And here's that BurningLeaf I was telling you about! I should inform you, I have my own personalities for the player characters written out for my reference in all of my fics, and that includes Red. The quick sum-ups are that Leaf does all of the talking for her and Red and is super competitive with a soft interior, and Red is basically the calmer side of Leaf. Of course, I have many more details than that, but why should I bore you when you probably want to get to the story already?
When all else fails, Leaf found it helpful to repeat herself a hundred times. "I told you, I don't need any help. I can do this on my own," she grumbled to her best friend, lugging her bundle of Christmas lights outside while he followed close behind. Both of them were clad in winter gear, due to the already freezing temperatures. Although she had already gone over this fact a few times, she still felt his lingering gaze on her back as though he didn't believe her. She knew him well enough that she knew what he was thinking just based on the way he was looking at her. He also knew her well enough that he had a reason to not believe that she could do this without major injury- her klutziness was not new to him. Even so, it would have been better if he took her word for once without his challenging gaze burning through her.
With a puff of air, she dropped the lights into the two inches of snow that had already accumulated the night before along with the snow gently falling now. She was used to putting her lights up before it started snowing, but she got a little caught up with other obligations- specifically, making sure Red actually came down from Mount Silver. While she respected that he liked training in solitude, she felt the need to force him to check in with her in Pallet Town at least once a month. And, of course, she had made him come down for the holiday season, no matter how far off it was at this point. She didn't feel like being stuck with Blue the whole month like last year. His "smell ya later" jokes had gotten old way before they were all trainers, yet he still insisted on parting with the saying.
Feet snug and dry in her snow boots, Leaf first hooked the reel of lights to the edge of the ladder before starting her ascent, doing her best to ignore Red's eyes boring into her back. For some reason, it made her feel uneasy, as though she was sure he was waiting for her to say something. She quickly shook the thought out of her mind, focusing on the task at hand. She'd done this so many times before on her own, and she knew that she didn't need any help, no matter what Red implied. Heck, she'd even had to fend off Blue's help on multiple occasions when he was trying to prove yet again that he was stronger than her. (Spoiler: he wasn't.)
Her ladder having been set up before she came out with the lights, there was now a fine layer of fresh snow on the steps, but she could live with that. Brushing the snow off with a gloved hand, she climbed a couple of steps and tested her reach to see if she could touch the hooks for the lights she kept up year-round. She then began unwinding the colorful lights and hooking them to the roof, muttering to herself all the while as Red kept his eyes trained on her. Once she had done all that she could reach, she stepped back down the ladder and dragged it a couple of feet before forcing it down into the snow and climbing back up. The process repeated a few times, snow falling lightly around her and Red after a few minutes.
Hanging the lights only took a grand total of about thirty minutes, but Leaf was still shivering underneath her heavy winter coat once she finished. It was a curse to feel cold really easily, even in the middle of the summer. Her foot shifted a fraction of an inch due to her shivering and the slippery wetness of her boots. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt herself begin to fall, pitching backwards off of the ladder, heading a few feet down, straight for the snow-
She never fell onto the snow, which had actually happened the year before. When she looked up, instead of the sky and snow she saw Red looking down at her, slight concern etched in his face. Since when had he become strong enough to hold her like this? He used to be so scrawny when they were younger...
Finally she collected her wits with a deep breath. "Thanks for that," she said cheerfully, placing a hand on his chest and gently pushing herself out of his arms. "I'm good now."
The expression on his face seemed to suggest that he didn't believe her, even as she started back up the ladder, being careful to hold on tight while hanging the last section that had come undone when she had fallen. "See? That wasn't that hard. I didn't need any help, just like I told you!" Her statement was punctuated by her slipping once more, thanks to her natural klutziness. This time, however, she fell into Red, their lips colliding in a forced kiss. Both sets of eyes widened, and Leaf was quick to pull away, cheeks burning enough to warm her entire body. She was absolutely certain that this was going to ruin their friendship. It didn't matter that the closer they grew, the more she had wanted to be with him as more than a friend. She was sure he didn't feel the same way. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry-"
She was cut off, surprised by another soft kiss. This time, she returned the kiss for mere seconds before pulling away and shooting him a teasing glance. Gosh, that was great, but she still had some unfinished business to attend to. "We still have to plug the lights in, you know," she commented, walking away while still holding one of his hands. He didn't protest to being dragged along.
Picking up the ends of the plug, she bowed deeply, holding them out to him. "Would you care to do the honors, kind sir?" Tilting her head upward to see his reaction, she took note of the smile showing in his eyes, though his lips barely twitched. He took the plug from her, connecting the ends as they watched the colors light up the already bright midday. "Amazing. This calls for celebration."
This time, she was the one who kissed him, catching him off-guard for once in her life. They melted into each other, certain that the other felt exactly the same as they did. And really, it was then that Leaf decided that having a little help wasn't such a bad thing.
More shipping here! I liked this one, and so did Writer's Guild, so I must've done something right XD I hope you all enjoyed it as well, even though there wasn't a whole lot of dialogue (blame it on Red). The next chapter brings us back to the mangaverse with some platonic Lucky! Oh, that one was so much fun to write... *cackles evilly*
Thank you to Jaspboy for following and favoriting, Ethhar for following, FluffyCanaries for following, and everyone else for reading!
