Characters – Ruby, Sapphire, Crystal, Yellow, Blue
Pairings – Franticshipping (sidedish of the general others)
Genres – Romance, Humour
Warnings – almost invisible 'animal abuse'
Note(s) – (Request #2) A Valentines fic here. And fun fact: this was originally meant to be titled 'Torchic Soup for the Cavegirl's Soul'. But, meh.
Disclaimer – Pokémon Special does not belong to me, you know.
Torchic Soup.
I.
"Hey, what's Valentines? Ruby mentioned that it was coming soon."
Three pairs of feminine eyes shared a collective stare at the young, confused girl with the dark blue bandana tied around her head. Sapphire cocked an eyebrow and grimaced at their reactions, generally not impressed with the looks plastered on their faces. They made it seem like the thing called Valentines wasn't supposed to be a good thing.
Blue recovered first, gliding a smooth hand through her lustrous brown hair before clearing her throat. "It's a day where everyone gives me chocolates!" she sang out gloriously, only to be silenced by an alarmed Crystal. The professional catcher gritted her teeth and crumpled her brow as she grabbed Blue's elbow and jerked the limb in very solid protest. The brunette closed her mouth and regarded Crystal with a disappointed look, almost looking like the blue-haired girl had trampled over all of her fun.
"Blue's joking, Sapphire. Valentines is a day where you express your affection to the person you like, usually by giving gifts like chocolate," the pigtailed-one explained with a strain in her voice, releasing her hand from Blue's arm. The seventeen-year old female removed the hat from her head and set it on the desk the four were currently situated around, careful not to disturb the printed documents resting on the table.
Sapphire wriggled her nose and chewed her lip, "Never heard of it."
Yellow tilted her chin and regarded the younger – albeit taller – girl with a curious intent in her rounded eyes.
"So you won't be giving anything to Ruby?" the blonde piped up absent-mindedly, her petite hands curling around a mug of cocoa.
"W-Why would I do something like that?!" Sapphire sprang up from the stool she was occupying, her mouth contorting into an open frown and her eyes flashing dangerously.
The cup in Yellow's hands nearly jumped with a start, Blue winced and covered an ear. Crystal extended a hand and planted it comfortingly on the twelve-year old's indignant shoulder, an understanding grin crossing her face. The brown-haired female lowered her fists and restrained the urge to voice her discomfort, a disgruntled countenance settling over her face as her blue eyes darted to each of the three seniors. Yellow bowed her head in quick, sincere apology. Blue chuckled merrily behind her thin fingers.
"It was just a suggestion, Sapphire. Since you like him and all," the teenager in the lab coat grinned indulgently.
Sapphire pursed her lips, a bitter taste enveloping her mouth and disallowing her from denying the girl's stinging statement.
II.
"You have to give him something that will remind him of you."
Blue grinned deviously as she flitted through the stack of photos she held in her left hand. Sapphire leaned on the window frame of the girl's room, staring into the room with the other half of her body seated on the study branch of a tree that was growing right next to the brunette's house. The younger female listened intently, her eyes alert and her mouth terse. Blue was the oldest out of all the female seniors – so obviously, she just had to be the wisest.
Except that the teenager was flipping attentively through a rather sizable amount of photos of herself – depicting pictures ranging from a young, ten-year old Blue to the current blossoming female singing delightfully before the mirror of her dresser. Sapphire shifted on the branch so that she could get a better look of the girl with the long hair as she continued to provide her with, what she assumed was, sound advice derived from years of experience.
"Don't worry." She divided the photos with one pale finger.
"If he's constantly turned off, it's only because he can't find an outlet to truly express himself. Guys can be so stubborn sometimes –" Blue frowned, "his shield will definitely crack one day, and I'll be there basking in triumphant victory when the time comes," she then snickered and Sapphire found herself drawing back from the devious female.
"You're talking about Green, aren't you?" Sapphire ventured warily.
Blue quirked one eyebrow and offered the girl a mildly surprised look.
"Weren't we talking about him all along?"
III.
"I suggest that you give him something practical, something he'll use."
"Then what're you giving Gold?" the girl asked keenly.
The lab assistant's hands tightened themselves around the borders of the frame she held in her hand. She instantly propped it onto the table with twitching fingers. Sapphire noticed how the golden body of the photo frame caught the fluorescent lights casting down on them from the ceiling. She sniffed the air and detected a faint scent of drying paint and shaved wood. She returned her gaze to her blue-haired senior, realising that the girl had small bandages plaster on portions of her hands. And that said hands were splotched and dirtied with a gold colour.
"I-I'm not giving anything to him! That would mean that I actually like him," Crystal bristled, her hands suddenly preoccupied with stacking pile after pile of documents in front of the empty photo frame posing on her habitually dust-free and organised work bench.
"You don't?" Sapphire laughed teasingly. After all, as the saying went – 'an eye for an eye'.
"I've got work to do now, Sapph'. Perhaps Yellow will be willing to help you think."
Sapphire found herself sitting on the lab's doorstep in less than five seconds.
IV.
The girl smelled the tantalizing scent of perfectly baked cookies as her blonde friend pulled open the oven door and carefully removed the tray laden with the delectable goodies. As Yellow set them down on the table, her eyes wide and hopeful, Sapphire immediately reached out an eager hand to the rows of biscuits. The blue-eyed girl stared up at her senior with a closed mouth, an expectant gaze on her face. Yellow nodded her head pleasantly in allowance as she took off her gloves and set them on the counter. Behind her dainty figure, a fisherman sat in the living room with his feet propped on a footrest, laughing loudly at the television broadcasting.
Sapphire took a bite out of the cookie and felt the texture of the biscuit before she could taste it. It was literally rock-hard. It seemed that Yellow didn't have the best culinary skills, but outside of the tough body, the cookies were admittedly delicious. Unfortunately, the blonde had read the discomfort on her face and proceeded to be consumed with alarm and guilt. Her eyes flashed with apologies as Sapphire motioned with open palms.
"They're really good!" the brown-haired girl comforted.
"R-Really?" Yellow fidgeted uneasily with the golden ponytail flowing across her right shoulder.
"Yeah! I can't bake for my life, y'know? Ruby probably wouldn't like me cooking," Sapphire said jokingly, even as the question of what to get Ruby for Valentines floated like thick, unrelenting fog in her mind.
"I – I think if you give him something you put all your effort into, he'll like it," the blonde offered.
"He's nice and caring and sweet… That's just the kind of guy he is." Yellow blinked and fiddled with her thumbs.
Sapphire slanted her head to the side, and soon realised that they weren't talking about Ruby any more.
V.
The girl thought for the entire day after leaving Yellow's house. Hanging off tree branches and wading through inviting ponds, she explored the Veridian forest with awe and excitement. She traversed through the woodlands lost in thought, her eyes aimless and her mind suffering under a seemingly endless drought of feasible ideas. As the sun penetrated through the gaps in the canopies, she saw the foliage of the oak trees dawning overhead, and chuckled when she remembered how she loved to wear said leaves as a fashion statement.
A light bulb clicked to life.
Sapphire abruptly sat upright, her hands at her sides and her legs sprawled on the forest floor. A smile reached for her eyes as she came up with a plan.
She bounded back to Veridian City, remembering where Ruby was bunking. He was probably going to go shopping with Blue, which meant that someone had to take care of his Pokémon – All in all, it was an ingenious plan, Sapphire didn't even resist the sensation of pride pumping through her veins. She just had to convince the six contest-critters to help her with her gift.
VI.
"H-Happy Valentines, alright?!"
Ruby was woefully scandalized.
"Wh-What have you done?!" He panicked with frenetic arm movements and watering eyes. Numerous carrier bags depicting a wide variety of stores fell from his hands and landed unceremoniously on the floor.
Sapphire growled, a rumble from the bottom of her throat as she glared angrily at the boy and his reaction to her gift. She hadn't expected him to be over the moon, but damn – why did he have to be such an ungrateful sissy? She had put in her effort for him, taking to heart the advice of all her three female seniors. She took a generous amount of air through her nose and bottled the budding frustration.
"Well I can't bake or take pictures or whatever, so I figured that this was the best I could gave ya' for Valentines, y'know?" Sapphire nibbled tentatively at her lower lip.
The red-eyed male placed a hand on the side of his infamous hat and regarded the group of bushes currently assembled in front of him with a distinctly slandered look. A scrawny twig was clinging to the mussed pelt of his Mightyena, and he seemed almost afraid to look at the amount of leaves Sapphire had covered Popo with.
"You always use synthetic materials for your costumes when there are so many organic materials available, so I thought…" Sapphire wandered, her voice fading as the boy's face remained unchanged.
"I don't think I'll be able to use these for a contest, Sapph'," Ruby coughed.
The girl cracked apart, it was slight, but it wasn't like Ruby could see her breaking. She gulped and took a breath of air to compose herself. Had she expected the boy to be overjoyed with her gift? She was no talented sewer or designer, unlike him. Why the hell had she listened to the three girls in the first place? She should have feigned ignorance about Valentines to save her morality. Ruby probably thought the whole idea was gaudy and brazen and whatever-other-fashionable-words.
The boy continued to examine his leafy Pokémon, his frown shrinking into a contemplative expression of sorts. His eyes flitted to Sapphire momentarily before resuming their inspection of the grassy Pokémon. As his facial features softened, the girl felt her heart rise in her chest.
"… But, I do like them a lot." A grin appeared on his face and proceeded to widen, the obscure depths of his eyes illuminating with the rarest honesty. It was definitely something that the girl hardly had the chance to witness. And Sapphire failed to chain down the shy smile that embraced her face. She turned her back to the boy in a final resort to save her from the embarrassment.
"I'm sure Nana, Coco, Ruru, Zuzu, Mimi and Popo wouldn't mind wearing those for the rest of the day," he sighed with a permissive smile, bringing a hand up to cup the top of Sapphire's head. The girl blushed furiously and allowed the boy to maintain the contact for a gracious two seconds, before deciding to bat his arm away with her hands. The girl sidestepped away from him, her eyes drilling themselves into the ground at her feet. Then, almost suddenly and unexpectedly – because she assumed Ruby forgot about everything – a boy held out a box of chocolates, from the poshest store in Veridian, mind you, in front of her gaping face.
Next to them, a series of grumbles and mewls and growls resounded in meek, fruitless protest.
Only normal girls gave chocolates and kisses on Valentines. Honestly, they should have known better.
end.