After finishing their shower, Brennan and Gardevoir headed to bed. They slept close that night. Like, they needed each other to make it through the night. Gardevoir slept cuddled comfortably into Brennan's side, with her head resting on his shoulder. Brennan allowed her to get comfortable before wrapping his arms around her. Not too tightly, but tight enough to know that she was safe.
After his discovery in the shower, and the promise he once again made to her, Brennan began to doubt if he could actually live up to it. He had already let her down once, what was stopping him from doing again? Him telling her the same thing he did before? It honestly terrified him to his very core. He did love Gardevoir. He knew that. But she deserved more than a promise that he wasn't even sure he could keep.
He had laid awake most of the night unable to fall asleep. Even after Gardevoir had, he just couldn't. His self doubt wouldn't allow him to. He began to grow frustrated. He did his very best to hold it back because he didn't want to disturb Gardevoir. She had been through a lot over the past week. She deserved to rest.
All in all, Brennan was only able to get about forty-five minutes of sleep in total. He was just glad Gardevoir had been able to sleep through the night. She tossed and turned a little, but he kept his old on her. He wasn't sure if she was having a bad dream, or what. But regardless of whether she knew it or not, he was there to help her relax again.
He tiredly glanced over at the clock, he had honestly lost track of time. Most of his night was spent staring up at the ceiling in the darkness. The sun shining through the blinds was what had told him it was morning.
"Six Thirty." He muttered to himself. It was still pretty early. He felt as though he needed to try and get some more sleep. But he also knew no matter how hard he tried, it wasn't going to happen. He let out a mental sigh as he went back to staring at the ceiling.
As he laid there, he felt Gardevoir begin to try to readjust herself. He looked down watching as she nuzzled her head into his shoulder. Under the covers, he felt one of her thin legs loop around his left one. After, she let out a deep breath, before once again becoming still. He smiled and gently kissed the top of her head, before staring back up at the ceiling. He loved her so much. That's why he knew, even if he failed, he had to try and protect her—to keep her safe. But he also knew failure wasn't an option, and it never would be.
He had remained lost in thought for several hours afterwards, still unable to fall asleep. He got to the point where he was trying make out shapes in the textured finish of the ceiling. That went about as well as expected. He glanced over at the clock taking notice of the time. It was now almost nine o'clock. He let out a low sigh before looking back towards the ceiling. His eyes didn't remain there too long before he felt Gardevoir moving again. He looked down just as she opened her eyes. He smiled as they met.
"Good morning." The tiredness in his voice was present. That's the first thing Gardevoir noticed.
"Gardevoir." She replied before moving her lips up to his. That was the first thing she intended on doing every single morning. It was a good start to the day to her.
"You sleep okay?" Brennan asked as their lips parted. Even though he didn't get any sleep, he was hoping she was comfortable the entire night. That's all he cared about. She nodded, before resting her head back onto his shoulder. Her arm draped over his chest as she let out a cute yawn. "That's good." He said before resting his cheek on the top of her head.
"Gardevoir?" She said curiously. Brennan let out a light chuckle before replying.
"I... didn't get much sleep." He admitted. This caused Gardevoir to once again lift her head to look at him.
"Voir?" She asked. Her tone was a mixture of surprise and worry. Brennan at least got THAT much out of it. He honestly wasn't really sure how to answer that. He didn't want to upset her. He didn't want to tell her that he was doubting himself. He just... didn't.
"I don't know. I just... couldn't sleep." His reply was somewhat dull. But at the spur of the moment, that's the best he could come up with. And it's not like it was a lie. It just wasn't the full truth. Gardevoir stared at him, her large eyes locked onto his. She didn't look like she was buying it. However, her expression was quite blank. It was honestly hard to tell what she was thinking at that point.
She stayed silent, just staring at him. She seemed... focused? He began to grow very confused as to what she was doing.
"Uh... Gardevoir? What are you-" he began, before being cut off by her placing one of her fingers on his lips, silencing him. Her finger didn't stay there for long, however, her focused expression remained. It looked as if she wasn't mentally there anymore. It was weird, and definitely uncharacteristic of her. Several more seconds passed before she finally blinked again. "Are... you okay?" He asked, definitely worried at this point.
"Gardevoir. Gardevoir. Garde?" She asked, ignoring his question. Her own question shocked Brennan.
"W-what? G-Gardevoir... how did you-" he began to question her, before being cut off.
"-Gardevoir. Gardevoir. Garde. Gardevoir?" She interrupted him before he could finish with a quick answer, before repeating her own question. She had asked him if he really didn't think he could protect her. Once she said that, she began to feel his self doubt. Brennan was shocked. She had just read his thoughts. That what she had been focused on?
He tried to let the shock wear off just a little before finally deciding he had to say something. Anything at that point. Gardevoir was waiting for an answer. He had to give her one. "Gardevoir, I don't know. I'm just worried. I already lost you once because I couldn't protect you. What if it happens again?" He asked, sitting up, forcing Gardevoir to do the same. He didn't even want to make eye contact with her. Gardevoir sat on her knees, staring at him, as he stared past her towards the wall behind her. She shook her head, before gently grabbing ahold of his face.
"Gardevoir. Gardevoir. Garde-Voir. Garde." She had all the faith in the world in him. There wasn't even the slightest bit of doubt in her mind about what he had said to her. They were blindsided the first time. That wouldn't happen again. "Gardevoir. Garde." She said softly, slowly moving her face towards his till they were only a few inches away from each other. Brennan closed his eyes before letting out a sigh.
"I love you too. I just need to know that I can keep you safe." His response caused a small, sympathetic smile to curl onto her lips.
"Garde-voir." She spoke softly, before once again pressing her lips against his. "You can." was her response. She was trying to reassure him. She didn't want him doubting himself. He didn't need to.
He slowly wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her as close to him as her spike would allow. Her hands finally slid from the side of his face to around his neck, meeting in the back. Their kiss deepened. It was one full of the passion and love they felt for one another.
Brennan eventually pulled away, causing Gardevoir to frown. Her frown didn't last long before he began kissing down her face, to her neck. He stopped, resting his head on her shoulder for several seconds, taking in her scent, before he began to kiss her neck. She cocked her head to the side, closing her eyes as she did. She eventually let out a soft moan letting Brennan know she was enjoying what he was doing.
He wanted to go a step further, but once again managed to make himself stop. Gardevoir's frown returned once again, wondering why he stopped. Brennan motioned behind her towards the still sleeping Mightyena that rested just a good three feet away from them. She glanced back, before looking back towards Brennan.
"Guess now isn't the time for that." Brennan said. He let out a little chuckle as he finished to try and mask his own disappointment. Albeit disappointed, Gardevoir nodded in agreement. After, he gave her a small smile, before once again pulling her into a hug. "I'm going to try. I promise." He was quiet. It was almost a whisper. But Gardevoir heard him. She wrapped her arms around him, returning the hug.
They held the hug for a good minute and a half, just enjoying being in each other's embraces. But eventually, they broke it, just smiling at each other. "Come on, I'll make you some breakfast." Brennan spoke, before swinging his legs off the side of the bed. He sat on the edge, letting out a yawn, and stretching as he did. Gardevoir watched from behind with a smile as he did. It didn't take long for that smile to turn more devious. She jumped towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and letting out a happy cry a little louder than she meant too, surprisingly not waking Mightyena. Brennan was caught off guard by this. He almost slipped off the edge of the bed and landed in the floor. He looked over his shoulder with a small smirk on his face, as Gardevoir lovingly nuzzled hers into his back.
"Okay, okay, I'll give you a piggy back ride to the kitchen." He spoke. Gardevoir let out another happy cry, this one more quiet than the last. As Brennan went to stand up, she wrapped her legs around his waist, allowing him to grab hold of them. After he had her up, he looked back over his shoulder. "Ready?" He asked. Gardevoir nodded.
"Voir." Brennan smiled, before taking off towards the door. He managed to open it without it slowing him down too much, before picking right back up as he entered the hallway. Gardevoir let out another not-too-loud happy cry as they made their way down the hallway. Brennan couldn't help but chuckle, himself. Gardevoir was cute as hell. He was glad she was enjoying something so childish.
Brennan's smile remained on his face as they passed through the living room. Blaziken, Pichu, and Machamp all remained sleeping. He was definitely happy to see that sight again.
Once they made it to the kitchen, he stopped. He let out an exaggerated deep breath, as Gardevoir continued to lovingly hold on to him. "Maybe you can give me a ride next time." He said jokingly, not realizing how weird it sounded until after he said it. Gardevoir blushed, hiding her face in his back.
"G-Gardevoir." She said so quietly it was almost unable to be heard. Now it was Brennan's turn to get flushed. "I want to." is what she had said. After she did, she finally jumped off of his back, still trying to hide her embarrassment. Brennan scratched the back of his neck, trying to bush his own embarrassment away.
"O-okay, hows about that breakfast." He said hurriedly, trying to get his mind off of what had just happened. He didn't wait for Gardevoir to respond before heading to the fridge and pulling it open. He began looking through it to see what there was. And considering he hadn't been shopping in a couple of weeks, there wasn't much of anything. "I have some eggs. And I think I have some sausage patties in the-" he grabbed the eggs and stood up out the fridge as he spoke, but he was cut off. Gardevoir had rushed forward and smashed her lips into his, knocking him back against the fridge, causing him to drop the eggs in the process. He was surprised. She was kissing him like she hadn't seen him in years.
He tried to pull away... but he couldn't. He was enjoying her lips too much. His hands made their way to her waist, before slowly moving up her back, pulling her close to him.
Gardevoir was shocked at what she was doing, too. She knew she was just in heat, but she had never felt like this before. She knew she was being somewhat forceful, but she couldn't help it. But it seemed like Brennan was enjoying it at least. That was a positive.
She eventually pulled her lips away from his, before quickly moving them to his neck like he had done to her earlier. She begin lightly nibbling on his neck, enticing a soft moan to escape his lips.
"G-Gardevoir... w-what are you— we can't." He tried to protest. He was mentally at war with himself right now. He wanted to continue, but again, he knew they couldn't. The strong wave of lust he was feeling was trying to convince him otherwise. "G-Gardevoir. Gardevoir, hey. We... can't. Not right now." He finally moved his hands back to her waist and gently pushed her back enough to force her to stop. His lust slowly began to fade after that. He figured that was a good thing. Gardevoir frowned at this.
"Gardevoir?" She asked. Brennan honestly wasn't sure of the answer to give her.
"I don't know when. But not now. What if one of the others were to walk in or something?" He said curiously.
"Gardevoir. Garde." She replied.
"Yeah, I know they're asleep... right now. Doesn't mean they will be forever." He said. "Look, we'll get some more alone time eventually. But for now, I'm going to get on that breakfast." He continued, before looking down at the eggs on the floor. Luckily for him the carton had remained closed. He was hoping at least some of the eggs were salvageable.
As Gardevoir watched him bend down to pick them up, she spoke again. There was a question on her mind that she needed to ask. "Gardevoir. Gardevoir?" This caused Brennan to look back in her direction. He stood in his bent down position for several seconds, before sighing as he returned to his normal upright position.
"I promise you, we'll tell them. I just... Blaziken just got back. I think we should give him a little time before we drop this on him." He replied. He figured that was the right answer to give her. It's not like he was TRYING to hide their new relationship from his other Pokémon, he just knew now wasn't the best time to tell them about it. Gardevoir seemed to take that as an acceptable answer, as she didn't say anything else about it.
After that, Brennan began their breakfast. Luckily for him only a couple of the eggs broke. The rest somehow remained intact. As he cooked them, he couldn't help but think back to the way Gardevoir had read his mind. He knew she was a Psychic. But still. It also made him wonder if she had in fact read it before.
"So Gardevoir, that mind reading thing... have you done that before?" He asked, hoping he wouldn't somehow offend her in any way. Gardevoir, who had been sitting at the table waiting for breakfast to be done, looked at him.
"Gardevoir. Garde. Gardevoir. Gardevoir." She replied. She told him no, she hadn't. That's why it took her so long to do earlier because she had to break the mental barrier between the two. He was the first person she had even tried it on. It was a bit of a struggle the first time, but since they were now intertwined on such a deep level at this point, it should start getting easier to do.
Brennan seemed quite intrigued by this. "So... do you know what I'm thinking right now?" He was curious if she was indeed right about it being easier for her to do.
"Gardevoir. Garde." She replied. He had been thinking about something simple. The two of them sitting and eating breakfast, and she knew EXACTLY what had been on his mind. He smiled and nodded.
"Okay my little mind reader." He said jokingly, causing a slight flush to run over her face. She was definitely special. Sure, this is average stuff most psychic Pokémon could do, but it almost seemed like she was able to do something new every day. "Breakfast is almost ready." Gardevoir's flush faded as he spoke to her again. She nodded in response.
Brennan couldn't help but just smile back at her. She was incredible. Yeah, he thought this mind reading thing was cool, but he also knew that now she could check to see what he was thinking about whenever she wanted to. So he was going to have to start being really careful. Not that he had anything to hide from her...
It didn't take too long for breakfast to be ready. And when it was, THATS when his Pokémon started lining up. It's like... they could sense it. In order for everyone to get some, they didn't get a whole lot each, but it was something. At least what Brennan could do until he could make it back to the store.
After breakfast, the group sat around in the living room taking turns watching stuff on tv. Brennan really didn't have much of anything planned for that day. He knew Luna, Lane, and Delphox were supposed to stop back by, but that was about it. Besides that, he knew Blaziken had to take it easy for a couple of weeks based on what the doctor had said. The last thing he wanted was to aggregate his injuries.
Brennan sat on one end of the couch with his feet propped up onto the coffee table. Gardevoir, who was sat next to him, kept taking short glances at him. She didn't know why she was feeling so... clingy all of the sudden, but she just wanted to be close to him. She scooted herself closer towards him, before resting against his side. He glanced down at her as she grabbed the arm he had had resting on the back of the couch, and draped it around her shoulder. Once she was comfortable, her large, red eyes looked up to meet his. She was so cute. His somewhat blank expression curved into a smile as he stared back at her.
The pair held eye contact for several seconds, before focusing back on the tv. Gardevoir was happy. She was content with just relaxing in Brennan's arms. As they sat there, she couldn't help but glance over at Blaziken to see if he was even paying them any mind. He wasn't. He sat on the opposite end of the couch as Brennan with a small relaxed smile on his face— Pichu resting happily in his lap. She was curious because Brennan said he didn't want to tell them about their relationship yet. But she figured if Blaziken was paying attention to them, he'd wonder why they were so cuddled together.
But after thinking about, she decided it didn't really matter any way. She knew that the others would find out whenever Brennan was ready to tell them. And hopefully they would understand. After pushing her thoughts to the back of her mind, she went back to contently relaxing. She was happy... that was until a knock on the door interrupted. Brennan pulled his feet off of the table and stood up, forcing Gardevoir out of her comfortable position. She was a bit upset about that. As Brennan walked to the door, he could feel her emotions. He turned back around to look at her and saw the pouty frown they had taken over her face.
"I'll be right back." He assured her, before continuing on his way to the door. Once he got there, he opened it and saw Luna, Lane, and Delphox standing before him. He smiled. "Long time no see." He joked as he motioned for the group to come in. They got a good chuckle out of it.
"It sure has! A whole twelve hours!" Luna exclaimed happily. Brennan let out a chuckle of his own as he closed the door back. After they had entered, Delphox wasted zero time going over to Blaziken.
"Blazi-" Blaziken was in the middle of greeting her, but got cut off before he could finish by her grabbing the sides of his head as she leaned down, pulling him into a kiss. She held it for a good few seconds before finally separating. "k-ken..." he finished, slightly dazed as he did.
"Delphox." Delphox spoke as she sat down next to him, checking on his casted arm as she did. Luna watched with a smile on her face. She seriously thought they were just too cute. Gardevoir looked over, watching the pair. Delphox was worried about Blaziken. It was pretty obvious. Again, Blaziken tried to reassure her that he was okay, but that wasn't stopping her. For some reason she began to feel jealous of the couple. She wanted attention from her significant other too. She looked back towards Brennan, opening her arms as she did, motioning him to come back to her. Brennan immediately took notice.
Without bringing too much attention to it, he spoke. "So we were just watching tv. Didn't really have anything planned for today." He said as he made his way back towards the couch.
"That's okay. Tv it is!" Luna exclaimed happily. She really didn't care what they were doing. She just enjoyed it when everyone was together. She smiled at him as he sat back down on the couch. Almost as soon as he did, Gardevoir was back to clinging to him, completely ignoring the fact that there were now other people in the room. He was just hoping Luna and Lane didn't make anything of it.
As they sat around watching tv, and making random conversation with one another, Brennan couldn't help but wonder exactly what was up with Gardevoir. He was just curious as to why she was acting so clingy all of the sudden. Even around other people. Sure, he did enjoy holding her, and cuddling her. But this was a little out of character, even for her. And it had all happened in the last few hours, which made it even more weird.
He began to wonder if he was just overthinking things and maybe she just wanted to be close to him. But he couldn't help but think that there was something more going on. He glanced down at her, her eyes remaining straight towards the tv. She looked calm. Happy even. He definitely enjoyed the sight.
Unbeknownst to Brennan, Gardevoir had indeed been reading his thoughts. She didn't react to them because she didn't want it alert him. She could feel his building curiosity, that's what convinced her to see what he was thinking about. She glanced up at him, his eyes returning to the tv mere seconds earlier. He may have looked somewhat fine on the outside, but she could still feel his worry. It was honestly pretty upsetting.
Her thoughts remained on him for several more seconds, before she was finally broke away by the sound of a cell phone going off. Brennan glanced down towards the coffee table where his feet rested, staring at his now vibrating phone. He sat up, again to Gardevoir's dismay, before grabbing it.
"It's Mom." He announced. This somewhat excited his other Pokémon. He stood up and made his way out of the room to answer the call so he didn't disturb the others while they watched the show that was playing on the tv.
Gardevoir sat in silence, watching as he disappeared out of the room. She was honestly pretty curious what the call was about. Even if it did make her nosy. Brennan wasn't gone for too long before reemerging from down the hallway.
"Is everything alright?" Luna asked, looking at him as he reappeared. He nodded.
"Yeah. She said her and Dad want us to come visit soon. Told her it wouldn't be till after Blaziken is healed though. Can't risk making that trip with the shape he's in." He replied. Luna nodded in agreement. "But I was thinking, we should make a trip out of it. There's that nice beach down Route 109. Figured since we have to go through there anyways, we could stop and hangout for a day." He looked around as he spoke. The others seemed to like that idea. His parents lived in Dewford Town, so they were going to have to take a ship ride across Route 107 and Route 108 to get there. They moved there not too long before Brennan officially stopped traveling. Their reasoning was they liked the environment more than Slateport.
"Yeah! I love that idea!" Luna exclaimed excitedly. "I've been wanting to take a trip to the beach for a while!" She continued. Lane nodded.
"Yeah... she has." He said.
"I'm sure Mom and Dad would love to see you guys again, too." Brennan said.
"It's been ages since I've seen your parents!" Luna exclaimed. Brennan's parents had always treated both Luna and Lane like their own. So he already knew they wouldn't mind if they tagged along with him and his Pokémon.
"Besides that, I also have a couple new members of my team to introduce them to." Brennan said with a smile, glancing over towards Gardevoir, and then Pichu. He hadn't officially "caught" either one of them yet, but they were still not only part of his team... but his family. Gardevoir grew quite nervous at the thought of meeting new people. Especially considering this time they weren't just anyone, they were Brennan's parents.
"Oh, I'm sure they'll love them!" Luna said happily as she looked towards Pichu, who was sat on Blaziken's lap.
"Well, guess it's a trip then?" Land said. Brennan nodded.
"Yup. It's a trip." He said. He was honestly both nervous, and excited for it. It had been awhile since he had gone to the beach, but he'd be taking both Gardevoir and Pichu for the first time. He was just worried how his parents were going to react to Gardevoir. He was hoping they loved her as much as he did. But at the same time, what if they didn't because of how special she is? He quickly tried to shake the worry away just in case she decided to hop into his head again. His smile returned to his face as he rejoined her on the couch, looping his arm back around her shoulder as he did. Their spur of the moment trip was planned. Now it was time to wait for Blaziken to heal up.