"Hello! I would like to meet you at my lab as soon as possible! It's right by the gym at Lumiose city. Take a cab if you get lost. See you soon!"
Beep
The hologram of the Professor disappeared into the holocaster. You safely tuck it away into one of the pockets of your bag and waste no time roller skating to his lab.
Meanwhile, in Professor Sycamore's lab, Charmander and himself were hard at work.
"Good work Charmander!" he praised. He gave a thumbs up but was shortened by coughing. He opened a window to ventilate the room. Swirls of smoke drifted out of the window. He smiled and wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"Very good work" he praised the fire type pokemon. Without noticing, he started to fan himself with his hand. The poor professor was sweating profusely, because not only was there flame involved and a recent lack of water pokemon, there was also a black out going on and the air conditioning was out. His shirt was soaked! Feeling very uncomfortable, Sycamore took off his labcoat and shirt and hung it on a chair by the window to dry off.
"Professor Sycamo—" you enter the lab and realise that this may not have been the best time. With blood rushing quickly to your face, you shout a flustered "excuse me!" and slam the door shut.
You cannot believe you just had the privilege of seeing the professor topless. The professor you had been swooning over since minute one. You couldn't help but notice his lean figure. Not exactly ripped or buff, but you could see his pectorals and abdominals hiding beneath his skin.
"It's okay, you can come in now" you hear from the other side of the door. You take a deep breath and gently turn the knob, your stomach doing somersaults the whole time. You wonder if your face is still red.
You take one look at the professor and you're positive your face is still red. All he had on was a towel slung around his shoulder and his pants.
"I-Isn't this inappropriate?" you ask.
"Well, it is forty something degrees in here" he chuckled. "And besides, my shirt is in no condition to be worn." It is only now you notice the articles of clothing hanging on the chair by the window. It looked as if it had just been dunked in a bucket of water.
"Well, if you think it's inappropriate I suppose I could get my spare shirt—"
"NO!" you shout by reflex. "I mean…It's okay. You're right, it's too hot to be wearing a shirt" you say. Besides, you're a man. It's okay to go topless. A really hot one at that. You think while your eyes shift. The professor laughs at how adorable you are.
"Okay" he winks, and you can't help but swoon a little.
"So why did you want me here?" You manage to ask, stuttering slightly.
"Oh, I need to check how your pokemon are doing."
"They're doing great! Growing everyday!" You say with pride.
"Good, good" he replies. "How about we train a little bit?"
"In the lab?" He nods. While you're shirtless and the lab in flames?!
You open your bag and select a pokeball, and just as you're about to activate it, the professor stops you.
"I didn't mean pokemon"
"…Eh?" the professor chuckles and steps closer to you, making you blush again. You can feel intense heat and you're pretty sure it's not from Charmander's flames.
Sycamore moves forward and embraces you, taking you completely by surprise. Your eyes widen and your face is flushed, but soon after, you smile. This moment right now, was so worth waiting for. You take him in your arms and hug him back. You can feel his warmth, his abs, his heartbeat, his breath his cologne, his…shaving cream perhaps? No, that can't be right. Professor Sycamore has a beard. Well, whatever the scent was, all of it records in your brain.
After what feels like eternity, he lets you go but doesn't back away. He puts his hands on your shoulders and looks at you. Those eyes…You never realised it could hold such emotion…not even when he's with his pokemon.
"Want to go out petit mademoiselle?" you're not sure what the last two words mean but you nod your head in a daze.
"Great!" He laughs. "I'm going to go change. See you at Le Yeah café!" he says as he disappears into the back. You're not entirely sure what just happened but you're very sure you liked it.
XXXXX
You wait outside said café, constantly fidgeting with your bag strap. You've changed your hairstyle from short to long and blonde to black. You've also changed your clothes to a pink ruffled camisole, white ruffled skirt, black tights and laced boots. You decide to go without a hat for today.
At last, your dear professor has arrived, looking smart as usual in his blue dress shirt, brown pants and labcoat; sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He opens the door and waves a hand.
"After you, mademoiselle" he says. You thank him shyly and enter the restraint. He enters after you and closes the door with a ding-a-ling of the bell. He leads you to a table at the corner of the café and seats you in before seating himself. He puts his elbows on the table and rests his chin on the back of his hands.
"So, how is your Fennekin doing? Well, moi croire?" he asks off-handedly. With clammy palms and butterflies in your stomach, you answer "Uh….Yeah he's good." You want to offer more of an answer but you're too nervous to think of anything to say.
Shortly after, an awkward silence ensues. Well, awkward for you. The professor smiles at you as if in a daze by your beauty. All you can do is stare back, trying your best not to imagine the professor shirtless.
I can't imagine him shirtless. I can't. That would be so shameful of me! Must…not…imagine…unnnghhh….RESIST!
"Are you…okay?" You snap out of your thoughts but only manage to catch the fact that the professor said something.
"Uh…" Think! Don't act stupid! Say something French!
"Baguette!" You shout out. Suddenly, all eyes turn to you. You realise you have shouted far louder than imagined. You feel heat rise up to your face once more.
The professor chuckles at this. Then he bursts out in laughter. You are confused by this sudden reaction at first, but eventually, you too burst out in laughter. Slowly, the other customers go back to what they were doing before.
Sycamore wipes a tear from the corner of his eye and calms down from laughter.
"You, are one of a kind" he praises. "It's glad to know that Fennekin is doing well!"
"Oh he loves me" you add.
"Wonderful!" he claps his hands together.
"Uh…"
"What is it mademoiselle?"
"I still don't know the reason why you called me out" you ask, more relaxed this time.
"Oh that's right!" he takes a paper bag from under the table. You really wonder how in the world he hid a paper bag of that size under the table.
"This," he takes out a poke puff from the bag. You've never seen this particular poke puff. It's purple with yellow lightning imprints all over. "Is a special poke puff. It's the first of its kind! It raises the speed of any pokemon you feed it to, as long as the affection level is high enough" he puts the poke puff back in the bag.
"There's more like it in this bag, each specially marked. You see, if the affection level isn't high enough, the pokemon may not eat the poke puff. It's…not the best taste in the world" he rubs the back of his head and chuckles sheepishly "but it's very effective! I've tested it on hundreds of pokemons and they all work incredibly well!"
You hang on to every word. You've always liked this enthusiastic side of Professor sycamore.
"You want me to have something so limited edition?" You ask in shock. He nods his head and hands you the bag. You accept it gratefully.
"But…why?"
"Ah, your affections for Fennekin are at it's maximum, oui?" You nod.
"So are mine" he winks. You feel that familiar feeling again, one of embarrassment and intense heat. When they say the French are pros at flirting they certainly were not kidding.
You and the professor talk and chat idly until the sun goes down and the café is about to close. You never realised how many things you have in common with the professor.
"How about a trip to the top of the Lumiose tower?" he suggests.
"Sure!" You smile. Your cheeks are in pain of smiling so much but it's hard to notice.
The professor leads you out the door and down the road to the tower. He sneaks his hand in yours, intertwining your fingers as you stroll down the cobblestone path. You smile to yourself, thinking how silly you are.
Sycamore and you hold hands all the way to the top of the tower. It is unusually crowded tonight.
"Why—"
"Shh" he says. He puts two fingers under your chin and turns your head to face the sky.
It is decorated heavily with stars and there is no moon tonight. The sky is majestic tonight.
You admire the night sky.
Suddenly, there is a loud BOOM and showers of colour burst into the sky. Pink, blue, green, yellow, purple, the list goes on. You stare in awe. You haven't seen fireworks ever since you were a little girl so this is a rarity to you. You don't notice it, but Sycamore is constantly switching between staring at the majesty of colour against black and staring at the young miss, enchanted by the sky. He chooses to stare at you.
You turn around to face him, only now, realising that he had been staring at you the entire time. You both are close to each other again. Like earlier in the day. You both stare into each other's eyes, noticing the tiny features on each other's faces, communicating with feelings only eyes can express.
He closes his eyes and leans down. You close your eyes and tip toe slightly.
Suddenly, there is a burst of soft lips on your forehead. You open your eyes and realised that Sycamore had just kissed you on the forehead. Not what you were expecting at all. Sycamore giggles.
"You're so cute mademoiselle"
"Y-Yeah" you say and laugh dryly, trying to hide the disappointment.
You keep watching the fireworks until they die down. Somehow, they aren't as beautiful as they were a minute ago. The professor does the same.
After the fireworks, the professor leads you down to the ground floor.
"Well, I'll be seeing you soon" he says.
"Yeah…" You say a little down.
He pulls you into a hug and you enjoy the short moment. However, you are unable to stop thinking about the forehead kiss. That disappointing kiss. You sigh internally.
As you are whisked away by your thoughts, the professor holds your chin gently and you feel soft lips on yours and heat in your cheeks. It's only for a brief moment though.
He steps back and winks, waving and running into the dark. You're in a daze and you can't believe the professor just lip kissed you! You hug the paper bag of poke puffs you never realised you've been holding all this time. You stare at it for a while and you realise something written on the side of it. You hold it up to the light, emitting from the Lumiose tower.
"Je T'aime" is written in cursive, red ink with a small heart replacing the dot in 'i'. You can't help but smile once more.