Butch stared dumbstruck at the figure sitting behind the human-sized glass window, thinking that this was probably the weirdest moment of his day yet. His mood had been going downhill ever since the day before, when his and Cassidy's last mission had totally blown up in their faces. That bratty kid and his Pikachu had once again meddled into their plan of subtly stealing all the Pokémon from the local Pokémon centre. Ironically, their own Pokémon had gotten seriously injured in the process and had to be sent to another Pokémon centre, but at least they had been lucky enough not to get caught by the police this time.
This morning Cassidy had woken him way too early for his liking. She had sounded really cheerful, talking about that they could make a fresh start, with new and improved schemes followed by big promotions and the Boss' praising words. The level A Rocket duo had also decided they would splurge on whatever they wanted today to make themselves feel better, so that they could concentrate on their next mission starting tomorrow.
This basically meant that Cassidy had decided all this and Butch had nodded apathetically, his 3th cigarette of the day perched between his tense lips. With his consent, she had taken their mutual credit card and rushed over to the huge mall of Slateport City where they were currently staying.
That had left Butch, cranky and bored out of his brain, to find something he could do today. He really felt like a failure at that moment and could use some affection, preferably from a soft, curvy woman. A sweet lady who would treat him with respect and pronounce his name right would be a welcome change from Cassidy, Butch daydreamed. And since it was too early in the day to start cruising the bars -which he wasn't very good at anyway- he threw on his long, black trench coat and dark sunglasses that they would sometimes use when they went undercover, and headed for Slateport City's red district.
And so Butch had been walking around for a while, looking unsuccessfully for a girl that he would feel an instant attraction to. He wasn't very experienced when it came to the delicate art of paid sex, but soon stopped worrying about that when he noticed how much of an effort the girls made to lure customers in. He did respect these women for their hard work and mental strength, especially since they had to put up with the creeps that passed through these alleys every day.
He couldn't help feeling like a bit of a creep himself, but quickly shook that thought off, because he cared about these girls' feelings. Most of these guys only cared about themselves. So he really didn't fit into that category, right? Just as he had convinced himself that he was not a selfish loser, his eyes fell on the hooker behind the next window.
This one was not like most of the girls he had seen so far. First of all, the lack of boobs and uncomfortable-looking way their legs were crossed indicated that this person was male. And not just any male, as Butch could tell from his lavender hair and familiar facial expressions. It was his arch-rival, James.
He was sitting timidly on a chair, dressed in a slutty schoolgirl outfit, complete with knee-high socks and a collar around his neck that was attached to a leash. He fumbled with the end of the leash while shooting nervous glances at the people passing him by.
Butch' heart paused for a second and his jaw dropped when he recognized his ridiculous-looking nemesis. He noticed James' glossy pink lips turning into a sort of frightened sneer when he saw Butch stopping and watching him. He made no attempt whatsoever to convince Butch to come inside. When the shocked Rocket agent came back to his senses, he felt an angry fire spread inside his belly. James, a fellow Team Rocket member, working as a hooker? The idea alone was seriously pissing Butch off. He pulled his black trench coat around him tighter and entered the brothel with long strides.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He growled, even before he got to the other boy. Almost simultaneously he heard a voice shouting "Cacnea, use pin missile!" Butch yelped in surprise when he felt the sharp needles hit his right arm. He stumbled and landed on the ground, his dark sunglasses falling off in the process. A moment of silence passed between them while they both recovered from the shock.
"Are you crazy?!" Butch yelled.
James stood up and got a glint of recognition in his eyes as he approached Butch slowly. "Botch? Is that you?"
The green-haired man bristled. "The name is Butch, you dumbass!" He looked at his shoulder and carefully pulled one of the pins out, hissing in pain.
"Why the hell did you attack me?" He mumbled under his breath.
"Why did you storm in like that? I thought you were some perverted freak. And why are you here in the first place?" James ranted, blood rushing to his cheeks at being seen like this by someone he knew. He unconsciously tried to cover himself a little more by pulling on his skirt.
"Why am I here? Why are you here, dressed like that?" When James stood, the little pleated skirt was even shorter than before. Despite his efforts, Butch could still see the pink panties he wore underneath from his position on the ground. He turned his head away embarrassedly and swiftly got back to his feet. When he received no answer from cross-dressing boy, he continued.
"You've got to be kidding me. You three were always a disgrace for Team Rocket but this is one step too far!"
He walked over to the window and closed the huge red curtains, leaving the room dark save for the dim sunlight that got through, scolding James all the while.
"I mean, don't you have any dignity left? I just can't believe…"
"It's not like I'm doing this for fun, Botch!" James interrupted. It became quiet between them as Butch waited for him to speak. James hugged himself, suddenly feeling very cold without the sunlight.
"Jessie said it'd only be for a little while, until she won the next contest. She's out training with Chimecho, so it won't be long before this is over."
Butch shook his head, unsure of what to say to that. He didn't know what was more pitiful, the fact that his own teammate had talked James into doing this and then left him by himself, or his naivety. In a way he was kind of glad he didn't do it out of his free will though.
"Have you had any customers yet?" The disgust was dripping from his voice. James mutely nodded.
"How many?"
"Just one. I've only started today."
The blue-haired boy walked back to his chair, revealing part of his gorgeous ass as the tiny skirt swaying from side to side. He sat down and faced Butch again, who felt weird for staring.
"What did he make you do?" He asked curiously.
"Just… he watched me… and made me touch him." James shuddered as he recalled this morning, but then snapped his head up angrily at Butch. "But what business is it of yours? Did you come here just to tell me how pathetic I am? Why don't you get lost."
He turned around and sulked, his hands wrapped around his own arms again. Cacnea scooted a little closer to him and gently hugged his leg in consolidation. Butch clenched his teeth.
"I don't want you to be doing this. You're not right for this kind of thing, you're too childish. And you're making our organization look bad." He added lamely. James looked back, one eyebrow arched.
"Well, Jessie said my boyish charms make me perfect for this kind of thing. Besides, aren't you making Team Rocket look bad too, wandering around in this neighborhood?"
Butch' face puffed up in agitation and a little bit of shame. "I'm only here because the Boss sent us on a secret mission!" he lied, "Ah whatever, there's no arguing with you. I said what I wanted to say, so just pull these needles out of my arm and I'll be out of here."
He approached James and waited until the other boy had obediently removed all the pins. James did what he was told because he didn't really want Butch to leave. Because that would mean he would have to get back to work.
"You're lucky, most of them were only stuck on your coat." He commented and dropped them in a bowl Cacnea held up. When he was done he held his hand open expectantly. "That'll be $100 please."
"Yeah right." Butch grinned sourly, not taking James seriously for one second, but then his expression changed. He realized that James was desperately in need of cash. This was a perfect opportunity to tease his rival, making himself feel better in the process. His heart started to beat a little faster while he wondered what reactions he could get out of this clueless guy.
"You know what, I think I want to make use of your services." James blinked slowly.
"You want to use our bathroom?"
Butch face-palmed. "See, this is exactly what I mean. You're too dumb for this." But before James could object he added "I meant that I want to pay you for sex." He grinned while James' mouth fell open in shock.
"W-what? But, I thought you liked… aren't you…"
"This isn't about my sexual orientation, this is about teaching you a lesson. So, how much is it?"
"I… Um, $300?" James answered unsurely.
Butch whipped out his wallet and dropped a few bills in James' still open hand.
"Here you go."
He walked to the back of the room and sat down on the big comfy bed. "Okay, bring it on." He said, like he was challenging James to a Pokémon battle. James looked wide-eyed at Butch from across the room, his hands fidgeting with the money. He swallowed nervously and asked "What… do you want?"
"Aren't you supposed to know what I want? Why don't you start by coming closer."
James first walked over to a safe in the wall where he put the cash away, looking back and forth at Butch to make sure he wouldn't see the secret code. When he was done, he remained in front of the wall, looking frozen, his hands grasping his leash tightly. What was he going to do?
"Hellooo? John was it? Can you hear me?" Butch asked sarcastically, obviously loving how flustered the other Rocket member had become.
James turned his head to glare at him. The smug expression on the other guy's face made him realize that this was just Butch' way to toy with him and he felt his fear lessen. Butch really didn't want anything other than to humiliate him… But the blue-haired whore decided he wasn't going to let that happen. Using all his natural flair, he turned around and strutted over to Butch, looking him boldly in the eyes.
"Yes, what can I do for you, sir? I could give you an excellent acupuncture treatment. I noticed you liked the sample we gave you." He motioned to Cacnea and smiled, trying to play along with the game. But Butch changed his strategy as well and suddenly stared him dead serious in the face.
"Are you trying to threaten me? That's no way to treat your customers." He grabbed the dangling end of the leash and slowly wrapped it around his hand, pulling James' face closer to his own.
"And I didn't come here for any of that acupuncture-crap either." He leisurely slid his free hand up James' shirt, rubbing his thumb over his chest, making James doubt his intentions after all. Cacnea tip-toed out of the room quietly, deciding not to do anything until his master specifically ordered him to attack. Internally James started to panic, but he tried to look unaffected.
"What did you have in mind?" He asked coolly.
"Why don't you do to me what you did to your previous customer?" Butch suggested. James froze again, but to the other's surprise he recovered quickly and diligently reached for Butch' pants. Flashes of that morning ran through his head again and his hands started to shake. He was halfway through unzipping him when Butch gently touched his face in fake affection, and he broke.
"No, I can't do this!" He pushed himself away from Butch, making the latter let go of his leash.
"Oh really? And why not?" asked Butch, looking triumphant.
"I don't want to. It's too weird! And you're only… mocking me…" James sat down on the far other side of the bed, looking at the floor. His face slightly contorted and he let out a small groan of frustration, before burying his face in his hands and starting to sob.
All signs of amusement immediately left Butch' face when he realized what he had to deal with now. He was all alone with his rival, who was dressed as a whore and was going through some kind of post-traumatic breakdown. Somehow he hadn't expected things to turn out this way.
"Uhm, look, it's okay. You can keep the money, as long as you promise to stop this little business, okay? You know the Boss would get pretty mad when he hears about this." Butch thought he had fixed that quite cleverly, but James disagreed.
"No, I don't want your money! I don't want to own you anything." He muttered in a cracked voice. He sat back up straight and wiped his tears and mascara-traces away.
"Just take it back and go, I'll be fine." He said meekly, going over to the safe.
To Butch this seemed to be a good moment to leave so James would have no choice but to accept his money, but he really didn't have anything better to do. He had given all his money to James and was sort of worried now. This guy really couldn't be trusted alone. The green-haired Rocket member sighed and walked after him.
"James, I'm telling you, I don't want it back. You can use it more than I can."
James began to dial the code to the safe, feeling anxious and cornered with Butch standing so close.
"No, I'm not taking your money. I didn't keep my end of the deal."
"But you steal stuff all the time!" Butch argued.
"That's different. You're someone I know, the next time we meet you could use it against me."
James turned around and held out the bills for Butch to take. Butch observed his face as well as he could in the weak lighting. James had black smears on his cheeks and a determined look in his eyes. It seemed like he had regained some confidence. The irresistible urge to wipe that look off his face took hold of Butch again, and he grabbed James' wrists to firmly push him against the wall, resuming their game.
"I don't think that's what you should worry about. The fact that you're whoring yourself out would be much better blackmail." He whispered into James' ear.
The cross-dressing boy gasped and struggled to get free, but Butch only tightened his grip. His lectures seemed to have the desired effect on James, so he kept going.
"Do you really think it'll be easier with the next guy that walks in? That you'll get used to it, or just won't care? Or are you trying to tell yourself you can't do it because you hate me?"
James felt the rage bubbling up inside him until he found the strength to push Butch off, dropping the money.
"Shut up! Shut the hell up! You're such a hypocrite! You came here looking for sex and now you're telling me I'M disgusting?" A few tears flowed down his cheeks again. He had felt disgusting the moment he started this plan, but he didn't need his arrogant rival to confirm it.
"You think you're so much better than me, but you're…"
Butch quickly grabbed him by the shoulders and pressed his lips against his own. James twitched and made a weird noise in the back of his throat, some tears falling from his wide open eyes. But Butch didn't back away, he kissed him further, waiting for some kind of response. He seemed to encourage James to take out his frustration on him this way, but his anger had already evaporated. James couldn't believe they were actually kissing.
He did try to hold back his enthusiasm in case the older boy would suddenly pull away and start laughing at him, but when the other Rocket member darted out his tongue to deepen the kiss, James couldn't stop an excited gasp from leaving his lips. Butch' cruel plan immediately retreated to the back of his mind and he let out a pleased sound in return, which was all James needed to reload his self-esteem.
They moved over to the bed, and James lied down on it, pulling Butch with him awkwardly. They went on for minutes and it seemed that Butch only got more gentle with him as they proceeded, as if he had forgotten it was his rival he was kissing so tenderly.
James wondered why being lusted after and ogled had made him feel so dirty, while this kiss made him feel special, almost loved. His cheeks felt hot when they parted and he realized he had been clinging on to Butch' shoulders the entire time. Butch unexpectedly brushed his blue hair out of his face. James bit his lip, not knowing what to do or say, and released Butch to wipe the dried tears off his face. After a moment of silence, he spoke up.
"Uhm… I still can't keep the money. I didn't give anything in return." The innocence that radiated from the younger boy renewed Butch' interest to mess with him.
"You just let me kiss you, didn't you?" He smirked down at him.
"That wasn't for money. You tricked me into it!" James protested. The smirk got wider.
"You didn't seem to mind that much. Besides, a real crook wouldn't care about keeping someone else's money."
James growled. "I am a real crook! And I'll keep your money to prove it!" The green-haired man laughed out loud and stood up from the bed.
"If you say so." He agreed and he picked up his sunglasses, getting ready to walk out. There was no reason to stay any longer. The tirade earlier had made it pretty clear that James wasn't interested in selling himself.
Suddenly James grabbed his arm and said "Wait." Butch looked back at him in disbelief. James' eager eyes told him all he needed to know.
"You can't be serious. You want more?" He asked harshly. James quickly let go of his arm and looked away embarrassedly, shaking his head and cursing himself for not expecting the rejection. "No..."
He started when he felt a rough hand caressing his bare thigh and those lips returning to press against his jaw line. "You're such an idiot." Butch whispered into his ear adoringly, before continuing where they had left off.
Two hours later James was lying on the bed by himself, breathing heavily. The only garments he still had on were one of his knee-high socks and his leash. He was nearly passed out and still couldn't believe they had done this. Him and Butch…
He felt a weight settle down beside him again and tiredly looked up.
"I locked the door." said the older boy, looking at him through his sunglasses. Seeing him completely naked with just those shades on made James smile. He should have thought about putting sunglasses on when he was sitting behind the window. He had forgotten their awesome power to make anyone unrecognizable. His eyelids felt really heavy and he relaxed completely when Butch muttered something.
"Promise you won't do this again. Sell yourself I mean."
"Why not?" James asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. His heart started to beat a little faster when he felt Butch move somewhat closer to him.
"It'll ruin Team Rocket's reputation." Butch said sarcastically into his ear, his voice even lower than usual.
James couldn't tell what he meant by that, and stopped thinking when he felt Butch' fingers stroke up his stomach and play with one of his nipples. It stiffened within seconds and James moaned reluctantly, his eyes flying open again from the stimulation to his sensitive skin.
"Promise me or we'll start all over again." Butch threatened teasingly. James whimpered and could do nothing but surrender.
"Alright, I promise! Please give me some rest." Butch chuckled victoriously and removed his hand. He pulled the covers up to James' chin and watched as exhaustion took over his body. The other boy watched him until he was fast asleep, but it didn't bother James at all.
He suddenly woke up again from the lights being turned on in the room and the sound of Jessie's voice.
"James? Have you been sleeping all this time?" He sat upright immediately and looked beside him, but Butch was nowhere in sight. Then he turned to the doorway where Jessie, Chimecho and Meowth were standing. The sunlight had ceased to stream through the curtains.
"We've been working our butts off all day and come back to find you asleep. Please tell me you at least made some money today."
James glared at her. "Of course I earned money! And just so you know, I'm not doing this again, ever." He braced himself for her reaction, but Jessie waved her hand dismissively and walked over to the safe.
"Yeah whatever. As long as we can buy some food for tonight it's fine by me."
James noticed the money wasn't on the floor anymore, and the safe was closed. He wouldn't have taken it back, would he? He saw Jessie opening it and turning back to him, smiling from ear to ear.
"Good job, James, we can definitely use this right now. I need to get my nails done for the next contest too."
James sighed in defeat and nodded, flopping back onto the bed. He listened to Meowth and Jessie bickering about what to do with the money for a while, but then shut them out of his head. He wondered what their next business would be. Maybe an acupuncture practice with Cacnea wasn't such a bad idea after all. He also wondered why his lips felt so tingly. Maybe Butch had kissed him goodbye while he was asleep. All he knew for sure was that it had been a very insightful day.