Thank you all for the wonderful reviews last chapter And this oneshot is in no way related to the last one!
When she steals your favorite hat, let her keep it and sleep with it for a night
"Wow, Red, you're so strong!"
"Yeah, your Ivysaur is ahhh-mazing!"
"Maybe you can battle me sometime. You know, one on one."
The group of girls closed in on Red, some clutching onto his jacket to get her point across better. One, a blond in a floral dress, bent down and peered at his Ivysaur, awestruck. She reached a hand out and pinched one of its leaves experimentally, causing the pokemon to grumble in displeasure. A grin spread across her face. "Aww, he likes me!"
Red, with his hair looking even messier than usual, shook his head slightly. "Wait, I don't know-"
Another girl who'd previously been 'examining' the right side of his jacket took the opportunity to take a closer look at the electric mouse resting on his shoulder. Small, fuzzy, and overall adorable, Pikachu was hard to resist. Unfortunately, he also tended to be grumpy when it came to certain things.
The way these girls were fawning over his trainer just so happened to be one of those things.
Stupidly, the girl cooed and reached up to grab both of Pikachu's cheek sacks. "This one's the real cutie!"
Noticing the small sparks dancing along his pokemon's cheeks, Red quickly jerked Pikachu out of reach. "Um, sorry girls, but I gotta… I gotta-"
"We've gotta go shopping for Red's new supplies," a voice supplied helpfully. Red sighed in relief, noticing that his childhood friend Leaf had appeared at the doorway of the gym. After having met up with her coincidentally in Celadon, she'd accompanied him to watch his latest gym battle. Now, a couple hours later, a shiny new rainbow badge was pinned to his trainer card. However, the gym trainers all seemed to be ridiculously interested in discussing his battle with him. He'd never seen anything like it!
As one, the girls sighed sadly. Leaf forced a smile and motioned for Red, who darted to her side immediately after returning his ivysaur. The boy gave them a quiet goodbye over his shoulder as he fixed his rumpled clothes.
Suddenly, Leaf laughed. As much as she hadn't liked seeing a group of girls pawing all over him, the situation had been undeniably hilarious. She nudged him on the arm playfully. "Nice job with Erika. I knew you were getting strong, but I had no idea you were becoming a celebrity."
The poor boy looked decidedly flustered, maybe even a tad traumatized. "Girls are so weird."
She laughed again, but this time it was somewhat forced. Of course he wouldn't understand. He never did.
All Red cared about was pokemon, pokemon, pokemon. Girls didn't even seem to be on his radar. She held in a depressed sigh (Which probably would've sounded very similar to Red's other admirers'). "Come on, Casanova. You really could use a trip to the department store."
"Shopping?" he asked uncertainly.
"Y'know. It involves a store, lots of cool things to buy, and unfortunately, money." Leaf flashed him a scary grin and tugged him along by the elbow. Red paled as the looming Department store ahead caught his eye, but the soft spot he had for the brunette kept his objections temporarily at bay.
"Pika…" Pikachu grumbled, lowering his ears in dread. He and his trainer exchanged wary glances as they got ever closer to every sensible man's nightmare.
"Now, now, boys; You'd think you weren't even excited!" Leaf said, stopping before the grand set of doors. She turned to face them, looking saddened. Red sighed, opening his mouth to tell her very firmly that no, he had much better things to do than wander around in a shopping mall.
Leaf dropped her hand from his elbow and popped her bottom lip out in a cute little pout, leaving the poor boy frozen with his mouth wide open. Red's eye twitched. 'Be a man,' he chanted inwardly, but she let out a cute little breath of air and he knew he was done for.
"I guess it's okay… For just a little while," he found himself saying, against his will.
Some man.
"Oh, thanks, Red! I never see you anymore so this is really nice!" Leaf said, cheering considerably. She beamed up at him before lunging forward and giving him a quick hug. Red's brain briefly ceased its functions, but luckily she pulled away before he had a chance to react. "Come on!"
"Yay…" he mumbled unhappily, pausing briefly to stare after her.
"Pikachu!" an angry voice chimed in his ear. He felt a little shock jolt his body and he rubbed at his chest in pain.
"Ouch! Hey, we won't stay long. I'm serious, I'm just being a nice guy for a little while."
Four hours later…
Leaf leaned forward, a tiny smile on her face as she inspected a display of pokedolls. She ran her finger over a particularly adorable meowth one in appreciation. "Ooh, look at these. Aren't they cute?"
She glanced over to the edge of the section, where she'd left Red. He was slumped over in one of the uncomfortable mall chairs, his head resting precariously on his hands. Pikachu lay sprawled out in the chair next to him.
Red looked up at her blearily. He re-focused his gaze on the shiny floors before doing a double take at her. Suddenly, he seemed much more awake. "Oh. Are you ready?" He sounded hopeful.
Despite the fact that he hadn't exactly been an active participant in Leaf's shopping day (Especially after picking himself up a few spare potions and whatnot), she couldn't help but smile fondly at him. He was so effortlessly handsome, even in his current state. In fact, she sort of thought he looked even more attractive with his hat slightly askew and his jacket rumpled.
"Almost," Leaf said, somewhat wishfully. Their time together had been nice while it lasted, at least. She pointed towards the hat rack a few feet away. "I just wanted to see if I could find a new hat first, that's all."
After inspecting her current one, she had grimly decided that it needed to be replaced, and soon. She still thought it was rather adorable, of course, but the traveling of a trainer was not kind on flimsy white hats. Hers was still holding up and presentable, thankfully, but Leaf never could be too safe.
Her big doe-eyes raked the selection thoroughly before she finally picked up one and placed it on her head experimentally. She tugged it into the correct position before examining her new reflection in the nearby mirror. On her head was a wide brimmed sunhat with cute little bows on the side. She liked it, but the sickly green color reminded her distinctly of vomit. It was placed back on the hanger at once.
"What's wrong with that one?" Red asked, sounding more puzzled than annoyed. His dark brows were quirked cutely.
"The color looks like puke," Leaf announced, cheerfully trying on a beanie next.
Red rubbed his temples, warding away an oncoming headache. He lay back in his chair miserably and nudged Pikachu. The electric type started briefly, but the moment he saw where they were he sagged back into the cushion. "Chu…" he said sadly.
"You're telling me, Buddy."
Pikachu glared at Red evilly for a moment before turning his nose up in the other direction. Red gaped for a moment in disbelief before crossing his arms with a huff. Well, fine. Silent treatment it was, then.
After at least thirty more minutes of trying on hats and examining herself thoroughly in the mirror, Leaf picked up her last option, a cowboy hat. She put a finger on her chin and tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. She smiled in amusement. "Hey, I really look like a cute farm girl in this, don't you think? Especially if I got a pair of boots to go with it."
Red blinked. "But… You're not a farm girl," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Leaf shook her head and placed the hat back on the rack. She dusted her hands off and started towards Red. "Guess I won't get a hat today, then," she said, somewhat dejectedly.
"This one looks good to me," Red said uncertainly, indicating the white hat he'd been holding for her. He extended his hand awkwardly towards her so she could take it back.
"I like it, but I still need a new one," Leaf said. She took her old hat and started to put it back on her head, but her gaze paused on Red thoughtfully. His hat, the famous red one that he was so attached to it had given him his nickname, had always looked pretty good on him. "Hey. I like your hat."
Red blinked. "Uh… Thanks?"
His fingers began drifting towards his cap, a habit he often resorted to when nervous. Before Leaf could chicken out (And she knew she would if she waited any longer), she shoved her own hat in her bag and lunged upwards. Her hand beat Red's by seconds, and she latched onto the brim of his cap before yanking it back down to her level.
Red froze, shocked. He could only watch as Leaf erupted into a fit of anxious giggles and ran back over to the mirror. To his annoyance, she positioned the hat, his hat, over her long brown locks and posed before the glass.
Today, he had done many things because of her. He had allowed her to drag him around town, been forced to watch her play in this dreadful mall, and he'd even irritably given his opinion on a few of the hats she'd tried on.
But he was not, under any circumstances, allowing her to parade around in his favorite hat. It was his baby.
"Hey," he finally snapped, stomping towards her. He could hear Pikachu, who had been so grumpy throughout the entire ordeal, laughing in the background. He was actually laughing!
Red extended his arm to snatch his hat right back off her head, but she suddenly spun around to face him. Upon seeing her strangely warm cheeks and lively eyes, he suddenly forgot what he was so angry about. It took him a second, but he finally remembered. His hat!
Only, for some insane reason, a part of him actually liked seeing his hat on her. Red quickly decided that that part of him had been driven crazy by being in this female's haven for so long, because it just didn't make sense for him to like it. The hat was too large on her, so much so that the brim almost covered her eyes completely. It also made her hair puff out at odd angles, but the main point was that it was his hat and he wanted it back immediately!
Shaking himself out of his crazed thoughts, Red reached forwards to steal the hat back. Unfortunately, Leaf expertly grabbed it and put it behind her back. She smiled at him mischievously, and his stomach fluttered weirdly (Out of anger. It had to be anger).
"Aww, Red. You won't let me use it for just a little while?" Leaf begged. She tried to imitate her earlier pout, but the fact that she was laughing at him so hard kind of ruined it.
Red forced a glare. "No," he said stiffly. She burst out laughing again, so his arms swiveled around her back in an attempt to wrestle his hat from her.
Leaf struggled for a moment, but Red sensed that something was wrong when she stopped suddenly. He glanced down at her, only to be similarly frozen when he realized just how close they were. Their faces were inches apart, and if he was brave enough to meet her eyes he knew he could've counted every strand of color in them.
Thoroughly embarrassed at his actions, Red immediately loosened his grip and began to back away and apologize. However, he was stopped when her hands locked around his shoulders in a grip of steel. His eyebrows wrinkled in confusion and he started to ask what in the world she was doing, but his words were cut off by a warm pressure to his mouth.
It took Red several seconds to register the fact that a girl was kissing him. And it wasn't just any girl; it was his childhood friend Leaf!
His initial thoughts were to push her away and run for the hills. That way, he could train his pokemon in peace for all eternity and never have to deal with confusing matters like other people ever again. Girls, in particular.
However, then he realized it felt rather nice. He allowed his stiff muscles to relax as her lips moved cautiously against his, and he was just debating whether or not he should kiss her back when she jumped back away from him out of nowhere. He found himself rather disappointed to see that she was now standing at least two feet away from him.
Both of their faces turned the color of a pokeball and they refused to meet each other's gaze. After what seemed like forever, Red felt something press against his elbow. He glanced down and realized that Leaf was wordlessly holding his hat out to him. Blankly, he took it from her.
"S-s-sorry about t-that," Leaf stuttered, looking determinedly at the floor. "A-about taking your h-hat, I mean."
Red was silent for several moments. In fact, Leaf began to suspect that he was never going to answer. Finally, he summoned all his courage and looked up at her. She still avoided his burning gaze, sure that he hated her now. What in the world had she been thinking, kissing him like that? Taking his hat had pushed her luck enough on its own!
"Don't be," Red said, so quietly she almost hadn't heard him.
To her shock, she felt something land on her head. Her vision darkened slightly due to the familiar brim drooping down over her eyes. Leaf finally stared up at Red in disbelief. Her humiliation was still definitely there, but it was quickly becoming overruled by the pure shock of seeing him willingly go without his hat.
"You mean, I can keep it?" Leaf blurted.
Red smiled crookedly at her, and she noticed with glee that remnants of pink still stained his cheeks. "Tonight," he said simply. With that, he gathered up his flabbergasted pikachu and started towards the mall's exit. She didn't think she imagined the fact that the silly grin never left his face.
Hmm. Maybe she should try kissing him more often.
AN: Y'know, just saying, I have a huge crush on Red. Out of all the guys in the games (All of which are awesome in their own right), something about him just sends me into fangirl mode on the inside. That's why when I got requests for RedxLeaf I just couldn't resist! And in the original list, the hat was a hoodie, but come on, it's Red! Sorry for the wait by the way, I've been busy with my semi-new story, Where the Heart is (Check it out!).
So which couple do y'all wanna see next? Let me know any ideas/requests in a review!