There was one thing he'd come to learn about his friend in the few months he'd known her; she had expensive tastes. Literally.
There they were, standing outside the shop, with her pressed up against the shop window and him staring in disbelief at what she had her eye on.
"That's...expensive," Clemont murmured with a frown. He took off his glasses and gave them a quick clean before putting them back on; nope, that was still a six digit number. Emma sighed, turning away from the window as she said, "I know. And I really like that stuff as well."
"How would you even get your hands on that sort of thing to know that?" he asked, the two of them walking away from the store. One of the girl's eyebrows arched as she smiled and asked, "You trying to say something about my salary?" He blushed and began stammering, "I didn't mean it like that I mean-" He stopped once Emma burst out laughing, telling him, "Alright calm down, I get what you were trying to say." Once she had calmed down, she then said, after a noticeable pause, "A client gave me a box a few months back. Said she didn't even like them, only got them to try them."
"I see." Silence fell between the two teens again as they walked down North Boulevard, until Emma asked, "Speaking of salary, you probably get a decent amount, seeing as how you're a gym leader, right?" Clemont laughed dryly, "Oh, you'd think." Her eyebrow arched again.
"So the league is pretty stingy?"
"Yeah." The blond sighed, "At least it's enough to get by, though we do save up our money. It's just a pain that we have to do that if we want something." Emma smiled as she said, "Well, at least Bonnie understands the situation, right? Most kids her age would want everything and be asking for it all."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said, a small smile on his face. They stopped in front of an alleyway, and she said, "Today was nice. Even if the park was a little crowded." Clemont chuckled in response, then muttered under his breath as his face turned red again, "Yeah and some people might've gotten the wrong impression about us." He then said, at a volume Emma could hear, though she may or may not have heard his little aside, "Here's hoping Mimi feels better soon."
"Yeah, but I'm sure she will be; it's just a fever," Emma replied.
"In that case, why not just take her to a Pokémon Center?" This made the girl roll her eyes and say, "It's not that serious. Give it a few days and she'll be racing around the bureau, as good as new." The boy smiled at this, saying, "If you say so. I'll see you then." He turned to leave only for Emma to call after him, "Actually, Essentia's pretty swamped the rest of the week, and so am I. I don't think we can hang out till sometime next week." He gave her an understanding look as he said, "Fair enough then. You do have a job to do." He looked to the sky; it was beginning to to turn a faint orange colour.
"I'd better hurry if I want to get Bonnie from Santalune City and home before it gets dark. See you next week then?" Only once Emma had returned the message did he turn to leave, this time uninterrupted, while she did likewise, disappearing into the dark alley.
The mostly empty fridge stared back at the boy as he removed a bottle of water from it before quickly closing the door. Clemont took a long swig from it before moving back to the couch, where his Heliolisk awaited, as well as his income calculations for the next month.
"We're gonna have to watch our budget next month," he sighed as he looked over the little notepad that he'd been using to take notes. Almost immediatly after, he let out a yawn. A quick glance at the time made him groan and drop his head; it was nearing 1 in the morning.
"I'm tempted to leave this until a more reasonable time," he muttered, tossing the notepad back onto the coffee table and slouching back. Heliolisk crawled over the back of the couch and disappeared behind it; the boy could hear his partner opening one of the kitchen cupboards, then a loud clattering sound. He sat up straight again in time to see the pokémon lumber over, carrying a large tin box. Clemont grimaced.
"Yeah," he sighed, taking the box off Heliolisk, who then crawled back onto the couch and curled up next to the boy, "we might have to dig into the savings." He opened it and sifted through the bags of coins to take out a small piece of paper, on which was the exact amount within the box. Several amounts had already been scribbled on the paper, only to be crossed out and replaced with a lower number each time the box had been opened. Only on the odd occasion had the number actually grown from the one before it, though never by much. With another sigh, he placed the paper scrap down next to the notepad and began removing some bags of money.
And maybe one more than he really needed.
One busy week later, the two friends had finally managed to meet up, this time at a small café on Estival Avenue. They settled into a booth in the back and ordered themselves some drinks. As they waited for the waitress to return, Emma leaned forward in her seat and rested her head in her hands as she asked, "So, what did you get up to this past week?"
"Same as usual; gym duties, the odd electrical job here and there in the neighbourhood for extra money, sorting out the finances for the next month," he replied, and with a slight gesture of his hand, prompted the girl to recall her week. She pursed her lips as she thought about it before saying, "Nothing really exciting. There were a few clients, but to be honest, they had small jobs." Then she added with a smile, "So same as usual." This made Clemont smile. They fell silent, though it wasn't long until the waitress reappeared with their drinks; a Shuca Berry smoothie for him and a bottle of water for her. They thanked her and as she left, Emma made to begin speaking when Clemont stopped her.
"Wait, before I forget," he said, reaching under the table to dig around inside his bag. His voice drifted up to then say, "Sorry for interrupting you." Emma smiled and responded, "It's fine. You got me curious now anyway." The boy re-emerged, his face turning a slight shade of pink; in his hand was a small box, which he held out to the girl, who was now as confused as she was curious.
"I uh, got this for you," he said, looking away from her and taking a sip of his smoothie. The gesture alone made Emma's smile return again. However when she opened the box, she gasped, and her smile grew wider.
"No way," she laughed, practically bouncing in her seat, "you got me that expensive chocolate I like?" Clemont's cheeks grew darker as he chuckled, "Yeah well, I wanted to get you a gift, since you said you liked them. I couldn't afford a proper box, but the store was doing those little cube boxes as a sort of summer deal." Emma had already unwrapped a piece of chocolate and popped it in her mouth, however this didn't stop her from saying with a slight chuckle, "That is the best deal ever."
"Glad you like it then," he said, smiling. He went to take another sip of his smoothie only to have one of the silver wrapped pieces shoved in his face.
"Here," his friend said, "As thanks." With a thanks of his own, he took the small square off her and placed it in his mouth, as she did likewise. A few seconds later, as Emma was about to open up her third piece of chocolate, Clemont then piped up, "I can see why you like this stuff." Emma chuckled.
"Does it justify the price tag?"
"Not even close." And this made Emma laugh.
Et voila~! A new ElectricDetectiveShipping fic by yours truly.
Not much to really say other than I'm proud of this. Especially since I managed to write it over the course of some days. Normally I can't do that, it has to be written on the same day. That and I do have a headcanon that the lemon siblings have financial troubles due to the Kalos league being stingy with gym leader salaries. Gotta be careful with their money.
So yeah. Thank you very kindly for reading. A review would be very awesome, of you don't mind. A fave would be too, of course.
I hope you enjoyed, if you ship or don't ship this pairing. Or even if I've now converted you. :D
Angel-chan x