A Shining Example

Pairing(s): clingyshipping!Lucas x Barry

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, yadda yadda yadda

Summary: A story in which Barry can't stop blushing like a girl and Lucas is too obliviously stupid for his own good.

Barry knows, just like everyone else, that Lucas is exceptionally smart. Sometimes even brilliant. Barry also knows, just like every crushing girl they've crossed, that Lucas is also very oblivious; sometimes to the point of being plain stupid enough to warrant some yelling.

During their trip across the Sinnoh region, Barry had noticed that the boy was like a walking pokédex. It was almost scary, this brilliant little quirk of Lucas', scary but also very useful when running away from certain Pokémon who had special ability attacks that can cause some major damage. The boy, aside from knowing his Pokémon, also knew his berries—saving both Barry and Dawn the trouble of an empty stomach when they wasted the last of their gold on some extra great balls or a new accessory.

After all this saving with his knowledge, Barry had first thought that Lucas would have turned out to be one of those guys who would strut around being all prideful and cocky—just because he knew a little bit- okay a lot more, than either Barry and Dawn put together. He really didn't like Lucas when he first met to tell the truth, and after they had first run away from an angry Shinx Barry had expected much more than the friendly smile and the "It was nothing" as he waved off Dawn's amazed praises.

After that day, Dawn had waved it off as him being humble and a wish that every boy would be like him (cue-ignored evil eye at Barry here); while Barry decided that he would just watch the boy closer. No one could be that nice and humble, he had decided in his head, Lucas was probably faking it and when his true nature was revealed- Barry would be the one to catch him.

Looking back, Barry concluded that all the watching of Lucas he did was what probably caused the whole crush thing that he had going on. After getting over the initial smartness of the boy, Barry started to notice the little things too. Things like how much handsomer his friendly smile made him seem, and the fact that the friendly smile was all kind feelings and straight white teeth. The color of Lucas' eyes (between a stormy blue and a calm sapphire), and the fact that his beret (red was definitely his color) fit him so well were just minor details to add on to the every growing list of things Barry noticed about Lucas.

With that said, it only took Barry a couple of weeks after the start of their journey to finally notice that what he felt for the raven haired boy didn't stop at just mere friendship. That particular thought came one night in their shared room at the pokécenter that they stayed at.

Barry had watched as Lucas had come in, pajama pants showing the tops of his black boxers, spiky hair still wet from his turn in the shower, and no shirt. He had turned toward Barry with that same friendly smile and Barry had snapped out of it long enough to realize that he was starting to get a little problem down below, instantly grabbing a pillow and blushing as he lowered his eyes from a suddenly bewildered looking Lucas.

"You okay?" Barry had looked up again when his bed dipped at the extra weight of an advancing Lucas. He was on his hands and knees as he crawled forwards towards a heavily blushing Barry, his eyebrows drawn together in worry.

"I'm fine—" Barry kept one hand on the pillow and the other one extended to make sure that Lucas wouldn't come nearer to him, "d-don't," he gulped nervously, hands clammy and sweaty, "don't worry about me."

Lucas frowned and didn't listen, another quirk that Barry realized that he had when he was concerned about something. The boy must have had some kind of selective hearing or something, but when he sat back Barry could only thank whatever Pokémon god was listening to him.

"You look sort of red, Barry," Lucas said, white teeth chewing on his bottom lip in a nervous gesture. Barry's heart warmed at that and he smiled weakly, heart pounding in his chest when Lucas leaned forwards to place a cool hand against his forehead. The boy frowned again, "it doesn't feel like you have a fever… do you want me to go call Nurse Joy just in case, though?"

A part of him was happy that Lucas was paying attention to him, but another part of him felt bitter because he knew that Lucas was the type to do this for anybody. The boy was too kind for his own good and Barry knew that he wouldn't just leave anyone, even a stranger, to fend for themselves when he could help them. Then another part of Barry stuck it's ugly head in and shouted at him to stop being such a jealous girl, and all thoughts were squished out of his mind as he grabbed Lucas' hand, holding it with both of his own and gently bringing it down.

"I'm fine now stop worrying," Barry didn't look up at the boy, letting his eyes trace over the calluses on the otherwise smooth appendage, he let go of it and pushed the other away slightly. "Just go to sleep, Lucas," Barry knew that feeling this way about his close friend was wrong so he just lay his body down and snuggled into the covers, back towards Lucas whose eyes flashed hurt for a second.

He didn't say anything, but after a moment or two he took a deep breath and moved off with an almost silent, "if you're sure…"

Barry only let himself look back toward the boy when he was sure that the raven was asleep. He tried to tell himself that seeing Lucas sleep with his back toward Barry's side wasn't hurtful in any way, but somehow his heart wasn't in the mood to listen to him that day.

The first few weeks after that night was awkward to say the least.

Dawn, who usually barged into other people's business like it was her own, was surprisingly careful around her two companions. It wasn't like Lucas and Barry weren't talking or anything like that, it was more like they were trying but their conversations would be so pathetically hard to keep up that they would just die out by themselves after a couple of minutes.

Lucas was worried but oblivious, and Barry didn't know what to do about the emotional roller coaster his heart was going through every time the boy came closer. It was awkward, it was tense, and it was uncomfortable. And Dawn, usually nosy Dawn, was taking a step back and watching it all play out in front of her. She wanted to fix it, but what was she supposed to do when she didn't even know what was broken in the first place?

The third day of coming back to Floraroma after a hard day of battling in Eterna Forest, Dawn had waited for Barry. She figured that, considering he was the one who was trying to always avoid Lucas, he was the first place she would start.

"So," she started, matching the blonde's brisk pace back toward the town, "you want to tell me why you're suddenly doing this whole avoiding Lucas thing?" They had been best friends since they were born and when Barry started to dart his eyes around nervously and clench his fists as if he wanted to fight something, Dawn knew that the first words out of his mouth next would be pure bullshit.

"I'm not avoiding him."

She rolled her eyes at him, how predictable her blonde best friend was.

"Did he do something mean…?" she asked carefully after a bit of silence. The town was nearing now if the ever-closer lights from the warm houses meant anything.

Barry only snorted, giving her an incredulous look. "We're talking about the same Lucas here, right? The same Lucas with the red beret and the stormy blue eyes and the sickening kind personality…" he cleared his throat when he noticed Dawn's raised eyebrow and curious look, "anyways," he continued, "Lucas was never anything but kind."

Dawn sighed, filing away the fact that Barry had actually described Lucas' eyes in the back of her head for later uses. "If he wasn't mean to you, then why are you doing this whole talk when necessary or run when you can help it stuff?" they passed by the flower and berries shop, "it's not very nice you know," Dawn continued, "if Lucas was nothing but nice to you, you should return the sentiment Barry—"

She turned, blinking when the blonde wasn't by her side anymore. She turned again and blinked at her friend who was standing, showered by the light coming from the glass doors of the cute shop that they had frequented to buy their Pokémon berries the first day they arrived.

"Barry…?" Dawn walked toward her friend, stopping next to his rigid figure as she turned to see what he was staring at with such unreadable eyes.

What she saw was Lucas standing with his Chimchar in his arms, smiling his smile toward the blushing salesgirl he was talking to. From her point of view, they looked really cute together even if they were just conversing and doing nothing more, but when she noticed that Barry had practically clenched his hands into tight little fists her mind instantly clicked.

Barry was jealous.

Jealous at Lucas for talking to the girl…? No, Dawn was pretty sure he just threw a menacing glare at the girl and not at their friend. Okay, so he was jealous at the girl… for having Lucas' attention? For… just being there?

Wait—!

"Are you jealous of the girl?" Dawn's shout was almost gleeful and her eyes held a glimmer that only certain fangirls could pull off—but there wasn't a thought in her yaoi filled mind that her two best friends would actually end up together. Then Barry blushed a thousand shades of red as he glared at her, but he said no denial and Dawn instantly let out a fairly loud squee.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw that the two in the store had noticed, Lucas especially. Barry had turned when she did and blushed again, but when Lucas waved them in with a happier than normal smile. Barry froze before he turned and ran toward the pokécenter. But Dawn, who had stayed, kept her eyes on Lucas who had watched the blonde run away. It was then that she suddenly noticed that the happiness was taken out of his eyes and his smile. He actually looked a bit sad now, but he said nothing as he looked down at the ground, turning back when the salesgirl said something to him, hand on his arm.

His smile looked pained, and Dawn, when she saw it, grit her teeth. She glared in the direction that Barry had run and took off in a calm walk, she would need time to think about what to say to the stupid boy.

"Go tell him that you like him, or I will do it for you."

The next morning, Dawn had cornered Barry and had practically growled into his slightly fearful face. The blonde had looked as horrible as he must've felt with dark bags underneath his eyes, and the slight disoriented look that was seen when Barry didn't have a full night of peaceful sleep.

"I c-can't!" Barry had stuttered back when the intial shock was gone, "he'll hate me, and then what am I supposed to do then, huh Dawn?"

But before Dawn could reply back with another threat, Lucas made his way toward them and sat down in the seat across from Barry in the little booth. He looked at them with that same smile on his face, but it looked more than a little bit forced when his gaze landed on Barry.

"Morning Lucas," Dawn tried to chirp happily, "how did you sleep?"

Lucas looked at her and chuckled, not answering with words but knowing at the same time that she had noticed the matching dark bags underneath his usually clear and intelligent eyes. Dawn sent Barry a glare but he just looked away.

"So…" Dawn tried again after a couple of tense silence, "I thought we might leave for Eterna tomorrow."

Barry said nothing but Lucas put the fork and knife he was holding down, meshing his hands together as he sighed. "I thought I might stay here for a couple of more days," he said, not looking in Barry's direction at all.

Dawn blinked and shrugged, brows furrowing. "Okay, then we'll stay too—I don't see anything bad about training some more."

Lucas winced almost painfully, "No Dawn… I…" he took a deep breath, "I think it's best if we just go our separate ways here…"

Barry turned his head, eyes wide, while Dawn just stared at him as if she didn't believe what she was hearing.

"What?" was Dawn's sharp question.

"Why?" was Barry's choked answer.

Lucas looked pained, "I told you…" he said, "I need to train…"

"And I told you," Dawn snapped back, "we will wait."

"It's cause of that shop girl isn't it?" came Barry's irritated accusation, "You're leaving me for her, aren't you?"

Dawn raised an eyebrow at his wording, but both the boys seemed to have not noticed as Lucas' face turned from pained to taken aback. "What girl? What are you talking about, Barry?"

Barry snorted, face alight with repulsion. "Don't even try to lie," he said clearly peeved, "I saw you smiling and flirting with her just yesterday—"

"I was not!"

"The why was she blushing!" Barry slammed his hands down on the table, causing the only other trainers in the room to look at them with interested glances.

"Since when did you start caring what I do with other girls anyways?" Lucas snapped, "Last time I checked, we weren't in some kind of relationship, but here you are! Yelling at me like some jealous girlfriend after a month of ignoring me like I did something wrong!"

Now to be fair, both Dawn and Barry had never seen their usually calm and cool and kind Lucas act like anything other than… well, calm, cool, and kind. So, to be fair, they still had the shock of being yelled at by said Lucas to get over before they could go running after the raven who had decided to storm back into his and Barry's shared room to pack.

After a couple of seconds of staring at the spot where Lucas had just sat, Dawn snapped out of it, glaring at the trainers who were still watching them like they were running some kind of daytime television soap opera. They looked away and Dawn turned to Barry, slapping him clear across the face and yelling at him to go do something as she shoved him, demanding that he fix this before they lose Lucas forever.

"Get out."

Lucas' voice was sharp and held an underlying hint of irritation that caused Barry's heart to clench. The stormy blue eyes that he loved so much didn't even glance in his direction when Barry stepped in the room, locking the door behind him.

"Lucas—"

"Just ignore me, Barry," he said coolly, folding his spare clothes in his backpack, "you've done such a good job for the past month, just do it for a couple of minutes more, it shouldn't be too hard."

Barry stared at him and huffed, moving forwards to stop his friend's hands from slipping his pokéballs into the open bag. He held on to the wrists before he pushed the items down, slipping his hands into Lucas' as he stared up angrily at the taller trainer.

"I'm not letting you go."

Lucas looked down at their hands, keeping his own slack before he looked back up into determined hazel eyes. "Give me one good reason for staying with you."

Barry blinked, his heart starting to race at the perfect chance for him to tell Lucas about his stupid little crush. It was the perfect moment, but when Barry opened his mouth, what came out was a corny, "because you're our friend."

It sounded weak even to him, and by the way Lucas' eyebrow rose Barry could see that he thought it was pretty weak too. The raven scoffed and moved to start packing again before Barry let go of his hands, throwing his arms around the taller boy's shoulders instead.

"Barry—"

"AND I LIKE YOU, OKAY!"

Barry knew that by the way Lucas' body froze underneath him that he had ruined things. Lucas would leave, not because he didn't think Barry didn't like him, but because Barry was a freak who liked him too much—and they would meet in the future and Lucas would be mean, and Barry wouldn't ever see his stupid white teeth filled friendly smile again, and the only friend that Barry would have would be Dawn. It was a horrible thought and Barry wanted to throw himself to the nearest Gyarados and pray the Pokémon would eat him or something, because just thinking about Lucas not being in his future hurt and he could already feel the tears falling down.

But then it was Barry's turn to freeze when he felt a warm hand rub soothing circles on his back. He realized that it was Lucas and then seconds later he was crying again, burying his blushing, teary face into Lucas' shoulder as he sobbed in the embrace of those amazing arms.

"I like you too, Barry," Lucas whispered into the blonde's ear, "you're my best friend—"

"WHAT?"

Barry pushed away from Lucas, teary eyes wide and furious. The raven blinked in confusion, head tilting to the side.

"Yeah," he said, "you're my best friend—of course I like you Barry."

And then Barry was cursing and yelling at this stupid, oblivious, brilliantly idiotic, charming, friendly, too nice for his own good FOOL. His hand shot forwards and he lifted himself up on tiptoes, tilting his head to the side as he slammed his lips on top of Lucas' too soft to be normal ones.

They stayed like that for a second before Barry's logical mind caught up to him, cursing him for what he just did and shouting obscenities at him for being so stupid before Lucas moved forward, mouth opening to meet Barry's own and hands slipping possessively underneath Barry's shirt. His callused fingertips danced over Barry's skin and pulled him closer, and Barry, before losing himself fully to everything that was Lucas, felt a smirk on his lips as the other slipped his tongue in to wrestle lazily with Barry's own inexperienced muscle.

Later, when the door finally opened after hours of incessant knocking on Dawn's part, Barry stood fully ravaged. Bruising marks on his neck and his hair looking like he got thoroughly debauched. He stood staring, smirking at Dawn clad in Lucas' too big sleeping shirt and nothing more, before he said the words he had been meaning to say to her when she first doubted his thoughts of Lucas hiding his secretly evil ways under his too good to be true attitude.

"I told you so."

Then he stuck out his tongue and slammed the door on her face, missing the massive nosebleed that Dawn sported as he crawled underneath the covers, burying himself in a tiredly sleeping Lucas' arms.

A/N: haha, first clingyshipping pairing :) written out part by part on my phone LOL (again haha)

I don't know why I haven't gotten into this pairing sooner haha, I love pairings like them xD but anyways, enough of my rambling. Please tell me what you think :D was I too OOC with their characterizations? :(

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