Rekindle
Summery: Gary isn't sure how to rekindle his friendship with Leaf.
Rated: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
AU: This story is unbeta-ed so please excuse any spelling or grammar errors.
He wondered when the air between had started to become so ambiguous. How their relationship had transitioned from best friends to strangers. And most importantly how he had never noticed, because if he did he damn well wouldn't have let it happened.
But what happened had happened and it too late for him to simply amble up to her with a smile and say 'Hey, it's been a while' and rekindle their friend ship. It was too late to grasp any remaining ends of their friendship and he had no idea how it turned out this way.
They had been the best of friends when they were younger, had refused to leave each others side at the end of each day too. Then, he supposed, life got in the way their interests split, new friends were made and that was the end of the best friend days. Eventually they had parted on separate ways for their journey and communication simply died off. Although he supposed that was largely his fault at that part. She had sent him messages, quite frequently too for someone on a journey if his memory served him correctly. But he never bothered to reply to most of them, like all his other messages; he had been too caught up with his journey and total independence. The messages eventually died off and that was that.
But now she was back in his life again - well a small part of it at least - as a co-worker.
Gary took a sly peek to his left under the guise of fixing his hair. Leaf, still completely oblivious of his glances, continued to rapidly shuffle a stack of files before her searching for a particular one. He quietly chuckled, looking for anything his Gramps private study was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Unless of course if you were Gramps himself; he was the only one who seemed to know where anything was in the room being the one who made the mess.
Suddenly green eyes glared up at him, he jumped. Damn, did he get caught looking at her? Better play it cool. Straightening out he ran a hand through his hair (he was originally pretending to fix his hair) and smirked at her. "What?"
Frowning she pulled herself to her full height and squared her shoulders as if preparing for a fight. The other corner of his smirking lips twitched up a fraction. "You laughed at me!"
Oh, so this was what it was about. He felt himself relax; she hadn't caught him creepily watching her, which was good. "No I didn't," he insisted, leaning back into his seat.
"Yes, yes you did," she snapped impatiently.
"Nope, I think you're imagining things Green."
"No, I heard you-"Leaf hissed before pausing mid-sentence, "Ugh! What am I doing? I should be finding that folder." Sending Gary one last reproachful glare she stalked further away from him and resumed her search.
Immediately he felt guilty, perhaps he was being too childish? He peered over at her form, waiting for her to look back at him. She didn't, instead she purposely kept her back to him blatantly ignoring him. He sighed turning back to the papers he was working on.
It was like this every time. Every conversation started ended up badly for him; it was just too damn hard to find something to say. It was awkward for him to be around her actually. Up until a few months ago, he had completely forgotten about her. It wasn't until Gramps was introducing the new recruits of the lab to him and he stood face to face with her that he remembered; she remembered him though and that made him feel even guiltier.
Finding that he couldn't concentrate on the words before him, the auburn set the papers back down and turned to watch her again.
His childhood friend was ruffling through the random piles of books and papers, still earnestly looking for some file. Perhaps he should help as an apology? But, he hadn't actually done anything wrong Leaf was the one who got all huffy like she always did when they were younger. Pursing his lips together in thought, he turned back to his work.
Only to look right back up again, should he?
It would be the nicer thing to do and it would put him a little higher in her books. He didn't seem to be on a very favorable side currently. He took another glance at her and made his decision.
"Hey Leaf?" he called out to her. She pointedly ignored him. He sighed, getting up from his seat he picked his way towards her; he should really ask Gramps to tidy up his study a bit he noted. "Leaf?" he called again keeping a comfortable distance from her, "What are you looking for? Maybe I've seen it."
The brunette paused. Turning to him she eyed him suspiciously, "I doubt you would know where it is."
He shrugged shoving his hands into the deep pockets of the lab coat he wore. "I spent quite some time in here and I am the grandson. I don't think he'll mind as much if I make a mess." He flashed a grin, a sly twinkle lighting his eyes. He hadn't missed how she carefully replaced everything she touched to its exact spot; careful not to mess up the room any further.
She bit her lip, turning over the pros and cons of his offer. Most likely, she contemplated; they were going to argue like always. The two hadn't had a civilized conversation outside of work speak. But he was making an honest offer and certainly looked like it too.
Finally she gave him a curt nod. "I'm looking for the file of 2003's Mass Migration of Butterfree. The professor had told me it was in here...somewhere."
Gary processed the information, his dark eyes scanning the room. "Where have you looked? Was the file used recently for anything?"
"I looked through the desk and table over there and over here so far. Your grandfather was looking through it a month ago I think." She quickly supplied, waving at the indicated areas.
He glanced down at her a brow quirking, "You haven't searched very much have you?"
"You try searching! I-I had no idea where to look and what to touch!" Leaf defended cheeks pinking. "Besides I wasn't at it for very long yet."
"A few hours are plenty of time. Are you sure you were looking or you just here for me," he teased smirking down at the brunette. "Well, it's a good thing I'm helping because we're going to scour this place top to bottom," Gary added quickly when he saw her mouth opening angrily for a retort. Brusquely, he brushed by her to a random stack of files.
"You might not know it but Gramps does organize the stuff in here. If my memory serves me correct and if he still used the same system, Kanto Pokemon stuff is in this corner, the Johto's by the bookshelf and everything else over there. Since it was used recent enough I suppose, the file shouldn't be too far down in the piles."
He immediately dug into a pile and Leaf followed suit after a pause.
For some time they dug through the piles in companionable silence.
She broke the silence first. He was shifting through some charts on the population of slowbros when he heard her speak. "What was that?" he asked lifting his head to peer over the papers.
She didn't look up but paused in her motions for a fraction of a second. "I asked what starter did you pick all those years ago."
Gary blinked mildly surprised at the question but answered it nonetheless. "Oh...there was only one left when I got to the lab," he replied smiling at the memory. "It was a Squirtle. Ash was so angry with me," he laughed at this, "But he got a strong Pikachu in the end. What did you get? You got yours before mine right? So Charmander or Bulbasaur?"
"A Bulbasaur because it was the sweetest thing ever when I choose it, it gave me a daisy when it first met me!" Leaf replied with a giggle, fingers fondly brushing against her pocket. It must've held her poke balls. "How was your journey? I heard you never walked for the whole of it."
Gary gave sheepish smile, "It was great, and I participated in the Indigo League and Silver conferences. Also I learned lots of things about myself; like how I needed an attitude check."
Leaf laughed at the last part, her laughter ringing pleasantly around the room. "You haven't answered my question you know. Did you ever walk or sleep outdoors in your journey?"
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice," the auburn admitted with a groan, "Everyone asks me this."
"You can't blame us. You were so spoiled and arrogant back then. I mean, you got a convertible and a cheer squad for your journey." She nudged him with her elbow. He hadn't realized how close she gotten.
"Yeah," he agreed feeling a little embarrassed at his past actions. "That was a little much wasn't it?"
"A little? More like a whole wailord!" she exclaimed, "Although, you were the envy of quite a bit of trainers back then, for a while anyway."
That was news to him, "Was I? I thought everyone saw me a jerk who was too good to walk for his journey of independence."
Leaf nodded, "Heard it firsthand myself from some trainers. And you admit it! You didn't walk for your journey!" She laughed in glee, as she rummaged through another pile.
"No. I did walk...for the last quarter of it in Kanto and all of Johto's. The convertible took too much of a beat up when going through forests. I didn't want to take the main roads, because there won't be Pokémon to catch. Also I had a harsh reality check form Melissa too." He corrected. Leaf laughed harder at the given reasons and he couldn't help joining in either.
So the two childhood friends sat amidst a pile of books laughing together and suddenly the prospect of rekindling their friendship didn't seem so bleak anymore.
"How was your journey?" Gary managed to gasp out between the last dying laughs.
"I wasn't as successful as you were, but it was really eventful for me as well. I learned many things about myself and decided a trainer's life, although exciting, wasn't for me."
Gary nodded in understanding. It had been the same for him; during his journey through Johto he discovered his desire to learn more about Pokémon and their habitats; thus, his choice of following Gramps footsteps.
They returned to the search in a contemplative silence.
Gary shuffled through a stack of files murmuring the labels aloud quietly, "Mating habits of Weedles, Influx of Squirtles, Territorial Pokémon, Migration of Butterfree of 2003, Oddish Evolution Line, Data for- Wait a minute!" Tugging out the manila folder labeled with the Butterfrees he turned excitedly to Leaf. "Hey Leaf I found it!"
The brunette happily accepted the folder, quickly leafing through it for a rudimentary check of the contents. "Thanks Gary!" She shot him a bright smile, which temporarily stunned him out of surprise.
"Oh, uh no problem Leaf," he replied returning a slight smile, "I'm happy to be of assistance."
Now that the file was found he felt a little lost. It was nice being able to talk to her like this, even for a short while. But the search was over so now what? Do they return to their work and speak only on work terms again? He had ruined many relationships in the past due to his arrogance and need for superiority. Many he had recovered and Gary genuinely wanted to reclaim the friendship he once had with Leaf.
But Leaf didn't leave for her work like he expected. Instead she sat the folder aside, crossed her legs, and continued the conversation. "You know I never thought you'll become a researcher of all things. When we were little all you could talk about was becoming the champion. I didn't think you would consider any other options much less a researcher like your grandfather."
"Yeah," he agreed, eagerly copying her actions, "I didn't think the younger I would be all that happy if I told him he'll be a researcher. I used to hate the job; hated being linked to Gramps every time an introduction was made. I wanted to be better, greater and more famous then Gramps. But I grew up in my journey and saw the big wide world. Speaking of journey's why didn't I ever see you during it?"
Leaf shifted uncomfortably, "You just didn't, I suppose or we kept on missing each other. I remembered seeing you once or twice, but I never approached you."
"Why?" Gary pressed.
"Because each time I saw you, you were in that car of yours surrounded by cheerleaders with an insufferable smirk on your face! You know that one that said 'I'm better then you pheasants! Bow down to me!' Who'd want to approach that out of the blue?" Leaf asked, incredulous that he would even ask, "Also we weren't exactly friends at the time were we?"
The guilt hit him tenfold. "Look I'm sorry-"
She interrupted him. "Oh, no need to apologize. It wasn't like I didn't play a part in the crumbling of our friendship back then," she gave an offhanded shrug at this part. Then a mischievous tinkle alighted in her eyes and she leaned forward in a conspiratorial manner, "Besides it wasn't like I couldn't have forced you to continue being chums."
He didn't know if he should laugh or grimace. Now that she mentioned it the Leaf he knew back then was pretty demanding when they played. She was also bit of a tom boy too, that wasn't afraid of playing rough with Ash and him. A corner of his lips twitched, "Yeah, you could've couldn't you? I guess we both changed quite a bit huh?"
Leaf agreed, "Mhm you were such a jerk back then. I was surprised when I came home to visit to find good comments coming out the adult's mouth about your visit. Imagine hearing the insufferable jerk you grew up with, possessing manners and actually using them!" She exclaimed in mock dramatics. He broke out into a guffaw.
"Hey I wasn't that bad!"
"Yes, yes you were!"
"Nooo."
"Yessss. Actually I think you still are you just hide it better!"
"If I was I wouldn't have only laughed earlier, I would've inserted some snide remark only ten-year old me could think of."
"So you do admit you were laughing at me!"
"Only if you admit you were here for me!" he joked in mid-laughter.
"Um, Gary? Leaf?" Tracey called weakly from the door. He had arrived moment before and couldn't seemed to find a way to cut into the two's joyous conversation and laughter. "Gary? Leaf?" he tried again, a little louder.
That seemed to catch the duo's attention. Gary immediately pulled on a straight face. Leaf covered her last laugh with a cough and quickly stood up, file in hand. "What is it Tracey?"
"Sorry to disturb your conversation," the two shared a look between them, "But I need some assistance with the starters. You know how they like to fight and I got to feed the Pokémon in the corrals. They get so impatient when food is not out on the dot."
"Sure," agreed Leaf carefully making her way through the mess, "I've just finished finding the file I need anyway."
Tracey gave her a strange look and glanced down at the said file. "But didn't you finish with the research on butterfree a month ago? Why were you looking for it? Didn't you have your own copy?"
Leaf froze a bright burning blush rising up to her cheeks. "I-I couldn't find it." She increased her steps to the doorway. "Come on the Pokémon need our attention."
But Tracey was unrelenting, "I just passed by your desk, the file was right on top of everything." Gary grinned.
By now Leaf was practically dashing the last few steps to the door, "I had to recheck something, okay! Come on the Pokémon needs us!" She pushed past Tracey and ran down the hall.
But she still heard Gary's snide remark floating out the doorway. "I knew you were here for me. Couldn't resist could you Leafy?"
It seems it wasn't only him that wanted to rekindle their friendship.
Word Count: 2,777 words
Posted: 1:02 am 4/1/2015
Edited/Re-posted: 12:45 am 10/1/2015
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