Author's note: Hey, guys! Bet you thought this fic was dead!
... Well, so did I. But! Thanks to the efforts of VGS2, it has been revived! So, you have him to thank for that.
Hope you enjoy the chapter! There's one more after it, if you so desire to see it.
Peace!
P.S. Reviews create friendship rainbows. Spread the reviews to spread the friendship!
Part Three: Surprise
Rosa stared at the celebrity idol in disbelief. Surely, that couldn't be Curtis... The very idea was just absurd! Really, really absurd!
Yet... the evidence spoke for itself, didn't it? Her Xtransceiver had definitely said 'Curtis' before she'd answered the call. Not to mention, Christoph had just called her by her real name and she didn't remember ever giving him that information...
Suddenly, she remembered the conversation they'd been having and, in her horror, she felt the blood rush to her face. Oh, sweet mother of Zekrom! She'd been rattling on and on about her crush and he was sitting right next to her!
Unable to look him in the eyes, she turned away, fretting all the while. Oh gosh, this was so embarrassing! She'd basically admitted that she liked him, straight to his face! Part of her was hoping that he didn't remember. This wasn't how she'd wanted her confession to go at all!
She glanced down at her Xtransceiver, which still hadn't been turned off. Christoph appeared to be facing away from her now, his face quite red. Oh dear. Perhaps he hadn't forgotten, after all, then...
... Yeah, now that she looked at him on the small screen, she could definitely see the resemblance. The blonde hair, the green eyes, the tiny beauty spot on the right side of his chin. Oh, dear Reshiram, how had she not noticed before?!
Now that she thought about it, they even sounded the same, when Christoph wasn't forcing his voice to sound extra silky. Heck, they even laughed the same!
... In fact, all the things he'd said added up. Christoph had said that he travelled around a lot, due to his job, and would catch the odd Pokémon along the way. Curtis would also often say that he travelled around a lot and any Pokémon he caught would usually be traded with her.
Curtis had sometimes offered to sing to her – although he'd never actually gotten around to it – and part of Christoph's career was being a singer.
For crying out loud, Christoph had even mentioned fishing at one point and Curtis' favourite thing to do was fishing! She really was an idiot.
... In fact, she had a vague recollection of seeing Christoph's face on her Xtransceiver before. For about two seconds, before he'd said 'Uh oh' and turned it off.
At the time, she'd wondered if she'd imagined it. After all, there was no way it would be the Christoph, right?
The next day, Curtis had quickly brushed the topic aside, but, now, she supposed it made a little too much sense...
As she moved her finger to end the call, she paused as she observed his face on the screen again. Wait a second...
Her eyes widened slightly as she remembered who Christoph- uh, Curtis had said he'd been calling. And the call had gone through to her. Could that possibly mean...?
In a daze, she ended the call, turning curiously to the boy sitting next to her. Her face was still burning, but she needed to ask this.
"... Curtis?" she asked.
He jumped slightly, though he refused to look at her. "Uh, yeah?" he replied.
"You were calling the girl you like... right?"
He flinched. "Um..." There was a long, uncomfortable pause. "Ah ha ha..." There was another pause as he tried to hide his face from view. "Yeah..."
Hope blossomed in her chest. "And... you meant to call me... right?"
"... Yeah."
Her face broke into a grin. "Really?"
He turned slightly to glance at her from the corner of his eyes. "Um... yeah?"
Her stomach suddenly felt like there was a swarm of Butterfree inside it. The feeling was pleasant and warm. Her smile grew wider.
"Hey, Curtis?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you remember what I said?"
"... Huh?"
"Do you remember who I said was calling me?"
He paused for a long moment. Eventually, his eyes widened. "The... guy you like?"
She nodded. "Yeah! And who was on the other end when I answered?"
"... M... Me?"
"Yeah."
Still wide-eyed, he turned on the bench to properly face her. "So... the guy you like... is actually...?"
Her smile grew soft. "You."
He continued to stare at her. After a long moment, his face broke into a grin. "Ah ha ha! Wow..." He paused again. "Really?"
She nodded again. "Yep."
"Wow..."
There was a stretch of happy silence as they both tried to digest this information. After a while, Curtis spoke again.
"Uh, so..." He nervously started fidgeting with his Xtransceiver.
"Yeah?" Rosa asked. Her heart pounded in anticipation.
After a few tense moments, he laughed awkwardly, his blush darkening. "Ah ha ha! Well, this isn't how I wanted it to go, but, uh..."
She chuckled along with him.
"So, uh, yeah..." He cleared his throat. "Do you wanna, maybe... go out with me? Or something?"
She couldn't help but chuckle at his awkwardness. "I'd love to, Curtis."
He chuckled. "That's great!" His gaze softened. "Really great."
Shifting her position slightly, Rosa leaned against her new boyfriend. She sighed in contentment.
After a moment, Curtis chuckled again. "Man... I can't believe you were Megan all along..."
"Heh, yeah... and you were Christoph! That was a shocker."
"Heh, yeah." There was a slight pause. "Hey, Rosa?"
She turned to look at him. "Hmm?"
He looked back at her uncertainly. "Why didn't you tell me you were Megan?"
She blinked at him. "Huh?"
He shifted awkwardly. "I mean... you know my reasoning for not telling you I was Christoph..."
She smiled lightly. "Yeah.. but I liked you way before knowing you were Christoph."
He smiled shyly down at his lap. After a moment, the smile fell away. "Yeah, that's the thing. You said you didn't care if I knew or not, so why...?"
She blinked again. "Oh... well..." She paused as she thought about this. "I dunno, really... I guess it just never occurred to me."
He looked up at her, suddenly serious. "And what about all the stuff with Team Plasma? And the Pokémon League?"
"Well..."
His face crinkled with concern. "And Join Avenue? And the PWT?"
Guilt wormed its way into her heart. Shifting uncomfortably, she glanced away. "Well..."
"... And Pokéstar Studios?"
She stared down at her lap. "I dunno... I never really thought about mentioning it. Any of it."
"... And why's that?"
She sighed. "I dunno... None of it just seemed important when... I was talking to you."
There were a few moments of silence. "... R... Really?"
She smiled, still staring at her lap. "Yeah. I dunno, it was like nothing else mattered. I really enjoyed spending time with you." Finally, she looked up at him. "Though I probably should have told you more about myself. You know barely anything about me, don't you?"
He gave her a small smile. "Ah ha ha, yeah... you never did talk about yourself much... It was always about what I was doing, or what I liked."
She gave a soft chuckle. "Sorry."
"Well, hey, maybe we can make up for that now."
She beamed. "Yeah..." She leaned her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes in contentment. "I'd like that..."
There was a blissful silence for a while as she enjoyed the feel of his shoulder on her cheek. The whole time, the swarm of Butterfree in her stomach refused to settle, but she didn't mind. She actually quite enjoyed it.
"Ooh!" a voice cried out excitedly. "So, what do we have here, then?"
Curtis jumped a foot in the air and leapt away from Rosa. The shock jolted Rosa's eyes open.
"Oh, uh..." he said, "hey, Nancy!"
Dazedly, Rosa looked up into the beaming face of Nancy. "Uh, hey..." she said.
Nancy squealed in delight. "Just what happened while I was away?" she asked. "You two looked positively adorable just now!"
"Uh, well..." Curtis replied. His face turned red as he looked away. "We're, um... dating now."
Nancy gasped, her eyes widening. "Oh, my gosh! You and Megan are dating now? That is so cute! And so cool! Eeek! Wow! Wow!" She paused. "But wait a minute... didn't you already have a girl you liked?"
His blush darkened. "Oh, well, uh..." He cleared his throat. "Actually, this... is her..."
Nancy blinked. "Huh?"
Curtis waved his hand in Rosa's direction. "Nancy... meet Rosa."
Nancy turned to stare, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, at Rosa. Awkwardly, Rosa gave her a small wave.
After what felt like an agonisingly long silence, Nancy squealed.
"Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! You're telling me you're Rosa? The Rosa?"
"... Huh?" Rosa asked.
"Oh, my gosh! Christoph never stops talking about you!"
"... Really?"
"Yeah! Oh, my gosh, I can't believe Rosa and Megan are the same person!" She turned to Curtis. "Are you sure about this, Christoph?"
Curtis turned away in embarrassment. "Y-Yeah..." he replied.
"Oh, wow!"
"... And... she knows..."
"Huh?"
"I... told her my real name."
Nancy's eyes shot open and her mouth hit the floor. "What? Really?"
"Yeah."
"So... she knows that you're...?"
"The guy whose Xtransceiver she found? Yeah."
Nancy squealed again. "Oh, my gosh! That is so cute!"
Rosa smiled in amusement. "Yeah," she said, "and remember when I said there was a guy I liked? Well..." She nodded in Curtis' direction. "It was actually Curtis."
"Soooo cute!" Nancy reached over and hugged Curtis around the neck. "I'm so happy for you, Chris- I mean, Curtis!"
"Heh, thanks..." he replied with an awkward smile.
Rosa chuckled at the adorable sight.
"... So, when are you two going on your first date?"
Curtis pulled a face. "Nancy!"
Rosa collapsed into a fit of giggles.
