Hello readers! The other day I was in an ikarishipping mood and decided to write a oneshot for these two. It's all fluff, and I kinda like how it turned out. It's also posted on my Tumblr, champion-rowlet, if anyone wants to go follow that. On that tumblr I post about my Pokeani fankids and some other stuff!

Anyways, onto the story that I finished writing at like 2 am...(btw in my headcanon this takes place when the two are about 18 and 20)

Paul hated storms.

There wasn't a reason for it, nothing traumatic had happened to him during a storm, he just didn't care for the noise, mostly.

In reality, he hated to admit that the thunder scared him.

"It's really coming down out there, isn't it?" Reggie commented, throwing a smirk at his younger brother.

"Shut up," Paul murmured. His nose was stuffed in a Pokemon evolution book he'd read hundreds of times, but it didn't matter now because that damn thunder was so loud.

Reggie chuckled and rolled his eyes, ruffling Paul's hair. Paul swatted his hand away.

At that moment, the thunder cracked louder than it ever had. Paul couldn't help it; he jumped out of his skin, but the thunder cracking kept going, it sounded like it was getting closer…

"S-someone's at the d-d-door," Reggie held his side, trying not to laugh at his brother's antics.

"You get it!" Paul yelled. Reggie burst out laughing before running to open the door to see who the unexpected guest was.

"Oh, hi Dawn! Didn't expect to see you in this weather…c'mon in…"

Paul froze. Of all people. Of all people who could've shown up at the door, it had to be her. The clumsy, rather stupid, and frankly annoying blue haired girl that used to travel with that moron Ash. She claimed they were friends, since they'd practiced battling together a few times and run into each other by sheer coincidence. He was amazed she had even managed to get here- the idiot didn't have a car and her apartment was in Jubilife City.

Within seconds, Dawn was standing in his kitchen, hair dripping wet and a lopsided smile plastered on her face. Her Piplup was shivering in her arms, and in general, she looked like a wreck.

"Hi Paul! How's it going?" She chided.

"Not great since you barged in," Paul replied, training his eyes back on the book he had in his hands.

Dawn pouted. "No need to be rude! And for your information, Reggie let me in, so I'm allowed to be here! I just…need somewhere to get out of the rain, okay?"

There was an edge to her voice when she said that last part, as though she was hiding something from him. He was about to ask what was wrong when Reggie came in, asking if Dawn wanted tea, or something to eat, which Dawn accepted in her usual polite manner.

The thunder cracked again. Paul bit his lip, trying not to jump and humiliate himself in front of Dawn, the one most likely to call him out on it. Reggie seemed to notice immediately, and smirked.

"I've got to go tend to the Pokemon," he said slyly, "pour Dawn some tea, Paul, and be nice to her, okay?" Before Paul could protest, Reggie had walked out of the room. Paul groaned audibly, knowing exactly what that bastard of a brother he had was doing, and motioned for Dawn to sit down.

"Wow, impressive. Paul's being nice to a guest in his own home!" Dawn teased.

"Why are you even here in the first place?" Paul mumbled, setting two mugs of tea down on the table.

Dawn twiddled her thumbs, glancing away so she wouldn't have to look Paul in the eye. "Just…thought I'd stop by, is all."

"I don't believe you'd willingly set foot in this house unless you had some sort of reason," Paul replied nonchalantly.

The blue haired girl stopped twiddling her thumbs, looking up at the man sitting before her. He was uncaring, generally rude, and an all around jerk, in her opinion.

Yet…he had noticed this?

"I needed a place to stay," Dawn began. "Er…times are a bit tough, at the moment, and the bank's threatening to evict me because I can't pay rent…but, there's no money, and I don't want to ask my mom or friends for any because who does that, and, and, I was in Veilstone running away from my problems and I e-ended up here in the p-p-pouring rain and…" Dawn choked out the last bit, hugging Piplup close and crying into his feathers.

Oh great, does she think I'm some sort of therapist? "Running away from your problems really doesn't help much." Paul rolled his eyes. "And stop crying, it's annoying-"

Dawn was about to get up and throw a punch at Paul's nose when a streak of lightning tore through the sky, followed by the cracking of thunder. The storm was at its loudest. Pau snapped his book shut abruptly, attempting to tune out the noise. His heart nearly pounded out of his chest, though that wasn't something he could really help.

Dawn looked him up and down through her tear streaked face. "You okay? You look sort of pale."

"Fine," Paul cleared his throat, "you were saying?"

"Well, I was crying, and then you told me I was annoying, and-" Dawn stopped mid sentence. The man across from her didn't seem to be listening; he seemed to be shaking and staring off into space. "Hey, are you really alright?"

"I told you, I'm fine!" Paul snapped. Outside, the thunder cracked again, and he shrank back down into his seat at the kitchen table.

Dawn looked at the window leading outside, where the rain was pouring, and back to Paul, who continued shaking. She smirked in understanding. "Astraphobia?"

"What?"
"Fear of thunder and lightning. My dad had it pretty bad." Dawn grinned. "You were trying to hide it, weren't you?"

He didn't have a response to that. Dawn stared out of the window, her eyes glimmering slightly. Paul couldn't help but think that she looked mildly endearing.

"I've always thought they were kind of…beautiful, y'know?" Dawn cocked her head to the side, her eyes fixated on the drops of rain rushing down the kitchen window. "Mother Nature's little imperfections. Like thunderstorms and stuff. Even the clouds have emotions that they can't hold back sometimes. So every once in a while…they've got to let them out."

Piplup climbed on his trainer's head, marvelling at the sight before him. Dawn petted his feathers affectionately, and glanced back at Paul, who had been absentmindedly staring at her. Dawn blushed.

"Sorry. I just really like storms! Summer ones, especially, they're so big, and cool, and- um-" Dawn stammered, standing up and pushing her mug away. "I've really got to go now, this has been great, it really has-"

"Have you been holding back your emotions too?"

Dawn froze in her tracks. "W-what?"

"You said that the thunderstorm was like human emotion,. Like Mother Nature was a human too, with imperfections, and with emotions that needed to be let out sometimes. Sounds a bit like you, just now," Paul murmured.

The coordinator chuckled. "I guess they are a bit like me, huh?"

"You didn't come here just because of the rain, did you."

Dawn shook her head. "No. I needed someone to talk to. Someone who lacks basic human emotions and could take in mine," she joked.

For the first time in as long as she'd known him, Dawn saw Paul crack a small smile. It was only for a fraction of a second, but she saw it nonetheless. A slight blush creeped across her cheeks, and, hesitantly, she extended her hand.

"What do you say we face your fear?"

Paul raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that's the best idea-"

Before he could say much else, Dawn was dragging him out into the rain, despite his protests and pulling back. For someone so short, Dawn had quite a strong grip. Above them, lightning flashed, and Paul feared they might get struck.

"SEE! ISN'T IT AMAZING!" Dawn yelled above the wind.

"NO, CAN WE PLEASE GO BACK INSIDE?" Paul shouted back.

Dawn's long, azure hair fluttered in the high winds. Her eyes were sparkling with happiness. She looked right at home, in the roaring winds, in the rumbling thunder and downpouring rain. She smiled at the violet haired man standing beside her, and it was as though the sun had actually shone through the grey storm clouds looming above them. The rain suddenly died down, and the thunder rumbling grew to a soft murmur. Dawn's hair stopped blowing, signaling the dying of the winds.

"I think Mother Nature has had enough," Dawn affirmed.

"I agree," Paul answered simply.

The clouds parted, and the sun peeked through, finally showering some much needed light on the gloomy day.

"Paul. Look." Dawn's finger pointed upwards, towards the now dying storm clouds.

"Wow," Paul muttered. "I haven't seen one of those in a while."

Dawn's hand squeezed tighter around his. "Let me stay for a while? Until I'm back on my feet, of course."

Paul squeezed back without thinking. "Sure."

The storm had finished; only a rainbow, lighting up the sky, had remained.

I'm actually obsessed with how this turned out. I worked hard. I actually finished a story! Yes, it's a bit OOC but when you're writing Pokemon fanfiction you've gotta do what you've gotta do. I didn't go overboard on the romance aspect of this because I believe ikarishipping is more about how a relationship blossoms in the first place- what are the steps taken to get to the point where these two are like, yeah, we love each other? It's gonna be a long process, since these two are very different. This is one of those steps, I think, that would bring them even closer together :)