Sorry about those of you who wanted to read How to Spend a Week Out of Prison (which was like... none of you, except for Tune who actually beta'd those chapters and is probably sick of hearing about that stupid idea anyways ahaha. Probably ripping her hair out too just knowing that I ended up not going with that idea). It just... really wasn't working for me no matter how many times I tried to conclude it or remix it into something else. Sometimes these things just happen and because I signed up for the contest and I really want to compete, I know I can't back down so I knew I had to put something. Might as well stick to what I know, eh? This is probably one of the most fluffiest, clichèd pieces I've ever written but I've been trying so hard to be different from the mold and it's clearly not working for me so this is me saying that this is exactly what you think it is.

Romance. Check.

Cafe AU. Check.

I'm embarrassed to even write this because I usually strive to be different and I often pride myself on writing original things as of late yet here I am. The truth is that I've been reading a few of the contest entries so far (even beta'ing!) and they're so different and it's impossible to stand out for the sake of standing out which is the kind of angle I tried to use to selfishly approach this contest. So I'm not even going to bother trying if it's not working. I also feel like I've put too much time and effort and thought into this contest to not submit something, so this is all I got and I hope it makes one of you smile. God knows I could use one of those.

A few things you ought to note: Everybody in this fic is humanized. That includes the pokemon, the characters from Poke-verse, Fox-verse, etc. Second of all, as this is an AU, and it's set in a world very much like ours. Of course, characters will retain certain aspects that we all know and love of our Smashers.

This series will function as a four-shot. Four one-shots revolving around four different couples in the same setting on the same day. The first is Jigglypuff/Pikachu.

Edit: Felt like I ought to put a clarification in the beginning (Thank you, AuraChannelerChris, for pointing that out) for those of you who may be confused, but Jillian Puff is Jigglypuff, and Kai Chu is Pikachu. I just didn't think using their actual names really seemed appropriate for the settings.

A thanks to MessengerOfDreams, the coolest, nicest guy ever and only had words of support for me despite the fact that I'm a literal mess right now, and Tune4Toons, an evil goddess who is hellbent on making my life miserable ever since she sparked the competitive fever within me. Both listened to me and encouraged me to put this out there, despite the fact that this will probably not turn out as good as I thought it would be in my head since I'm running on limited times.

(Also, the name of the cafe is a slight nod the SSB forum, Rancho de la Smash... I'm totally not creative when it comes to titles, couldn't you tell?)

I could hardly believe I was here. I stole a glance toward Nana who had turned around to lock my car door. Her cheeks were flushed, but I was certain this was because she still hadn't gotten over the thrill of driving on her own. She'd only gotten her permit about a week ago, after all. I'd let her drive my car, since she'd been so keen on doing so. I smiled, despite the nervous butterflies. She couldn't know how badly my insides were currently squirming.

We stood in front of Cafe de la Smash, and it was starting to snow. It was the first snowfall Smash City had in nearly a decade so it was a pretty big deal to loads of people. Since it had begun to snow on Christmas eve, people were saying that it was truly a white Christmas, but I hardly cared. I hated the cold. Give me a warm, sunny day any day. Usually, Smash City rarely dipped below fifty degrees Fahrenheit, so snow was definitely a miracle. I was banking on miracles today.

I checked my reflection in the tinted glass door. My make up looked immaculate, my hair in perfect curls. Not a single thing out of place. If only there was some way I could have lost weight in like, a day. But there was nothing to do about my weight. I swallowed, sucking my stomach in. God, I was tubby, but it wasn't for lack of trying. My parents were chubby, so I was too. And I comforted myself with the fact that most soprano singers were solidly built anyway.

"Are you going to stare the whole time?" Nana asked.

"This was a mistake," I said. I turned to leave but Nana grabbed my shoulders, preventing me from any escape.

"Oh no you don't! Jill, this is like, the third time you'll be backing out if you don't walk in. It's not like Kai's going to hate you for being at his workplace."

I sighed, looking at Nana. Though we were about four years apart, she was my best friend and knew how nervous and high-strung I got around Kai which was saying a lot since I was high-strung about everything. I honestly wondered how she didn't find me exhausting, being so grounded and calm as she was. "He didn't tell me he was working there. What if it seems like I'm stalking him?"

Nana rolled her eyes. "Stalking is a little harsh as a term. Anyway, we went over this already."

Right. We did.

I faced the door again. Beyond those doors, was Kai Chu my next door neighbor, my childhood friend, a person I'd grown up loathing only to eventually fall in love with. So all the romantic stories go, anyhow.

But I knew it would never be possible for Kai to return my feelings. In fact, I was about ninety-five percent sure. When Kai and I used to attend the same school together, he was always wildly popular due to the fact that he was really really cute and had a sort of electrifying personality. For my part, I was...

...Well, I was fat, and if you watch the shows and movies today, you'd know that fat girls never get the guy of their dreams.

But by all means, Kai wasn't exactly a Prince Charming. True, he was really cute with his messy, brown hair, and his golden tanned skin, and his perpetually flushed cheeks and his black eyes that spoke of liquid electricity and that he was... okay, well I'm getting off topic, aren't I? The point is, when we were little, he was downright annoying up until I got accepted to Nintendo Art Academy, a private academy only five minutes away from Nintendo High School, the school he attended. Our moms had forced us to play and do activities together, and Kai had found me boring since I was into princesses and frilly things. He was more into cars and racing. Throughout the times we attended the same school, he'd often ignored or made fun of me, which I hated up until we switched schools.

It was then that I started to miss him. A lot. I guess what people say about absence making the heart grow fonder was true in my case. I missed the way Kai teased me and the way he'd listen to me sing and the little things he knew about me.

It was because of that that I started walking home with Kai. Since our schools were pretty close together, and our homes were next to each other, our walk home took us on the same path. We exchanged stories. Kai would talk about the girls or the boys he was dating, or how he made it to the varsity track team; in turn I'd tell him about NAA and how I was one of the four singers to hit a high C note. I often sang some of my conversations to him too, and he didn't seem to mind it so much either the way my parents did.

But the fact remained that Kai and I were still in different worlds. I knew I couldn't keep loving him the way I did. Sooner or later, I had to confess.

So when I heard from Nana that she saw Kai working in Cafe de la Smash, I knew I had to get it over with. If I confessed, I'd have some closure and maybe I could move on to liking other guys.

I wasn't sure if I was ready to say goodbye to Kai yet, which was why I was so nervous. My fingers went numb just from thinking about it.

"You can do this," Nana said, breaking my thoughts. She slipped a hand into mine, and squeezed it. Her voice was encouraging, as if she was reading my mind.

I smiled at her, squeezing her hand back. She was right. I could do this. I took a deep breath and opened the door. A faint tinkle announced our arrival and the smell of coffee, cinnamon and peppermint assailed my nose. Nana gave me a thumbs up, and scooted off leaving me to wonder about the cafe. The place was small, with tiny wooden tables seating up to four people scattered everywhere. In the back there was a bar, with high chairs. On the ceiling hung multicolored Christmas lights, and in the corner was a small Christmas tree decorated with interesting ornaments. On the top, instead of an angel, there seemed to be some sort of man-fairy that shimmered in rainbow colors when the light hit it. Huh. Interesting.

A boy about the same age as Nana suddenly appeared in my vision. He had side-swept blond hair, dark brown eyes and a calm smile. "Welcome to the Cafe de la Smash. My name is Fortune, but you can call me Toon."

"Fortune?" I couldn't help but ask. "That's an interesting name."

He wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, my mom was loony when she named me. So where can I seat you?"

I stared at him for a moment. I could cop out now and ask him to serve me and never confess to Kai. I could...

"Um," I said. "Actually, I was wondering if... uh, who are your servers today?"

Toon raised an eyebrow. "Are you looking for somebody?" Hesitantly, I looked past Toon to see if Kai was around. There weren't that many people in the cafe today, it being Christmas Eve and all. In one corner, I spotted a girl in a scarf who was talking to a guy that looked a lot like Toon, only about twenty years older. It was probably his dad. "You are looking for somebody," Toon said, interrupting my thoughts. "Aren't you?"

I went a deep red.

"You are," Toon decided, a smirk on his face. "I can set you up with him or her if you'd like. Come on, who is it?"

"K-kai. Kai Chu." I wasn't sure why I was so damn nervous even saying his name. I'd said Kai's name so many times before.

"Oh, him! Quite the heartbreaker, isn't he? Loads of girls are always saying how cute he is," Toon said. "But I can get him for you, if you'd like."

My heart twisted at that, but I nodded. "Just don't let him know I'm asking for him... If you could?" Heartbreaker. Yeah, that's what my mom had said about him when we first moved in. Ooh, that little boy Kai, he's going to be a heartbreaker someday! For as along as I could remember, he'd always been cute since he was five, during his parents' messy divorce and even through our awkward years of puberty. Some things weren't fair.

He nodded, a discreet smile forming. "Cupid may as well be my middle name." He scampered off. I only had to wait for a few moments until I finally saw Kai appear, unaware that I was here. I had a few precious moments until he either hated me or things got awkward between us so I tried to encapsulate my final moments with him before I severed things off with him for good.

"Hi, I'm Kai Chu and I'll be your waiter for Cafe de la Smash... Jilly?" he said, his eyes going wide at seeing me. Most people call me Jill or Jillian which is my full name, but as kids Kai called me Jilly. As we grew up, he eventually shortened it to Jill but sometimes he said Jilly and I couldn't help but grow warm at the thought. It was like he cared enough to spend more than one syllable on me.

"Hey Kai," I said. "I didn't know you worked here!" Liar, liar pants on fire, Jill.

I wasn't sure he believed me, but the look he gave me now suggested he wished I wasn't here. "Yeah, well I do."

Oh man, I could already tell he wasn't happy to see me here. I wondered why. "Uh, so why'd you get a job, huh?"

A smile still plastered on his face, he said, "Why do people get jobs, Jill?"

I flushed a deep red. I couldn't understand why he was being such a jerk. He was acting like his ten-year old self, which was to say he was being an absolute brat. I filled my lungs with breath and sang, "Don't be a jerk, Samus, don't be so cruel to me."

I watched his face relax into a smile. He recognized that song by The Metroids, a super popular band. "I know you're stupid Adam, I know it's sad," he sang back, making me frown. He chuckled at my expression. "All right, sorry. Old habits die hard. You're too easy to tease." He ran a hand through his already messy hair. "Stay. I'll get you something to drink."

"Shouldn't I order first?"

Kai shook his head. "Don't you know how this place works? It's different from usual cafes."

"No? How is it different?"

He sighed. "Well, for one there are no menus there."

"Uh... But it's a cafe," I said stupidly. "How are you supposed to order something?"

"Well, you don't. The waiter orders for you."

"I'm having trouble following this."

Kai smiled. "That's the reason why people go there. The waiter makes you a drink or a dessert based on how they see you. Get it? I'd imagine if they didn't like you, they'd serve you something bitter... but imagine if they did? I expect they'd make you something wonderful."

"Is that a threat?" I asked. "Does that mean I have to start being nice to you so I can get something tasty?"

Kai's smile turned into a sinister grin. "Maybe. But give me some time. I had two other people ahead of you. Take a seat wherever you'd like."

"Sure," I said. "Um." But I didn't know what else to say.

"What?" Kai said, turning around again.

Now or never, Jill, I told myself sternly. I stole a glance at Nana who was talking to Toon. "Well, just that I'd like to talk to you."

"That's not a problem," Kai said. "My break's soon anyway, so as soon as I get you your drink, we can catch up. You must've really missed me, eh?"

I choked out a laugh that was supposed to be derisive, but probably sounded deranged. Smooth, Jill. "Hardly." You have no idea.

I took a seat at one of the high chairs by the bar and observed the cafe. The girl in the scarf was now drinking from a tall, ornate glass whose rim was in gold. Its contents contained some sort of fizzy beverage that looked clear at first, but toward the bottom of the glass turned into a smoky red. At the lip of the glass was a slice of some sort of fruit with orange innards and red skin wedged in.

For awhile, I watched Kai serve some sort of pink tea to very fashionable woman dressed in pink and who dressed up in a poofy skirt. Her blonde hair was so voluminous, I swore it could've added two more inches to her height. She drank it, and proclaimed to Kai in a very high-pitched voice that it was delicious. He bowed, looking pleased with himself before moving onto the next customer.

Waiting only exacerbated the stress I was feeling. I started tracing patterns on the rough, wooden surface of the table, but after I got a splinter on my index finger, I stopped. I felt like Kai was being deliberately slow to torture me, so I started humming softly to myself.

Singing is practically my life. I don't know where I'd be without it. I'm not a particularly gifted student or athletic or good at anything. But once I begin to sing, I calm myself down. I swear, sometimes as children, I could even put Kai to sleep singing nursery rhymes. I could put myself to sleep, if I wanted to. Mom told me loads of times that she was happy I could sing; there had to be one part of me that should've been my saving grace. And I kind of had to agree with her.

Before I realized it, I'd started singing "Silent Night" which was weird because I hardly cared about Christmas. I mean, don't get me wrong. We had a tree at home, and there were presents underneath that tree. But it wasn't like we went to Mass or Church. Christmas was just an excuse for my family to buy each other stuff.

By the time I was finishing "Silent Night" Kai had finished serving hot chocolate to a little boy. Only this hot chocolate was topped with fudge, whipped cream, and marshmallows all artfully arranged.

"Did you come here to show off?" Kai asked, as I ended the last mournful notes of the song. He was standing on the other side of the counter, his face only a foot and a half away from mine.

I was startled, but I still managed to say, "Depends. Did I pull it off?" It was incredible how I was able to keep firing back a response at this kid.

Kai shrugged. "Well, it didn't shatter a window."

I shoved him away. "Get outta here."

He laughed, nearly stumbling into a coffeemaker behind him. "So what do you want, huh?"

"I don't know, what would you give me?"

Kai scrubbed his face with both hands, groaning, "Don't make my life hard."

But now I was curious. I wanted to know how Kai saw me. "It's just me, Kai," I said.

He peeked at me through his fingers. "Just you?" Suddenly, he looked a little nervous. He turned around and grabbed a glass. I watched his back, and then he said, "I know it doesn't look like it, but Smash is pretty busy throughout the year. Wanna know why?"

"Even if I didn't, you'd tell me anyway."

He ignored that jab. "People always want to know how they're perceived through the lens of a stranger. Who knows why. We're servers, not wise people. We have very little to go off of, aside from first impressions so more often than not, what we serve isn't entirely accurate."

I couldn't see what he was doing or how he was creating my drink. I couldn't even tell if he was making anything, since his back was hunched over.

"Like for example, hot chocolate for a kid is a no brainer. Kids love hot chocolate, especially if they're stuffed with marshmallows. And that lady I served tea to? She wears pink, which is why I served her the Kashmiri Chai. These drinks we make only scratch the surface of the people we serve. But when done right," he said as he turned around, a steel glass in his hands. "A bond forms between the server and the customer, because they've peered into their soul."

I could hardly breathe. I wasn't sure why, but as I grasped the cup, I felt Kai's fingers brush against mine and I felt a jolt of electricity shoot into my fingers, down my arms.

"Kai... I think..." This was it; this was where I was going to confess. Everything felt right. The words were lodged in my throat, bursting to get out.

Kai, I've loved you for a very long time now...

But the words died in my throat when I looked down and saw the drink.

It was milk.

Just milk. Boring, childish, stupid milk. A curl of steam from within it dissipated into the air.

Milk?

I stared up at Kai. To the lady in pink, he'd given her tea which had taken fifteen minutes. To that little boy, he'd given him hot chocolate which had to have taken some time as well.

Pure simple, heated up milk. "That's all?" I asked. I set the glass down.

"Jilly, are you okay?"

The way he said my name was no longer comforting to me. "Perfect," I said through gritted teeth.

Because really, it was one thing if Kai didn't return my feelings. After all, I'd waltzed in here expecting that. But it was quite another to be served milk of all things. As if all I'd been worth and reduced to was just one single drink. "I must mean nothing to you, right?" I slid off the high chair.

And to think, I'd almost confessed to him too...! I couldn't tell where I was going, but I stumbled over a few chairs, knocking into the girl with the scarf. In the process, I accidentally knocked her drink into her lap.

"Oh no, it's fine," I heard her say, sarcasm written all over her tone. "I'll live."

"Sorry," I managed, but to my utmost horror, my voice cracked. God, this was embarrassing. "I'm so sorry." My voice was like shattered glass.

"Jillian!" I heard Kai call out, but I was almost to the door.

"Coming here was a mistake," I muttered to myself. I wrenched the doorknob open and headed out, but I'd only taken four steps out before I realized that it was snowing heavily by now. I cursed.

What were the odds that Smash City, a place where it hadn't snowed in ten years, would get its own tiny blizzard? I wished I'd paid more attention to the weather channel. I couldn't even go home anyway because I had to drop Nana home too. And driving in this weather was out of the question but I knew I couldn't go back in. I just couldn't face Kai or anyone else who had seen me knock over that poor woman's drink into her lap.

I was too damn theatrical for my own good. I felt the tears well up, but before they could fall, the door to the cafe opened. I swiped at my eyes furiously, not bothering to look at the person who'd come through the door. I knew it had to be Kai.

And it was. In his hands he had the cup of milk. "Come inside, Jill. You'll freeze out here."

"Go away, Kai," I said. My voice now sounded screechy beyond repair. I vowed to never fall for anyone again; my voice sounded awful.

"Why are you so upset?"

I finally turned to face him, but I felt stupid for saying what was on my mind. Admitting that I cared enough to be so hurt and offended by what he just served me sounded bad, even in my head. I was the selfish one, not him.

But I also realized that he had a right to know. I sighed. Mentally, I kissed our friendship goodbye. Perhaps later on, I'd sing a song appropriate for a funeral.

"Getting just milk from you stung a little, Kai. Because... I think of you a lot. And I guess I expected that you thought about me a lot too. But your perception of me was... something so ordinary and easy to make like steamed milk, despite the fact that I really, really like you."

Kai was staring at me with a strange expression. "You think that I think you're ordinary?"

"I mean, I guess so. I suppose, next to you, it's hard to be otherwise. You're smart, athletic, and really popular and I'm..."

Kai thrust the cup out to me. "Drink it." It was a command, not a request.

"I'm not in the mood."

"Drink. It." Kai's expression had changed to one of extreme annoyance. "I didn't make this so that it would be wasted."

I rolled my eyes. Nice of him to add insult to the injury. I took the cup, thinking I'd already embarrassed myself enough anyway. I held the cup up to my lips and began to drink slowly. The milk was whole and thick and rich. But I was detecting a slight hint of something else as I drank it. I just couldn't tell what it was. It wasn't until I reached the end, that I noted a sprig of lavender at the very end, milk coating its purple petals. When I handed the cup back to Kai, he faced the snow. Smash City was slowly turning into a Winter Wonderland.

"I wasn't a nice person to you as a kid, Jilly. I never used to be, period. In fact... I used to find you really boring and stupid."

"Thanks," I muttered. I felt the milk I'd just drunk, settle inside my stomach.

"But what I hated most about you was the fact that you seemed to excel at something. You're a really good singer... and a lot of times, you could put me to sleep just by singing. I don't know if you remember, but it was probably the only time when we were kids that we actually got along. And I envied that it had to come from you which is why I made fun of you a lot. I was stupid back then." Still not looking at me, Kai took my hand and squeezed it, but I felt it all the way to my heart.

He continued, "I'm not as stupid now. I'm still kind of new to this job, and I didn't know what to serve you, but I served you warm lavender milk because it's supposed to make a person sleepy, and I remembered all those times where you made me fall asleep. This time, I wanted you to be the Sleeping Beauty. I'm sorry if it didn't come across with just milk. It probably wasn't very tactful of me. I care about you a lot."

I turned to face him, my eyes widening. Was this what I thought it was? Finally forced to acknowledge me, he turned to face me as well...

...And he started to laugh.

Confused, I asked, "What is it?" For one horrible second, I thought he'd tricked me with his words.

"I'm sorry, I just can't take you seriously, not with..." He brought his hand up to my cheek and kissed my upper lip, sending a bolt of electricity down to my toes. This was how a defibrillator had to feel. I felt his tongue swipe up, and then suddenly he drew apart, his cheeks even redder than normal. "The milk mustache was distracting."

"I could have sworn you kissed me," I said.

Kai shook his head, looking away from me. He had a slightly embarrassed smile etched on his face. "Nope. Just wiping the milk off."

"So... you don't like me?" I was grinning.

He tried to scoff, but that silly smile was still on his face. "Why would I like you?"

I could think of a million reasons why he wouldn't. I was normal. I was fat. I wasn't good in school. I was boring. I was sensitive and high-strung, and my breath was about to start smelling like sour milk. But right now, those things seemed irrelevant. My heart was singing, but I shrugged. "Touché." Coolly, I started toward the door, but I'd only gotten one step inside before Kai grabbed my hand, his fingers interlocking with mine. He squeezed my hand, and kissed me on the cheek. Such open displays of affection really made my cheeks burn, but I didn't care.

I turned around to get one last glimpse outside, before the door shut completely.

Maybe a white Christmas did produce miracles.

Omg, ALL THE CLICHE FLUFF LOLOL

Why Jigglypuff and Pikachu? Well, I always wrote this with the mindset of having Jigs in, but apparently Jigglypuff and Pikachu (I was actually originally planning on using Greninja or Lucario bc they both look super cool, and blue, according to Tune seems to be a popular color, but I have my reasons for not using 'em) can breed together, since they both are in the fairy egg category and can breed. THEY CAN HAVE BABIES... assuming these two make it that far into the relationship. Who knows?

Can anybody guess who the next chapter will be focused on? I did introduce him/her somewhat in this chapter.

This chapter has been fixed of hopefully all the evil comma horrors I've inflicted upon this story.

Well, until next time!