Naive
He doesn't know what he's doing here.
Waiting for her like this...doesn't it seem a little desperate? He doesn't even know if she's arriving on this flight. She could be coming back tomorrow...
No, he knows she is going to arrive today. After all, he has been counting down the days since she left two weeks ago.
Who am I kidding? I am desperate.
Just as that thought enters his mind, he spots a plane emerge from the clouds a few miles away. Many of the other dotted around the sea-side airport point upwards and give cheers; they're all, like him, excited to see their loved ones return.
As the plane lands on the water, it makes a loud splash and gradually slows down to a halt. Again, he wonders why he is here. She hasn't asked him to be here. Heck, she doesn't even know that he's here in Johto.
That's when he sees her walk down onto the platform, holding her Piplup with a smile on her face as she takes in the area around her.
He suddenly has the urge to run away. She'll think that he's weird for waiting around for her like this.
And that is when she sees him. She looks surprised (I knew it), but then her smile widens and she starts to head his way.
"Kenny," she sounds breathless as she says his name; he knows that it's from having to push past a crows of people, but he likes to imagine that it's because of him. His heart skips a beat and he mentally scolds himself for falling for her charm so easily. She's not even trying to charm him. "What are you doing here?"
"I was just passing by town. I remembered you saying you were going to be here today so I figured, why not come and say hi?" Of course he doesn't tell her that 'passing by' means him having spent a whole day trying to navigate through Johto's forests to reach here on time and that 'remembered' meant his Poketch giving him a reminder that he set for today.
"I see," she says with a giggle. Sometimes, he's grateful that Dawn's a bit naive. "I thought you were still in Sinnoh!"
"Actually...I've been in Johto for about as long as you have." He rubs the back of his head with a sheepish grin, out of habit, if anything.
"Huh?" She gives him a puzzled look (no, he's not thinking about how cute it looks). "But when I video-called you last week -"
"-I was already in Johto, " he finishes for her.
Her mouth curves down into a frown and there's something in her eyes that he can't quite read. "You could've told me you were here."
He just might be imagining things, but...is she disappointed?
"Didn't think you would needed to know," he tries to brush it off casually. The truth of it? He hadn't mentally prepared himself to see Dawn in person again, after their parting at the port the last time.
"That's not really the point. If I knew you were here, we could've seen each other sooner," she says, still frowning. "You're not just my rival, you know." It sends his heart hammering into overdrive and he can't help but hope that she means that - "You're my friend too."
"Aw, did little Dee Dee miss me?" Teasing her is his automatic defense mechanism, as always. It prevents her from getting any hint that his heart just suffered a heavy reality check. Not that being her 'friend' was a bad thing. But still.
"It's Dawn!" Her frown turns into a scowl. It doesn't last long, though, and she smiles at him again. "I am glad to see you. I did miss you a little bit."
He curses inwardly because he knows she means that as friends but he's still happy to hear it.
xxxxx
After Dawn checks into a room in the town's Pokemon Centre, they both head down to the cafeteria. His fellow coordinator wants to catch up and he has no qualms about it.
"Wow!" she exclaims, a while after they finish eating. "You caught a Larvitar? I'm impressed." The sincere tone of her voice makes him grin. "And you've already got two ribbons here. I've only got one so far." She winks at him. "I won't lose in the Grand Festival!"
"That's my line," he says just as playfully, "but I dunno if you can catch up to me in time for it."
"You're just ahead of me because you entered more contests than me." She sticks out her tongue at him. "I don't get how there were two contests in the two weeks I was gone."
"Just lucky timing, I guess," he says, though he proudly notes that she doesn't seem at all surprised that he won both contests. "Enough about me. How was Unova?"
"It was great! I visited Nimbasa City and the gym leader - Elesa - is a model too and the way she uses her Pokemon is similar to coordinating." While she continues her description about the other sights she has seen, he's not only listening to her, but taking her in at the same time.
Her cerulean eyes sparkle as she speaks. He notices that her hair has grown an about an inch or two since he last saw her. It's her smile that he likes the most about her appearance - it's always so radiant, and he unconsciously smiles back, just as brightly.
"- Cynthia let me stay at her house there. And then I met Ash and his new friends."
That's when his smile evaporates.
"Ash? You met Ash?" He hasn't interrupted her so far, and she now blinks at him.
"Yeah!" She says enthusiastically. "He's travelling in Unova now. Maybe I forgot to mention it. He's travelling with two other people now, since Brock's gone home to study to be a doctor. There's a girl named Iris who's training to be a dragon master and there's Cilan, who's a Pokemon Connoisseur."
He sinks down in his chair as Dawn continues on her tangent about Ash. She seems to need to tell him every single detail about Ash's journey. "His new rival, Trip, I think, beat him in the finals of the tournament, but he was so close to beating him. I was shocked because Ash was using Pikachu as well."
I nearly beat his Pikachu that one time.
"- and then I had to leave. Seeing him again kinda made me want to travel with him again. "
"Maybe you should have stayed with him then," he says dryly.
Dawn stares at him, eyes wide.
He doesn't mean to be hateful. He really doesn't. Ash is one of the most interesting and cool guys he's ever met, but when Dawn talked about him like that...well, it makes him jealous.
"Don't be silly," she says sternly. "You know there aren't any contests in Unova."
He's fortunate that she's naive, and takes his slip up as a simple suggestion.
xxxxx
It's late at night, around two in the morning, when he's woken up by a knock on his door. He groggily tries to wipe the sleep from his eyes and gets up, fumbling around in the darkness to reach his door.
He peers through the keyhole and instantly opens his door.
"What's wrong, Dawn?" She's standing in the dimly lit corridor and he can just about make out that her eyes are red and watery.
"C-can I come in?" She hasn't answered his question, but the boy ushers her in, shutting the door behind him.
She sits on the edge of his bed, looking down at her lap and he joins her side. They don't speak for a while, and the room is quiet except for her quiet sobs.
"Nightmare?" He guesses after she seemed to calm down.
She nods, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "I didn't want to wake Piplup and the others up. I didn't really want to wake you up either...it's just-"
"It's fine, " he waves her off. "It kind of takes me back."
It's been a long while but it's not the first time Dawn has come to him after having a nightmare. He remembers having sleepovers at her house, along with Leona. He would usually sleep in a different room than them, and Dawn would come to his room, crying like she is now.
"Yeah..." she agrees softly. "I...still get nightmares every now and then...but I still haven't woken anyone up for this except you."
"Not even Ash?" He adds hastily, "Or Brock?"
She shakes her head."No..."
There's a pause as he tries to make a decision.
"Hey Dawn...why is that?" He looks at her intently. "Why do you only come to me?"
She closes her eyes. "Do you remember the first stay-over we had in kindergarten? "
"Erm...kind of..." Surprisingly, the memory is quite vague, even though he is usually the one that recalls their kindergarden
"Well...we were all sleeping in one room. I had a nightmare then too...but I didn't want to cry in front of everyone..." Oh, this is... "You were awake too, remember? You nudged me and told me to follow you outside the room. I still remember what you said."
He did now, too.
"It's okay to cry in front of me! I'll chase all the nightmares away," she recalls.
He scratches his cheek, embarrassed. He had a crush on her back then too, and he was even more obvious about it.
"I held that to you and from then on, I felt like I couldn't cry because of a nightmare in front of anyone else." She opens her eyes again. "I guess it's just as well, since I cry in front of people enough..."
"I think it's good to cry," he blurts out.
She gives him a strange look again.
"W-well. It just shows that you're a person that can express their feelings and, you know, that's important in coordinating..." he trails off, not knowing what he is saying anymore.
Miraculously, she smiles for the first time tonight. "That's another thing for me to remember."
"Good to know that I'm still needed." He means this as a joke but Dawn tilts her head, eyes questioning.
"You thought I didn't need you?"
He doesn't know how to respond to that at first. "Yes. Sometimes." He sighs. "I mean, you've made a lot of new friends since we left and I felt a bit...left behind."
"Is that why you asked me to travel with you back then?" She asks, referring to the time back in ...
"Yeah..." He fails to stop his next words. "The offer still stands, you know." He wants to hit himself.
"That would be fun." He's hearing things. He must be. "Let's do it!"
"Why?" His inner self yells at him for questioning good things.
"Two is better than one, right?" She smiles. "Besides, that way I can't miss any contests, since you seem to hear about them sooner than me."
He resists the urge to pinch himself to check whether he was dreaming.
"That's...wonderful." He's unbelievably happy. Oh, it doesn't matter what the reason she's agreeing for. Whether it was just her being spontaneous, or she had actually considered his offer from before - as long as it means getting to spend more time with her, he's content.
"I think I'll go back to my room now. Sorry for waking you up," she apologises, getting up.
"I'll walk you there," he offers, glad for a reason to stand up, because he's feeling all giddy now.
They both walk down the corridor, where Dawn gently opens the door to her room. She holds onto the doorknob with her right hand while turning to face him.
"Thank you." There it is again. That smile, just full of light. A light that he caused, this time.
"No need to worry," he says her catch phrase with a smile to match her own.
She seems as if she remembers something. "One more thing."
He doesn't see it coming at all. Her lips press softly against his cheek and he freezes. She giggles and says a sweet, "Goodnight," before closing her door.
He walks back to his own room, lightly touching the spot where she kissed him. It was puzzling...the look on her face - she knew exactly what she was doing to him.
It's then that Kenny realises that maybe he's the naive one, after all.
A/N: Tadaaa! HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MELISA! See I wrote this specifically for your birthday :D I thought since I usually AMV for you I would change it up this time around. It's also convenient that your birthday is on Penguinshipping day, so this could be taken as a belated Penguinshipping day fic too. Hope that you like this :D
Ahem, anyway...this is meant to take place just after Dawn returns from her visit to Unova (I'm sure you can tell, but just to make it clear). If I wrote anything that contradicts the canon, I'm sorry and please ignore it(?) xD I'm a little rusty on writing for Penguinshipping.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to fave/review this :'D -nudge, nudge, wink wink-
- Dina (7/4/2014)