On Pain and Misery

Ding, dong!

I winced, lowering the newspaper in my hands to the tabletop. I knew what would come after that first ring, and I braced myself with my eyes squeezed shut. Ding—ding—ding—ding—ding—ding—

Well, I'd have to face him eventually. It was either that or listen to the incessant dinging of the doorbell. So I pushed myself out of the dining room chair and sauntered over to the front door, which creaked terribly when I opened it. The trilling of the doorbell almost immediately stopped, though not soon enough to avoid giving me a headache.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop that? You're not a child. You're not five. There's absolutely no reason why you should press a doorbell that many times," I complained to the person standing on my porch. He grinned guiltily, but not enough to indicate that he'd ever stop being annoying. He'd be middle-aged and still act like a kid.

But no matter how much I complained and how much he annoyed me… well, I had a soft spot for him.

"Sorry," Nate said, but I knew he didn't mean it. "Get dressed. We're going out."

I glanced down at myself, clad in my casual weekend clothes of Dockers and a button-up shirt, and frowned. "I am dressed."

"I just wanted to make that joke at least once because you're always wearing fancy suits and stuff," Nate continued, and he slapped my arm in that violent sort of way that guys usually did. I never hopped on that bandwagon. "Considering this is the most casual you'll probably ever be, I guess it works. Now come on, we have to go. Park opens at ten."

Even as Nate turned and bounded down the steps to my yard, I remained where I was in the doorway. It was only as Nate glanced back that I took a single step out. "The what opens at ten?"

"The park. Nimbasa Amusement Park." He shot me an indignant sort of look, as though he was offended that I needed clarification. "Look, I got two free tickets that expire tomorrow, but I already have plans tomorrow. So, therefore, we need to go today. Go get your shoes on and let's go, you Slugma."

Ah, amusement parks. The bane of my existence. Crowded, smelly, noisy, and confined areas with a plethora of metal deathtraps. Sure, they were all physically sound—safe so long as the restraints were secured and simply because physics said so. But there was something about rides like roller coasters that just… hit me the wrong way.

I could appreciate the aesthetic: the amazing ways they twisted metal into beautiful and complex creations for enjoyment. Beyond that base of admiration I felt nothing but hatred.

And I couldn't exactly explain why I hated them so much. I didn't mind flying—in fact, I had been on a Pokémon whose speed exceeded the maximum velocity of all of the roller coasters I had ever ridden. Even roller coasters without loops that were relatively gentle made me uneasy. Hell, thinking of them made me uneasy.

Ferris wheels I could do. Everything else? Not so much.

"Ah, I don't know, Nate." I smiled at him to soften the blow, but his face indicated that his heart broke. "It's not that I don't want to go, but it seems like you would be wasting your ticket on me. I'm not really a theme park kind of guy, you see, and…" When his eyes only became wider and sadder, I trailed off. Damn it. "I know, why don't you ask Lyra? You've been with her before."

Nate shook his head. "She's away for a whole week for some competition. She can't come."

I would suggest that he ask May, but she was home visiting her parents.

"You have other friends who I'm sure would love to go, right?" I asked, and Nate shook his head. Lies. He had more friends than I did. That wasn't saying much, but it was saying something nonetheless. "Nate, come on. Surely there's someone else you could ask other than me. I'd be no fun."

But he just stared at me with those big eyes, and I sighed. I knew he wasn't really that torn up about it and was just trying to mess with me. Despite that, I couldn't stop myself from nodding. Nate got me again. Sometimes I really hated him.

"You won't regret it!" he cried with a smile, and I shook my head and grabbed my shoes from the entryway.

I should've lied and said I already had plans for today.

But it was too late. We took to the skies and made the journey to Nimbasa. I'd been to the city before, once to see a basketball game at the request of May, and once to try the battle subway—Nate was, apparently, an expert. The city was busy and loud, but it was charming enough to make up for its faults. It reminded me a bit of Rustboro: a bit of home.

The sight of the Nimbasa Amusement Park, however, made my stomach churn. It rose from behind a wall of trees like the sun, blinding and shining. But it was the screams that came with it that was most jarring—screams of joy mixed entirely with fear. How could something be so frightening but so damn enjoyable?

For me, I didn't enjoy it enough to mask the fear.

"Stevie, your hands are shaking," Nate pointed out as we landed and approached the turnstile gate. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and avoided his gaze. "Trembling with excitement, are you? I never pictured you as someone so stereotypical."

"That's right," I sighed, slumping through the turnstile behind Nate.

"What first?" Nate stopped, glanced back at me, and smirked. "The Ferris Wheel?"

Ah… who knew that Nate would want to start out slow? Maybe he didn't really like high-intensity rides either. Maybe this would all be okay, just an easy-going day, simple and clean and without queasy stomachs.

When I nodded, though, Nate burst out laughing and slapped me on the shoulder. "I didn't know you felt that way about me. May'll be upset," he snorted. I stared at him for a moment, and Nate laughed once more. "It's a couples-only ride. I mean, we could go. Nothing wrong with that. I'm not against it… but I do think May and Lyra would be bothered."

Obviously there was a catch. Damn him…

Nate missed my glare, though, since he turned and waved for me to follow him. "Come on, there's a scrambler up here."

"Oh, no, I don't think—"

But he didn't hear my protests. He hurried ahead, leaving me behind to contemplate my place in this world. If I abandoned him here, would that ruin my chances of success in the next life, regardless of whether there was one or not? Would karma be so cruel? More importantly, if I didn't get on that ride, would he find some way to make me completely miserable?

Yes. Yes, he would.

Nausea and other unpleasant consequences… or Nate in a bad mood?

I squeezed myself onto a seat beside Nate on the ride, gripping the bar in front of me so tightly that my knuckles turned white. And then I shut my eyes and gritted my teeth. If Nate noticed, he didn't say anything, which made me think he didn't notice at all.

But when the ride started, I found myself pressed up against the edge of the seat being pinned by Nate. And he loved every second of it.

Honestly, this wasn't even the worst ride. But when I got off, I pressed a hand to my forehead as a wave of dizziness passed through me.

"You don't look so hot. Everything all right?"

Nate leaned in front of me but continued walking, and I hastily waved him off. "I'm fine. It usually takes me a ride or two to get used to the feeling."

He stood up straight again, but he was frowning when I glanced over at him. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," I assured him with a smile. Who was I to rain on his parade? I didn't want to deal with the mess afterwards.

Yet contrary to my lie, I didn't get used to it. Ride after ride, I found myself closer to sickness and not any closer to being done. With the one assurance I gave Nate, he seemed content—happy to go on all of these rides with me and oblivious to the torture to which he made me succumb. I wondered what it was like to live in such perfect ignorance of the world and people around him.

Faster and faster we went, like a merry-go-round without an end. But it wasn't until we stood outside of the gym—which, as I understood it, served as the park's main attraction: the steel rollercoaster with top speeds reaching 100 kilometers per hour—that I felt my knees buckle.

I couldn't get on that thing…

"I wanted to save the best for last," Nate explained outside the queue entrance. "This roller coaster is famous—perhaps more so than the Ferris Wheel, but people only come here for that because it's romantic. When I took Lyra on this, she screamed so high that I swear the windows in the place broke."

"O-oh." I tried to smile, but I knew it came off as a grimace, and an ugly one at that.

"Hey, Stevie, thanks for coming with me today. I know you said you're not an amusement park guy, but I've had a lot of fun. More fun than I expected from a guy who collects rocks and wears Dockers for casual clothes," Nate jeered with narrowed eyes, but then he lightened up and smiled again.

Did lying make me a good friend? Or did it just make me a coward who was afraid of being scared?

"Nate—"

"But," he continued with his index finger raised deductively, "as fun as this was, I'm gonna go by myself on this one."

Wait, what? How did I just get out of riding this hell-bound death trap without even doing anything? Had I done something wrong? Did I piss him off after all? By doing what, though? Nate wasn't the type to get annoyed and not say anything about it—if there was one thing Nate did and did well, it was speaking his mind.

"Why?"

Nate grinned, that sly grin that he wore so well, and gave me a thumbs up. "Because you're scared of fast rides, of course. Why would I make you go on something that scared you so much? In case you haven't noticed, you're still shaking. You've been shaking since the moment you got in the park."

"You knew?"

"For future reference, I would not recommend lying to someone like me who loves the very thing you fear. Especially not to someone like me," he added in hushed tones. "When I asked if you were okay, I meant that. Your assurance that everything was hunky-dory may have been well-intended, but I took it to heart. Go big or go home, you know? And the more intense rides we went on, the more you looked like you'd puke. It was enough to confirm for me what I suspected since the beginning, anyway, despite your lie."

Ah… of course the best way to confirm that someone was terrified of fast rides was to send him on a dozen of them to see his reaction…

Except I was the one in the wrong here. I couldn't blame Nate—he was right (again, not that I kept track of the frequency). I lied, and I perpetuated the lie by allowing him to drag me on all of the rides that made me uncomfortable. If I continued lying, how else was he supposed to know that I hated every second of it?

So I bowed my head to the friend who wouldn't let anything slip past him. "Sorry."

He put a hand on my lowered head and ruffled my hair, reminiscent of my dad's old tactics almost two decades ago. "Don't bow to me, old man. You'll throw your back out," Nate snapped, but when I looked up at him, I found that his cheeks had gone pink. "I know you were only trying to help. That was nice of you."

I nodded, then gestured to the ride to bring his attention back to it. "Well, go ahead and enjoy that without me. I'll be over here… trying to calm down my nerves—and stomach. And head. Everything's spinning."

I began to walk away, and I made it halfway to the bench when I heard Nate shout my name. He was still standing in front of the queue, probably waiting to make sure I didn't pass out before I made it to the bench.

"The Ferris Wheel!" he shouted with his hands cupped around his mouth. My eyebrows furrowed, and I shook my head. "We'll go on the Ferris Wheel after this! I promise!"

"Uh, that's—"

But he didn't hang around for my response. He just smiled and waved, then joined the line to get on the roller coaster.

I took a seat with an exasperated sigh. Nate could make pretty much anything more exciting than it ought to be, not always in a good way. But I knew now that he had actually been looking out for me in his own 'Nate' kind of way, and to think otherwise was an insult to him as my friend.

Still… I didn't want to get on the Ferris Wheel with him.

But if I had to ride the Ferris Wheel with anyone but May, maybe a best friend wasn't a bad second choice.

Author's Note: Request made by thedogzlife on tumblr. Just a short little side story that took me much longer than it should've to write, considering the length.

Regardless, I hope it was enjoyable! Until next time!