FERRIS WHEEL FERRIS WHEEL FERRIS WHEEL YAAAAAYYYYY!

This chapter is short, much shorter than the others, but longer than the first. Sorry about that, but FERRIS WHEEL! You'll see why I had to split it up at the end of the chapter!

Please read and enjoy and review if you want, thanks! FERRIS WHEEL YAAAAAAYYYYY! *Runs around screaming*

Bree couldn't help but giggle at N's expression of complete enthrallment. From the delighted screams coming from the roller coaster, to the stalls upon stalls of games and sweets, to the colorful neon everywhere, to the giant ferris wheel at the very edge of the park, overlooking Nimbasa and the area around the playground city, N observed everything with wide innocent eyes, like a small child, completely blown away. Bree had to admit that she was impressed as well.

They walked through the amusement park, the smell of hot popcorn fresh in the clear crisp early autumn air. Another few days and she'd have to swap out the short shorts for jeans. But not yet. She saw how N stared with a reddened face, knew how the cut of the fabric combined with the white strips gave her legs the illusion of being longer than they actually were.

"You look better," Bree said.

He looked over and down. "Better?"

"Your skin, complexion. It's..." She waved her hand in the air for a moment. "Better. Not as pale."

She was right, N slowly realized. His skin was a bit darker than it was a few months ago. Now it was a bit lighter than Bree's.

"I mean," Bree continued as they walked past the tilt-a-whirl, "Before, in Accumula, you were really, really pale. And not pale like me or Bianca. I'm talking Petilil-kept-in-the dark pale."

Bree must have seen him bite his lip, must have heard the pained squeak, because she drew back, apology written all over her face. "I'm sorry, I..."

N licked his lips, said nothing, but smiled in a way that he hoped would smooth over the issue. There was never a Petilil, never a Petilil for him. For him, never a wilted, shriveled, stunted Petilil who had been locked away by meanie humans, had never never never seen the sun (he had had to wear smoked glasses for two weeks after first seeing the Outside)...

On the edge of his memory, a Petilil just like that, held by a little girl with straw-yellow hair and laughing (crying) blue eyes. Half-faded, out of focus, a fragment from so many years ago. Father had said that she and the Petilil were "imaginary" friends, when his real friends weren't enough and he needed someone with reliably opposable thumbs to play with.

The familiar scratchy tune of a music box, playing a joyous theme, interrupted his reverie. N looked over to see a carousel, its painted wooden pokemon going up and down in a beautiful rhythmic melding of sine curves and acceleration equations...

...And a man, his mouth smiling and his eyes soft, holding his laughing son as they went on the carousel together.

Bree turned her head to find N gazing through the window, one hand pressed against the clear glass pane, with the oddest look on his face.

This whole while, he never let go of her hand. And when she rubbed tissue-thin skin with the soft pad of her thumb, gave his hand a gentle squeeze, sparks danced around her heart and a painfully pleasant warmth pooled in his chest.

N's favorite food was alphabet soup too, Bree had learned. And just like her, he sought it out whenever he wanted to curl up in a little ball and cry.

He was seventeen and a half; his birthday was in February. "It was so cold Outside," he said, stressing the word as if it was capitalized, "and little white flakes were like pinpricks on my skin and hair. If it weren't for Darmanitan, I would have become an icicle."

Bree wasn't surprised to learn that N had set Darmanitan free by the Desert Resort, where the pokemon had been born. But when N asked why she didn't let Eve go there, set the pokemon free, because that was where the little Archen had lived so many millenia ago, she squawked something that amounted to, Are you kidding? What the humans make is awesome! The green-haired youth didn't bring up the topic again.

N was vegetarian; vegan for years, in fact, until he started getting vitamin deficiencies and other fun stuff like that. Even so, the only dairy he ate essentially consisted of ice cream and chocolate; the look of guilty, almost ashamed bliss on his face as he sucked on a sliver of fudge stowed away in his pocket made Bree smile. She understood his dietary convictions, she truly did. For a year and a half when she was younger, Bree absolutely refused to eat meat; only surrendering when the doctor said that it wasn't healthy for a girl her age to be getting so little protein. Even now, Bree ate meat sparingly, and tried to get it from farm pokemon whom she knew were humanely raised.

But he had never had cotton candy, which was why Bree had practically shoved the stick of swirled blue sugar into his waiting hand, and why his smiling lips were now tinged a fluorescent blue and Eve's wings were all sticky from the treat that N had decided to share. But still! How the hell could he have never had something like cotton candy? And that wasn't the only travesty, and far from the worst-

"You've never seen Sesame Street." It was less a question than a blunt statement, made from disbelief more than anything else.

"Well, I-"

"You've never seen Sesame Street." Something inside her went off as she shook the much taller boy by his bony shoulders. A few people turned their heads at the sight of the petite girl rattling the perturbed green-haired man like an unopened present, but that didn't stop Bree's rant. "You've never even seen Sesame Street? Where did you grow up for crying out loud, under a rock or underground or something?"

"Okay, okay!" N held up his hands in mock surrender, a smile that was almost playful on his face. Which left the nearly-finished stick of cotton candy exposed and unprotected; Eve pounced onto the opportunity and nearly swallowed the paper cone itself in her hastiness.

N smiled at the little Archen so obviously enjoying the treat. Then he shook his head; a serious look planted itself on his face as he turned and looked at the towering circular structure behind them.

"Let's go on the Ferris wheel."

Bree looked up at him. "Hm?"

"Do you...They're not..." He tapped his spidery index fingers together, gazed at Bree intently. "Let's go on the Ferris wheel...Uh, if you'd like." He looked up at the ride with what was almost adoration. "I love Ferris wheels," he said, half to Bree and half to himself, "The circular motions, the mechanics...They're like collections of beautiful formulas, made real and you can hold the sine curves in your hand..."

"Hm." Bree held a finger to her lips as she thought; for some reason N felt his cheeks growing a little bit warm at the sight. "You know, I never thought of it like that. Can't say I like math much, but I see what you mean. I like seeing the sights more, but of course I'll go on with you!"

N had paid for Bree's ticket, doling out the money while awkwardly mumbling something about being a princely proper gentleman. The ride itself was quite serene, treating both Bree and N to a breathtaking view of shaded Lostlorn Forest, towering skyscrapers and blinding lights of Castelia and Nimbasa, the beautiful grand Skyarrow Bridge with the setting sun framed perfectly between the two suspension towers. Unfortunately, Nuvema was just out of view; Bree was a bit disappointed that she couldn't point out her house for N.

N held her hand, fixedly stared out the window, occasionally opened his mouth to speak but then closed it again.

The sugar rush had hit Eve full force, and the little raptor had literally pinballed herself off the floor, walls, seats, and ceiling of the little cabin before Bree had recalled the Archen so she wouldn't hurt herself.

When the ride had run nearly halfway through its course, N broke his silence. "Bree," he started, "There's something I should have...Well, about Team Plasma-"

Bree rolled her eyes. "Aw, and we were going so well," she groaned as she hopped into his bony lap; N yelped softly and readjusted his weight.

"B-But Bree," he stammered as she leaned over him, "I need to-"

She held up a finger, the universal "shush" gesture, grinned with all her teeth. "N, I don't agree with your ideals about Team Plasma, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy our date. So please, I don't want to hear anything more about Team Plasma for the rest of the ride."

N opened his mouth, presumably to say something erudite. However, his thoughts were wiped away by the observations that Bree was sitting on his lap, looking straight at him, leaning over him, hands on either side of his torso. Her body was tilted so that her white shirt hang loosely off her; he could see down her shirt if he looked down (why oh why was he so enthralled by this?), and her legs splayed out on either side of his. The thoughts and convicted resolve of what he had set out to do in the first place was swiftly replaced by an infinite loop of Bree is sitting in my lap, Bree's butt is IN MY LAP; why am I so excited about this?

Therefore, what N actually said wasn't, "Bree, I'm Team Plasma's king and I'm trying with Ghetsis and the sages to free pokemon from people who hurt them and I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier," so much as it was, "Guh."

Bree giggled, a light airy laugh as her arms wrapped around his neck and shoulders. N felt as if he was going to burn right down to to cinders.

The ride eventually slowed to a stop, the carriage inexorably returning to earth. Bree climbed off N with a smile, her fingers still entwined with his. N, with his green hair, was now making a very good impression of a ripe tomato.

"Hehe, you look funny. Thanks, for the ride, N. I had a really good time."

With that, she leaned in close, far too close. A strangled whimper came from N's throat, stopping abruptly as Bree ghosted her lips over N's cheek, brushing against the corner of his mouth.

She pulled away to see N's jaw hanging slack in shock. "Oh?" she asked with tilted head and coy voice. "Was that your first kiss?" She shook her head, a silly wide grin on her face. "Oh no, that'll never do."

N started hyperventilating, eyes practically bugging out of his head. "I...I...I-"

Whatever he was going to say next was lost as Bree enveloped her lips over his, capturing his mouth in a kiss.

Bree had to laugh internally as N froze stiff against her, his entire body rigid with shock. Eyes frozen open, he tightened his grip on her right hand as she threaded her left through tangled green hair. Fire erupted in his chest, blazed through his entire body, a raging inferno.

She gently coaxed his mouth open, licked his chapped lips, considered deepening the kiss but ultimately decided against it. Best not to overwhelm the poor boy, after all.

The Ferris wheel ground to a stop when Bree finally pulled away, crossing her arms in contemplation as N gripped the metal seat with white knuckles so he wouldn't fall over.

"Hm," Bree mused, "Practice and chapstick. And practice. That's all you need."

"There-There's going to be more of that?" N's shock was easily conveyed in his voice.

Bree tilted her head. "Why? You didn't like it?"

"I, uh..." A heavy swallow. "It was...Wow, but..."

"Bree White strikes again!" she shouted with a fist pump. "Uh, sorry," she quickly amended, taking his hand and leading him out of the Ferris wheel; N was still completely gobsmacked, with the exact appearance of someone who had just been attacked by several dozen Conkeldurrs in a row. The poor boy would probably trip over his own untied sneakers if she let go of his hand right now.

But yeah. N, that wasn't a bad date, Bree thought to herself. The guy definitely needed a lot of living-what kind of person never had cotton candy?-but Bree White was nothing if not vivacious. And that wasn't too bad, for a first kiss.

Yep, she figured as she led a still-paralyzed N through the amusement park, the sun beginning to set in the distance, this was a pretty good day.

A pair of voices and footsteps made her turn, made N audibly gulp.

"My Lord N!"

And the world dropped out from under Bree's feet.

A/N:

N'S MIND: ASPLODE

BREE'S MIND: ASPLODE

YOUR MIND: ASPLODE

ME: MWAHAHAHAH!

See you next update!

Oh, and yeah. Eve, the Archeopteryx expy, is now addicted to cotton candy.

Did I do the kiss well? I hope I did. I...I've never kissed anyone, so I don't exactly have a lot of experience or foreknowledge to go on...