"A place for you to stay, huh?" the merchant repeats as he wipes his wares with a cloth.
The Eevee sighs and nods his head. "Yeah. I can't find any." He frowns. "At least not here in the top-part of this city anyway." He turns and stares at the setting sun. "I'll try looking for one in the bottom. It looks denser there from up here so surely there's a room available for me to rent."
"I doubt it," the merchant comments, catching the Eevee's curious gaze. "The spring festival's next week, and a lot of Pokémon from all over will be attending it." He smiles. "That's why I ordered a lot of things to sell for next week!"
"Shit," the Eevee grumbles. "This is more difficult than I thought..."
He walks away as a few customers flock the Keckleon's stall. A sigh escapes his mouth as he approaches one of the benches, and blinks when he notices the timid Nickit sitting on it, blushing and hiding her face behind her bushy tail.
"Uh... Hi?"
No response.
He rolls his eyes and walks toward the next empty bench, but blinks as he notices the restaurant in the distance. "Hm..."
The Nickit slowly takes a peek and sees the Eevee walking towards her once again. She quickly hides her face behind her tail as he jumps and sits on the bench with a respectable distance from her.
"Hey. I have a question."
She timidly takes a peek.
He gestures at the restaurant where she works. "What's on the upper floor of that place?"
"W-wha-what place?" she meekly asks.
"The restaurant. I'm looking for a place to stay for a short while, so I'm wondering if you guys have an available room up there for me to rent?"
She slowly lowers her tail as she thinks about it. "I... M-maybe?" She slowly shakes her head. "I don't know if mom and dad will let anyone stay." She looks back at him. "M-maybe, um, ask them?"
He tilts his head a bit. "I would but there was a closed sign on the door." He blinks. "That makes me wonder what you're doing here though..."
Her blush intensifies as she quickly hides her face behind her tail. "Eep!"
He rolls his eyes. "Nevermind."
He blinks when he notices the restaurant's door opens and the Miltank flips the sign from closed to open. She's about to walk back inside when she notices him, smiles, and waves at him.
"Huh..." He looks back at the Nickit. "Looks like the Miltank's calling you."
"O-oh?" She turns her head and looks at the Miltank gesturing for her to return. "Oh, they're done." She looks back at him, blushes, and looks away. "M-maybe you can ask mom and dad now?"
"Yeah," the Eevee agrees as he jumps off of the bench. "Wanna walk back together?"
Cheeks burning, she violently shakes her head, and dashes back to the restaurant in great speeds that startles a few passersby.
He shrugs and walks. "That's a no then."
Reaching the restaurant, he pushes the door open, the bell jingling up above.
"Hey there!" a loud, masculine voice booms in the room. "Welcome! What can we get ya?"
The Eevee blinks, staring at the large Pangoro with an apron who is wiping a table.
"Oh!" the Miltank exclaims, walking out of the kitchen. "Hello there. Plu told me you wanted to ask something?"
He nods his head. "Yeah."
The Pangoro blinks, and then grins at the Eevee. "Well, well..." He leaves the wet cloth on the table and approaches the small brown Pokémon with a large grin on his face. "So our little girl has finally caught a potential lover, huh?"
An audible "eep!" resounds from the kitchen, making the two large Pokémon laugh.
The Eevee frowns at him. "Uh, no." He shakes his head. "I just wanted to ask if there's an available room here that I can rent."
"Aww," the Pangoro frowns. "And here I was getting my hopes up."
"Your own fault, dear," the Miltank says and chuckles. She then frowns at the Eevee. "We do have a spare room upstairs, but it's more like a storage room and we haven't had the time to clean it."
"I'll take whatever I can get," the Eevee quickly says. "I won't be staying long, so no worries."
"If you say so," the Miltank says as the main door opens and in comes a few customers. She turns to the Pangoro. "Dear, you mind taking him upstairs?"
"Sure thing, hon." He kisses her, and then gestures for the Eevee to follow him up the stairs as the Miltank gets the customers' orders. "Come along, kid."
"I'm not a kid," the Eevee replies as he follows the large Pokémon.
"You look like one from my point of view."
"Get your eyes checked then."
"Is that how you're going to address your potential landlords?"
"Yes if you keep on annoying me."
The large Pangoro laughs as they reach the second floor. "I like you, kid. You sure this isn't some ploy of yours to bed my daughter?"
"I'll bed your wife if you keep that up."
"Alright, alright." The Pangoro shakes his head. "Spoilsport." He leads the Eevee to the very last door in the hallway, pushes it open, and flips the switch, turning the lights on. "Here we are." He whistles. "Damn. We really need to get this place cleaned up."
The Eevee blinks at the many stacks of crates and other junk lying around the small room. "I...was expecting worse, to be honest."
"You sure you want this?" the large Pokémon asks as he drags a finger on the surface of one of the boxes, and frowns at how dusty it is. "I kinda feel bad to let you stay in such a mess."
"I'll manage."
"You sure?"
He glares at him.
He laughs. "Fine, fine. If you're so set on it, then be my guest." He walks out the room. "I'll help tidying the place up after we close the restaurant."
The Eevee watches him leave, sighs, and stares at the dusty room. With nothing else to do, he starts carrying a few boxes with great difficulty because a quadruped is not supposed to stand on two hind legs.
After placing a box on top of another, a dust of cloud erupts, making him cough as he takes a few retreating steps back.
He shakes his head, frowns and walks out of the room. "I need a broom."
"Daaaaamn, dude. That's rough," the Sentret says as he watches the yellow Shinx take a swig of his drink.
Emptying his glass, he groans, slams the glass down on the table, and hiccups. "Tell me about it," he says, glaring at his empty glass. He closes his eyes and sighs. "Everything is so complicated now..."
"I can imagine," the Sentret says as the Indeedee collects their empty bottles and places two unopened ones. He grabs a bottle, opens it and fills their glasses. "You think I got a chance with her?"
"Huh?"
"With Vixie, I mean."
"Dunno," the Shinx quickly says as he slowly lies his aching head on the table. "She wanted me to have sex with her."
"Wait, what?" the Sentret says, taken aback. "Really? And did you?"
He glares at him. "Of course not! What do you take me for? She's my friend, and she was drunk!"
"Damn. Respect, dude." The Sentret shakes his head. "I dunno if I'd have the self-control you had if that were to happen to me."
"It...kinda helped that Cindy was there."
"Ah." He takes a drink. "So she knows, huh?"
The Shinx sighs. "Yeah... And I'm really afraid to see her tomorrow..."
"I know a friend who works at the docks. Just give me the word and I can get her ship you out of here."
"Har har..." He rolls his eyes as his friend laughs. He blinks. "That actually sounds pretty appealing, not gonna lie." He pulls his head off of the table. "I could start a new life."
"Oi," the Sentret frowns a worried frown. "You're not serious, are you?"
The Shinx sighs. "I wish I was." He gulps down his drink and groans. "Tomorrow's gonna be...weird."
"I was supposed to just grab a broom," the Eevee grumbles as he continues to wash the dishes.
The Miltank chuckles as she continues to stir her cooking. "Sorry about this, dear, but we didn't expect to be so packed tonight."
"You guys really need to hire more workers," the Eevee comments as the Nickit timidly places a new set of dirty dishes beside him.
"That's a good idea, actually," the Miltank agrees as she smiles at him. "You're hired."
He blinks and looks at her. "Wait, what?"
A large hand suddenly pats his head. "Welcome to the crew, kid!" the Pangoro says before collecting a few clean dishes. "We expect good work from you!"
"Wait, what?!" the Eevee exclaims as the two large Pokémon smile at him. "What the fuck?! I didn't sign up for this!"
Their smiles instantly disappear. "Language!" the two large Pokémon scold him.