Author's note: Inspired by the OTP prompt of Person A seeing Person B in glasses for the first time, since Person B usually wore contacts. I thought it suited FranticShipping since Ruby was the only one who needed to wear glasses. Set after the Ruby and Sapphire Arc. Told from alternating POVs. (I left a brief cameo of another Dex owner in the fic~) Hope you enjoy, and please read and review!
Sapphire fumed silently by the water fountain, her right eye twitching. Of course, said silent fuming had included stomping her foot and hurling insults at the sky repeatedly earlier. Now, she had long run out of steam.
Her fellow best friend, neighbor, Pokedex owner and (she flushes pink) crush was supposed to turn up at ten o' clock in the morning. It was half-past ten now. And Sapphire righteously believed in punctuality. Turning up twenty minutes before the scheduled meeting had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she was overly eager and excited to meet Ruby after weeks of separation. They had both diverged their paths after Kyogre and Groudon's destructive battle- Ruby to spend more time with his family, Sapphire to help more with Professor Birch's research. They still met regularly, well, given that they were neighbors and all, but Ruby had left for Sinnoh a few weeks after- for some sort of swanky contest event that he had invited Sapphire to as well. But Sapphire had had no time to spare for the trip then. She had been consumed with an increased workload- ever since her father had gotten involved in another research project. Besides, she could think of at least fifty more things she wanted to do than be cooped up in a room and forced to watch Pokemon dress up and look pretty (Pretty useless, in Sapphire's opinion).
Yet, that was not to say that she didn't miss Ruby. The picture he had sent to her- taken with some other Coordinator (Pretty, fair-skinned, long dark blue hair and platinum colored eyes) had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all.
Sapphire sighed.
Maybe she had missed him a little, to turn up twenty minutes prior the scheduled time. And maybe she had felt just the slightest bit jealous when she saw the photo Ruby had sent her. She vaguely recalls ordering Toro to burn it up with flamethrower destructively after he mailed it to her.
Just a little bit.
Ruby was still a no-show. Sapphire sighed again and plopped herself on a bench in an unruly manner. Her namesake eyes dimmed a little as she contemplated the possibility that Ruby was too busy to turn up (the image of the petite princess from earlier arose, much to her irritation).
"Sapphire!" Her ears pricked up at the sound of her name, pronounced by a familiar voice that she recognised even from a distance. Bolting upwards, Sapphire shot off the bench and raced to the caller of her identity, not knowing whether to punch the owner of the voice first, or hug him (she decides on the former).
It truly was him, Sapphire grinned, the fuzzy image in the distant becoming clearer. Same funny white hat, same funny clothes, same six pokeballs on hand. But something was amiss-
Ruby was wearing glasses.
Sapphire stopped short from her stampede to stare blankly at her companion's new 'accessory', her heels digging into the ground to elicit a comical screech. He, on the other hand, had his hands on his knees, panting loudly. It was unusual for Ruby to run, Sapphire thought with a pang. He insisted that it messed up his hair and made him sweaty (while Sapphire would retaliate with her standard measure- 'Sissy', which would bloom into yet another argument). Though, given how out-of-breath he currently was, the brunette decided that the dark-haired boy may have been sincere in meeting her.
"I'm… sorry… Couldn't find my contacts… for ten minutes… missed the…. bus and-" Ruby's explanation for his lack of punctuality was interrupted at Sapphire's exclamation.
"Yer wearing glasses!' She squeaked, a little shrilly.
"..."
"Eh?" Ruby paused, momentarily confused. Not only was Sapphire not pummeling him with her slim fists (it had served to be the motivation for him to sprint the last few meters of the distance- which had nothing to do with how much he missed her at all), she was actually leaning forward to stare at him with her wide blue eyes. Lifting his hands to his eyes, he accidentally knocked said glasses askew and recalled his missing contact lenses (he was certain he had left it on the table, just before Plusle and Minun had skidded into his room and wreaked havoc).
Ruby had been too vain to wear his glasses for long periods, despite his shortsightedness. He had only contended to do so today because of his (he flushed a little pink) date with Sapphire, and the fact that his mother had granted him a new (slightly more aesthetically-pleasing) pair, after a practice battle with Norman had ended up with a messy Delcatty, a confused Slaking- and a pair of smashed glasses. The new pair was black, with more squarish frames and ruby markings at its edges. He had deemed it fashionable enough to wear after close scrutiny, much to his mother's profound relief and happiness.
That was too say, this was the first time he was actually wearing it out.
Sapphire was still leaning forward to get a better view of Ruby's new appearance. The latter found that he has not been so discomfited since the day they spent in Mirage Island- where she had nearly glimpsed the scars on his head from the Salamence affair. Despite his normally overflowing confidence, Ruby found himself holding his breath, as if awaiting Sapphire's judgement.
Wait, Ruby paused. Since when did he take fashion advice from Sapphire, or even care about what she thought of his appearance? She dressed in leaves before, for Arceus' sake-
"You look good."
Ruby was thick-skinned; Compliments only served to cement that. But for the first time in years, even, the Charmer's face turned the same shade as his namesake for the rest of the afternoon.