Hey, folks! While Pokemon Gray-now Pokemon Cold Gray-is being re-posted, have a random CafeNoirShipping. Why? Because Gen 6, that's why.
CafeNoirShipping (Hilbert x Serena): "One Day at a Café"
One day at a café, she met a stranger—a brunet with brown eyes, dressed in blue, whose faux French accent as he struggled to pronounce words only to slaughter the language showed he was a foreigner. It wasn't exactly something she meant to do, sitting down with a stranger, but this café, like many others in Lumiose City, had a theme: speed socialization. Yes, this was one of those establishments for people who liked to make friends or had trouble making friends themselves. She certainly didn't know that when she stepped inside, and neither had he.
"All the cafés here look alike to me, no offense," he said, brushing aside his chocolate brown bangs.
"None taken. In fact, ditto," she said, twirling a lock of pale blonde hair around her finger.
"I only wanted to come in here for a drink and to catch a break, and then I got roped into this. I think you're the first person I've come across who doesn't speak French…"
She smiled and arched an eyebrow. "So, you come to a foreign region without knowing the language?" Then again, she was in a similar both. Though her parents were both born in Kalos, she knew more English and Japanese than French due to her parents' constant traveling. "So…tell me about yourself."
She learned that he was a trainer from the region of Unova, traveling the world to improve his battling skills. His last trip had taken him to Johto, which was a hop away from Kanto. She expressed her envy of his experience. Despite what anyone thought, she didn't agree to embark on her journey for the sake of becoming famous like her mother, learning about Mega Evolution like Professor Sycamore thought she was intrigued by, or becoming the Kalos League champion like her one-sided rival Calem believed. What she wanted was to see the world and all the things it had to offer.
She then told him about her own life, though it wasn't as exciting as his own had been. She'd only recently begun her own journey across the Kalos region, after all. She talked about how she had been pulled into a group of friends by her new neighbors so suddenly and warmly, it was jarring. She spoke about how she was helping the region's Pokémon expert learn more about Mega Evolution, and how she found herself challenging the Kalos League more on the insistence of others than her own desires. She didn't think it was all that interesting, but he had. He showered her with compliments, how she really had to be someone special to have so many people insist things of her. Needless to say, it made her blush and smile for reasons she wasn't quite sure of.
"Helping out the professor… That takes me back to my youth."
She gawked at him. "Huh?! Just how old are you?!"
He flinched and blushed. "I-it was a figure of speech! It couldn't have been more than a year ago? Maybe a year and a half…? A-anyway, it just makes me really nostalgic. I used to do the same thing from time to time for a professor in my hometown."
"Did you now?"
"Yup. Hey, if you're challenging the gyms, too, that makes me your rival, too!" His eyes held a sort of glint in it, the sort of glint that strangers got when they made eye contact with her and ran up to her just to ask for battles. "If you don't mind, could we have a battle?"
She snorted and stroked her blonde hair again, blue eyes staring at the wall behind him because staring into his dazzling brown eyes was too much for her. "You're joking, right? I'm not dumb enough to challenge someone who's beaten two foreign Pokémon Leagues."
"You never know unless you try, right?" He smiled brightly at her—again. That smile, that smile! It made her cheeks turn red and her heart beat a little faster. It all sounded like a cheesy movie or a dime-store love novel, but this stranger—who wasn't really a stranger anymore—had that sort of effect on her. It made her think she was just a normal girl falling in love, not a Professor's pseudo-assistant or a celebrity's daughter. She almost didn't want it to stop.
But then one of the café's staff had to butt in and say that they should've switched conversation partners already. It made them both exchange looks. Her stranger—"hers"? What's with this "hers" business?—rose from his seat and bid her farewell in French as best as he could, saying he'd just get something to eat from somewhere before hitting the road again. Then he left. And then, so did she. She felt a bit depressed, to be honest. He seemed like a nice guy. Cute, too. She supposed something good had come out of going into some random café, but the sad part was that she would probably never get to see him again…
At least, not until she met him on the route outside of Lumiose City. "Wow! Meeting again so soon! It must be fate, huh?" He asked, smiling brightly like he always did. He pointed down the road. "You heading this way, too?"
She froze for a moment before nodding fervently. "I've, uh…got things to do in Laverre City."
"Let's go together then." He said it in such a blunt way, she almost died of shock. He jumped at her wide-eyed reaction. "Wh-what's wrong?! I just think it's a lot more fun when you're traveling with other people, don't you?"
"Y-yeah! Fun! Sure! Let's go to Laverre City together!" She exclaimed, nodding with fervor yet again.
"Great! And on the way there, we can get to know each other a little better. I'm really anxious to get to know more about you."
She stood upright and gave a wide smile as she nodded once more, her cheeks a rosy pink. "Same here...!"
One day at a café, she met a stranger, who then became a friend, then a silly little crush, then a travelling companion/crush. And in the future? Well, who knows? If she's fortunate, she'll be able to see the world beyond Kalos with him at her side.