- A Break From Work -

Okay, let's see...

He filed everything in alphabetical order. Sonic prime's documents should be stored in this shelf specifically. After all, his blood line had the most history. So much so, that his files needed an entire shelf all to itself. Ah, but which was the document that he needed again? He had to study it, that was his assignment. Veteran No Zone soldiers trusted with top secret instructions given by past Overseers, were in turn assigned in making Zonic study about certain types of chaotic powers. He knew almost all of them, as there weren't that many to read on. There was artificial chaos energy, corrupted chaos energy, pure chaos energy and...One more. There was something else he forgot to study the other night. It was the most important yet the most mysterious subject, and he forgot where he put the very documents that talked about it.

Damn it, where did he put them?!

Not there, no not there either...

As Zonic pushed aside books and papers, he felt a small amount of stress fall onto him. He hoped he didn't lose it, but he was more responsible than that. He never lost anything important, especially not paperwork. He was supposed to be the Overseer, and he was extensively trained under commander Zhadow himself. He was trained not to screw up, so how the hell did he misplace that damn folder? Chaos, sometimes he even annoyed himself. If he didn't find these documents, he was going to lose it. He didn't have his coffee today either, nor did he sneak in a smoke break all this month. He was craving to release stress, it was all just stuck inside of him. Like smog and soot of black exhaustion and anxiety. Oh man...

"Lose something, private?"

A deep smug voice cut through the air in his personal office. Zonic flinched, but then sighed in exasperation. Bastard startled him. What did he want now of all times? Zonic shut the metallic drawer and turned to look over his shoulder. First Lieutenant General Zhadow was leaned against his thick large desk. His hand on his hip as he tossed a thin beige folder up and down in the air, and back in his hand. He was wearing his casual uniform just like Zonic, as the Warden was out for a few hours. When the Warden wasn't present in the building, all soldiers were no longer required to wear their stuffy tight military garb. Zhadow's white chest fur was sticking out of his unbuttoned white dress shirt. Just like many others and Zonic himself, he didn't care for pants. He was smirking, ceasing his tossing of the folder before moving his arm to throw it at Zonic.

The blue hedgehog just rolled his eyes and caught the folder easily. He flipped through it to make sure all the files he was looking for were inside of it, and closed it back soon after. "Thank you, I suppose." He turned back to the drawers and looked to see where he should put the folder in a better place. He'd have to take a look at it later. "You can leave, now."

Zhadow scoffed at that. "So cold. But then again, I'm used to that from you."

"Like you're one to talk..." Zonic mumbled while bending down to reach the bottom drawer. "Really, you can go back to your duties, first lieutenant general."

"You don't want to know how I got my hands on that? After all, you did lose it." His superior commented with half of a sneer. "Why, the Overseer of Realities can't be this careless, you know." He could hear the crawling smugness in his voice, and it was irritating.

The Overseer tried his best to keep his tongue still, so he wouldn't curse out his superior and earn himself a penalty. "Fine, where did you find it?"

"My apartment. More specifically, I found it under my bed this morning."

Zonic's peach muzzle flashed red for a split second. He stifled a growl and slowly turned to give his superior a heavy glare. "..."

Zhadow's smirk deepened at the appearance of his expression. "Now I wonder how that ended up there? Couldn't hazard a guess." After he waited for a comeback from the second lieutenant general, until he realized that he probably wouldn't get one. Zonic was either to embarrassed to retort, or too annoyed. Either way, Zhadow was pleased with that. Zonic just scowled and turned away from him, returning to the drawers to organize papers. As a silence flowed through the room, his superior walked closer to the desk before getting up to sit on top of it's surface. "So," Zhadow began. "Are you okay?"

His voice sounded a lot more sincere this time, like he held true concern. No longer any teasing, it was just a genuine question. Zonic sighed at this, dissolving his exasperation. "I'm, fine." He hesitated a bit in answering. "I've been doing all of my duties accordingly."

Zhadow frowned. "You know that's not what I mean, rookie." He folded his hands in his lap as he watched Zonic move around his file cabinets. "I mean, are you eating? Are you getting enough rest? Are you actually taking advantage of your breaks? Or," He narrowed his red eyes. "Are you overworking yourself again, and purging yourself of food?"

Another sigh. So this is what he was coming in here for, he was interrogating him about his health. Again. "I'm fine, first lieutenant."

"Don't give me that, rookie. Tell me the truth."

If it would get him out of his office quicker and this conversation ended, he'd answer him as fast as possible. "I could eat a little more, yes." He started off with a louder tone, indicating for the other to silence himself of his constant nagging and just listen. "I haven't been purging, and I've been doing my exercises accordingly by your order." He shut a drawer and turned around to fully face his superior whom was staring back at him on the desk. "I could use a couple more hours of sleep, but that's it. I'm fine, Zhadow." He used his name in a very informal manner, trying to get through to him that this was no longer a debate. Zonic was fine, end of story.

Zhadow exhaled through his nose and lowered his eye lids. "So if I put you on a weight scale-"

"I'll be at the perfect weight for any average solider of my size and stature, yes." Zonic cut him off curtly and sharpened his gaze. "What do you want from me? I'm not sick, and I'm not hurting myself." He said. "I didn't purge because I have an obsession with appearances, I did it so I could meet the requirements of a true No Zone soldier." He turned away and crossed his arms under his chest. "I work as hard as I do, because you trained me that way."

"You overworked yourself before I took you under my wing, Zonic." The ruby eyed hedgehog countered. "Except this time, you're not killing yourself over studies, you're passing out from working too many hours at HQ." He crossed his legs on the desk. "You always had an excellent work ethic, that's not what I'm criticizing you for." He could see Zonic's face slowly fall from utterly annoyed, to a more stoic look. He was glaring at the wall on the side of the room, and refused to look back at his superior. "Look," Zhadow said. "I just don't want you to hurt yourself again. You always passed out during patrols when you were just a private, and that was only because you studied until the crack of dawn with only an hour of sleep everyday. You barely ate, and you were so consumed with studying about chaos abilities and Sonic prime's ancestry. And now, you've switched. You don't study as much, but now you're pulling yourself thin as a lieutenant general."

Zonic didn't say anything back.

The red striped hedgehog continued. "You're so much grumpier now, too. So quick to cut my tongue out for checking up on you-"

The blue one whipped his head towards him. "Because I'm sick of you treating me like a child!" He yelled. "You're not just checking up on me, you're babying me. You try slipping food into my office when I'm not there, you demand that I use sleeping medication, you constantly follow me near the gun range because you're terrified that I might hurt myself-It just goes on and on with you, Zhadow." He lowered his hand towards his waist where his holster belt laid. Zonic may not have been wearing pants, but a solider always kept their gun on their person just in case. He grasped the grip of his gun and held up it up in his palm. He pointed to it while taking a step closer to Zhadow. "See this? I know how to hold a damn gun." He slammed it on the desk. "I know how to hold the grip, I know how to aim, I know how to press my finger on the trigger. It's not that hard for me."

This time, Zhadow fell silent. He only stared at Zonic with an unreadable glower.

Noticing his sudden silence, Zonic realized he may have went a bit too far. He then continued with a calmer tone. "Just," He closed his eyes with a heavy sigh, the black lines under his eyes were starting to become very obvious. "I wish you could just trust me." He rose his dark green irises back to his superior's gaze, giving him some honesty this time. "I'm, sorry that I worry you. And I apologize for being insufferable. I admit that I do get rather, agitated when I overwork." He took the gun and placed it back on his hip, before walking around the desk and sitting down in his office chair. He leaned back and folded his hands over his abdomen. "The one thing I hate doing is disappointing you, Zhadow." He confessed. "I know purging and overworking upsets you, and I know you're only acting like this because you care about me."

"I care about you a lot more than this job, Zonic."

A small amount of pink spread onto Zonic's face. "...I know that, too."

"I just wished you felt the same way about yourself." He hopped off of the desk and went to Zonic's side by his chair. "That's all I want from you. You've already become the soldier I've always strived for you to become." He rose his hand to the blue one's muzzle, caressing the side of it as they shared a more affectionate gaze. "Now I just want you to be a normal functioning person." He said. "I don't nag you just to patronize you, I nag you because I want you to be healthy. I can't love a person who's dead, Zonic."

With the color on his face growing, Zonic slowly looked away from his hold. "I'm not going to die, Zhadow."

"You nearly died many times before, and not just from intergalactic missions." He got down on his knees in front of him, in between Zonic's legs. He took his hands to grasp both of his wrists and held his palms in his own. "How many times have you passed out? How many times has the Warden forced you to take vacation days so he doesn't get a lawsuit from overworking one of his best soldiers? Last night, I tried taking you in bed, and you nearly fainted off the mattress from kissing alone." After that happened, Zhadow just held him in bed, constantly making sure he was awake and that he didn't fall unconscious the entire night. He repeatedly asked him if he should take him to a hospital, but Zonic just said he needed more rest to get more energy and dismissed it. "You have no energy, your stamina is down to the wire and I always catch you panting after taking a trip to the bathroom."

Zonic's mouth flattened, and his eyes lowered. All of this was true. He tried saying something back, "I...I," But he couldn't. What could he say to that? All of that was absolutely true. And he was so stuck in the mind frame of working hard, that he didn't know how to stop. "..." Again, he said nothing.

Zhadow could see that he was finding difficulty in responding to him, so he tightened his hold on his hands. "How about we leave for the day, and I take you to that pink infested bakery that opened up in town?"

What? Leave? For the entire day? "But I-"

"Nope."

"My studies-"

"To hell with them."

"Zha-"

"Permission to speak freely denied, second lieutenant general. I override your authority."

Zonic frowned, but it almost looked like a pout. "...Fine."

Zhadow stood up from his position, and he helped pull Zonic up with him. "I know studying about Sonic prime is important, but you need to take the time to worry about yourself for once."

The blue hedgehog slowly nodded and he seemed to look a little more bashful. At least he was finally listening to him, and seeing where he was coming from. "I'm sorry-" He tried apologizing again, until Zhadow hushed him with a kiss onto the side of his muzzle. He hated when Zhadow did that out of no where. But before Zonic could retort to that, he was silenced once again with another kiss to the lips this time. "..! Q-Quit doing that."

"I'll do that whenever I please and more."

The Overseer of Realities turned completely rosy as he defiantly wiped the kiss from his cheek with the back of his arm. "If you do that in front of my peers, I swear to Chaos-"

"I already do that in front of your comrades colonel Zespio and colonel Zector, you just haven't killed me for it yet."

An eye twitch from Zonic. He took his hands away from Zhadow's and crossed his arms stubbornly. "Indeed, and I just might if you do it again today."

Zhadow rose an unimpressed brow. "You won't."

With steam practically blowing from his blue ears, Zonic held up a tightened fist and a fully crimson face. "Bastard, I will actually kill you...!"

"Sure you will. And you'll rot in No Zone jail for being charged with first degree murder of a high ranking No Zone military official."

"It'll be worth it if it shuts you up."

"But if that happened, no one would be watching over you and keeping you safe. Think about it," He started to bring up a very valid point. "You monitor over millions of other Sonics every single day, but then you'd have no one protecting you. Keeping you fed, keeping you healthy, and happy. Wouldn't you want to keep that in your life?"

Okay, again, he had him there. With an embarrassed scowl, Zonic tapped his fingers against his arm. "Maybe."

"You mean, yes." He snaked his arm around Zonic's shoulders and began to lead him towards the exit of his office. "Now come on, you're probably starving."

"You're paying."

"Fine, fine."

As his superior grasped the doorknob, Zonic said one last thing. "Permission to speak freely, first lieutenant general."

He addressed him formerly, again. With a peculiar glint in his eye, Zhadow allowed it. "Permission granted this time-" He suddenly felt Zonic lean closer against his body frame. "-Oh." He blinked a few times at this, he didn't expect him to do that.

"Thank you." Zonic nearly murmured with a meeker tone. "For everything that you do for me."

Zhadow just sighed with a small smile on his face as he opened the door.

"Of course."

END