Beside the Window

By xxkoffeexx

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Summary: When it is summer and two people are sitting through a long lecture. MortyxWhitney. Resistanceshipping.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

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A lazy breeze drifted through the open window and played with a certain pink-haired girl's locks. The girl herself didn't notice for her attention was on the swaying tree branches and the deep blue sky outside the window she was sitting beside. She listened to the sounds of Bird Pokémon, and the chatter of people down below, and sighed deeply, looking for all the world like she wanted to be outside too.

To her other side, Morty tried not to think about the summer heat rolling through the room and watched the speaker in the front lecture about the spirit and stamina of Gym Leaders. The Pokémon Association thought it was good to go through the basics again, just to brush up memories.

"Unlike Trainers, the Leaders must show everyone what the spirit of battling truly means. The objective is not just to win the battle, or to K.O. the opponent's Pokémon, but to demonstrate what it takes to get to such a level with ones Pokémon. Thus, when such ability…"

Every good Leader knew all this, he thought. It was just the matter of demonstrating all that they knew without appearing too arrogant or ruthless. And while this was all good, Morty preferred practicing with his Ghost Pokémon instead of sitting inside a lecture room, trying not to fall asleep as a result of the heat.

Speaking of sleeping, there were already quite a few people in the room who had escaped into dream land, judging by their drowsy eyes and slumped positions. A few seats away, a young dark-haired woman in a kimono (dressed more simple than the Kimono Girls) probably hadn't been awake since the beginning of the lecture. Next to her, Bugsy's violet head nodded several times to an unheard rhythm. A few rows away, even Falkner's normally straight back was relaxed and leaning a bit to his side, where an equally polite but wilting Janine sat.

Morty glanced at his companion by the window, expecting her to be long gone in her pink daydreams. To his pleasant surprise, Whitney was not dozing off but leaning on one palm, wide awake. From his position he could see her vibrant eyes blink, and he also blinked. She was lightly humming a tune under her breath, gazing pensively out the window. A slim hand rested atop her desk, tapping along with the unfamiliar melody.

He took in her white T-shirt and shorts, her customary outfit, and felt slightly envious in his dark clothes and warm scarf. Then he watched as a breeze made her pink bangs flutter, and she lazily lifted a hand to brush back the strands from her eyes.

A tiny sigh escaped her pale pink lips and she stopped humming to pay attention to the speaker, who was going on about capturing wild Pokémon in front of people. In her carelessness, she accidentally swept her pencil off the desk and it clattered lightly on the floor.

With clear reluctance she bent down to retrieve it, but Morty was faster.

His hand brushed her fingers as he picked up the pencil, making her start. Magenta eyes darted up to meet violet and they paused. Then he handed the item back to her; she took it and smiled shyly. "Thanks."

He smiled back and when they turned, he watched her out of the corner of his eye. She twirled the pencil for a moment, staring down at her blank notebook as if lost in thought. She drew something on the white paper, and when she finished, he saw a cute Clefairy wearing a large bow and a tutu.

Whitney smiled at it with an obvious sense of accomplishment. Then she glanced up and saw Morty staring at her drawing. She blushed faintly and tried to hide the Clefairy with her hand. Hiding a smile of his own, the blond took out his own notebook and began scribbling.

A minute later, Whitney was interrupted from her peaceful trance by a slip of paper bumping her elbow. She glanced at Morty, who returned her questioning look with an enigmatic grin, and she looked down at the paper. And had to quickly stifle a burst of laughter.

A rather sad and lopsided drawing of what seemed to be a Gastly wearing a formal bow tie greeted her. It looked like the Ghost Pokémon was on fire, and was riding a paper boat in the process.

She caught a thin handwriting that scrawled beside the drawing, "Is it cute?" The Goldenrod Leader blinked at it for a moment, then looked up and stared at him.

He seemed faintly amused, either by the poor drawing or her reaction. When he didn't do anything else, Whitney picked up her pen and hastily wrote on his paper. She silently placed it on his desk without looking at him, and stared anxiously out the window.

Morty read the bubbly handwriting with a growing smile. "Sorry, but it looks scary. I'll give you a passing score for effort. Did you dress up your Gastly by any chance?" He bent down to write a response, not noticing her sneak a peek over her arm.

She felt his hand brush her bare arm as he passed the paper back, and her heart thumped a little faster when she found his reply. "When I was bored, yes. But that was a long time ago, before I met you. Gastly wasn't so happy when he looked at the mirror. Perhaps you should teach me how to dress up my Pokémon. My sense of fashion seems to be lacking."

The blond wanted to take off his scarf. It was getting too warm, what with the lack of breeze and his correspondence with Whitney, which was a lot more interesting than the lecture. He was glad to be in the very last row of the room. It was much easier to pass notes undetected, not that anybody would have noticed through their drowsiness.

Too late he saw her try to slide the paper on his desk, only for it to slip down. They immediately grabbed for it, crumpling the paper and colliding hands in the process. He took it quickly, and she turned back in her seat before anybody could glance back at them.

"Of course I can teach you! But I wouldn't worry about being fashionable. As long as you're cute it's okay. My Pokémon are cute without dressing up, so I'm sure yours are too. By the way, aren't you hot in that scarf?" There was an erased question mark after 'hot.' Morty wondered what she meant by the cute statement, and decided not to think about it.

He wrote down firmly, "Yes, I feel very hot. I envy you sitting by the window and wearing light clothes. I just might change clothes when lecture's finished."

Whitney smiled when she read his note, giving him a quick glance. The speaker seemed to be wrapping things up, but she wished he could have gone on longer. Thinking rapidly, the pink-haired girl lowered her head to scrawl a response.

Morty adjusted his scarf so that it was more loose around his neck, and tried not to watch her. He was extremely warm now, and his forehead felt a bit stuffy under the headband. But crazily enough, he didn't mind suffering another hour under these conditions, not if it meant exchanging more notes with the bright, cute girl beside him.

Her arm lightly touched his as she reached over to drop the crinkled paper on his desk. He saw her avoid his gaze and look at the speaker, hands fiddling with her shorts hem as she chewed her lip nervously. The blond searched the paper for whatever was making her fidget.

"Then maybe I can treat you to some ice cream later. It'll be like a date."

Whitney wanted to jump out the window as she saw him read the paper slowly and carefully. He would probably politely reject her, or even laugh. She wasn't even sure what possessed her to write such a thing, but it might have had to do with the fact that she was developing a tiny crush on the Ecruteak Gym Leader. They never got a chance to hang out because of their respective duties, so it was nice spending time with him like this. That, and he was cute. And funny. And looking at her right now.

"Thank you for your time," the speaker suddenly said. "I'll see you all tomorrow morning." The room suddenly came to life as sleeping Gym Leaders blinked awake, and several people stretched gratefully, turning to chat with their neighbors.

Whitney was on her feet in an instant, throwing her notebook into her traveling bag and avoiding the blonde's pointed gaze. She was too embarrassed to even say goodbye. As she moved to hurry past him, he caught her wrist easily, stopping her.

"Where are you going?" His tone was mild and overwhelmingly curious. She did not look into his mauve eyes and tried to shrug helplessly, but he didn't release her.

"Gonna look around the city," she answered lamely. "I want to explore Kanto while I can."

He gave her a languid smile that seemed to make her heart beat faster. "I can give you a basic tour, Whitney. I came here a few times when I was younger." When she didn't say anything, he added gently, "And we can get some ice cream while we're at it. I know a good place to buy some."

She turned to stare at him, not realizing he was still holding her wrist. "You… you're serious? You're not busy or anything?"

Morty allowed a slight smile at her words. "Not unless you're busy."

Whitney blushed and looked down.

The room was slowly becoming quiet as most of its occupants were eager to leave and escape outside. A few stragglers, including Falkner and Janine, were slowly packing and conversing softly. Clair was at the door, speaking with Pryce and throwing invisible looks at the two oblivious people in the back of the room.

The growing smile on Whitney's face as she realized that he wanted to spend time with her was identical to the expression on his face. "Okay," she agreed, magenta eyes glowing prettily. "Shouldn't you change clothes first?"

He seemed amused again. "I was hoping you could lend me your fashion expertise." Whitney's eyes seemed to glow even brighter at this.

"Shopping? Clothes shopping?" She grinned happily and gushed, "I wanted to buy some new clothes for my Pokémon while I was here! Will you let me dress up your Pokémon too?"

Morty could tell this was going to end up very badly for his Pokémon, but he nodded agreeably. It was hard not to agree when she was sparkling and smiling straight at him. His Ghost Pokémon would understand once he explained it to them. Maybe.

"Let's go then, shall we?"

She nodded hard enough to shake her pigtails in her excitement, and was about to walk off, when his hand grasping her wrist pulled her back.

When she looked back in bewilderment, the blond stood up. His hand slid down to clasp her smaller hand, and he smiled at her.

"It's a date."

END

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(OMAKE)

"Okay," she agreed, magenta eyes glowing prettily. "Shouldn't you change clothes first?"

His own eyes seemed to take on an unidentifiable gleam. "I was hoping you could help me with that."

Whitney blanched.

(OMAKE END)

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A/N: Let me apologize for the omake. I was actually writing it quite innocently until I realized how suggestive and un-Morty-like it would have appeared. In my mind, they haven't progressed past the holding hands stage. Yet.

So much fluff and OOCness in my opinion. I didn't mean for this to be quite as long as it is, but as I typed away, it got a little bigger. Hopefully the pacing wasn't too weird. I just wanted them to walk out of the room holding hands, please don't blame me. If there's anything wrong with the hastily-written fic, please tell me.

Is there such thing as a retraining? Or conference? Or meeting? I totally took this idea from Ibuberu. Kanto and Johto are connected, so it makes sense that they would have joint meetings. Perhaps.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it.