Curtis 'Christoph' Rogers had his life down in a perfect schedule. Wake up, eat a low-calorie breakfast in the car as he and his agent went to wherever his presence was required, smile and talk charmingly, sneak a few bites when he could in between moments, film, sing, record, appear on television, spend time with his Pokémon, shower and collapse into his bed. Sometimes not in that order, give or take a few things, but that was the gist of it.
Every few days, when he had some hours to himself, he logged onto his Xtransceiver. Always, unfailingly, Rosa would call him within a few hours. They'd talk, and if he had more time, he'd fly to Nimbassa on his Togekiss and wait for her in front of the Rondez-View Ferris Wheel. They'd go in, talk a bit more in there, and trade Pokémon before he left.
It was their thing.
He found his schedule and their thing broken when Valentine's Day kicked in.
The free time had been unexpected. Originally, the day had been booked. He and Yancy were originally supposed to escort Sinnoh's Champion Dawn Hewitt around Castelia, and then interview her about her participating in 'Dancing with the Stars' on a talk show. His entire day's plans had been cancelled when the young champion had been called back to Sinnoh due to a medical emergency regarding one of her Pokémon.
Now finding himself looking at an open book, Curtis had called Rosa, who had also conveniently been free, and they had both agreed to meet up at the amusement park.
They had both forgotten that it was Valentine's Day. The entire par was packed, and as for the Ferris wheel, there was an endless line.
Rosa shifted on her feet. "I don't think we'll be able to do much here," she said sheepishly.
Curtis wanted to hit himself for his stupidity. He shouldn't have forgotten about it being Valentine's Day – he and Yancy were supposed to have asked Dawn if there was any romance between her and her partner on the show to match the day's 'romantic' theme. "Sorry," he apologized.
The brunette, being the amazing person she was, waved it off. "It's fine," she said brightly. "Come on – let's go to Join Avenue instead. I promise it'll be fun," she added when she saw hesitation on his face.
"Alright," he said, mostly because she wanted to go somewhere with him. He liked Rosa. Maybe it was just a silly crush, but his attraction towards her was perfectly justified because she really was something special. She was naturally beautiful, and took care to keep herself looking her best at all times without overdoing it. Her personality was really something spectacular, simply grabbing the focus of anyone that knew her and becoming impossible to dislike. She had even starred in a few of his favourite films, as the captain in the Invaders series or the ninja in Full Metal Cop, doing her own stunts in the action movies. Not only that, but she also battled really well. She had just recently gotten to the bottom of White Treehollow, and was supposed to be a favourable candidate for Champion of Unova.
In short, Rosa was everything he had ever wanted in a girl and then some.
"My cousin runs it," she explained without him asking as she pulled him through the entrance of the outlet mall. There were still quite a few people in there – mostly focused around the flower shop and café – but it was considerably less crowded than the amusement park. "He's done really well – the owner's thinking of giving him another branch to manage as well. Oh, hey, Amando!"
Curtis looked over to where she was waving. An older man dressed in a breeder's apron waved back from behind a counter in a small antique gallery. "Sup, Rosa?"
Rosa turned back to him and flashed a smile. "Hanging with a friend," she replied cheerfully.
"Ah," the guy nodded. "In that case, come back again when you're free. I've got this box from Johto that you might be interested in. I can hang onto it for you, if you'd like, as long as you need."
"Thanks, Amando," she said affectionately. "You're a pecha berry."
They walked past his stall and down the large corridor, Rosa oohing at merchandise displayed on stalls and exchanging a few words with every one of the staff. "Do you come here a lot?" he asked after the café owner secretly slipped them a few extra donuts, free of charge.
She smiled guiltily, the powdered sugar dusted around her mouth. "Kind of," she said defensively after she finished chewing. "I mean, Nate's not much of a shopper and someone needs to make sure that people here are selling good stuff, and we – my Pokémon and I – earned a lot of money so . . . ."
Sure, she was beautiful and charming and spectacular, but right now, Rosa was absolutely adorable. Pure, unadulterated, one hundred percent adorable in one Rosa-shaped container. "Any special places you want to recommend in particular?" Curtis asked her, offering a napkin for her to use.
She took it and wiped off the sugar. The guilt dropped off her face as thoughtfulness took over. "Well, I hate to play favourites, but . . ."
They ended up heading to a flower shop near the middle of the stretch mall. A roughneck ran the place, and his shaved head and spiked leather jacket with chains made Curtis wonder if he was in danger, but even the tough-looking man's eyes softened when Rosa came skipping in with a cheerful "hi Aleron!"
He saw why the roughneck was a favourite. Instead of slipping her a few extra berries like the café owner had done, he simply snatched off a bag of one dozen berries off the shelves and handed it to her, right in front of every other paying customer. Aleron did, however, jokingly say that it was a bribe. "Put a good word in for the boss man, yeah?"
"You got it," laughing, Rosa tugged Curtis out. She offered him one of her yache berries. He wasn't a fan of sour or dry fruit, but he took it anyways. "Oh, he shouldn't have – these are expensive ones."
"But those should come in handy, right?" he asked, trying to take a bite out of the berry. It proved to be very difficult due to the extremely hard shell surrounding it. He gave up after he nearly chipped his tooth. His manager may have been okay with him running off to see Rosa every spare moment he had, but she would have thrown a fit if he did something to ruin his image. "You like grass and dragon types."
Rosa smiled down at the fruit. "Aleron's always so thoughtful," she said as she stashed the bag of berries away after taking one out for herself. "Do you need help with that?"
Her Swanna, when brought out, had to be bribed with a candy from a nearby vendor before it used its air slash and ice beam on the two berries. "Cygnus threw in the ice beam as a bonus," Rosa said after she recalled the Pokémon. "She knows it tastes better chilled."
He took a bite, and after the initial chilling feeling sinking into his teeth, he found that she was right. It did taste better chilled, like a fruity ice pop.
"You're not planning on fattening me up and eating me, are you?" he asked jokingly when she offered him another berry.
She squeezed his arm affectionately. "You're too thin," she replied, equally joking. "You need more meat before you consider getting eaten."
"I'll keep that in mind." Of course, his manager would probably have a heart attack if he got 'more meat' on his bones, but she didn't have to know what he was promising Rosa.
"Mm-hm. Oh, hey! Jannis!" Rosa turned to him again. "Come on," she pulled at his arm. "Let's go enter the raffle – she's going to draw numbers in ten minutes!"
He let himself get dragged along, smiling all the while.
"I still can't believe you won a rare candy," she huffed when it was nearly time for him to go. Sometimes he felt like Cinderella, restricted from enjoying the awesome time he was supposed to be having by a limit. "The best thing I've ever gotten from Jannis is an ultra ball, and I've entered every time I came here."
"Do you want it?" he offered.
Rosa shook her head. "I'm just joking," she grinned. "You won it – you should keep it."
It wasn't like he needed it particularly, and serious trainers like her would probably need it more, but Rosa could get extremely stubborn when it came down to something she existed on. He slipped it into his pocket. "Hey Rosa," he began. "I've got to go now," her face fell, "but before I do, I caught a Shellos while I was in the Sinnoh region. Do you want to trade?"
"A Shellos?"
Rosa's blank look told him that she didn't know what the species were. "It's a water type native to Sinnoh," he explained. "The cool thing about them is that their appearance and colour all depends on which side of the Coronet mountain range they live in."
She clapped her hands together, eyes widening in recognition. "I heard of a Pokémon like that," she said. "But I thought that Hugh was joking when he told me about them."
"Unless he was talking about some other species, he was telling the truth," Curtis shrugged. "Shay was caught on the eastern side of the Sinnoh region, so she's blue. Do you mind?"
"No. Oh, but I have to get a Pokémon to trade for your Shellos. Hang on, I'll be right back."
Leaving her bag with him, she dashed into the office, running out three minutes later. A bit longer than the usual time it took to access the PC system, but maybe she had been considering just what Pokémon to trade him.
Her trades were always interesting. Rosa used to reveal just what Pokémon she would trade him until she decided to surprise him. After that, he'd just grown used to looking forward to seeing what she had sent him. A few interesting trades had been an Eevee holding a thunderstone, a Milotic and a Chinchou. The last two had been special because she told him that she'd caught them while practicing her fishing. "You were right," she had admitted back then. "Fishing's really fun."
Now, Rosa offered him a luxury ball. "Trade?"
He nodded. "Trade."
The black ball with golden stripes was given to him in exchange for the net ball holding the Shellos. "I've got to go too," Rosa said before he could release the Pokémon she had traded him. "But I'll call you, so see you around, Curtis!"
He waved. "I'll hold you to that promise."
"Don't worry, I'll call," she laughed. "Happy Valentine's Day!"
When she was gone – and Jannis was laughing at the 'couple' – Curtis released the Pokémon inside the luxury ball. He was a bit taken aback to find a floating pink figure shaped like a fish – a Luvdisc.
The pink fish nudged at him, offering him a small box. He took it, and opened the box to find a heart-shaped chocolate – a sweet heart.
"It's nice to meet you," he told the Luvdisc. It purred at him. Couples passing by smiled and pointed and it – Elizabeth, according to the information he was reading from the Poké ball – cooed.
"Think she knew what you guys symbolize when she traded you?" he asked, showing her the sweet heart.
The purr he received made Curtis hopeful.
"Nice to see you guys again," Dawn Hewitt, often called the 'Other Sinnoh Champion', leaned back in her seat with a relaxed grin, finally here to be interviewed after the initial delay a week before. "When was the last time I saw you two?"
"Two months ago at the Resort Area," Nancy answered. Yancy was a sweet, quiet girl who only showed her friendly side to those close to her, but as Nancy she was considerably braver and bubbly. Just like how as Christoph, he acted a lot more suave.
"Has it really been only two months?" the older girl tipped her head quizzically. "Feels like it's been a lot longer."
"Must be your age getting to you," he joked. "Happy late eighteenth birthday, by the way."
Dawn tossed a throw cushion at him, missing on purpose. The audience member who caught it swore that he would treasure it forever because the Sinnoh Champion had touched it. "Hey, I see you have a new Pokémon," she noted when the laughter died out. "A Luvdisc?"
"Yeah," he grinned. "A really special friend traded her to me."
In Aspertia City, Rosa smiled when the idol fondly recalled his 'really special friend'.
I blame delcatty546 for getting me hooked onto this pairing. It's all her fault. She's guilty. And so you should punish her by reading her stories. Happy Valentine's Day!