Edit: I'm really sorry to re-upload, I can't English and had to fix up some mistakes. I also don't understand the new site properly D:

Never Clearer.

leave your book
and leave the mirror
('cause you're already stunning)

Everything in Cheren's life had always been meticulously planned. Maybe it was because his parents were a little messy and he wanted to rebel, or it was jut in his genetics, but whatever the reason, he'd always felt the need to be organised. Books (and he had a lot of them) had been alphabetised, routines were constantly stuck to and when he was younger he had always made sure time with his friends had been planned at least two days in advance.

So falling for Bianca had definitely not been on the to-do list.

And falling was what it was. He was falling behind in his work, falling behind when he battled because he was too distracted to strike first, falling behind in his studies and falling up stairs. Of course he didn't realise why all this was happening until way afterwards, and during that time was left wondering just what was going on with him.

"Call me, okay?"

That was what had started it all.

She'd shouted it out as he had been walking back into his gym and probably hadn't realised what effect it would have on the poor guy. They had just seen each other for the first time in two years and when she had smiled at him, he'd thought she'd looked pretty. He had never thought that about anyone before, so it had both surprised and confused the hell out of him. Now to add that request on top of it, it had definitely started some sort of internal conflict.

And he didn't know what do to.

Just call her.

The thought had been going around his mind for the past few days, and no matter how hard he tried to distract himself or focus on other things, it was always there, niggling away until he'd just want to bang his fists against the wall and shout out that no, I can't!

But then his mind would counter, why can't you?

And for that, he didn't have an answer. There was something inside stopping him, even though she'd told him to. Had she meant it? Or was she just saying it to be nice because their conversation had been cut short? Even if she had wanted him to, what would he then say?

"Uh...it's Cheren. You told me to call you,"

Gee, what a gentleman. If he said that, it just seemed like he was calling her because he had to, not because he actually wanted to. Which he did, but he just didn't know how to say it. Placing his head in his hands, he sighed. He may have known all about types and abilities, but when it came down to people, he was absolutely clueless.

Especially with someone like Bianca who was the complete opposite of him. He could deal with himself, he knew what was coming with him, but she was confusing. He couldn't predict what she'd do next, what she'd laugh at or what would make her upset. He was so used to being the authority everything that suddenly knowing nothing was unnerving.

Funnily enough, none of that had mattered when they were kids, their friendship had always just worked. But now he was older and aware of everything, it was really strange. He hadn't realised how easy they'd had it when they were younger, it sort of made him wish he could go back for a day (at least it would end all this confusion). What was the worst though was that he didn't know why he wanted to call her. Why the sudden urge to spend time with her and talk to her had arisen. Was it because he was now a stupid teenage boy? He hadn't felt like this around anyone before and couldn't work out why her.

He hated feeling helpless like this, not understanding himself.

"Mister Cheren," A young voice interrupted his musings and he looked down to find Serena, one of his trainers watching him in concern. "Pedro and I think you should go home, you don't look very well,"

"I'll be fine," He smiled at her. "I'll just take a break for a few minutes," She nodded and ran back over to the other boy, calling something out to him. He jumped off his podium and walked across the battlefield, kicking up the dirt as he did. Maybe he would just call her, what's the worst that could happen? He'd make an idiot of himself and she might not want to talk to him again, which would be...terrible. Okay, in that case he'd have to plan what to say.

Why do you even care so much?

He left the gym, walking down the main street of Aspertia and heading towards the Pokecentre. He could see it just down the road, but as he went to turn the corner, he had a sudden change of heart and started to the lookout. As much as he loved his job, he just needed a break from everything for a moment.

He took each step carefully, relishing the time away from work and trying desperately to clear his mind. He crossed the distance between the stairwell and the railing, placing his hands on it and looking out at the view. It was breathtaking, to say the least, and he was immediately glad he came here instead. There were so many trees and the mountains were so huge, it made him feel tiny. But more importantly, it made his problems seem even smaller.

...

Screw it.

If something as big as a mountain could exist, then there was absolutely no reason he couldn't call.

Scrolling down to her on his list of contacts on the Xtransceiver, his index finger hovered over her name, hesitating. Did he really have the guts to do this? Taking on a criminal organisation and battling the Elite Four, that was one thing..but this, it was a different story. He was petrified, and he didn't even care about admitting that now. He glanced towards those mountains again and confirmed that yes, he did have the guts. And well, he had no choice now, he'd pressed her name.

"Cheren!" Her smiley face greeted him and he felt that unfamiliar surge of I-don't-know-what's-going-on-but-you-look-really-pretty he'd felt when he'd seen her last. "You called! I was starting to think you didn't want to talk to me," She laughed and he smiled weakly, his knees feeling like they were going to buckle from relief. Maybe he had over thought the whole thing. "Hey, want to meet up? I'll be in Floccesy Town tomorrow and it'll be Saturday so you shouldn't have to work,"

"Okay, how about at one?"

"Perfect! I'll meet you outside the Pokecentre!" Her voice rose several octaves in excitement and he looked away to try and fight the rising heat in his cheeks. "See you then!" And she hung up, her face disappearing from the tiny screen. He stepped forward slowly, placing his forehead on the railing of the lookout and sighed.

You can run away, Cheren.

You can run away and make up some excuse about work, then you won't feel so confused and nervous.

His eyes were glued to the street in front of him and right now, it didn't seem like a bad idea. If he'd thought calling her had been difficult, then he wasn't sure how to describe this. A double-edged sword was probably a good way, he wanted to see her more than anything, but he was so damn confused as to why he did that he almost didn't want to. Okay, he knew that made zero sense, but his mind was a jumbled mess at the moment that trying to explain things was near impossible. Especially things he didn't quite understand himself.

Because seriously, he'd never really felt the need to be around people before, let alone one specific person. Two years ago he hadn't wanted to hang out with Bianca all the time, sure they'd been friends, but he was just as happy by himself. And then during those two years, he hadn't felt the need to see her either. So why after seeing her briefly for a few minutes outside his gym did this suddenly happen?

So.

Confusing.

He glanced at the big clock tower, frowning when he saw the time. Ten-past-one. It was fine of course, she was always late, but he wasn't sure how much more of this he could withstand before he melted to the ground in a mess of feelings. As if on queue though, he caught sight of that familiar green beret running quickly down the street. He inhaled deeply, no getting out of it now.

Upon arrival, she bent down and placed her hands on her knees to try and catch her breath. "Hey, sorry I'm late! I got carried away t-" She trailed off mid-sentence as she straightened herself up, looking at him with suddenly wide eyes. What? Had something gone wrong already? "Your hair!" She reached forward and grabbed a few strands of it. It fell through her fingers and she smiled. "It's so long!"

He mentally sighed in relief, thank Arceus. "And yours," He started but found himself back-pedalling, not entirely sure how to continue. What was it that she would want to hear? That she looked pretty? Sure, he could say that, but as ditzy as she was, Bianca would be able to see through him. Not that he wouldn't mean it, of course, it just wasn't in his nature to say something like that offhandedly (and he'd probably sound really unconvincing), and she knew that. Or maybe it was, he wasn't entirely sure what he was like now.

So he looked at her, trying to find something to comment on. Okay, so she'd definitely changed. He hadn't noticed the other day, their meeting had been so quick that he'd hardly had time to register what had happened. Her green beret was different to the one she used to wear and he didn't remember her being so short last time they saw each other. What was most noticeable though was the pair of red glasses that she kept pushing up her nose as she waited for his answer. They were not unlike his old pair and he couldn't help but think they looked quite nice. But maybe he was just biased. "...it's still so short," He finished lamely.

Wow, smooth.

He worried for a moment that she might be annoyed at his stupid compliment, but luckily her smile didn't falter. "Actually, you should have seen it a few days ago," She began. "I grew it really long, but decided to cut it. Good thing I did, I guess, otherwise you might not have recognised me,"

"I'm sure I would be able to tell who you are no matter what the situation," He reassured her and her smile grew wider.

"Well, I'm glad! You, on the other hand," She waved her arm from his head down to his feet. "No glasses, longer hair, and what are you, five-foot-ten, now? You're so tall, I feel tiny!"

"Five-foot-nine-and-a-half,"

"Close enough. Hey, I know, let's go find somewhere to sit, we haven't seen each other for so long and we need to catch up," She grabbed his arm and the sudden contact made him flinch. He wasn't expecting that and pulled away in surprise, bringing those feelings of I-kinda-like-you he'd almost forgotten about back. She looked at him with a mixture of disappointment and her own surprise, and he felt a pang of guilt. Screw up number one of the day. "Oh come on, Cheren, relax,"

She took his arm again, slowly this time and pulled him over to the clock tower. It sounded rough, but really, she led him over there gently and they took a seat on the grass. She lifted her hand off and left him staring down at the part where she'd been holding. It...hadn't been too bad. He'd thought at first if he tried to minimise contact then all this would go away, but...romance was okay, right? It wasn't a bad thing or anything, was it?

"How are you?" She shimmied herself around so they were seated opposite one another and looked him right in the eyes.

Pretty nervous. "I'm not too bad," I've been worried about you for the past week. "I've just been working, there's quite a lot of paperwork involved in opening up a new Gym that I haven't had time to do much else," I'm lying completely. "How about you?"

"Same thing," She sighed, yanking off her hat and running her fingers though her hair. "It's good to be out and about doing stuff, but it's pretty tiring, you know what I mean?"

Why must you be so damn pretty?

"I know what you mean," He returned, blushing at the sudden thought. He looked away and focused on a couple in the distance, they were holding hands and the girl pointed to something, making her boyfriend laugh. Cheren frowned, it looked so easy for them. It dawned on him not long after that to a passerby such as himself, him and Bianca would look like them too. This made him blush even more and he pulled his knees up to his chest so he could bury his face into them.

You know what? He kind of missed his glasses right now, they at least covered his cheeks a little.

Luckily Bianca hadn't seemed to notice any of this and didn't seem to privy to his internal conflict either, as she was still chatting away about some research down this end of the region or something. He wasn't entirely sure what it was about, he'd missed the beginning of the conversation because he'd been so worried about his stupid face. It was a bit hard to catch up now, so he just nodded and smiled. She didn't really care though, or maybe she just hadn't realised.

"...so there was this whole bunch of Purrloin,"

He lifted his head from his knees when he deemed himself presentable and continued to stare into the distance, eyes on but not actually watching that couple again. Now that he was sitting down and a little less worried, he was able to make sense of his predicament a bit more. Despite the fact he was sitting and facing the one who was causing it all, he had come to the conclusion that she was very pretty and denying it any longer wouldn't help anything.

He also thought that she was kind and caring, and he'd enjoyed talking so he would probably want to see her again sometime (he also sort of liked that they looked like that couple to others, but he wouldn't admit that yet). So if that meant he liked her, then so be it. He'd never been one to embrace change easily, but he'd been working on that in the past two years and this sort of thing happened to everyone anyway (plus, it was sort of nice to get to know someone better).

With that now out of the way, he could relax. Well, not completely but it was the first time in a while he hadn't felt so worried. So he closed his eyes and let his head drop slightly - he was tired, sleeping hadn't been so great recently. This was soon interrupted by a warm weight against his left cheek and it caused him to snap his eyes open in surprise. Suddenly hyper-aware of his surroundings, he saw Bianca leaning in close to his face, smiling. Had she just...? Well, now he was confused again.

"Cheer up, Cheren," She laughed. "Enjoy your weekend, you're spending it with someone you hopefully like. I am, at least, and if that's not good enough reason to be happy, I'm not sure what is,"

"Bianca?" He said, kind of speechless. He had no idea what had just happened and just how it had happened either.

"But I've known you forever, so I do know what you're like and probably shouldn't expect anything," She chided him playfully, her smile turning into more of a smirk. Oh, was that so?

Now he didn't know what overcame him at this point, maybe it was the tiredness or the fact she had just issued him a challenge (had she implied he couldn't be romantic? That's what he deduced from what she'd said, anyway) and Cheren was never one to turn down one, but it was more than likely because she had just said she liked him too. So he leaned in and returned the gesture, kissing her on the right cheek.

It was her turn to be surprised and when he pulled away, he was smiling for real this time. "Bianca,"

So, I said to myself "Mya, it's about time you wrote something romantic" and then I failed miserably. I'm not so good with romance, haha. But I really, really like Dualrivalshipping. I think it might actually be my OTP for Pokemon, which is crazy because I always thought it would be Pokeshipping. Cheren and Bianca are just too sweet though, aren't they?

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

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