prologue.
prompt - - - 002. crash
genre - - - humour, friendship/romance
rating - - - G
synopsis - - - Their eyes met, and instead of a spark, their first meeting cumulated in a most spectacular collision of epic proportions. True to form, most of their meetings tended to involve such accidents, and they could only hope that the next time wouldn't be quite as painful.
disclaimers - - - I do not in any way, shape or form own Pokémon or the characters portrayed in this work of fiction.
- - x x x x x - -
It wasn't as though she voluntarily went out of her way to seek him; oh, no, contrary to that, it seemed as though he was the one tailing her. For once, the roles had been reversed, and she found it was a sensation she completely and utterly enjoyed. After all, it was no secret that she enjoyed the attention lavished upon her by members of the opposite gender, and whilst it was a reasonably common sight to see Blue ogling particularly attractive specimens with impunity, seeing one particular male stubbornly resisting her charms was a rare phenomenon indeed.
Never let it be said that she was unattractive, for that was the furthest possible thing from the truth. Whilst she had a list of potential suitors the length of her arm, she chose to ignore all of them – even if they were easy on the eyes, and had the most charming and compelling of personality – in favour of aiming for what seemed so far out of her reach. The moment she laid eyes on him, she knew he was the one.
To be fair, thinking you met the one when you were eleven was quite a stretch. But then and again, people matured quickly in this world, so perhaps it wasn't so far-fetched. What with having to shut down the illicit operations of nihilistic organisations set on world domination, and swindling unsuspecting male trainers with her feminine charms, Blue didn't think it was that big a deal.
She had heard a lot about him over the course of her travels. That he was called Green, and possessed an arsenal of powerful Pokémon – a Charizard, Golduck and Machamp, for starters – and had mowed down gym leader after gym leader, collecting badges with the efficiency of a true professional. Above all, she had heard that he was fairly good-looking, and had quite the fan club going on, which made her all the more eager to meet him before they did.
It also helped that she learnt he had an excellent poker face and was absurdly good at the slot machines. So! A target who was loaded, and who knew how to get cash, fast. Even better.
At any rate, seeing the green-eyed boy with the wild shock of auburn-brown hair for the first time stirred interest within her; he had only given her the most cursory of glances, before turning away, with an odd expression on his face. What a refreshing contrast he made with Red. The other boy had been completely and utterly enamoured by her wiles, and had fallen for her tricks hook, line and sinker; a sweet guy, yes, but too typical. In short, he offered her nothing new, nothing fascinating, and this time, meeting the stoic, unsmiling trainer, she knew she had met her match.
What an impressive sight he was, leaning low over his Charizard's neck as it soared through the sky, ever-closer to Saffron City; he had been so absorbed and engrossed by what he was doing that he completely and utterly failed to notice her very obnoxiously visible self floating through the air on a gigantic, inflated Jigglypuff, and had only eased his pace after she called out at him.
"Bing! Cute male in sight!" Blue was unable to hide the glee from her voice as her Silph Scope gave her a fine and uninterrupted view of his surprised face. "Hi there! What's your name?"
The expression he pulled was priceless. Nearly falling off his Pokémon, the boy glared at her. "I'll pretend I didn't hear or see anything—yaaargh!"
Not seeing where he was going, he had pulled his knees in sharply, urging the Charizard into a steep dive; before she could say anything, Pokémon and trainer collided painfully with an invisible wall, uttering harmonically mingling cries of surprise and pain.
She giggled, before hurriedly wiping her broad smile off her face as soon as he recovered his balance and composure, his dragon-like Pokémon growling as they drew level with her. "Couldn't you have warned me about that a little earlier?" the boy snapped frostily, rubbing his jaw from where it had hit the back of his Charizard's head.
In retrospect, she mused, watching as he took to the skies without a further word, this would probably not be the first or last time something of the sort happened.
- - x x x x x - -
Now, long after that first time they had laid eyes on one another, Blue had to laugh. They were no longer children now, and had more or less become reasonably familiar with the other's mannerisms, to the point that it seemed as though they had known each other for ever. In a respite between saving the world and meeting up with Silver for the weekend lunch, she was finally allowing herself some time to do typically female things, such as shop and stroll along the streets of Veilstone City. The Sinnoh region was a wonderful place, and she rather regretted not coming here sooner.
Of course, what with not having to face the latest emergency alongside her friends, she didn't really expect to see Green anytime soon; what with him being a gym leader – oh, how far he'd come since that day, years ago, when he had sourly complained about the Saffron City crisis and not being able to get his next badge – she was more than certain he would not be going anywhere for vacation anytime soon.
As she stepped into the elevator, rummaging through her purchases, Blue paid no heed to where she was going, and proceeded to literally crash into somebody, sending her toppling onto the other person, and scattering her various shopping bags around the floor. A familiar groan of consternation sounded from somewhere beneath her, and, completely and utterly bemused, she peeled herself off her (rather comfortable!) human cushion to see who it was.
"Green!" she squealed, loud enough to make him cringe. "Fancy seeing you here!"
He merely glared up at her, looking both mortified and affronted. In recent years, it seemed he was becoming more and more discomfited by her close physical proximity, an interesting change she had been pleased to note. "Indeed," he quipped sardonically, voice growing steadily waspish in response to her ebullient loudness.
A crowd of passers-by had begun to gather, several males offering to help lever her up, and others collecting the dispersed belongings. She waved their hands away, beaming up at them. "We're fine, fine!" she insisted, aware of the face that she was still sitting on a rather red-faced Kanto gym leader, who had hidden his face behind a faintly-trembling hand in abject embarrassment: several of the passers-by had done double takes upon catching sight of him, and it looked like he resented such scrutiny. Waiting until the last of the crowd had reluctantly returned to their business, she finally deigned to get off Green's knees, helping him upright before brushing her dress off. "No, really, what are you doing here? I thought gym leaders never got holidays…"
He snorted, running a hand through his hair, which was as untameable as ever. "You thought wrong. I just thought I'd come and see what Professor Rowan was up to, and meet up with some of the other gym leaders to discuss the annual regional meet."
"Hmm, sounds boring." To her, those activities he listed sounded awfully dull, though in some secret part of her mind, she wanted to be part of his world, and to be able to better understand it. "Wait…wait a minute!" A sudden thought struck her. "I thought Professor Rowan went to Johto for the press conference…?"
Green blanched slightly. "What? I, er…well, um, then I just came to visit the other gym leaders, then."
She continued as though she had not heard him, rubbing her chin thoughtfully as she spoke. "Let me see…Crasher Wake went to visit someone in Kanto, I think, Volkner's in Olivine City, Fantina's off in Hoenn…say, how are you supposed to discuss the annual regional meet if almost half of the gym leaders are missing?" Peering closely at his expression, she could see no inkling of his thoughts. So it seemed Green's poker face was as good as ever, and he wasn't revealing anything unless he felt like it.
Exhaling heavily through his nose, the other trainer sighed. "Fine, fine, you got me. Look, to shut you up, what about we go somewhere for dinner? My treat."
Well, that was surprising. Blue beamed broadly at him, slipping her arm through the crook of his elbow, and managing to wallop him with half of her shopping bags. "Aww, how sweet of you. How can I possibly refuse…?"
"How indeed," he muttered as he steered her out of the Veilstone Department Store and towards Route 214.
- - x x x x x - -
All those years ago, their eyes met for the first time, and instead of a spark, their earliest meeting cumulated in a most spectacular collision of epic proportions.
By the time they had arrived at the Seven Stars Restaurant, dusk had well and truly fallen, and they were just in time for dinner. They had managed to land a good table by the window, overlooking Lake Valour, and as Blue surveyed the candlelit tables around them, she wondered why he had picked here, of all places. After all, Green was renowned for his battle prowess and prodigious skill, yes, but for his ability to woo women? She had had no evidence whatsoever of that.
And now, their most recent meeting had also resulted in a crash, though she found she didn't really mind. Nobody was hurt, and as far as she was concerned, things were turning out a lot better than that fateful first time.
"How'd you know of this place?" she asked, cupping her chin in her hand as she gazed at her companion; with his features illuminated by the flickering radiance of candles, he looked more at ease than she had ever seen him, and that usual flinty hardness in his cool green eyes was gone, replaced by a curious expression she did not quite recognise.
He shrugged. "Platina told me," was his succinct response,
"Oh yes…the Grand Lake Hotel is part of the chain of hotels the Berlitz family owns, right?" She accepted the menu from the waiter, flicking it open and perusing the entries with much interest; the prices here were quite exorbitant, and even though the expenditure was coming out of his wallet, she still felt rather horribly underhand for taking advantage of his generosity like that.
"Right on," was his most dry response. "She also told me that I get a discount, if I ever decided to drop by." Turning a page on the menu, a faint frown flickered across his features.
"Ah." Blue nodded with equal measures of relief and satisfaction, before transferring her attention back to the menu. "By the way, it's awfully sweet of you to go out of your way to wine and dine me like this."
The reaction her words elicited did not fail to satisfy her expectations; surveying the gym leader from over the top of her menu, she had to suppress a giggle as he blinked at her with something close to bemused affront, before raising his own menu to hide his face from view. "It's nothing," was the indistinct reply she could hear, over the undercurrent of idle chatter from neighbouring tables, and the light jazz currently filtering in through the restaurant's sound system.
She had to suppress a wry smile. Here she was, sitting with the very talented – and, oh, how readily she would admit it, attractive – Viridian gym leader, whom had young women all over tripping over their own feet to get him to notice them, and yet there he was, sitting opposite her looking slightly ill-at-ease, like a Magikarp who had found itself stranded on a little patch of land. It was, she thought almost fondly, what made her like him even more: the fact that he could be so merciless on the field, effortlessly downing opponents with the use of brilliant tactics and years of experience, and at the same time so oddly vulnerable, if such a word could even be tacked on to a person such as Green Oak.
- - x x x x x - -
By the end of their evening, Blue had been surprised – and pleased! – to note that her companion had loosened up after a few glasses of wine as well as a shared plate of dessert, and had kept the conversation flowing as easily as the alcohol offered by their overfriendly waiter had. She watched as, slightly red-faced but still highly sober, Green beckoned for the check, quietly exchanging a word with the maître d', the other man nodding before retreating, credit card in hand. "You really don't have to do this, you know," she protested faintly, absently creasing her napkin as she spoke. "After all, I did run into you and probably upset your plans—"
"No, it was my pleasure." He waved her objections away, accepting the bill for their dinner and signing the receipt with a quick, illegible scribble. "I hope you had a…ah, good time."
As they made their way towards the restaurant's exit, Blue smiled, slipping an arm through the crook of his elbow; that was all the assurance she would give. He merely blinked, but made no move to pull away or even object, ambling out of the building in a rather stately, companionable silence. It was only once they were outside, the cool night air washing over them, that he finally turned to her, expression unreadable. "Well, I—"
"Thank you for a great evening," she said, drawing gently away to stand on her tiptoes, hands resting on his shoulders; the gym leader quirked a quizzical eyebrow at her actions, but, thankfully, said nothing, only inclining his head slightly in an abbreviated nod; it was then that she took her opportunity, leaning forwards to kiss him before he could launch any form of resistance. Sweet, she mused, hiding a smile. Like strawberries and cinnamon.
If exclamation points had a sound, he would have been enunciating them with great aplomb; instead, completely and utterly stunned into silence, he blinked owlishly down at her, fine lines creasing his forehead. "You're…welcome. I…uh, I guess we'll meet again sometime."
"Oh yes," she assured Green confidently, unable to hide the smile from her face. "And next time, we'll make sure no painful collisions are involved, am I right?"
- - x x x x x - -
epilogue. I sincerely hope the other oneshots don't take as long to write. I seriously need to stop getting distracted by crackfics and whatnot. Yay for less angst! I love this pairing more than I should, haha. Thanks for the reviews, guys! Peace out, rock on, and feel free to drop me a line if you like or dislike this.