Rain in late November can be chilling but refreshing. It's large raindrops spilling over a black umbrella, one shoulder damp and chilly, and cold fingertips over one another's hands. White bumped shoulders with N as they hobbled back to their temporary solstice in their travels, sharing an umbrella.
"Eternia City seems nice," White began to say before a roll of thunder crackled in the distance, "I could do without this weather, though. It's like Tornadus and Thundurus chased us all the way to Sinnoh!"
"Tornadus and Thundurus have avoided densely populated areas such as this for decades, and Sinnoh is far away from Unova, which is most certainly the only region they have been rumored to exist. Therefore, a more accurate explanation would be Zapdos creating the lighting while enjoying the natural rainstorm or perhaps a pack of irritated dragonair-" N began to quickly find the derivative of the terrible rainstorm until White silenced him with a snort.
"It was a joke, a joke," she said with a casual smile and bit of a giggle.
"...Right." his face burned with embarrassment.
Another conversation killed stone cold due to his lack of social finesse.
Add that to the long list of things she was assisting him with. White had the patience of a saint to put up with his sheltered abnormalities. He hardly knew what it was like to be human. How to feel or emote. Useless emotions he had cut away as a child were the same thing White was attempting to recover from his stunted personality. It was amazing that they could even get along with one another. Anger, sorrow, bliss; All were so familiar to her and unfamiliar to him. N felt as though he was a student stumped on this particular subject, while she was the kind teacher, willing to teach a child so desperate for the knowledge that he could not comprehend.
He made a swift glance down to White, who returned the favor with a small smile and an encouraging squeeze on his hand which awkwardly grasped the umbrella handle between them.
For the millionth time he asked himself: Why is she even here? What did she have to gain from tracking him down while he was a traveling fugitive?
He had questioned her several times but her answer was always the same-
"Because you're my friend!"
She deserved the world. For surely she was the strongest trainer in the Unova region after becoming the champion after him, but she gave it up to find him. She had spent the better part of a year single-handedly tracking down Team Plasma higher ups and exposing their nefarious plots and corruption. For surely she had been offered incredible once in a lifetime positions and high-paying jobs, but she gave it all up just to travel with him. She was truly a beautiful woman and had the most tender soul he had ever encountered. For surely she had suitors interested in her-
"Oh." he stated aloud while simultaneously bringing his thoughts and feet to a halt.
A small heaviness and pain in N's chest had hit him quite suddenly. White looked up at him worriedly.
"Everything ok?"
"I felt something strange," N attempted to vaguely explain.
"Go on," White encouraged him. She really needed to break him of his habit of explaining things in a less than descriptive way to dodge a subject. Anyone else would just lie to cover up, but N was transparent.
"It is embarrassing," he warned.
"Well, you've gotta tell me," White pressed.
"I was thinking about about you and my chest began to feel heavy during my inner-assessment." He spat out quickly. N's blunt responses could at times catch White off-guard and she felt warmth quickly spread from her face, even to her ears, in a strawberry blush.
"Me? That's, thats, but that's like- I mean, you must be kidding," she started to blabber like a fool.
The rain around them was ever so persistent, making the loudest pliping sounds as they bounced from the umbrella and flew about.
"Your face has become quite red," he dutifully informed her.
"Yeah, well, it was embarrassing!" The rain almost seemed to increase in intensity with her exclamation.
"Should I not have told you? You yourself have told me to be open about what is on my mind so I assumed that you needed to know."
"Well, yeah! Ah, geez, now we are just talking in circles. I need to cool off." White grumbled and promptly stepped out into the cold rain. She regretted her impulses initially, but she felt her face cool down and her embarrassment melt away bit by bit. It was somewhat soothing. White smiled despite everything and held out her palms to catch the falling droplets.
"What are you doing? You could easily develop a cold if you stand out in this weather," N said with a small tilt to his head and frown.
"I wanted to feel the rain. Actually, it's pretty nice! You should join me!"
"We are in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wish to stop and feel the rain?"
"Yeah, come over here! Put the umbrella away!"
N, very, very reluctantly, closed the umbrella and shuffled over to stand in front of White.
"How do you feel?" She asked him proudly. Thunder rumbled in the distance contrasting the sunshine in her grin.
"Cold. Wet." He responded miserably as he felt his clothes and hair grow more damp each moment.
"She tilted her head up slightly to look at the sky and he did the same.
"The clouds are moving so fast," White said, "They must have somewhere important to go."
"That is not really how that works," N began to explain but stopped himself when he realized that she must be joking again. He stole another precious glance at her. Suddenly, bright lightning spread across the darkened sky and the illumination was just enough for N to truly see White as her eyes widened and her lips parted slightly to make a squeak of fear and excitement. Studying such reactions from her was N's current secret obsession. This one in particular was quite pleasing and cute.
White suddenly became aware of the curious look N was giving her, and the lack of distance between them, their bodies nearly touching. White couldn't help but feel a little gloomy in the moment as her face darkened. She looked up at him with so much longing in her eyes, but her crumpled eyebrows and twist on her lips hinted at her hidden sadness, as though she understood that she might never have what she wished for.
"What are you trying to tell me right now?" N's voice but a whisper, hardly audible over the steadily falling rain.
"What do you think I am trying to tell you right now?" White responded, her glossy eyes still pleading.
I am in love with you, I am in love with you, I am in love with you.
White would never be the first to tell him. It would be too selfish since he had so much to learn and sort through. Her top priority was to help him heal after the years of blatant cult-mentality brainwashing and mental abuse that he suffered at the hands of his father for the sake of Team Plasma's agenda. If one day N came to her naturally and told her his romantic feelings, she would happily receive and return them.
But she could never flat out tell him under the impression that he might simply return her advances because he felt that she was entitled to his heart in return for helping him.
That would be a similar manipulative tactic that his father had used on him. White did NOT want that, even if it meant the possibility of N never knowing her deep feelings for him.
"I cannot know unless you explain it to me," N murmured.
So close, so close, so close.
"I want you to find the answer on your own," she breathed.
"As you said, 'Now we are just talking in circles'?"
The complex look on her face dissolved as she laughed aloud at the parroting of her previous response and shook her head. Today just would not be the day. She noted her ponytail, now heavy and dripping, and her clothes soaked down to her skin.
"Come on," she said while taking his hand innocently, "We are both totally soaked. Let's go back to our hotel and dry off!"
Together they jogged through the rain and drizzle, both drenched through and sufficiently cooled off. It would take time; each learned slowly from the other. Today was just another experience, and the rain can always help to wash away uncertainties and insecurities to leave the purest affections behind. Tomorrow is another day, and they had all of the time they needed to take it slow.
/
Hey everyone! Long time, no see. I've been itching to start writing again so that I can continue my Pokemon B/W fic "It's not a Game" so I decided to take on some anon writing prompts on my tumblr based on one of my recent posts. The prompt was N's line- "We are in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wish to stop and feel the rain?"! If you want to send me another one, go find me and drop me a line on tumblr (mintchoconae)! This piece was prepared very much off the cuff, so I hope that it makes some sense. I do hope that you enjoyed it. Until next time! See you!