A/N: I wrote this for the Pokemon Genfic Meme. Prompt was "Cheren being a protective/teacher-ish/big-brother-ish to his gym trainers."
Cheren looked at the two younger trainers in front of him, pouring over their textbooks like he'd never seen before.
Pedro was highlighting passage after passage of what he was reading, and Serena was scribbling note after note into her spiral notebook. He cleared his throat and they both looked up in surprise.
"Cheren!" They chorused, putting their materials down immediately.
"What are you two doing?" He asked, bemused.
Serena glanced over at Pedro before answering. "We were just studying, Cheren."
"I've never seen you two study so hard before." He said, looking at the stack of books before them. "What brought this on?"
"N-Nothing." Serena said, her eyes going wide. "Right, Pedro?"
Pedro bit his lip. "Y-Yeah. We're just studying for fun."
Cheren's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Just yesterday I heard you say you hated studying, Pedro."
He blushed a little, recalling the incident. "I don't hate it now."
Cheren looked between the two of them, trying to figure what they were hiding. He noticed one of the books the two of them that was between them had to do with battle strategies and suddenly it clicked. "Is this because of yesterday?"
"No!" Serena said, shaking her head so fast her long hair whipped her face. "We aren't worried about yesterday, right Pedro?"
Pedro didn't answer her.
"Right Pedro?" She asked again.
Cheren faced him, keeping his expression gentle. "Is it because of yesterday, Pedro?"
Pedro nodded. "We're worried you'll replace us with better gym trainers."
Serena slapped her hand over her face. "Now he's going to replace us for sure, Pedro!"
"Who said I was going to replace you?" Cheren asked, looking appalled by the thought. "I would never do that."
"You wouldn't?" The asked in unison.
Cheren smiled at the two of them, shaking his head. "I chose you as my gym trainers because I knew you'd be great for the job."
"But we lost." Pedro said, looking confused.
"So? Everyone loses a Pokémon battle once in a while." Cheren said.
"Does that mean you're not disappointed in us?" Serena asked, unable to meet Cheren's gaze.
"Of course I'm not disappointed in you guys." He said, patting her head. "You did great for your first official gym challenge."
"Really?" They asked, hope in their voices.
"Really." He said, giving them another smile. "Hey, how about we have a practice battle right now? You guys look like you could use a break."
"Okay!" Pedro said, jumping out of his seat. "Come on, Serena, you can be the referee!"
"No fair, I want to battle too!" She said, standing up herself.
Cheren chuckled at their enthusiasm and followed them out to the gym. They reminded him of himself and friends, when they were younger. Maybe that's why he'd taken such a shine to them.
"Come on, Cheren!" They cried, already way ahead of him.
"Wait up!" He called, unclipping a Pokéball from his belt and hurrying to catch up.
