is seeing a black and red one in the news interviews afterwards.

It took about three weeks for you to actually catch sight of the little guy. You’d seen footprints, at first thinking maybe a kid had just wandered onto your property. There was a National park just across from your stretch of the woods. While having your outdoor mini fridge raided by a delinquent preteen wasn’t convenient, you didn’t want to give them a reason to try and actually get inside. All it cost you was the occasional pack of chocolates and a can of soft drink.

The one time you’d forgotten to check, he showed up while you were half asleep on the couch. You’re unsure how he managed to get inside—none of your windows were unlatched and your locked doors were untampered with—all you know is that you were awoken by the rummaging of your paper grocery bags. You’d all but shoved the perishables into the fridge before passing out on the couch. Waking up with blurry sleep-filled eyes, it was hard to make out any particular shape in the black mirror of your tv screen. Despite this, the short and spiky figure stood out in your mostly sparse kitchen, half-visible behind the form of your couch. You’d barely had time to blink before it was gone.

From then on you checked the outer fridge more often, trying to vary your stock and take note of what was left. It occurred to you that you could probably just leave it a note, but you suspected this faux-ignorance was what kept it returning. 

You began researching what you could about the little critters. At first, just trying to figure out if there was someone you should call about this, then learning what you could about each of the known ones. There was little to work off, most information kept purposely vague (“age roughly analogous to very early preteens”, which left you with a handful of questions), but you eventually learned that they had names, were all boys, and had visited human dining establishments before (affirming that they were at least okay to eat human food). Whether a diet of mostly coffee flavoured chocolates and soft drink was healthy was anyone’s guess.

This routine was honestly a welcomely domestic task compared to the chaos of your recent life. Being a park ranger was usually a handful, but a bushfire had left the park closed for the better half of a month now and had provided you with a laundry list of new tasks. Luckily the damage was quarantined, but it hit the visitor centre the worst. The building was partially crushed under the weight of a few burned trees, and the foliage outlining the parking bays had been razed to the ground. So, having an alien creature freeload on your property was hardly the worst thing that had happened.

You hadn’t had a chance to see him again until, well, now.

Your handheld radio was starting to die on you mid-dinner. With your stove on low, you’d left your beef patties to tend to themselves while you ventured out onto your back patio to rob your torch of its contents. All plans and thoughts immediately screeched to a halt as you nearly ran into the dark bundle of spines currently perusing your outdoor fridge.

He looked up at you. You stared back dumbly. He tensed, spines prickling out like a startled baby cat.

You turned around and slipped back inside, the wire door slamming a touch too loudly. Your beef patties greeted you with a sizzling hiss, you’re sure that if they had any sentience they’d be calling you all sorts of synonyms for stupid. Humming along to the sound of the dying radio, you reached over to turn it up.

Ah. The radio wasn’t on your counter. Hmm. Well, this left a rather unfortunate line of thought.

A cursory glance around the edge of your kitchen bench spied the offending object on the other side of the door, looking sad for itself all sprawled on the ground. 

Giving a half hearted look out your window didn’t give you any idea if the creature was still here. Part of you hoped he was, he hadn’t dug through your stash in a while. Thinking on your feet, you grabbed a packet of chocolates you had forgotten to put away off the counter. Slowly approaching the door, you calmly turned the handle and stepped outside. Keeping your eyes on the floor you knelt down to pick up the radio. The static hummed louder as if thanking you for its rescue. You slowly turned your head towards your outdoor fridge.

He was staring back, intently. Startlingly red eyes tracked your every movement. In this position he was ever so slightly taller than you. You blinked. He didn’t blink. You held out the chocolates.

“These ones aren’t coffee, but I assumed dark chocolate would be okay.” You kept your voice as monotone as you could manage.

For a handful of seconds he held eye contact with you, leaving you unsure if he understood you, but his attention eventually turned to your offering. It occurred to you it might be kinder to leave it on the floor and let him reach out for it. Just as you moved to set it down his hand reached out slowly to meet yours halfway. He firmly grabbed the packet, simply holding it until you let go. 

You let your eyes wander back to the radio in your other hand. Giving it a hearty smack, the dying static became more legible. A warbling voice crackled into the  evening air, the distinctive sound of David Bowie battled against the failing speaker.

Raising back onto your feet, you gave the still quiet creature a wide berth as you walked past to find your torch. Keeping your head facing forwards, you let your eyes linger on the edges of your vision. He was still standing there, facing you as you walked past him. His expression was unreadable, but his body seemed tense.

As you reached the torch, you focused on prying out the batteries. With a few hefty smacks against the table, the precious contents rolled out. Your hands shot out to chase the fleeing items. The momentarily forgotten radio slipped from your hands and dropped the short distance to the table, scattering the batteries.

“Ah, fuck,” you spat out. You scrambled to snatch the closest one only to watch the furthest slide right off into the dark depths of the space behind the table. In the ensuing silence you could follow its entire journey down, the sound of it bouncing between objects almost comical.

The resulting sigh that left you was lengthy and pained. Raising your hands to your face, you took a moment to breathe. “Fucking, stupid fucking batteries,” you muttered to yourself, only to remember you weren’t alone.

Quickly turning to assess what the creature was doing, you were met with an empty creature-less space. Oh. Well, hopefully he booked it before you decided to lose all fine motor function. You don’t know when you started to care what his opinion was of you—probably when you started tailoring your snack purchases to his taste.

With all hope of retrieving your batteries gone, you took a moment to turn around and rest against the counter. Letting your gaze wander across the tree line a couple of meters from your house, you hoped to maybe catch sight of the little guy leaving. The brush was calm and still, the bare quiver of a breeze was the only movement. Well, hopefully next time you might be able to say goodbye. You closed your eyes to take in the pleasant fresh air. Now the ash had mostly settled, the forest no longer smelled as burned as before. There was still a lingering scent, but, it seemed to be stronger than you assumed, and, closer?

Oh god the fucking beef patties–

Your resulting scramble inside was very graceful and not at all hindered by your foot catching on the bottom of the door. The fact that you mostly stayed on your feet was commendable. 

Your dinner that night was a touch overcooked, but you revelled in the excitement that you finally had a proper face to the mysterious figure you’d been feeding.

Three days later you found a brand new packet of batteries on your kitchen bench. Your first concern was where he acquired them, but you allowed yourself a moment of blissful ignorance to appreciate the offering. You made sure to open your window enough to yell a thanks into the woods for good measure. He likely wasn’t nearby, but it felt wrong to not do it.

Chapter Text

When the weekend finally crawled to a close and your long list of professional duties beckoned you, you met the work week with renewed vigour. Paperwork and boundary checks still took up most of your time, but the slight chance that your small friend was lurking nearby kept you alert and focused. Despite your hopes of finding more signs of him, your endeavours were mostly fruitless over the passing week. 

You’d become increasingly more busy once members of G.U.N decided to drop by.

At first, you’d assumed that this was a prank by your coworkers. Very quickly you were proven wrong, as you found yourself on the uncomfortable end of a several hour interview around the damage to the park visitor centre. Supposedly the damage had been caused by a meteor—which was news to you—and that the space rock in question had gone missing.

It didn’t take you long to put the pieces together.

Playing dumb came easy to you, and after channeling your inner npc and acting dumbfounded at every bit of information they shared with you, they finally let you go. This only further fuelled your interest in seeing the creature again, more out of concern than another attempt at charity. You held no personal grudge against G.U.N but you suspected that a large multinational military group searching for an alien probably wasn’t for its own safety. The fact that it might be for your own safety didn’t seem to bother you. If it wanted you dead you’d surely have found out by now.

With G.U.N likely keeping both your house and work building under surveillance, there was only one place you could think of encountering the black hedgehog again. The bushland.

As much as the many tourists who visited the park liked to gawk at the list of deadly creatures that lived in the region, the land wasn’t a uniquely hostile place. If you weren’t stupid and didn’t go shoving your hands or feet into random bushes you’d likely be fine. Honestly, sun and dehydration had done more damage to visitors than the wildlife had in the many years you’d been working here. With that being said, your familiarity with this particular path of land gave you an advantage in the ‘not dying or getting bitten’ department. It was an easy enough task to double-back and take a detour on your boundary checks. 

Ditching your ute to trek on foot meant you were at the mercy of the weather and having to suffer in silence. You’d left the radio on in the car out of habit, its literal—siren song calling you back to the climate controlled environment. Unfortunately your goodwill and empathy ran stronger than your appreciation of Supergrass.

The stretches of woodland ironbark gave little cover to the ground, giving you a decent sightline out ahead. It made the distinct lack of alien hedgehog-sized lifeforms all too tauntingly obvious. Whether it was a kilometer out or five, you were only met with the usual hum of bugs and an occasional bird.

This was fine—expected, even. The parkland was a big place and no doubt the little guy was also hiding. Was he also nocturnal? Or were you making Earth-hedgehog based assumptions. Was that unfounded? Offensive? You had so many questions.

Sideling back up into your beautiful shitbox of a car, you left said questions behind along with the heat. You’d try again tomorrow, and maybe you’d bring your radio.

Try again you did. Again, and again. Both equipped with and sans radio. 

You were more than happy to enjoy the landscape, touching grass was certainly more favourable to whatever bureaucratic bullshit your coworkers were likely caught up in during the days that passed, but this was getting excessive. You were all for tranquil mental-health improving hikes, but sweating your ass off looking for a disappearing alien left you feeling more demoralised than zen.

It felt like some sort of game, honestly. Like, the more you wanted something to happen, the less chance you had, because the second you let your guard down shit of course had to happen.

You were at the end stretch of trudging back to your car, a whole four days in when you spotted it. At first you assumed it was a play of the light. Maybe a heat-induced apparition joining the handheld radio left in your car in taunting you for a shitty job poorly done. But no, there the little shit was, sitting in the passenger side and holding the radio. His fur had become dusted slightly brown since you last saw, those same piercing red eyes now zeroed in on the plastic in his hand.

You paused mid-stride, debating whether he worked by t-rex rules and if freezing would render you invisible. The only issue was that you were too far away to get his attention without shouting. Aggressive waving seemed equally as startling.

You settled on a weird slow shuffle towards the car, which eventually graduated into a less weird but equally slow walk.

With how lifted the seats in the ute were, you could only see the upper part of his body. He was mesmerised by the radio, seemingly so caught up in listening that you were able to make it up to the car door without him ditching. It seemed that good music transcended culture. Having left the window open just a crack, you were just able to hear the warbling sound of the Traveling Wilburys echo from inside the cab. 

~Maybe somewhere down the road aways~

~You'll think of me and wonder where I am~

Standing on your tippy toes, you leaned against the window and looked in, “Good song.”

The speed at which the hedgehog turned to stare at you was truly impressive. Meeting your performatively kind smile was an inscrutable expression for all of one millisecond before a flash of yellow-tinged light, then nothing. An empty passenger seat—no hedgehog, no radio.

You let your head fall forward and hit the window in a resounding thud .

“Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.” Your mumbling continued as you hopped into the car, giving only a cursory glance to check he was indeed gone to the wind. “What kind of question is that? What is he gonna say–” You raised a hand as a makeshift puppet and prompted it to speak, “ Hello human I was just enjoying your lovely Earth music .”

Your vehicle kicked to life as you twisted the key, a low rumbling settling over the cabin. The midday sun glared off the hood of the car, leaving you grasping for your sunnies. As you finally started to drive, you looked over to the passenger seat once again, assessing the noticeable lack of your radio. 

It didn’t truly hit you until your usual commute home was done in complete silence. Your radio, your precious radio! The closest thing you had to your next of kin, what had started as a quick fix until you were ready to fork over the cash to get your car a new radio turned into a precious heirloom. An heirloom that was now in the hands of an alien you had no way of contacting.

You doubt leaving a ‘ Please give me my shit back’ note would work.

Who knew your fridge raider was also a delinquent? Maybe a sizable offering would be a worthy trade. Without anything to fill the dead air at home you had a lot of time to ponder on the topic, that was for sure.

Chapter Text

As if summoned by your growing poor mood from the lack of music in your life and the leeching summer heat, G.U.N decided they wanted another interview. Using the last reserves of your sociability, you promptly agreed if simply to get it over with. It was here you met someone who would become a perpetual thorn in your side—

“Director Rockwell.” Her face was taut, muscles tensed into a very obviously forced smile. Politely nodding, you shook her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you ma’am. I’ve been told you have some questions for me.” You settled back into your office chair. The small building that was currently leased by the Department was poorly furnished, but you couldn’t fault them too much—it must be hard to claim insurance on a building full of important documents when the cause of it’s immolation was an apparently disappearing meteor. You wonder if meteorite coverage comes with a normal package, or if you have to pay extra. Regardless, this left you having to commute into town to fill out any paperwork.

“Yes. As you’ve been told we’re currently attempting to locate the lost meteorite that landed on your place of work.” You nodded, pondering on the chances of a meteorite-based insurance company’s likelihood of making returns.

“Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I’ve already told the last person who interviewed me all I knew. Why are you here?”

“We’ve recently come into some new information that warranted another round of questions.” She slowly paced behind the desk, pausing to stand in front of the small window of the office. “We were able to pick up two separate energy signatures over the course of a week, a more recent one at the northern edge of the park,” She turned around sharply, “And another at your residence.” Her brown eyes were stern and piercing, holding strong eye contact.

A beat of silence passed, then two. A whole staff’s worth of inaction. No notes besides the single thought that stuck out awkwardly and uncomfortably upon the sheet music of silence like a haphazardly placed sticky note— you were fucked.

You had to play this carefully. You couldn’t take back the surprised look on your face, nor the lack of prompt reply. In this situation you were out of your depth, you had no position of authority to call upon, no favours or favour, hell you couldn’t even overpower the woman if you wanted to because she looked American and probably had a gun. All you could do was what you had always done upon being presented with your mistakes—feign ignorance and shock.

“Gosh, really?” A million dollar movie deal worthy performance followed. Widened eyes, slack jaw, you went the whole hollywood mile.

Her brow twitched into a sharp furrow, “Yes. Is there something you’d like to mention?”. 

Your eyes fell to the floor in a slow and meaningful gesture, focusing on nothing like you’d taken her question to heart, searching your soul for a key piece of the puzzle left untold. Tucking your fist under your arm and propping it up by your horizontal adjacent arm, you sucked in a long breath. Your lungs hold: one second, two seconds, three seconds, four. You exhale heavily, slightly shaking your head in disbelief.

“Nope.”

“No?” Disbelief coloured her face.

“Nah. I cannot wrap my head around it. I mean, for it to be something important enough for you to be here,” you paused to gesture to her before returning to your previous position. “It must’ve been something big. But, to be honest with you ma’am, I’m running a blank.” You leaned against the table, lacing both hands to cradle your hung head. “I’ve been so busy trying to stay on top of parkland maintenance without a bunch of our equipment, and the shitshow that is our schedule right now. Honestly, my house has probably been quieter now than it ever has because I’ve been out of it so often.” Lifting just your gaze, you hoped the position emphasised the bags under your eyes. Alien hedgehog or not, you were busy. It was honestly freeing to just vent about work, you usually didn’t have a captive audience.

She wore a grimace momentarily before schooling her expression into a cool and reserved frown. Her stare was cutting, but the longer she held it the more she seemed disinterested. You suspected she didn’t make it a past time of thinking about the lives of the grunts around her, and that to her you probably were one in the same.

“So, you’re sure you have no information that might be of worth to me?” Her chin lifted, only further emphasising the current height disparity between the two of you. It seemed looking down on you metaphorically wasn’t enough.

You screwed up your face into a rather awkward and sheepish smile before shrugging and replying, “Sorry”.

She exhaled sharply, biting out a short comment of ‘a waste of my time-’ under her breath as she turned to pace towards the door. You leaned back, keeping your expression visibly uncomfortable.

The slam of the door was solid and sharp like the kick of a snare drum. It only served to remind you of your still—lostlooted property.

“Little guy better be grateful,” you huffed under your breath.

Thankfully none of your coworkers dropped by before your shift finished, though you suspected they were each receiving their own little chat from Miss Rockwell. Jokes on her, this line of work tended to attract only the most socially unaware and incompetent—she’d have an easier time debating with a classroom full of male philosophy majors.

In place of your usual source of music, you’d started humming out of habit. With no piece to harmonise with you were sure you were off key, but something was better than the clinging nothingness. With the windows of your car down, the sound was lost to the breeze and ambience of traffic. Only once you were well out of society’s reach and flying across back roads did you break out into song.

“ Misunderstanding all you see~”

“It’s getting hard to be someone,

but it all works out~”

The sun was still somewhat high in the sky, the over encompassing heat of the season assisted by its reluctance to set. The scrub around the road wasn’t thick enough to cast broad shadows across the road yet, but you guessed by the time you made it home you’d be chasing the daylight.

“ It doesn’t matter much to me~”
“Let me take you down,

‘cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields~”

“Nothing is re—”

A flash of light in the passenger side of your car caused you to jump, the steering wheel jerked to the side and the motion caused you to slide in your seat, quickly battling to steer the car straight. The scream you let out was unbecoming of an adult but you suppose the situation being what it was gave you a pass.

He was sitting in the passenger seat, holding your goddamn radio .

“Jesus, give me a warning next time or we’re both going off the road—I want that back by the way, it’s common courtesy to ask before taking something.” Your thoughts were flying out of your mouth before you could stop them. It seemed your brain decided all the one sided conversations you’d had about him were worth spitting out the next chance you had. “They were asking about you today—well they already had a couple days ago, but that one felt like just protocol. It was one of the big dogs this time, Director Rockwell her name was. She was suspicious of me, and thought that I’d seen you before.” You turned your head slightly to the side, still focused on the road ahead of you. “I’d probably avoid doing that weird teleporty thing you just did cause I think they were tracking you with that-”

“Do you always talk this much?” He grumbled. Hah! So he can speak. You’d guessed so but you definitely didn’t expect his voice to sound like that . The gruff little guy was erring into baritone territory.

“Well, yes and no. I don’t normally get badgered by multinational defence agencies about the location of an alien hedgehog, so do forgive me if I have a bit on my mind.” You lifted some of your fingers off the steering wheel in a similar motion to raising your hands defensively. Seemed he not only had a thieving problem but an attitude one as well.

He huffed in response.

You put a pause on the stream of thoughts leaving your mouth to allow both him and yourself some time to breathe. It was just dawning on you, this was your first actual conversation.

“(Y/N).”

“What?” He seemed borderline offended by you breaking the silence.

“My name. I’d offer you a handshake but I’m a bit preoccupied.” You shot him a sly smile. Even out of the corner of your eye he didn’t seem to react. “Do I get a name for you, or are you good with ‘Little guy’?”

“ Little? ” His head shot towards you with an offended scowl.

“I don’t know what you want me to say, dude, you’re like 120cm max.” You shrugged wholeheartedly, only the slight twitch of your lip betrayed the humour you found in the situation.

The silence that followed nearly dragged on enough for you to think you genuinely insulted him. You were about to apologise when he spoke up again.

“Shadow.” While the delay in his response made it feel like a reluctant answer, his voice was impassive, lacking any real bite to it.

“Huh. Honestly? I could’a guessed if you gave me enough tries.” You tilted your head again, giving him a quick once over with your eyes. Black with red stripes and sharp eyes, he was just a pair of black ripped jeans away from fitting in at a My Chemical Romance concert.

“You’re making me regret coming here.” His voice was growing frustrated again.

“Well so -rry, I’m just tryna make conversation. In my opinion I’m being pretty civil, especially for someone who just covered your ass after you stole something from me.” You let your words linger at times trying to elicit an apology. He slightly recoiled at your language, making you quickly recall that—deep voice aside—you were probably talking to a child. “Shoot, sorry. You’re like a kid, aren’t you? I should probably watch my language.” At this point you were more talking to yourself than anything.

He huffed again, crossing his arms and looking out the passenger window. Your attention was once again brought to the heirloom sat askew in his lap. It seemed in fine condition, no damage visible enough that your sidelong glance could identify. Seems he really just borrowed it to use for a while, not to dismantle and sell or whatever delinquent children usually do when thieving property.

“Are you returning that for good, or are you just here to tease me with it?” You tried to keep your tone light and teasing, but you couldn’t keep your frustration from leaking into your voice.

“... It’s yours. It wouldn’t be right for me to keep it.” You were mildly taken aback by his answer. It seemed far too mature to be coming from the same hedgehog who nearly threw a fit at your observation of his height. You tilted your head again and gave him another once over, taking another second to focus on what you could see of his turned face. You didn’t have any overt body language to go off of, but his tensed shoulders and avoidance of eye contact made him seem sheepish, if anything.

You didn’t know whether his good behaviour warranted a thank you, so you just kept quiet. You’d assumed that it would quickly fall awkward, but the longer you refrained from talking the more relaxed he seemed to get. The blank stare out the window turned more inquisitive, his head tracking the moving landscape and sticking to any points of interest. His age was becoming more apparent the more you considered his behaviour. You almost felt bad when you pulled up in your driveway.

The gravel crunched under your feet as you stepped out of the ute, following your pathway around the vehicle. The hedgehog—Shadow opened the door before you were able to make it around, slipping out of the seat and moving out of the way as you shut the door. Neither of you bothered to touch the radio, leaving it to occupy the seat alone.

He stood in the middle of your driveway, awkwardly stiff.

You didn’t pause your usual routine, grabbing the watering can that had been filled up by your leaking outdoor tap and taking a second to water your collection of pot plants. You usually only sat out on your porch during breakfast, so the only part of it that wasn’t obscured by plants was the small table and chair you’d picked up on the side of the road. Leaving the can beneath the tap again, you moved to the front door. The familiar motion of inserting and twisting the key was clunky as usual, taking a bit of force to unlock the partially-rusted object. You only stopped once you remembered you had accidentally ignored your guest. Standing in your doorway and holding the fly screen door ajar with your body, you turned back to look at the hedgehog.

He was still standing where you left him, staring at your movements with a scrutinising eye that didn’t feel judgemental as it did simply curious. You wondered if he’d watched you come home before. Honestly, you thought he would have disappeared again in lieu of another potential conversation.

“Do you want something to eat? I have some more coffee flavoured chocolates inside that I’ve been meaning to put out.” You gestured with your head to the now opened wooden door.

He stared at you, leaving you to wonder if the question was stupid. Your thoughts continued as the silence hung for another few seconds. Then, he turned to walk past you and head inside. No answer. You sighed.

Raising your right hand as a puppet, you parroted an answer to your own question, “ Of course, thank you for offering. You’re such a good host, I’m so very thankful you didn’t snitch on me .”

You’d have to help him work on his communication skills.

Chapter Text

“So, I’m curious—”
“I gathered that.”

“Let me finish. I was wondering where you’ve been staying?”

Shadow paused mid-bite of his chocolate to stare blankly at you.

“You don’t have to give me a written address or anything, I was just curious if it was in the park or not.” You raised your hands in defence, leaning back in the armchair you’d take up residence in across the lounge room.

He finished the half-eaten piece in his hand before replying, “Yes.”

You stared at him, giving him time to finish his sentence. Said period of time only dragged onwards. Ah, that was it. The quiet only emphasised the soft sound of him biting into the chocolates and the obnoxious crinkling of the packaging.

“I suppose it was you who flattened the visitor centre and not a meteorite?” You did air quotes around the word, kicking up your feet and resting your chin on a propped up hand.

His nose twitched, brow fighting back a fully-fledged frown, “Yes.”

“Not one for a long reply, are you?” You lazily raised an eyebrow.

That he didn’t respond to, merely continuing to eat and stare at the floor. He wasn’t making himself at home, sitting stiffly in the dead centre of the couch. He didn’t seem to be uncomfortable per se, he seemed more, well, out of his element. You supposed that made sense, but you couldn’t help but feel like helping him be more at ease. 

“D’ya like cartoons?” You reached over to grab the remote from the coffee table in the centre of the room. His stare turned a touch more inquisitive. “Or, wait. Do you know what they are?-” Before you were able to continue he interrupted.

“Yes, I know what they are,” he huffed, eyebrows tilting downwards into a frustrated frown. You blinked dumbly, considering his response.

“Wait, really? When—actually, better yet, what have you seen?” You lifted your head off your arm, genuinely intrigued.

He seemed to hesitate for a few seconds from what you assumed was a growing embarrassment,“... The Archie Show.”

You had to rack your brain for a second to recall the show,“Dude, that’s like fifty or so years old, maybe more. Where’d you watch it, a museum or something?” You couldn’t help but fall into a teasing tone. It was one thing for him to have actually seen a cartoon, another for it to be a goddamn relic of time. Did he dig up a time capsule when he hit Earth’s crust?

At your humoured response, he seemed to shut down. His shoulders raised slightly, hands curling into fists and eyes staring blankly forward.

“Thank you for the food.” He stood abruptly, turning around and pacing towards the door in an intentional and fast-step, only slowing to drop the bag of chocolates on your cluttered dining table. Already lagging behind him from your slow reaction, you dropped the remote on your seat and shot off striding after him.

“Wait, did I say something? Sorry, you don’t have to leave.” You reached towards him to catch his arm, almost out of habit. At the movement he turned to fully face you, his closest hand snatching out of your grasp in a violently quick motion. His face scrunched up, his breathing exaggerated.

“Don’t touch me.” Despite his growingly angry facial expression, his words stayed monotone, only slightly wavering with a tinge of frustration. He stayed still for only a moment to ensure you comprehended his words before turning and leaving out the front door. You swallowed heavily, feeling very much like you accidentally kicked a cat. You quietly followed after him, pausing in the doorway as he headed past your car and straight towards the treeline. Your brain fought over whether to just let him go or attempt to make amends.

You were running out of time, so you opted to remind him,“Remember to not teleport away. G.U.N are looking for you!” You had to shout to ensure he heard your comment. Despite your attempt at gaining his attention, he seemed to ignore your voice, promptly disappearing into the foliage. You waited in the doorway. Guilt crept up your spine, but you were too confused to be overwhelmed by it.

In lieu of a thoughtful comment, all you could think to say was, “Shit.”

You hung in that doorway for what may be considered a foolish amount of time, but past a certain point you’d simply grown too comfortable leaning against it. It might have sounded stupid to describe it as such, but the sun had fallen below the horizon and given you the last dying breaths of a sunset to watch. You hoped Shadow had given himself enough time to watch it as well before disappearing to god-knows-where.

His leaving that afternoon marked a period of low contact—even lower than you’d first had. Food rarely left your now well stocked outdoor fridge. You’d begun making extra servings of dinner out of the hope that he’d see it as the apology it was, but stopped after you were running out of space and were throwing out all of your attempts in the bin after their week-long lifespan ran out. It felt strange, though you’d only been ‘feeding’ him for a handful of weeks, the restocking of the fridge had become just another part of your routine. You found yourself blankly staring into the fridge with another packet of chocolates in your hand more than once. It felt a little stupid. After a particularly taxing day you’d simply opted to eat anything you intended to put outside but couldn’t fit. Parked on the couch surrounded by an assortment of snacks, the caffeine fought and won against your budding food coma, leaving you awake till the wee hours of the morning and channel surfing.

“-has rejected G.U.N’s recommendation to quarantine the land–”

You blinked, forcibly ripped from your languid dissociation by the mention of the organisation. Quickly you flipped back to the channel broadcasting late-night news.

“A statement from G.U.N’s public relations department has called the decision dangerous and short sighted. The multi-national organisation is considering pursuing correspondence with the UN and ordering a sanction for temporary control of the area under a potential biosecurity threat. This has cast further doubt on their original claim that a meteorite was responsible for the destruction of the park visitor centre and the subsequent burning of the surrounding land.”

The program moved on to the forecast, prompting you to lower the volume. You sat, slightly dumbstruck as you realised your sleepy little town had made it onto the national news. A small part of you was proud, but another regretted that it was due to G.U.N’s meddling and not for its merit. Then again, said merit probably started and ended at the bakery in town. Everything else struggled to reach mediocrity, really. So, maybe this was the best chance it had.

The threat of G.U.N potentially vetoing your department’s control of the land was concerning, very concerning . Partially because as shit as it could be at times, you did like your job. You had a lot of autonomy in your role. You doubt you’d even be let onto the property if the military group had any say in the matter. The other concern was obviously Shadow. The snubbing you were currently on the receiving end of made it difficult to convey G.U.N’s latest shenanigans. You may not have had a chance to see him yet, but you’d still run into his footprints on occasion. Without you covering up his movements, it would only be a matter of time til he was found. Unless he left, of course.

Huh, that brought up an interesting point. He’d surely know G.U.N was after him by now. Why did he stick around? Sure, the park’s foliage was dense enough to mean any searches within it would take longer than usual. It still didn’t warrant an overt attachment to it. You wonder if he was going to leave now that G.U.N was being persistent. Then again, you doubt they’d give up after not finding him. He’d probably end up on the run for the foreseeable future. You felt a tinge of sympathy for the hedgehog, that was hardly any type of life for what seemed to be a well intentioned alien child.

You imagined if he was there to answer your questions, you’d only receive cryptic answers. Honestly, you’d be fine with it so long as he promised to say goodbye before leaving. That, or pay you back. You doubted he had any cash, so a goodbye it was then.

Again, this was all contingent on you seeing the little bugger. Desperate times called for desperate measures. It seemed it was time to call in a little help.

Chapter Text

“Thanks for taking her for the week. We’ve been meaning to take the kids out for the school holidays but we didn’t want to leave her.”

“She is a very high maintenance dog.” You barely had time to sputter out an answer between dodging said dog’s attempts at slobbery kisses. The black and tan kelpie was on her hind legs, bouncing up and down in a nearly-successful attempt to plow you over. You were already at a disadvantage, having crouched down to greet the dog.

Jan—the closest thing you had to a neighbour—was attempting to stifle a laugh at your predicament. The two of you weren’t particularly close, but you’d grown a comfortable transactional relationship where you’d help eachother out on occasion. She’d been your coworker many years ago, but had given up her job to be a stay at home mum. Her wife had been cordial the few times you’d spoken, but it was clear she was an absolute workaholic. Jan had loved the outdoors, and being home didn’t seem to change that at all.

“I’m sure she’ll be happy to visit the park again,” You commented, trying to distract the dog with a truly copious amount of pets. The woman leaned over and tugged her dog’s collar, prompting it to finally relent its assault.

“I heard there were some issues with that G.U.N trying to stick their nose in. Any word on how that’s working out?” The comment made you pause momentarily. You expected other people to be aware of your little issue now it was broadcast on tv, but you hadn’t considered what the townsfolk might think of it.

“I swear they’re taking advantage of the fact I’m in a singular location more often than not. The second I walk into that office there’s always something on my desk from them.” You huffed a laugh, trying to seem more amused than annoyed.

“I can’t imagine what business they think they have dealing with it. Our government already had the place on lockdown before they arrived. I don’t trust it, one bit.” Jan crossed her arms, shaking her head in what seemed to be a cautious disbelief.

“Well, not much I can do about it unfortunately. Maybe I'll be a bit slow in my paperwork. That’ll show ‘em.” You shot her a wink, attempting to keep the atmosphere light. You did note her distrust of G.U.N for later. It was good to know you at least had one person around here in your corner.

“That’ll get ‘em to back down, definitely,” Jan laughed. A moment passed before she clapped her hands together, breathing in before continuing, “Whelp, alright. We’ll be off soon, so you’d better scram before the kids see you’re here and this turns into a five hour show and tell.” She turned to address the dog and leaned down to give her a final pet. “Don’t be too much trouble Nala.” As if replying to her, the dog let out a short bark, tail wagging excitedly at all the attention.

The three of you moved over to your car, dodging the scattered kids toys that were haphazardly scattered across the yard. No matter what time of day you visited, there always seemed to be some mess around the place. That probably came with having kids, you supposed. You opened your passenger side door as Nala leapt up into it. Slamming the door shut, the dog stuck her head out of the window, staring at her owner in blissful ignorance of the situation. Jan stayed at the passenger side window as you rounded the car and hopped in. The delay in the start of your car was mildly embarrassing, but you were sure Jan was used to it by now.

“Don’t break down while we’re away, I’m not driving back to save your ass.” The woman in question leant against the open window frame, head tilting past that of her dog’s to make eye contact with you.

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t rob you of that honour.” You gave her a grave look, holding one hand to your chest, letting your act slip after she gave another huff of laughter.

“Alright, get goin’.” She slammed a hand against the roof of the car, backing up just enough to let you start your drive home. Her driveway was forgivingly short, you had just enough time to wave a hand out of the window before you were on a sunbleached highway. Nala gave her own goodbye in the form of relentless barking out of the window for another handful of minutes.

Letting your speed fall for a few moments, you turned to the dog, “Alright ma’am, I’ve got a job for you.” At your words, the dog whipped around, shuffling closer to you whilst keeping seated on the passenger side. “Now, don’t tell your mum, but we’ve got a top secret mission.” You tilted your head to give the dog a serious look. “There’s a kid hanging out in these woods and I’m gonna need your help to find him.” You glanced back at the road, taking another look to ensure no other cars had crept up behind you on the straight stretch of road.

You leaned over, quickly taking a glance at your panting passenger, “Got it?”.

Nala blinked at you. She panted, staring directly into your eyes just long enough for you to begin looking back at the road—long enough for her to decide now was the perfect time to assault you with more kisses. With one hand on the wheel and another fending off your affectionate attacker, you couldn’t help but fall into a fit of giggles.

“Alright alright! Cut it out, we’re gonna end up a road hazard.” She eased off at your command, simply slobbering kisses upon your hand. You could live with that for the road home. As long as she didn’t try that with a certain hedgehog, you were sure she’d be fine.

The trip back to your house passed slower than you’d have liked. Along with having to be aware of your plus one in the car, you passed a small group of G.U.N soldiers. They paid you no mind as you drove past, despite you slowing the vehicle to get a better look. You imagined many locals would have given the sight a sticky beak, but their casualness only served to make you more nervous. Surely if it was important they would have sectioned the place off—lack of authorisation be damned. If they weren’t even bothering to set up the area, that probably meant they were either travelling light or leaving soon. G.U.N being on the move threw a bit of a spanner into the works. Good thing you’d already packed your stuff at home, you were hankering to leave as soon as possible. The less of a headstart you gave the organisation, the better.

Your mind drifted back to your conversation with the woman—Rockwell. You doubt she wholeheartedly bought into your act. Even if she believed you stupid, an idiot in the middle of an important operation was probably enough of a hindrance to warrant interference. Hopefully the handful of days worth of leave you had secured at work would put her off the trail. You’d left out where you were going upon asking your boss for the time off, so there was no story to circulate back to her. Hopefully your leaving would seem like happenstance.

You felt your gaze drifting along the road as you neared home. Being ambushed in your car once by the extraterrestrial, you couldn’t help but hope he did it again. But, as you pulled into your driveway, you were met with no such luck.

Nala was already leaps and bounds ahead of you—literally. The second the ute crawled to a halt she jumped out of the window. Small heart attack at her actions aside, you were happy she was too busy investigating your yard to bother you as you moved to slip inside. Hell, she probably noticed the unusual scent of your previous visitor. That would be beneficial if anything. The whole reason you had innocently offered to take care of the dog was to bring her along. You were a mediocre tracker at the best of times, and that was mostly for people who weren’t intending on hiding. Nala was your ticket to success. Your favour wasn’t just for her usefulness, however. You’d hoped she would fill the silent companionship you’d felt knowing the hedgehog was lingering nearby. It occurred to you that if you squinted really hard, and maybe tilted your head, the two did look a little alike.

Tearing your attention away from the critter playing minesweeper in your yard, you yanked the heavy door open. Your hiking gear was ‘neatly’ left within reaching distance of the door. Years of waking up to dress yourself in similar attire made your wardrobe change barely take up a quarter section on the clock. Just as you laced up your shoes, Nala finally met you at the door. You were quick to shove a handful of treats in her direction. You didn’t want her attention to wander to your bag. You had back ups of a couple things. Food wasn’t one of them. A couple days was all you intended to leave for and as such packed accordingly. All you had left to do was take the bag of dog food Jan had slipped into the bed of your ute. Herding the dog out of the door, you did a walk around the house to ensure all your doors were locked. Upon finishing your inspection, you dropped by the car to fish out the bag and fasten it to your own with bungee cords. Realising what was in the bag, Nala crept into a heel position, ears perked as she watched your actions, enamoured.

“Tally ho, Nala. Our quarry awaits.” You lifted a singular finger triumphantly, striding away from the slumbering vehicle. Nala, still keenly aware that you had fastened her dinner to your bag, stayed glued to your side. You slowed down as you took your first few steps into the brush, struggling to avoid both the dog and floral debris. Huffing, you fished a tennis ball out of your side pocket, giving it a hefty chuck in the direction you were headed. Immediately the kelpie shot off after the neon-coloured object. She bounded lithely over the sloping terrain, barreling haphazardly through piles of leaves, singularly focused on the ball.

Giving a short laugh, you shouted to the absconding dog, “That’s more like it. Now come on, we’ve got a hedgehog to find.”

Chapter Text

The weather was seemingly on your side during the first leg of the journey. A cloudy sky kept the worst of the heat from imprinting on your skin. While the terrain did mean you spent most of your time holding back sections of scrub to pass through and ducking under trees, you were glad to be in your element without any professional obligations. You didn’t know the entire park like the back of your hand—you imagine that’d take another 20 years give or take—but you were familiar with the next few kilometers.

Throwing the ball for Nala turned into a truly Sisyphean task. Her ability to keep dashing back and forth always amazed you, but after the first hour it became comparable to a fly continuously buzzing around your face. You had to hide the ball in your pocket to force her to walk alongside you. If given the chance, she surely would have run herself ragged.

It took less time than you expected for you to run into your first set of footprints. Quickly shooting out your hand to prevent Nala from trampling the carved dirt, you crouched down to ensure it was the pair of sneakers you were hoping for. As you hoped, the unique shape of his shoes were printed into the dry dirt. Relenting, you let Nala shove her nose under your hand, obviously trying to see what you were so interested in. Either that or hoping you’d hidden a smaller ball underneath there. Much to her dismay there was no ball,  but her sniffing turned much more intentional. It occurred to you that an alien hedgehog probably would smell quite strange compared to the wildlife and farm animals she was used to. Her tail hung comfortably low, the sideways swaying motion becoming more energetic the longer she smelled.

“Alright, the next part I’m gonna need your help for.” Your squat form leaned towards the dog, head tilting to get eye contact. Oblivious to your comment, Nala continued sniffing. “Okay, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, but we’re gonna need to head after him, not just sit here tryna judge the last time he had a bath.”

The dog continued sniffing.

Resting one hand on your knee, you leaned further forward and began waving a hand in front of her face. You exhaled heavily, hoping the slight growing frustration would knock her out of whatever trance she had fallen into.

“Hello~ Earth to canine, ya read me?” 

Just as you finished speaking she kneeled into a crouch and sprang forward into a full blown sprint.

It took you one second to comprehend that the space in front of you was devoid of a dog, and another second to tilt your head upwards to see said dog already barreling through the bushes. It took you a third to sputter out a curse word and launch yourself after her.

“Wait for me! Wait for me!” Along with trying to keep up with the canine quickly creeping further and further away, you remembered your second less secret weapon. Blindly shoving a hand into one of the side pockets of your bag, you pulled out your radio. Taking a moment to avoid a ditch, you flipped out the antenna and flicked the on switch.

“They persist in rearranging~”
“All my days to suit them best~”
“But the future will be changing for me~”

Thankfully Nala didn’t keep the same pace for long. Whether she was kindly waiting for you or if she didn’t want to stray too far from the source of her dinner was up to interpretation, but you chose the former. Her path took you further into a section of the park that you were less familiar with, prompting you to fish out your map. It only took you a moment to guestimate where you were, and that continuing in this direction would lead up one of the mountains. While you made a habit of walking many places, heading uphill was going to turn this more gruelling. Hopefully the kid would show up sooner than later.

By the time the sun was in its last stretch across the sky you were more than happy to set up camp. Nala’s boundless enthusiasm seemed to crash and burn the second she realised you were taking a break, her body flopping onto the ground unceremoniously. Leaving your pack on the ground next to her for safekeeping, you were able to spend a little bit of time clearing the ground. You weren’t going to be making anything too permanent since you were surely going to be off again tomorrow morning. It didn’t take you too long to kick away the fallen branches and larger stones.

Crouching next to Nala’s prone form, you rummaged through your pack while speaking to the dog, “You’re probably gonna love this little guy, I’ve seen how you are with Jan’s kids.” You pulled out your curled up sleeping bag. “Maybe don’t try to smother him with kisses, though.” You paused, looking up and around the clearing before leaning close to the dog. “Also, maybe don’t tell him I called him little,” you whispered conspiratorially. Untying your sleeping mat from the top of your pack, you rolled it out in the centre of the clearing. You didn’t plan on being out of bed long, you swear you could feel every muscle in your legs and they were all aching in morse code telling you to go fuck yourself.

You slipped out the radio, the music still intelligible despite the layer of static. Looking around the edges of the clearing once again, you gave a last ditch effort to see if your journey had been noticed. The chances of either Shadow or G.U.N finding you were low, but never zero, something you both hoped and dreaded. Your key ticket in luring in the hedgehog was your music, as you doubted G.U.N would have the insider knowledge of his liking for classic pop and rock. The more you thought about it, it was a little stupid. Thousands of square kilometres lay ahead of you and your feeble siren song was a radio half your age that at its loudest maybe reached half a kilometer.

Yep you were fucked. Hey, at least you got a holiday outta it.

An hour or so later you found yourself scarfing down dinner sitting on your sleeping bag. Nala’s food had all but left the bowl the second you poured it, leaving you to fend off her seeking nose when it travelled to your own. The single lantern you brought along cast a yellow glow across both you and the dog, barely reaching further before growing faint. The oatmeal did its job at filling up your stomach the way millennial grey was useful at turning a living room into something that felt intentionally decorated—it did it’s job but there were certainly better options out there. It was thankfully over sooner rather than later, your bowl wiped clean and back into your pack before Nala had the chance to doze off on top of your sleeping bag. Shutting off the light, you blindly shuffled over to the animal. Shifting the kelpie to the side with great effort, you slipped into the fabric cocoon and let your gaze wander to the atmosphere.

This far from any civilisation, the sky was truly staggering: a heavy dusting of stars across a purple and blue tinted darkness. You could get lost staring at it. It’s easy to say this is why you live where you do, and work where you work, but that’d be a simplification. Your job could be very hard. Bushfires, missing people, long hours and low pay. You put in so much blood, sweat and tears to get where you were, and you’ve heard so many others around you say they do it for moments like these.

You wouldn’t agree.

Sure, there were brief moments of intense happiness. Reuniting a lost kid with their parents, saving an animal from a fire and helping reintroduce it later. But those things were rare—fleeting. The true day to day was what called to you the most; the long commute, the laborious paperwork and spreadsheets, the harsh sun and dry ground crunching beneath your feet. It was every minute you got to spend on this planet doing your damn best to help it. Yes that shit was hard but the difficulty was what made you feel like what you were doing was worth it.

You looked up at that sky, a light yellow–orange cloud in the atmosphere, and understood that you’d signed yourself up for something by coming out here. If you were being honest, you’d signed up long ago. You had a choice to make when you first found those footprints and missing food. You chose to help the kid. Here you were, a month and a half later, delving into almost untouched wilderness to try and help him escape from a group of armed and very capable soldiers who would surely wipe your name from the face of the Earth for even attempting this.

The both of you were in deep shit now, all there was left to do was swim.

You hoped he could swim.

Chapter Text

Hedgehog hunting wasn’t going well.

A day turned into three, leaving you with a growingly oppressive question lingering in the back of your mind. At what point should you just pack up and go home? You pondered it through days of muscle aches and two thankfully brief periods of rainfall. You had let that question continue to linger until you hit the point of no return. With just enough food to get home, you finally decided to turn tail and leave with what dignity you had left.

“Honestly Nala, I feel this was a poor effort from both of us.” The dog in question was weaving between the trees to your side, pausing every kilometre or so to switch sides, doing her best impression of the ball in Pong. “My fault for not preparing for a longer amount of time, and being a bit short sighted in my actual plan for success.” You crossed your arms as you spoke, gesturing with your dominant hand,”and your fault for being a—I really hate to say it— sub-par tracker . Honestly, what’s the deal with the side to side? We left his trail ages ago, this’ll be old stuff by now.” You shook your head in a dramatic display of disappointment.

The momentary turn of the weather had left your clothes the tiniest bit damp in some frankly rather uncomfortable spaces, leaving you a bit more irritable than usual. This realisation didn’t come to you through soul searching or introspection, but rather when you realised you had stopped your hike back to shout expletives at and repeatedly kick a tree root you tripped over. Crashing out over foliage may have permanently damaged your ego forever.

Ever your faithful friend, your radio had continued to sputter out music. The one bonus of booking it back home was that instead of the songs gradually becoming more and more like audio hieroglyphics, they were becoming more coherent. Soon the pain filled hours of your path back home were filled with the local radio station’s usual schtick of pre-2000s rock and pop. It had not been your first choice of station many a moon ago, but you appreciated the fact that the person running the station didn’t interrupt the music between songs to fill the dead air with painfully unfunny jokes.

The now cloud-less sky was a clear window for the sun to return to barbequing your skin. You think your journey would have ended hours in if you had forgotten your sunscreen. With how much and how often you had to apply it, you were left looking like a vampire from Twilight.

“ This is the skin of a killer, Bella , ” you muttered to yourself as you repeatedly failed to close the lid on the sunscreen due to your slippery fingers.

You passed time by listing the chores you would need to do once you got home. You feel this little excursion was worth rewarding yourself with a bath. A long, very unhurried by extraterrestrials or military groups soak. You might even set up some candles! Who knows what future you might resort to. Whatever would remove the stench that was likely festering beneath the layers of sunscreen. Besides a wash, a good meal was in order. If your fridge didn’t lose power while you were gone, there were some snags you could defrost. You didn’t have any bread but there were some potatoes you could mash. Mmm, that sounded good. A hefty meal sitting on your couch, enjoying media that’s both audio and visual. God, that sounded bloody indulgent.

You honestly weren’t sure if Nala would choose to go home if she knew that’s what you were doing. Sure, she’d always be happy to see her family, but exercising kelpies was a sisyphean task and this was probably the most tired she’d been in years. You imagine Jan would be pleased to see how much you’d worked with her. As much as you wanted to drop home then turn around immediately, Jan would want her dog back and work would want you back. Not to say your coworkers were lost without you—they were more likely fighting over who got to do boundary checks in your area in your absence—but there weren’t many people in the department, and thanks to Jan’s leaving you were one of the most senior employees besides your boss. It mildly scared you to know you were technically the most educated amongst the staff.

Nearing the middle of the afternoon, you began to recognise the landscape around you. Seemingly endless rows of trees turned into a familiar slope downwards. It felt like an encouraging tailwind. You were almost chipper by the time your lawn was in view, a slight pep in your step that honestly looked a bit more like a weird limp than anything. You were so caught up in your excitement you almost didn’t notice the shift in Nala’s behaviour.

She was growling.

Nala never growled. Her peppy loping had turned into a slow and meaningful stalk towards your house. You hurried over to her, crouching slightly to see if you could see what she was hunting. The shrubs made it hard to see clearly, so you blindly followed the dog forwards. Her ears were pinned rigidly forward, eyes narrowed in on something .

Just as you parted through the last of the surrounding scrub, you were met with what might be the most frustrating sight you had ever seen. You threw out your hand to grab the dog’s collar, quietly commanding her to sit.

The fucker was on your porch. Just sitting there.

Upon seeing you, he stood up and walked towards you, eyeing the dog warily.

“You weren’t home.” He phrased it less like a question and more like a statement.

It took you almost a minute to finally blurt out, “Of course I wasn’t home, I was out looking for you! You’re the one that got up and left with no goodbye!” You reflexively raised your hands into a baffled gesture, hoping to emphasise your point.

“I wasn’t aware I needed to.” The slight twitch in his eyebrow conveyed a subtle but genuine confusion. You stared at him incredulously.

“Dude, you didn’t drop by for ages! What was I supposed to think happened? I assumed you were, like, hurt or something.”

“Nothing can hurt me, I’m the ultimate lifeform,” he huffed. You waited for him to finish the joke. He didn’t. That, once again, was a statement.

“Now, I’m not even gonna unpack all of that.” You inhaled sharply, cupping your hands to your face, taking a moment to calm yourself before continuing, “Why were you at my house?”

His reply was delayed, his eyes tracking your movements, observing your growing frustration, “G.U.N was hanging around, I wanted to see what they were doing.”

All resentment immediately flew out the window as fear and dread sidled on in. Oh fuck. Oh, that’s- that’s not good. You didn’t have anything to hide, per se, but if they were getting that damn bold it was only a matter of time before home visits were the new norm.

Giving Nala the command to stay, you hurried to the front door, motioning for the alien to follow with you. Nala, to her credit, sat perfectly still, her ears and eyes still sharply trained on the ‘Ultimate Lifeform’.

“What do you mean by hanging around? They didn’t get into my house, did they?” You looked over your shoulder at Shadow slowly approaching after you, fumbling your key into the lock with all the precision of a plastered alcoholic.

“Director Rockwell did try knocking at your door, but otherwise, no.” He unhurriedly walked up beside you.

You paused upon hearing his response, turning around to look at him with squinted eyes, “You know who that is?”

He huffed, “Of course, she works for G.U.N.” The way he spoke made it seem like that made things obvious. You blinked, dumbly. His brows furrowed in frustration. “G.U.N held me captive before, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to escape their grasp.”

You opened your mouth to speak, a multitude of questions bubbling up to the surface, but one look from the grouchy hedgehog told you the Q&A would have to wait til later. You resolved to simply say, “Alright.”

Getting inside, you remembered to dump your backpack. You had honestly grown to ignore the weight on your shoulders but the second it was off you let out a heavy sigh. “I need a drink,” you rubbed your face, turning to stare at the figure standing in your doorway like an uninvited vampire, “Coffee?”. He nodded.

You moved on autopilot, filling up your kettle and setting out two cups. You reached over and grabbed some sachets of instant coffee, setting them down besides your other high class coffee making equipment and turned to lean against the cupboard.

He was still in the doorway.

“You can come in, I thought that was implied.” You tilted your head, watching the awkward body language of the alien as he stepped inside.

“I didn’t want to be rude,” he mumbled. You refrained from laughing at his comment as much as you wanted to, not wanting a repeat of what happened last time.

“D’ya mind if I bring the dog in?” You motioned with your head.

The hedgehog followed your gaze, staring back at you for a moment before giving a short nod. 

You were a little hesitant to officially introduce the two. Nala could be a lot , which seemed to be the exact opposite of the alien’s personality. You could only hope that her friendly demeanor would be more endearing than irritating. Sticking your head out the front door, you clicked with your fingers for the dog to follow. Taking the command in stride, she shot up from her crouch at an impressive speed and all but barrelled towards the doorway. You reached down to catch her on the way through, holding her collar to forcibly slow her entrance. She immediately honed in on the hedgehog and started pulling in his direction. Shuffling over in an attempt to keep upright against the full force of the dog’s pulling, you shot Shadow a strained smile that you hoped conveyed a genuine sincerity.

You held your breath instinctively as the two were finally within an arm’s length. Nala leaned down, sniffing furiously at his shoes. Shadow furrowed his brow into a confused but inquisitive expression. A couple seconds passed of Nala trying her best to shove her face into his foot. Hesitantly, he held out his hand. She paused, looking up at the gesture and slowly leaning towards it. She sniffed once. She paused to stare at him again, before continuing to sniff. There was a lot of sniffing. Shadow shared an awkward glance with you as the dog was frankly enthralled. Then, she licked his gloved hand.

In the moments that had passed, your grip on her collar had faltered. In that second she chose to launch herself at the hedgehog, tackling him in an attempt to smother him in kisses. You’d never seen him so surprised. The two flailed as he was knocked backwards, the dog’s body weight pinning him to the floor. She immediately went for his face, absolutely slobbering over it. You could tell Shadow was both panicking, but trying not to hurt the animal. Using both hands he batted away the dog’s face, turning his own in a mostly-successful attempt at avoiding her love.

“Get her off!” His voice was slightly muffled, the head turning and dog licking noises making it difficult to understand. Your face split into a huge grin, opting to let the alien suffer longer. Serves him right. Payback for your little misguided excursion. His gaze caught your own in the middle of the debacle, his eyes wide with both concern and a growing frustration at your lack of movement.

You walked over to the now boiled kettle. Pouring some water into your own cup, you casually looked over towards the hedgehog.

“Any milk in yours?” The response you got was another muffled shout of frustration. “I’ll take that as a no,” your voice lilted as you could barely stop yourself from laughing. Filling both of the cups, you languidly stirred them, still enjoying the show. Nala was expertly dodging his attempts at retaliation. Her practice in assaulting her owner’s kids was probably why she was so adept at this. Having been on the other end of it, you spared him a sliver of sympathy.

Carefully moving the two cups to your coffee table, you commanded Nala to follow you as you passed by. Obviously torn by her very successful assault and her training, she paused for a moment before relenting. Leaping off the hedgehog in a motion that surely would have been uncomfortable for the other party, she happily trotted over to sit at the foot of your chair.

Shadow slowly rose to an upright position reminiscent of the Undertaker, still sitting on the floor.

“I hate you.” The statement was flat with an underlying embarrassed anger.

“Hate me all you want, your coffee is going cold. Hurry up and drink it. You’ve got some gossip to catch me up on.” The confused look he shot over his shoulder prompted you to elaborate, “the G.U.N soldiers.” You motioned with your free hand for him to come over.

Slowly he moved to stand up, stomping over to the couch with all the grace of a reluctant teenager. Despite his lack of overall facial expression, the narrowed eyes and frankly intense eye contact conveyed an impressive amount of spite. Somehow maintaining the same visible frustration in his movements, he hopped up onto the couch. Still staring, he crossed his arms.

You took a long and loud sip of your drink.

“I already told you, they were hanging around outside.” His stare momentarily turned to Nala, most likely ensuring she was content by your side and not planning on launching another surprise attack.

You shot him an unimpressed look, “and that’s it?”

He huffed and looked away, “they were looking for you. They were unsuccessful, so they left.”

“You just watched?” You raised an eyebrow before taking a second to glance through your window, trying to see if anything had been noticeably moved.

“Interfering would have been counterintuitive to staying hidden.” He offered you a look that all but implied you were stupid for asking.

“Fair,” you relented. “What made you come back?”

With that question he seemed to hesitate. Once again avoiding eye contact, he exhaled.

“I realised my earlier actions were short sighted, you weren’t genuinely attempting to hurt my feelings. Your statement reminded me of something that upset me.” The way his shoulders tensed as he spoke made his sharing seem reluctant.

“You’re all good, I’m sorry I upset you.” His reservations seemed to erode away at your genuine answer. He looked you up and down for a moment, a tinge of disbelief or perhaps hesitance colouring his face.

“I was overreacting. You don’t need to apologise,” he muttered. He looked like he was waiting for you to catch him out.

“Dude, you’re alright. It was my mistake, I’m genuinely sorry. Now please take a sip at least, or I’m sending the dog over.” His eyes slightly widened at your threat, but he seemed to relax a little overall. Gingerly he reached out and held the cup with both hands. A few moments passed of the both of you quietly drinking.

“So… What’re you gonna do now G.U.N’s hangin around this neck of the woods?” You almost didn’t want to hear his answer, to stay in this peaceful moment. He finished his drink, quietly putting it down on the coffee table before furrowing his brow and continuing to sit quietly.

“… I don’t know.” The response held a genuine and almost insecure uncertainty. When he raised his head to meet your own, his eyes were wider than you’d ever seen them. “I don’t want to leave. I don’t have anyon—anything to go back to.” His head lowered before he could even finish. He tucked his knees to his chest, crossing his arms over the front. Nala’s ears perked at his movement, her tail wagging low against the ground.

You considered his response and situation for a moment. You didn’t have an easy out for him. You wished you had a solution. This was just a scared and grouchy kid. You were at a loss, as was he. Seconds of thoughtful silence passed as the mood turned slightly somber at that shared realisation.

“You can stay here in the meantime until you figure out what you want to do.” You set your empty cup on the table with an air of decisiveness. 

Not giving the hedgehog any time to think on your answer, you set the dog loose. In the middle of his first word of response his reply quickly turned into an exclamation of surprise as Nala leapt up onto the couch. Standing up, you ignored his attempts at signalling for help to lean over to grab the cups and take them over to the sink.

Now you were back you could at least keep an eye on G.U.N. You couldn’t physically protect him from them, but you could give him the thing he needed the most right now. Time.

“-GET HER OFF-”

Time. Nothing else. Just time.