I sat on my bed sorting through all of my old Pokémon cards as N lay next to me petting my Herdier with a bored expression on his face. I felt a bit guilty, just having him stroke Lyla while I practically ignored him to organize my collection.

After I'd finished with the Pokémon I went on to the Energies, which didn't take too long seeing as most of them were already in the right order. After that I started with the Trainer Cards, and N suddenly sat up, letting out a little scowl of disgust.

I jumped a bit, not realizing he'd actually been paying attention to what I was doing. "Wh-what is it?" I asked kind of shakily.

He pointed to the card in my hand. I looked down at it, letting out a little "Ohhh" of realization. The card in my hand was my Master Ball card. And N hated Pokéballs.

He sighed. "I really do despise those things, you know."

I sighed as well and lay down on my bed with an exaggerated roll of my eyes, dropping the remainder of my trainer cards and letting them scatter across the mattress. "They're just cards." I muttered.

N shrugged in an annoying arrogant kind of way, and then shuddered. "It doesn't matter."

I didn't reply, simply picked up the rest of my cards and continued sorting through them while lying down. I realized I had my holographic Mismagius card mixed in with my Trainers, so I placed it on the top of my Pokémon pile.

I tried to organize the rest of my cards as quickly as possible, watching N cringe slightly out of the corner of my eye whenever any kind of Pokéball found its way into his sight.

When I was finally done, he let out a sigh of relief, and I rolled my eyes at him. "You really need to calm down. They're JUST cards."

N muttered something inaudible, lifting his legs onto the bed so he could rest his hands on his knees. He sighed again, and then turned towards me. "I just don't like them." He practically pouted, nodding towards my Herdier before continuing. "Do you really think they appreciate being stuck in a ball all day long?" He said the words in an accusing tone, which I thought was at least a bit unfair.

"Hey." I said sternly, sitting back up and crossing my arms. "Why are you blaming me?" I huffed. "I let my Pokémon out as much as possible; you know that! Besides, it's not like I'm the only one that uses Pokéballs!"

N averted his gaze but didn't say anything more on the subject.

I sighed. I didn't feel like arguing with him right now so I just gathered my newly organized Pokémon cards, placed them back in their box, and pushed them under my bed.

Lyla barked after a while longer, finally getting fed up with the fact that N had stopped petting her, and he chuckled, scratching her head a bit.

I laughed as well. She was such an attention hog. "Why do Pokémon like that, anyway?" I asked N, knowing he would have some sort of answer.

N was silent for a bit, as if thinking, but then simply shrugged. "We're not all that different."

"…What are you talking about?" I waited a moment or two before replying. I hated his weird riddle-answers.

N rolled his eyes, reached his hand over, and started scratching my head.

I opened my mouth to complain, but then closed it. It actually… felt kind of nice. I heard him laugh at me, but I just blinked. I was experiencing one of those moments where you're completely peaceful and the world practically melts away, leaving you with only thoughts, emotions, and a small sense of what was happening around you. I assumed that was how people who meditated or did yoga felt.

I closed my eyes.

I heard N laugh again. "Now do you understand?"

I nodded slowly, letting myself fall against him and lean on his shoulder as he continued scratching my head in a rhythmic pattern.

We sat like that for a while until N stopped scratching, and just let his hand lie on my head, slightly stroking my hair with his thumb. "I guess you're different…" he murmured.

"Huh?..." I muttered back, trying and failing to break out of the practical trance N had me in. "Whaddya mean?"

"I… don't mind having you around." He continued in a quiet, almost sad voice. "You're not like the rest…"

I yawned, tilting my head upwards so I could look at him. "Thank you?"

N chuckled. "I just mean that you're not like everyone else. And… I wouldn't mind keeping you around in the perfect world I envision."

"So what you're saying is…" I smiled sheepishly, nudging him a bit with my shoulder. "You like me~"

"I guess so." N said simply, removing his hand from my head and placing it back on his knee.

I sighed. He obviously didn't understand what I was getting at.

"…What's wrong?" N asked.

"Uhh it's nothing." I lied. I really didn't feel like explaining my taunt, and it's not like it really mattered all that much if he didn't get it, anyway.

N turned to stare at me with his creepy green eyes for a few moments before replying. "You're lying." He said the words in his annoying matter-of-factly tone, and I couldn't help but flinch a bit when he said that.

"Well, whatever. It didn't matter anyway." I muttered with a roll of my eyes after a minute or two. "I hate it when you do that, you know."

N blinked. "When I do what?"

"When you do that!" I exclaimed, lying back down and pointing at him. "You always talk in that same annoying voice. It's just so dull and boring and emotionless!"

"…Oh." N replied awkwardly, shifting his gaze to the floor.

I just rolled my eyes.

We sat in silence for the many awkward minutes that followed, and I couldn't help but feel a little bad for what'd I said to N. Not that I should. I was just being honest; speaking my mind, just like I always did. He should be used to that by now, right? But I still couldn't shake the little nagging feeling I had in the back of my mind that I should at least apologize.

Several more minutes passed, and I decided that I'd better say something. "Uhh hey N…" I said, trying to keep my voice pretty casual. "I'm sorry about-

N waved his hand to silence me and patted my Herdier on her head a few times before he threw his legs off of my bed and stood up. "It's fine… I should be going now, anyway…"

I opened my mouth to say something but he was out the door before I had a chance, leaving me and Lyla staring after him.