A/N: Yes I know Japan doesn't have Pokemon Go yet but what if Nowaki picks up on it from his patients. He shows it to Hiroki who scoffs at it before he signs up and ends up enjoying the game. I thought about it, I see Nowaki as Instinct and Hiroki as Mystic.
-Lucicelo
Hiroki finished gulping down his cup of energy for the day. Two cups worth of scalding hot liquid. No sugar or milk mixed in. Once he tasted the liquid, he cringed but forced himself to swallow his coffee. He still felt groggy. After a night of grading, he slumped onto his desk and fell asleep, clutching his papers to his chest. He woke up with a blanket over his shoulders and the smell of breakfast in the air. His stomach grumbled.
He changed out of his night clothes, washed his teeth and washed his face. When he entered the kitchen, he saw Nowaki fiddling with his phone while preparing their breakfast. Nothing new. Nowaki watched videos in the morning to entertain himself. Preferable content included: cute animals and recipe videos. Nothing too outrageous for such an early morning. He predicted Nowaki showing him another kitty video once he made his presence known.
Patting Nowaki's back, he relished in the jump of surprise and yelp coming out of his lover. Nowaki gave him a sheepish grin before leaning down and giving him a kiss. In his half asleep state, he didn't react much but wrinkle his nose. Afterwards, he received his first cup from Nowaki and stood beside him as he drank from it. He poured himself another one real quick which gathered Nowaki's attention.
"You shouldn't have drank those cups so fast." Nowaki commented, his tone teasing and light. "It won't make the caffeine surge through your body any faster. Besides, today is your day off. Remember? You can relax all day here at home."
"Yeah," Hiroki finished the rest of his cup before he asked Nowaki. "When are you starting your shift?" He washed the cup, set it on the drying rack, and then sat down in his usual seat at the table.
Nowaki turned off the stove and started plating their food. "Hmm...same as yesterday. I'll call you if they need me to stay a while longer."
Hiroki nodded his head. "No one wants to work a Sunday shift, Nowaki. I'm sure you're staying longer at the hospital. I'll probably see you on my way out tomorrow."
Nowaki set the plates on the table and sighed. "I know. I don't enjoy Sunday shifts either. It doesn't help that I don't turn down a lot of shifts. They end up needing me to cover for people."
"When they conveniently call in sick several times a month." Hiroki drawled with a smirk. "Interesting enough, your coworkers end up calling you to cover their asses near the holiday season."
"Hiro-san!" Nowaki chuckled. "It doesn't happen that often."
Hiroki scoffed. "Keep believing that lie."
Nowaki sat down across from Hiroki and set his phone on the table. "It's a good thing we are getting more people in the next month. This way, I don't have to stay overnight at the hospital so often. Oncoming seniority and all that." A ding brought Nowaki to snatch his phone up and slip his finger over the screen. He repeated this a few times before he set it back down.
Hiroki arched a brow at Nowaki's swift grab for his phone. "What the hell was that?" He regretted asking that question when he saw the forming grin.
"Well, Hiro-san," Nowaki presented his phone with a huge smile on his face. "I got the Pokemon Go app. My patients wanted me to sign up to catch Pokemon with them during my breaks. The kids picked my name as DoctorWaChanKusama. I'm already at level 4. A few hundred points until level 5 and I pick a team."
Hiroki narrowed his eyes, a tick developed in his temple from the mention of Pokemon. "Not you too. Damn it, I thought I would escape this game in my own home. I had to put a box on my desk for my students to leave their phones in before I start class. It's turned into a huge distraction for my students. I heard giggling when someone faced a phone at me. What the hell is so interesting about it anyway?"
Nowaki pouted. "It's a nice way to get exercise and have fun at the same time. A lot of my patients love the aspect of going out to capture them. This app has raised their spirits more than usual." He checked his growing collection of Pokemon. "Most of the staff go outside to play alongside the children. We do keep a good eye on them before they wander off."
Hiroki rubbed his face with his hands. "I get that children are going out more often because of this game. I'm more annoyed at having my students running in late due to playing this game. Forgoing their responsibilities and all that. It causes a disruption for my class. I just don't understand the whole phenomenon."
Nowaki exited out of the app. "You can always download it and see for yourself."
"Maybe..." Hiroki picked up his chopsticks and began eating. "Doesn't mean I'm going to get addicted to it."
Nowaki shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows? I'm just collecting them all. You're the one who ends up placing a lot of time into things that gain your interest."
"Yeah right." Hiroki scoffed, taking a bite of his rolled up egg.
Hiroki downloaded the app right around lunchtime. As it downloaded, he ate his cold noodles and an ice cold drink. The weather grew hotter each day and he needed a cooling off. Curiosity got the better of him as he fulfilled this ridiculous whim. Nowaki's descriptions and the whole aspect of the game didn't catch his attention. A simple collecting game with the battle aspect once the player joined a gym. A wasteful expenditure when one could spend their time doing something worth while.
Yet, the questions going through his mind spurred him onto trying it out. Just for a day. He believed in his control in using it for one day. Nothing more, nothing less. Needing evidence to back up his claims of disliking the game came to the forefront. Better to refute Nowaki's claims of this app turning into a fun past time.
When he heard of the original games, he passed the targeted age group. Way older and uninterested in playing games in his downtime. His attention stayed on reading books and buying the ones he enjoyed for his collection. Although, it was kind of hard to ignore the advertisements all around the city. The merchandise expanded onto anything sold in the market. The cheapest candy had the image of that bright yellow mouse.
He accepted the take over of those animated pocket monsters. No use complaining about it in public when children still enjoyed this long running series. Best leave them to their entertainment. He heard even older people enjoyed it through nostalgia or their children introduced them. There was no end in sight.
Begrudgingly, he liked some of the designs throughout the years. The most outrageous designs brought a chuckle out of him.
Using some discarded email from his youth, he started going through the aspects of the app. He customized his design in simple colors. Throughout the selections, the bright colors caused him to cringe. He wanted dulled colors to represent himself. On the off chance he dove deeper into this game, he wanted a good image for himself. Besides, he wanted Nowaki to see the character he chose for himself.
"I have to say, DemonKamiijou suits me best." Hiroki mused while shifting through the options of the game. "I'm surprised no one has taken the username yet. Damn brats invented the nickname for me after all." Remembering his shopping trip, he placed his phone in his shirt pocket. "Oh well, might as well leave this app open while I go to the market."
Nowaki clasped his hands together, ecstatic on hearing Hiroki's news. Hiroki never showed interest in any game apps. He was glad Hiroki didn't scoff of the game. "Hiro-san, you got the app! It's great that you're trying it out. How long have you had it?"
Hiroki tipped his head up and down in confirmation. "Y-Yeah. I wanted to test it out for a bit just to see what the fuss was about. These damn characters all over the place. No use trying to escape the craze but it's still banned from my class. I guess...almost a week?"
"May I look through your phone?" Nowaki handed Hiroki his phone. "Here, you can check through mine. I've started collecting instead of battling with mine. Not to say I haven't won a few gym battles. Before you ask, I ended up in Team Instinct."
"Go right ahead." Hiroki hid the smirk at hearing Nowaki's choice of team. "After reading the teams, I suspected you would pick that one. Yellow is such a happy color, it suits you well."
"I just couldn't decide so I picked at random." Nowaki plucked the phone from Hiroki's hands. He checked throughout the app. A snort came from him once he read the username Hiroki chose for himself. "Demon Kamijou? Really? You're using that nickname your students failed to hide from you."
Hiroki rolled his eyes. "Might as well use it. I was surprised no one used it."
"Of course," Nowaki's eyes landed on the level number, gobsmacked, he almost dropped the phone. "Wait-" Checking through the Pokemon, he bent over, laughing hard enough that his sides hurt. Tears prickled the corners of his eyes from the intensity. He managed to hand Hiroki his phone before he surrendered to his chortle.
Hiroki glared at him. "Don't you dare start-"
He bellowed out. "I knew it!"
"Stop laughing." Hiroki's dark stare held no affect on Nowaki and it aggravated him. "This isn't funny."
"Hiro-san, your level is higher than mine! Look at all these high level Pokemon. Wow, you even chose Team Mystic!" Nowaki wiped the tears from his eyes. "You're addicted to this game! I was right."
Hiroki whacked Nowaki's arm, a flush of red formed on his cheeks. "Shut it. I'm not addicted. I decided on going into in depth research to show you that this game is not fun."
Nowaki shook his head, his giggles reduced down. "Don't delude yourself. You're already trying to power them up and you have eggs that are almost hatching. There's no possible way you can deny finding the game somewhat enjoyable."
"Maybe," Hiroki shuffled his phone back into his pocket. "I'm not addicted though."
Throughout Mitsuhashi, students wandered throughout campus, their phones in front of their faces, clamoring for the next Pokemon on their list. The ones with higher combat power were captured with fervor. A huge influx of exercise occurred where no one seemed to mind walking about to elevate in the game. Most of the players managed to multitask while playing the game while others bumped into oncoming traffic.
This game gave students a much needed distraction to amp up the energy lost during their finals. Despite the implemented team system, everyone enjoyed comparing the Pokemon they captured. This was a fun way to meet new people in their chosen team or in an opposing one. No one experienced any hostility which made the experience light-hearted and somewhat relaxing.
Groups hung around Poke stops, eager to show off what they collected so far to friends or aquaintances. Near the departments, plenty of Poke stops littered the area. Making them prime locations for people to hang around after classes.
One young man boasted to his friends. "I'm already at level fifteen. Very close to getting level sixteen."
"That's so cool! I'm barely at ten."
"I'm at thirteen."
"Nine."
He grinned. "I know the best spots to get the rarer ones. Trust me, I went to the beach side to get the rare water Pokemon. I have a friend from Australia who got me a Kangaskhan through signing me in through her phone."
"Lucky! I don't know anyone in Australia to do that for me."
The door behind them opened with a slam. One of the girls peeked over her shoulder, her face paled when she recognized the person standing there.
"Move." Hiroki's glasses gleamed under the sunlight hitting them in just the right spot.
"Y-Yes Professor Kamijou! Sorry!" They scrambled aside and watched him hurry on along without giving them a second glance. Sighing in relief, all of them went into a different direction in order to avoid another encounter with Hiroki.
Hiroki came to a stop when his phone vibrated. Lifting up his phone, he swiped his hand over the screen a few times. "Yes! I finally caught a damn Charizard!" Hiroki whooped as he checked the stats. He couldn't fight off the grin from his face. "A good combat power too! Shit, I'm showing this to Nowaki before my lunch is over."
"A Charizard!"
"Where?!"
"Is there another one?!"
Hiroki gripped his phone in his hand as he watched students clamor the area. His grin slipped into a visual scowl. A familiar feeling of his stomach plunging down completed his mortification. Damn. Damn it all. He was sucked into the game again that he forgot his location. His students wouldn't let him get away with playing this game after his lectures against it.
In nothing short of luck, a random student yelled out loud. "There's a Dragonite near the main fountain!" This caused the group to abandon their current location and hightail over to the other side of the campus.
Hiroki exited out of the app. He thought about laying off the game until his journey back home. No use having the students taking notice of a breach of character from his Demon Kamijou persona. He pocketed his phone and retreated back into his department.
The end.
